Asking for Information about Expenses

When paying an expense on Open Collective, a Fiscal Host may require more context or information from an expense submitter.

When reviewing an expense that is approved by a Collective, a Fiscal Host may need to clarify certain information.

As the Fiscal Host administrator, you can use the Open Collective platform to leave a comment on the expense for the expense submitter to read - or notify others that you are finding the information yourself.

Why might you need to do this?

As a Fiscal Host admin, you are responsible for ensuring that all expenses are accurate and legitimate, and include all of the necessary information for admin tax purposes.

As such, you may wish to confirm more details about the submitter, the amount and their payment method, or request additional details that may be required. You may also want to seek clarification around an issue that may have been raised in the platform’s security checks.

Requesting more information

If you are keen to find out more information about an expense, we would advise changing the status of the expense first so that everyone involved is kept informed.

You can find both of the following options by clicking the blue “Approved” status dropdown option on the expense itself on your Transactions list. Alternatively, you can click the title of the expense and find the options in the “More Actions” menu at the bottom of the expense page.

You can choose to:

Put on Hold: This option can be used if you are planning to consult an expert about a detail or issue, and return to the expense when you have received a reply. This status will only be seen by Fiscal Host admins, not by expense submitters nor the Collective admins.

Mark as Incomplete: You should use this option if you wish to ask the expense submitter for more information or clarification about their expense.

You will have the option to submit a comment directly to the expense submitter making your request. You should try to be as clear as possible about what you want and why, and what the expense submitter needs to do to resolve the issue.

The comment exchange will only be visible to Fiscal Host admins, Collective admins and the expense submitter themselves, since it may contain private information.

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What happens next?

If the expense submitter does not respond - or does not respond satisfactorily - the expense can in theory remain in this state indefinitely and not be paid.

Based on the response, the Fiscal Host admin may decide to reject the expense entirely.

If the expense submitter does provide the necessary information, the Fiscal Host admin can either:

Edit the expense directly and begin the payment process

If the Fiscal Host is satisfied with the response, and the expense has not been significantly changed as a result, they may decide to then pay the expense.

They may choose to do this if - for example - the submitter was merely asked to provide clarification or extra proof of the amount or nature of the expense, or their identity and tax information.

Edit the expense directly and ask for Collective re-approval

If the information provided requires the Fiscal Host admin to change the expense substantially, they may opt to request that the Collective admin re-approve it.

They may choose to do this if the amount has changed, the reason for the expense is now different, or the identity and payment destination has significantly changed. This step occurs to ensure that the Collective is fully informed, and still willing to pay the expense in its new state.

To do this, the Fiscal Host should find the expense in question in their Dashboard and select “Request Re-Approval”.

This will move the expense back into the Collective admin’s queue to be reviewed and approved again. When they have done this, it will return to the Fiscal Host’s queue for review and payment.

Posting a private comment

Comments are only visible to Collective admins, Fiscal Host admins and the expense submitter. However, you may wish to post a comment that is only visible to other Fiscal Host admins.

This may be because:

• You wish to share information or insight about a collective or submitter

• You wish to flag up potential concerns

• You wish to provide instructions to other admins about how to process this expense

To do this, you should use the same comment box as above. But remember to check the “Post Private Comment” option underneath the comment box.