The same five people forget every cycle. Below are five copy-and-paste templates, ordered from friendly nudge to final notice, with subject lines and timing notes. They work for AP teams, office managers, and anyone running point on month-end close.
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Each template below maps to a specific moment in the submission cycle. Send them in order, not all at once. If an employee replies or submits, stop the sequence for that person. For a full background on the deadlines these emails reference, see the expense report reminder pillar.
Three business days before the deadline. Tone is light. The job here is to surface the date, not to apply pressure.
Subject: Expense reports due Friday
Hi [Name],
Quick reminder that expense reports for the [period] cycle are due this Friday, [date].
If you already have your receipts together, the form is at [link]. Takes about ten minutes.
Let me know if anything is blocking it on your end.
Thanks,
[Your name]
Day before the deadline. For employees who did not act on the first nudge. Slightly more direct, still warm.
Subject: Expense report due tomorrow, [date]
Hi [Name],
Following up on the expense reports for [period] — the deadline is tomorrow at [time].
A few of you still have receipts that have not been categorized yet, and submitting
before tomorrow night avoids the late lock.
If you need help pulling card transactions or have receipts in a different format,
reply here and I will sort it with you.
[Your name]
Morning of the deadline. Short. Names the cutoff time explicitly.
Subject: Last call — expense reports close today at [time]
Hi [Name],
Today is the cutoff for [period] expense reports. The system locks submissions at [time].
After that, anything outstanding moves to the late-submission queue and needs manager
approval before finance can process it.
If you can knock yours out before lunch, that keeps it in this cycle.
Thanks,
[Your name]
Day after the deadline. Names the consequence directly — late lock, manager involvement, possible reclassification as taxable wages.
Subject: Outstanding expense report from [period]
Hi [Name],
The [period] expense report deadline was yesterday and yours has not come through. I
have temporarily flagged the receipts as outstanding rather than late-rejected, but I
need to close the period within five business days.
Two notes on timing. Once an expense passes the IRS 60-day reasonable-period window
from the original transaction, the reimbursement can be treated as taxable wages
rather than a tax-free expense reimbursement. And after [N] business days late, the
system requires manager approval to process.
Can you submit by [date]? Reply if anything is blocking it.
[Your name]
Three business days past the deadline. Manager looped in. Reframes the request as a process closure, not a personal chase.
Subject: Final notice — expense report from [period]
Hi [Name], CC [Manager],
The [period] period is now [N] business days past close and [Name]'s expense report has
not been submitted. I need to either receive the report or close the period without it
by [date].
If submitted by then, it processes as a late report with manager approval. If not, the
underlying expenses will be moved to the non-reimbursable bucket unless there is a
documented reason to keep them open.
Let me know how you would like to proceed.
[Your name]
Five emails per cycle, multiplied by however many people forget, is a recurring tax on whoever runs point. The chase is downstream of the real problem: the submitter does not have a reliable reminder system of their own.
If you manage a team that consistently misses, a more durable fix is to have each person set up their own recurring expense report reminder once, and then never have to chase them again. A pre-deadline email arrives in their inbox, follow-ups fire if they do not act, and you stop being the only memory in the loop.
That is what BoldRemind does — free, email-only, no account required. Forward the link to your team, ask each person to set a recurring monthly reminder, and the templates above become a one-off backstop instead of a monthly ritual.
Lead with the reason, not the complaint. "Quick reminder, expense reports for last cycle are due Friday — flagging in case it slipped" works better than "you haven't submitted yet." A direct, short, calendar-anchored note feels like helpful logistics rather than a callout.
Three business days before the submission deadline. Earlier than that feels premature, later puts you in last-minute territory. If the deadline is the 15th of the month, send the first nudge on the 10th or 11th. People with receipts already gathered will file that day.
Make it scannable in a crowded inbox. "Expense reports due Friday" beats "Reminder" or "Following up." Include the date or day if you can. Avoid all-caps, exclamation points, or anything that sounds urgent for what is a routine deadline.
Three is the practical ceiling for a single cycle: pre-deadline nudge, deadline-day reminder, and one post-deadline follow-up if needed. Beyond that, escalate by changing channel (Slack, in-person, manager loop-in) rather than emailing the same person a fourth time.
Move from "reminder" to "consequence." The first email is a nudge. The second names what happens if it slips — late lock, taxable reclassification under the IRS 60-day rule, manager involvement. State the consequence neutrally as a fact about the process, not as a threat.
On the first reminder, no. On the second or third, yes if your finance policy supports it. Looping in the manager turns it from a reminder into an accountability moment. Do not blind-copy — that erodes trust if the employee notices it later in a forwarded thread.
Send your team the link. Each person sets their own recurring reminder once, with pre-deadline emails and follow-ups. You go back to closing the books on time.
Set Up an Expense Report ReminderLast modified: