> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://documentation.opencollective.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://documentation.opencollective.com/collectives/spending-money/inviting-a-third-party-to-submit-an-expense.md).

# Inviting a Third Party to Submit an Expense

If you want to encourage a third-party to submit an expense on the platform, you can create an expense and invite them to complete it

Expense submitters can draft and send expenses to Collectives directly. But you can also create a draft of the expense yourself, and invite someone to complete and submit it.

This can be useful when:

* The expense submitter is not familiar with the Open Collective platform
* You wish to fill in some details in advance for easier processing, such as the title, description, amount, and the Collective the expense is submitted to.

You can then invite the person or group in question to complete the expense and submit it on the platform.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Invitations expire after a month if they are not accepted. You will then need to repeat the process to deliver a new invitation.
{% endhint %}

### Inviting an existing Open Collective user

If you want to invite an Open Collective profile to submit an expense:

{% hint style="info" %}
An Open Collective profile can be an individual, Collective, project, event, organisation or Fiscal Host.
{% endhint %}

1. Navigate to the page that you wish to expense.
2. Go to the “Submit Expense” button in the top right hand corner.
3. Select “Invoice”.
4. Type their username or email into the “Payee Information” section and select them from the drop-down menu.
5. You can then add details as you choose, such as the title, amount, and even a note which will be received by the user you invited.
6. Submit the invite to them to complete the expense.

They will then receive an email notification which they can use to finish the expense and submit it.

When the payee opens the invite link, they see a welcome card with a **Continue submission** button. If you added a note for the payee when creating the draft, it appears in this card — but the note is optional, and the payee can continue even when no note was provided.

The invited payee can add or update the payout method while completing the draft, including when the expense is hosted by a different fiscal host than the one that created the invitation.

#### Cross-host draft invites

When the payee is a collective hosted by a different fiscal host than the one paying the expense, the invitation is sent to the payee's **fiscal host admins** (not just the payee's collective admins). This lets the recipient host help complete payout details on their side.

A payee host admin who opens the invite link can:

* Add or update a payout method on the recipient host
* Complete the remaining expense details
* Submit the expense on behalf of the payee collective

Only admins of the payee collective or its fiscal host can submit a cross-host draft. Opening the invite link alone is not enough — the person completing the draft must be authorized for the payee account.

### Inviting someone without an Open Collective account

If the person or group you are inviting does not currently have an Open Collective account:

1. Navigate to the page that you wish to expense.
2. Go to the “Submit Expense” button in the top right hand corner.
3. Select “Invoice”.
4. Go to the “Payee Information” section.
5. Locate the section in the drop-down menu that says “Invite Someone To Submit An Expense”.
6. Choose whether they will need to set up a Personal or an Organization Account. Selecting (Organization will invite them to create an Organization account where they are the admin.)
7. Fill in any other relevant information, such as their contact name, email address etc.
8. You can then add details as you choose, such as the title, amount, and even a note which will be received by the user you invited.
9. Submit the invite to them to complete the expense.

The payee will receive an email inviting them to submit the expense. They will need to confirm or fill in the remaining details—including their payout method—and submit the expense. An Open Collective account will be created for them within this process, or they will be prompted to login.

The expense will be marked as “Unverified” until they have verified their email address.<br>


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