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Smart accounting rules and regulatory alerts

Rules that run before you approve a receipt — ones you write yourself or ready-made ones — and the colored warning badges they leave behind.

What?

How an accounting rule works: condition, action, priority, and what happens when the condition isn't metAt the top, the rule's three parts. Condition: field, comparison, and value; multiple conditions combine with all-or-any logic, the web panel builds a single condition. Action: assign category, send to approval, mark non-deductible, split line item, exclude from expense, warn, amount limit, frequency limit. Priority and active state: a lower priority number runs the rule first, an inactive rule doesn't run, before publishing it's tested with Test (last 50), then applied to history with Apply to existing receipts. Below, the flow: a scanned receipt is checked before approval; if the condition matches, the action is applied and a status badge stays on the receipt — colors are yellow, orange, red, and purple/gray on conflict, with the most severe one shown on a given receipt; if the condition doesn't match, the rule leaves the receipt untouched and the next rule is tried. In the end, a rule-warning banner appears in the approval window; the engine doesn't decide, it raises a flag — the user makes the final call.Rule = condition + action; every receipt is scanned once before approval1 · ConditionField + comparison + valueAll / anye.g. Amount > limitSingle condition in web panel2 · ActionAssign category · Send to approvalMark non-deductible · Split line itemExclude from expense · Warn (message)Amount limit · Frequency limit3 · Priority & Active StateLower priority runs firstInactive rule doesn't runBefore publishing: Test (last 50)Then: Apply to existing receiptsScanned receiptbefore approvalConditionmatched?YesAction appliedcategory, flag, approvalStatus badge on receiptyellow · orange · redpurple · gray on conflictMost severe one shownNoLeaves receipt untouchednext rule is triedRule-warning banner in approval windowstatus + reason + accountant noteYou make the final callEngine doesn't decide, raises a flagDoesn't delete or auto-reject the receipt
A rule's three parts (condition, action, priority/active state), and what happens when a receipt is scanned before approval and the condition matches or doesn't.

Rules are small auditors that run before you approve a receipt. They assign categories, flag limit overruns and regulatory risk, and send the receipt to approval if needed. They don't decide, they only raise flags — you have the final say.

🖥️ Desktop 🌐 Web Panel Premium Office ~10 minutes

ℹ️ Important: This information is for guidance only; it does not replace professional accounting advice. Regulations and amounts change, and the outcome varies by the taxpayer's specific situation. Consult your SMMM/YMM (certified accountant) for definitive action. LA Fish does not decide — it only raises flags.

Two types of rules

Type Where it comes from What it does
Ready-made regulatory package Added with a single button Fuel/UTTS and passenger-vehicle expense ratio, alcohol-tobacco, amount exceeding the invoice threshold, fines/MTV, duplicate e-document record, card slip, multiple meal receipts on the same day
Your own rule You set it up Your own expense policy, like "assign category if merchant is X," "send to approval if amount exceeds this limit," or "at most 1 grocery receipt per day"

Warning badges and their colors

When a rule touches a receipt, it leaves a status on that receipt. If multiple rules ran on the same receipt, the most severe one is shown. In the list screen this status appears as a colored badge; in the approval screen it appears as a band of the same color at the top of the window.

Badge Status What it means
🟡 Yellow Warning Caution — there's a reminder, review it. Doesn't block the receipt.
🟡 Yellow Awaiting approval A rule sent the receipt to approval; it won't go through until you look at it.
🟠 Orange Non-deductible The receipt has a non-deductible line item or non-deductible VAT.
🔴 Red Excluded from expense A rule excluded the receipt from expenses; its VAT was also treated as non-deductible.
🟣 Purple Awaiting selection There's a conflict in a frequency rule; you'll choose which one stays.
⚫ Gray Eliminated This receipt was eliminated in a conflict (not deleted, just flagged).

The color order is the severity order: yellow is the mildest, red is the most severe warning. None of them delete the receipt, and none reject it automatically.

How?

🖥️ Desktop — adding ready-made regulatory alerts

  1. Open the Rules screen Press the ⚖️ Rules button on the top toolbar. If your plan isn't Premium Office, this button doesn't show up on the toolbar — see Membership and payment.
  2. Add the ready-made package In the Smart Accounting Rules (Premium Office) window that opens, press 📋 Ready-made: Regulatory rules. Ten rules land in the list at once: fuel/UTTS, passenger-vehicle expense ratio, alcohol-tobacco, invoice threshold, fines/MTV, e-document, card slip, multiple meal receipts on the same day. The app tells you how many rules were added.
  3. Read the warning while approving From then on, rules run automatically on every receipt that's read. When you double-click a receipt to open the approval window, you'll see a rule-warning banner at the top of the window in the color matching the status: which status, what reason, and below it a "consult your accountant for definitive action" note.

After adding the package, you can select each rule in the list one by one and change it with Edit, Toggle On/Off, or Delete. A green dot 🟢 shows the rule is on, an empty circle ⚪️ shows it's off.

If you get stuck: If pressing the button a second time shows "Ready-made regulatory rules already added (not added again)," everything is fine — the package is added once by name, so it isn't duplicated. But a rule you deleted earlier comes back if you press it again: instead of deleting a rule you don't want, it's easier to turn it off with Toggle On/Off.

