Expenses 101
If you’re looking to submit an expense or to better understand how your funds can be used for, you’re in the right place. This document covers how to get paid, what kinds of expenses are allowed, tax information and the key rules and limitations that apply when spending from a project’s budget.
Invoice vs Reimbursements
When submitting an expense to your project, it’s important to understand the key difference between an invoice and a reimbursement. These terms may be used differently depending on where you’re located, but they serve different purposes and must be submitted correctly.
TL;DR: What’s the difference?
| Expense Type | Use When | Key Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice | You’re requesting payment for work / services you did | Detailed description of the work provided Timeframe that you completed the work Links that support the work completed, such as GitHub commits etc. |
| Reimbursement | You’ve already paid out-of-pocket for a project expense | Receipt from vendor Amount equal to or lower what was spent |
Invoices
When to Use
Submit an invoice when you’re requesting payment for work or services provided to the project.
What to Include
- Clear description of what you did
- When you did it
- How it supported the project
Explain what you did in clear, specific terms and when you did it. Write it as if you’re describing the work to someone who doesn’t know the project.
Examples of Acceptable Descriptions
- Fixed a bug with x feature in March 2026
- Added x feature in March 2026
Invoice Attachments
A PDF invoice is not required by us, but you are welcome to provide one for your own accounting reasons. If you are interested in including a PDF invoice, it needs to be addressed to:
The Modding Foundation
127 W Hargett St Ste 301
Raleigh, NC 27601
A PDF invoice will be generated for you and sent to your email address if none is provided.
Reimbursements
When to Use
Submit a reimbursement when you’ve already paid for something that directly supports the project using your own money.
What to Include
- Receipt or approved proof of payment (not invoices) a. Vendor b. Purchase Description / Itemized copy c. Transaction Date d. Amount Paid (in any currency) e. Project name or payee’s name
We are responsible for ensuring all funds are used to support your project. Reimbursements must show how it benefits the project.
Reimbursement Guidelines
- The amount and currency must match the receipt, we will automatically convert to USD based on current exchange rates. We can’t reimburse you for money you didn’t spend.
- The required information listed above must be clear and legible in the receipt.
- If it’s not obvious, the expense should include a short explanation of how the purchase supported the project in the Additional Notes section.
- Reimbursements for personal expenses unrelated to the project are not allowed.
- The receipt must have your legal information on it for us to reimburse you, we will only reimburse the person who paid for the expense.
Paying For Large Expenses That Can’t Be Covered Out-Of-Pocket
- For large expenses that you cannot pay out-of-pocket, you can have your vendors submit invoices to us at payable@hytalemodding.dev.
- If asking your vendor to submit an invoice to us is not possible, please share your vendor’s bank account information with us and we will add them as a Payee on your account. You will be able to select them while creating an expense and we will pay them directly.
- An invoice is still required to be addressed to either your project or one of its members for us to pay the vendor.
Processing Expenses
Expenses are reviewed in the order they are made, and payments are processed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If your expense is incomplete, we will not be able to process any payments and you will have to wait until the next payment day for us to process it again.
When we are making your payment, your expense will be marked as “Processing”, this is your last chance to change details in the expense and inform us directly by leaving a comment on the expense or messaging @itsneil on Discord to cancel the payment.
Once we have processed your payment from our side, your expense will be marked as “Paid” after which we cannot make any changes to the expense details.
All bank transfers will have your collective name and the expense number as the reference, if you are paying out directly to a vendor and their automatic systems require a different reference number, please include it in your expense.
Expenses marked as Incomplete or not been paid
If your expense was marked as “incomplete”, it means that we need more information before processing the payment. This does not mean that your payment was cancelled, it’s just paused until an issue or question is resolved. If there is action that the payee or project admin must take, we will leave a comment in the expense. If no comment is left on the expense, no action is required from you, we are internally reviewing the payment for a different reason.
What if I had an issue with my expense and it’s paid?
We use Wise to payout expenses, so in most cases it is impossible to change information on a payment after it’s been made, but inform us about any discrepancies immediately and we will look at our options on what we can do. If the expense has been paid and we can’t reverse it, we can provide you with a transfer confirmation of the amount as proof of payment for you to show to your vendor.