Harvest can now pay expense reimbursements directly to a team member's bank account or debit card, without you having to arrange a separate bank transfer, payroll entry, or cash payment. Once a member's expenses are approved, an Administrator can pay them from Harvest in a few clicks, and the money is sent securely through our payments partner, Stripe.

This article explains who can use reimbursements, how a team member sets up to receive payouts, and how an Administrator pays them.

Before you start

Expense reimbursements are being rolled out gradually and may not yet be available in your account. To use them, your account needs the Expenses module turned on with reimbursement requests enabled, and the feature must be enabled for your company. (Reimbursement requests are on by default for new accounts; on existing accounts an Administrator can turn them on under Settings → Preferences.) Timesheet approval is not required.

In this first release, reimbursements are available when all of the following are true:

• The recipient is a contractor. Reimbursements to employees aren't supported yet, because employee reimbursements have different tax handling.
• The recipient is based in the United States. Support for other countries is planned for a later release.
• Your company's base currency is US dollars (USD). Reimbursements are sent in USD.

If any of these don't apply, reimbursements can't be sent through Harvest in this release.

How it works at a glance

1. A team member sets up payouts once, through a short Stripe onboarding step in their Harvest profile.
2. The member tracks expenses and submits them as reimbursement requests.
3. An Administrator opens the member's reimbursement requests, chooses a payment method, and clicks Pay. The member receives the full expense amount in their bank account or on their debit card.

For team members: setting up payouts

Before you can be reimbursed through Harvest, you need to set up payouts once. This connects you to Stripe, which securely handles your identity verification, bank details, and tax information.

1. Go to your profile in Harvest and select Set up payouts.
2. Confirm your country (United States).
3. You'll be taken to a secure Stripe-hosted page to finish setting up. Stripe will ask for your identity details, your bank account or debit card, and your tax information.
4. Once Stripe confirms your details, you're ready to receive reimbursements. This usually takes just a few minutes, though it can take longer if Stripe needs to verify additional information.

You only need to do this once per company. If you're a contractor for more than one company that uses Harvest, you'll set up payouts separately in each.

Until you've finished setting up payouts, your Administrator won't be able to send you a reimbursement through Harvest, so it's worth doing this ahead of time.

For Administrators: paying a reimbursement

1. Make sure the member has submitted the expenses as reimbursement requests. Only unpaid reimbursement requests can be paid.
2. Open the Pay option for that member. You'll see their reimbursement requests that haven't been paid yet.
   • If a member hasn't finished setting up payouts, their expenses can't be selected yet. Ask them to complete Set up payouts in their profile first.
3. Select the expenses you want to reimburse.
4. Choose how to fund the payment:
   • Card — the reimbursement is sent instantly.
   • Bank transfer (ACH) — lower fees, and typically takes 3–5 business days to clear.
5. Review the summary. Harvest shows exactly what will happen, for example: Total charged: $103.30 · Member receives: $100.00 · Processing fee: $3.30.
6. Click Pay.

The member always receives the full approved expense amount. Your company covers the processing fee on top.

Choosing the card you pay from

Reimbursements are funded from a payment method on file for your company. You can use the same card you use for your Harvest subscription, or set a different card or bank account specifically for reimbursements. You'll find both options in your billing settings, labelled so it's clear which card pays your subscription and which funds reimbursements.

Fees and timing

• The member always receives the full expense amount.
• Your company pays Stripe's standard processing fee on top. As a guide, this is currently around 2.9% + 30¢ for card payments and around 0.8% (capped at $5) for ACH bank transfers. Stripe sets these rates and they may change.
• Additionally, Harvest applies a 2% application fee to reimbursements for all accounts, excluding those on a plan with Unlimited usage.
• Card payments are sent instantly. ACH transfers usually take 3–5 business days to reach the member.

What happens after you pay

A reimbursement moves through a few statuses:

• Processing — the payment has been started.
• Paid — the payment succeeded and the money is on its way to the member (instantly for card, within a few business days for ACH).
• Failed — the payment didn't go through. The expenses are released so you can try again, for example with a different payment method.

Once an expense has been reimbursed (Paid), it becomes read-only — you can't change its amount, category, project, billable status, notes, or receipt. This keeps an accurate record of exactly what was paid.

Billable expenses are handled separately

Reimbursing a team member does not change whether an expense is billable to your client. These are two separate things:

• Reimbursement — your company pays the team member back (this feature).
• Invoicing — your company bills the client for the expense, as it always has.

So you can reimburse a contractor for a billable expense and still invoice your client for it as usual, including any markup.

Taxes

Because payouts are made through Stripe, Stripe handles the relevant tax paperwork. For US contractors, Stripe issues a 1099-NEC when total payouts for the year cross the reporting threshold. You can access your tax forms and payout details through the Stripe account you set up during onboarding.

Frequently asked questions

Can I reimburse an employee? Not yet. In this release, reimbursements can only be sent to contractors. Employee reimbursements have different tax treatment and aren't supported through this flow.

Can I reimburse someone outside the United States? Not yet — recipients must be US-based in this release. Support for more countries is planned. In the meantime, use Mark as paid to record the reimbursement outside Harvest.

Does the team member need a Stripe account? They'll complete a short Stripe onboarding step the first time, but they don't need to create or manage a separate Stripe login beforehand — Harvest guides them through it from their profile.

Can reimbursements be sent automatically? Not in this release. An Administrator pays each reimbursement manually. Automatic payment is being considered for the future.

Who can pay reimbursements? Administrators, using a company payment method on file.