Don’t Buy It on That Card: Why Mixing Business and Personal Expenses Makes Everyone Miserable
You meant to grab your business card, you really did, but there you were, juggling an iced latte, a Slack notification, and a gas pump that refuses to cooperate and you swiped the wrong one. Again.
It’s fine, you’ll “just reimburse yourself later,” right?
NO! Don't mix company and personal expenses.
NO! Don't mix company and personal expenses.
NO! Don't mix company and personal expenses.
The business version of this, which, let's be fair, should also be considered sound advice for businesses
But let's talk about WHY you should stop — not because your accountant said so (though, yes, we did), but because it’s quietly sabotaging your business’s credibility, data, and peace of mind.
1. Your Business Is a Separate Creature and You Should Treat It Like One
If you’ve got an LLC, corporation, or partnership, congrats: you have a legal entity that’s not you.
That separation is what gives you limited liability protection, aka the invisible force field between your personal life and your business chaos.
Every time you use company funds for personal stuff (or personal funds for business), you undermine that protection and blur the line that keeps your personal assets safe.
Even if you’re a sole proprietor, separation still matters – your books double as your memory, and nothing ruins that faster than half your groceries showing up under “office supplies.”
2. QuickBooks Doesn't Care About Your Feelings
Your books and bank statements don’t actually care about your intentions, or whether or not you pinky promised to reimburse yourself. They just record what happened, and the accuracy of that record depends on your bookkeeping, not what you're planning on happening.
When personal expenses sneak into your business accounts:
- Your P&L starts whispering sweet nothings about profitability that don’t actually exist.
- Cash flow looks fine until you realize half of it went to Trader Joe’s.
- Your accountant stares into the abyss, labeling “Amazon” transactions and quietly losing faith in humanity.
Every time you mix cards, you distort your business’s story, and your story is what investors, lenders, and future-you rely on to make smart decisions.
3. The IRS Doesn’t Care About Your Feelings
You can have the purest intentions, the color-coded spreadsheet, and the “I’ll fix it later” energy of a founder on five cups of coffee, but none of it matters at tax time.
The IRS cares about documentation — and only documentation.
Business expenses have to be ordinary and necessary for your trade.
Personal ones don’t count.
If you’re audited and can’t separate the two, deductions get denied, penalties pile up, and your accountant gets that thousand-yard stare again.
4. The Grown-Up Fixes (They’re Boring, but They Work)
- Use a dedicated business account and card.
Yes, always. Yes, even for small purchases. If it’s business-related, it belongs there. - If you slip, record it properly.
A personal card used for business? Log it as an owner contribution (LLC/sole prop) or a reimbursement request (corporation).
Don’t “just move money around.” That’s not bookkeeping, that’s chaos with extra steps. - Never pay personal bills from business funds.
If you do, call it what it is: an owner draw or shareholder distribution.
Translation: not deductible. - Automate your guardrails.
Tools like Ramp or Divvy let you assign cards to specific users, set spending limits, and flag non-business transactions before they turn into tax-season horror stories. - Reconcile weekly, not yearly.
Five minutes on Friday beats five hours in April. Your future self will thank you. - Keep receipts and notes.
Not for the IRS, for you (and your accountant, but also the IRS). Documentation is clarity, and clarity is confidence.
5. This Isn’t Just A Compliance Thing, It’s Also About Credibility
When you mix business and personal, it’s not just messy, it looks sloppy.
To lenders, investors, even your future accountant, it signals that your systems aren’t mature yet.
You might see convenience. They see risk.
Clean books say, “I’m running a real company.”
Mixed books say, “I’m winging it and praying my Visa bill balances out.”
You deserve to be taken seriously, and that starts with separating your financial life from your business’s.
6. The Bottom Line
If it’s business, use the business card.
If it’s personal, don’t.
If you mix them up, fix it fast and move on.
Clean records aren’t just compliance, they’re self-respect in spreadsheet form and you deserve clean books that don't include any vacations in Vail, vaccines at the vet, various vices at the vape store, or wherever else your private life takes you.