What does the ‘Duplicate’ label mean?
Capture Expenses automatically checks for similarities between claims, such as the same date, amount, and merchant. When two claims match closely, the system may flag one as a duplicate. This is intended to help prevent accidental double‑submission.
However, in some cases the system may label items as duplicates even though they are legitimate separate expenses. For example, two toll receipts for a journey out and back on the same day.
Merging expenses
When should I use the Merge function?
The Merge option is designed specifically for genuine duplicates: cases where the user has accidentally created the exact same claim twice.
For example: two identical receipts entered separately by mistake.
Merging allows these to be combined into a single claim without needing to separately delete one of them.
When should I NOT use the Merge function?
You should not merge claims when:
They represent two separate expenses, even if they look similar (e.g., tolls for outward and return journeys).
A claim was rejected and then resubmitted correctly. These are not duplicates.
Items appear identical to the system (same date, merchant, amount) but are genuinely different receipts.
In these cases, both entries should remain separate, and the employee can submit them normally.
What should I do with rejected and resubmitted claims?
If an employee submitted an expense, had it rejected, and then resubmitted the corrected version, these two entries must not be merged.
The rejected claim serves as part of the audit trail.
The corrected claim should be submitted as usual.
Will duplicate‑flagged items stay in the system?
It depends on the situation:
If they are genuine duplicates, they will remain in the system until the user either:
Deletes the unwanted duplicate, or
Merges the two identical claims.
If they are not actual duplicates, (for example if two legitimate toll receipts on the same day):
They will continue to show as duplicates because the system sees matching details.
However, the employee can still submit both claims normally.
There is no need to merge or delete these.
How should I handle expenses that are flagged as duplicates but are valid?
If both expenses are legitimate:
Leave them as they are.
Submit both claims as normal.
The duplicate warning is informational and does not prevent submission.
Summary of best practice
Use Merge only for true accidental duplicates.
Do not merge rejected/resubmitted items or legitimate same‑day receipts (e.g., tolls).
Delete only when you have an accidental duplicate that you no longer want.
Submit normally if the items are valid expenses, even if flagged as duplicates.