Table of Contents
- Why does a corporate card policy need its own document?
- What clauses should a corporate card policy include?
- What happens if an employee uses the corporate card for personal spending?
- How should receipt and deadline rules for card spending be written?
- Why are limit rules different for cash and card spending?
- How does it work in Masraff?
- Frequently asked questions
- What are the rules for using a corporate card?
- What should a company do when an employee makes a personal purchase with a corporate card?
- How are corporate card limits set?
- When should the receipt for a corporate card purchase be submitted?
A corporate card makes it easy for employees to spend on the company's behalf. But if the rules are not written down, the finance team ends up with a month-end statement full of missing receipts, unclear categories and, sometimes, personal purchases. This article is for finance and accounting teams at companies in Turkey that use corporate cards. It gives sample clauses you can copy into your policy, explains how to handle personal spending, and shows why limit rules for cash expenses and card spending should be set up differently.
Why does a corporate card policy need its own document?
A corporate card policy needs its own document because card money leaves the company at the moment of purchase, so control happens after spending, not before approval.
With a cash expense, the employee pays first and then asks for reimbursement; the company pays nothing until it approves. With a card, the order is reversed: the bank collects the payment, and the receipt and explanation come later. That is why the rules of a general expense policy are not enough for cards. A card policy should give clear answers to three questions: who holds a card and for what spending, when and how receipts are submitted, and what happens when a purchase breaks the rules.
What clauses should a corporate card policy include?
A corporate card policy should include at least card ownership, allowed and prohibited spending, receipts, limits, personal spending and returning the card.
The clauses below are a starting draft. Amounts and deadlines are examples; adapt them to your company.
| No | Topic | Sample clause |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Card ownership | The card is used only by the employee it is issued to and may not be handed to anyone else. |
| 2 | Purpose | The card is used only for spending related to company business. |
| 3 | Allowed spending | Travel, accommodation, business meals, transport and the other categories listed in this policy. |
| 4 | Prohibited spending | Personal shopping, cash withdrawals and categories closed under this policy are not paid by card. |
| 5 | Receipts | An invoice or receipt issued to the company's legal name is obtained for every purchase; a POS slip alone is not enough. |
| 6 | Receipt deadline | The receipt is uploaded within 5 working days (example) of the purchase. |
| 7 | Limits | Category limits are listed in the table attached to this policy; any overrun must be justified. |
| 8 | Personal spending | A personal purchase made by mistake is reported the same day and recovered from the employee. |
| 9 | Loss and theft | If the card is lost, the employee informs the bank and the finance team immediately. |
| 10 | Return | An employee who leaves or changes role hands the card back on their last working day. |
If you want a ready framework to start from, the expense policy template is a good base for adding these clauses.
What happens if an employee uses the corporate card for personal spending?
Personal spending on a corporate card is not a company expense in Turkey; it is tracked as a receivable from the employee until it is recovered.
Under Turkish tax law, spending unrelated to earning business income cannot be deducted as an expense (Income Tax Law No. 193, Art. 40, Official Gazette 06.01.1961; applied to companies through Corporate Tax Law No. 5520, Art. 6, Official Gazette 21.06.2006). Its VAT cannot be deducted either, because input VAT deduction applies to purchases related to taxable activity (VAT Law No. 3065, Art. 29; in force since 01.01.1985). In the books, the amount goes not to an expense account but to account 135 Personelden Alacaklar (receivables from employees) in the Turkish Uniform Chart of Accounts (General Communiqué on Accounting System Application No. 1, in force since 01.01.1994).
Sample entry: an employee made a personal purchase of TRY 1,200 (example) with the card.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| 135 Receivables from employees | TRY 1,200 | |
| Corporate card payable (the account your company uses) | TRY 1,200 |
How the amount is recovered from the employee, for example whether it can be deducted from salary, depends on Turkish labour law. Confirm the policy clause with your labour law adviser and your financial adviser (mali müşavir) before you write it.
How should receipt and deadline rules for card spending be written?
A receipt rule should define together the document type, who it is issued to, the upload deadline and what happens if it is missing.
Card transactions that appear on the statement without a receipt are where accounting loses the most time at month end. You can add this checklist to your policy:
- Is the receipt issued with the company's legal name and tax number?
- Do the date and amount on the receipt match the statement line?
- For foreign currency spending, is the exchange rate entered?
- Does the description state the business purpose and, where relevant, the attendees?
- Was the receipt uploaded within the deadline set in the policy?
- Whose approval is needed for a receipt that arrives after the period is closed?
We explain step by step how to match statement lines with receipts in our article on corporate credit card statement reconciliation.
Why are limit rules different for cash and card spending?
With cash, an overrun can be blocked before payment; with a card, the money has already left, so the overrun is made visible and recovered instead.
Stopping a cash claim above the limit makes sense because the company has not paid yet. Stopping a card transaction does not undo the purchase; it only delays its recording. That is why the same category needs two separate rules:
| Payment type | Category | Limit (example) | Rule type | Deduction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | Business meal | TRY 400 | Block | No |
| Corporate card | Business meal | TRY 400 | Warning | Yes |
With cash, the employee cannot claim more than TRY 400. With the card, the expense is recorded, the approver sees the warning and the overrun is subject to deduction.
How does it work in Masraff?
In Masraff, a corporate card policy is applied through rules set by payment type in the Expense Policy Engine.
- Rules by payment type: Separate rules are written for cash and corporate card spending in the same category. As in the table above, you can choose block for cash and warning for card.
- Warning or block: Each rule has its own warning message; the rule either blocks the process or only shows a warning. Warnings appear both when the expense is entered and in the expense form the approver sees.
- Deduction: When defining a rule, you choose whether overruns under that rule are subject to deduction. For this to work correctly, your ERP must be ready to post deduction entries.
- Limits: Limits are set by category, by day or month, and by number of attendees.
- Closed categories and cut-off: With Block Categories, categories the company does not want used are taken out of use; with Last Expense Acceptance Day, the last day on which expenses are accepted is set.
- Statement Reconciliation: The Excel statement you get from the bank is uploaded, and its lines are matched with expenses by card ID, date and amount. Employees are notified to upload receipts for the expenses created from the statement, and accounting can see how many lines have receipts and how many are still missing.
You can see how statement upload, matching and missing-receipt tracking work on the corporate card spending and Statement Reconciliation page.
Frequently asked questions
What are the rules for using a corporate card?
The core rules are: the card is used only for business spending and only by the cardholder, a receipt issued to the company is obtained for every purchase, receipts are uploaded within the set deadline, and personal spending is reported immediately.
What should a company do when an employee makes a personal purchase with a corporate card?
The amount is not booked as an expense; in Turkey it is tracked in account 135 (receivables from employees) and recovered from the employee. Because the recovery method depends on labour law, confirm the policy clause with your adviser.
How are corporate card limits set?
Limits are set by category and period: for example, per purchase for business meals and per day or month for transport. For spending with attendees, multiplying the limit by the number of people is a fair approach.
When should the receipt for a corporate card purchase be submitted?
The company sets the deadline, for example 5 working days after the purchase. The deadline should end before the statement closes and before the accounting period is closed.