Help Center / Expenses Reimbursements

Tracking Your Reimbursement Status

Once you submit an expense, you'll want to know when you're getting paid back. Light makes it easy to track your reimbursement status at every step.

Where to Check Your Status

  1. Log into Light
  2. Click Expenses in the sidebar
  3. You'll see a list of all your submitted expenses with their current status

You can also simply ask Light's AI assistant — for example, "What's the status of my reimbursement?" or "Was my reimbursement paid?" — and it will look up your latest expense report for you.

Understanding Expense Statuses

Draft You started filling out an expense but didn't submit it yet. Click on it to finish and submit it whenever you're ready.

Submitted You've submitted your expense report. Light's AI reviews it against your company's expense policies. If everything is compliant, it's approved automatically — no manager sign-off is needed. If something is flagged, it goes to your finance team's inbox for review.

Processing Your reimbursement has been approved and is being prepared for payment. It will be included in one of your finance team's upcoming payment batches and sent to the bank account in your reimbursement profile.

Paid Your reimbursement has been sent to your bank account. Check your bank to see the deposit (it might take 1-2 business days to appear depending on your bank).

Failed The payment could not be completed — for example, because of a problem with your bank details. Check that your reimbursement profile is correct and contact your admin if you're unsure.

Rejected Your finance team rejected the expense report. You'll get a notification with the reason they provided and a link to reset the report. Resetting it returns the expenses to Draft so you can make corrections and resubmit.

Checking Payment Details

To see more details about a specific expense:

  1. Go to Expenses (/expenses)
  2. Click on the expense you want to check
  3. You'll see:
    • Status: Where it is in the review and payment process
    • Amount: How much you'll be reimbursed
    • Submitted Date: When you submitted it
    • Receipt & Details: The receipt image and all the details you filled in

Getting Notifications

Light sends you updates at key milestones:

  • When your expense upload completes (or if it fails)
  • When your reimbursement is rejected, including the reason from your finance team
  • When your reimbursement has been paid

If you have the Light mobile app, you'll also receive push notifications when your expense upload completes (or if it fails), when your reimbursement is rejected, and when payment is processed.

You can customize which notifications you receive by going to your Profile settings and updating your notification preferences. Learn more here.

What If Your Status Seems Stuck?

Submitted → not moving Your expense report was likely flagged by the AI review and is waiting in your finance team's inbox. If it's urgent, contact your admin.

Processing → not moving Payment timing depends on when your finance team runs their payment batches. If it seems unusually slow, contact your admin.

Paid → but I don't see the money Check your bank account—it can take 1-2 business days for deposits to show up. If it's been more than 3 days, contact your admin with your payment date and amount.

Rejected Read the reason from your finance team carefully. Common reasons include:

  • Missing or unclear receipt
  • Expense exceeds policy limit
  • Wrong category
  • Missing description or project code

Use the reset link in the rejection notification to reset the report — the expenses return to Draft so you can edit and resubmit them.

Tips for Faster Reimbursement

  • Submit receipts promptly: Fresh expenses are easier to review
  • Include clear descriptions: Helps the AI review approve your expenses automatically
  • Follow company policies: Avoid rejections by checking policies before you submit (see Understanding Expense Policies)
  • Make sure your banking info is correct: A wrong bank account could delay payment

Batch Payments

Some companies process reimbursements in batches (e.g., every Friday). If your company does this, your "Processing" status might last a bit longer. Your admin can tell you your company's reimbursement schedule.

Questions About a Payment?

If something doesn't look right or you have questions:

  1. Check your Light Expenses page for the payment date and amount
  2. Review the expense details to make sure everything matches
  3. Contact your admin with the expense amount and date

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