🖥️ Desktop — writing your own rule

No coding needed; you build the rule from dropdown lists. Press the ＋ New Rule button and fill it in step by step:

  1. Give it a name The name you'll see in the list. Write something meaningful — the ready-made package sits in the same list.
  2. Set the condition One line = one condition: field + comparison + value. Fields: Category, Merchant, Amount (total), VAT %, Date, Time, Payment type, License plate, Has tax ID, Document type, Receipt text, Line item/product name. Comparisons: equals, not equal, greater than, less than, contains, in list, between, regex. You can add multiple conditions and combine them with "all" or "any" logic.
  3. Choose the action What happens when the condition matches: Assign category, Amount limit — warn, Frequency limit — make me choose conflicts, Mark non-deductible, Split line item, Exclude from expense, Send to approval, Warn (message). The sub-box changes depending on the action you pick (category selection, lower/upper amount, warning message, or frequency settings).
  4. Priority and active state A lower Priority number makes the rule run earlier. If the Active box is checked, the rule is on. Finish with Save.
  5. Don't publish without testing Use Test (last 50) to see what the rule would do on the last fifty receipts without changing anything. If the result looks good, use Apply to existing receipts to process past receipts too.

If a frequency rule (like "at most 1 grocery receipt per day") catches multiple receipts at once, either the rule decides which one stays (keep the highest / lowest / first / last) or it asks you. You resolve the ones that ask you, one by one, from the ⚠️ Resolve Conflicts screen.

🌐 Web panel

  1. Open the Rules tab Rules from the left menu. If your plan isn't Premium Office, this tab doesn't show up in the menu.
  2. Check the list The My Rules list isn't empty the first time you open it: the ready-made regulatory package has already been added for you once. If you want to add the package manually (again), the Ready-made Regulatory Rules button is right there.
  3. Add a rule In the New Rule card, choose Name · Field · Condition · Value · Action and press Add. The web panel's builder works with a single condition + single action; multi-condition advanced rules exist in the ready-made package and in the desktop rule builder.
  4. Apply to history Reapply to Receipts processes the rules against the receipts in your archive again. Categories you corrected by hand are preserved — reapplying doesn't undo your correction.
  5. Toggle, delete Use the switch in the list to turn a rule off, and the trash button to delete it.

📱 Mobile

There's no rule management on mobile. The app says so explicitly and directs you to the web panel. Rules still apply to receipts you capture with your phone — setting up and editing rules is done on desktop or in the web panel. For the full list of what's done where: Where is what.

Why is it like this?

Why do rules run before approval? Because a mistake noticed after you've approved a receipt is a mistake that has already gone to accounting. The rule engine scans the receipt once before you look at it; it flags anything suspicious and sends it to approval if needed. That way, the three receipts out of hundreds that you'd otherwise miss show up in front of you in color.

Why doesn't the engine decide? Because the same receipt is deductible for one taxpayer and not for another. The receipt doesn't say whether the vehicle is a passenger car or a commercial one, or whether the meal was a business meal. So the engine doesn't say "this was rejected"; it says "pay attention to this, here's why" and leaves the decision to you. Your decision is recorded, so you can look back at it later.

Why are amounts written into the rule's name? Amounts like the invoice-issuing threshold change every year. So the amount isn't hard-coded — it sits inside the rule with a year label. When you add the ready-made package again in a new year, a new rule arrives with that year's threshold; deleting or turning off the old one is up to you.

Why do rules run on your device? On desktop, your rule list sits in the database on your own computer and is applied as the receipt is processed there — rule content isn't sent to the server. Your expense policy, your limits, what you say about which merchant — that's your own business's confidential information; there's no reason for the app to carry it outside. In the web panel, rules are tied to your account, because the panel itself already works with your account.

If you get stuck: The rule list on desktop and the rule list in the web panel are separate lists. A rule you write on desktop doesn't show up in the web panel, and the reverse is also true. If you want the same behavior in both places, you need to set up the rule in both.

If you get stuck: You can't manually change the Rule status field in the approval window; that field is calculated by the rules. You change conflict decisions from the ⚠️ Resolve Conflicts screen, and the rule itself from the Rules screen. If a warning you expect never shows up, first confirm the rule is 🟢 on, then verify with Test (last 50) that the condition actually matches.

If you get stuck: If you can't see the ⚖️ Rules button or the Rules tab at all, the problem isn't the rule, it's the plan — rules only show up on Premium Office. What each plan covers is on the Pricing page; if you're seeing a different error message, see Troubleshooting.

Related pages

Reading and approval

This is where you see the rule-warning banner — the full receipt-approval flow.

Defter-Beyan (GİB)

Exporting receipts that passed the rules to GİB's Defter-Beyan; the continuation of the regulatory side.

Sending to accounting

If the flags are clear, the next step is sending receipts to your accounting software.

Membership and payment

The rule engine unlocks on Premium Office; see and change your plan here.

Last updated: 2026-10-06

Ready to put rules to work?

The ready-made regulatory package is one button; it handles the rest as receipts are read.

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