You get home from three weeks in China, upload your expense report, and it comes back the same day: "no receipts attached."
You open Alipay, look for a receipt button, find nothing, and decide the app simply doesn't do receipts.
It does. The button exists for every single transaction. It's just buried in the most predictable-yet-invisible place in the whole app: inside the transaction itself, not anywhere on the home screen. You have to open the exact payment you want documented, and only then does the receipt option appear.
If you're in China on anything reimbursable, this is the five-minute skill that saves you a very unpleasant week of reconstruction.
The e-receipt is inside the transaction
Both major apps issue a per-transaction electronic receipt, and both hide it the same way.
Alipay: tap Me, then Bills, then tap the specific transaction. On the detail page you'll see an option like Apply for Receipt (申请收据). That generates an electronic receipt for that one payment.
WeChat: tap Me, then Services, then Wallet, then Transactions. Tap the transaction, and look for Request Receipt on the detail screen.
Didi (the ride app): open your ride history, tap the ride, then look for a receipt or invoice option — the exact wording shifts between versions. A simple PDF receipt for the ride usually downloads quickly — handy for a per-trip log if you're doing client work.
The pattern is the same everywhere in Chinese apps: the receipt is a property of the transaction, not a global export. Once you know that, it takes ten seconds. Before you know it, you can swipe through every menu in the app and find nothing.
One warning from experience: don't wait weeks to do this. If you batch it at the airport on your way home, you'll be tapping through hundreds of transactions while your boarding group gets called. Do it nightly, like brushing your teeth. It's genuinely a two-tap job per transaction.
Why your e-receipt still gets rejected
Here's the second half of the problem, and it's the part nobody warns you about: an electronic receipt from Alipay or WeChat is often not what a finance department means by "receipt" in China.
China has its own tax invoice called a fapiao (发票). It's an official invoice issued through the tax system, printed or issued electronically by the merchant, and it's the only thing many Chinese companies (and some foreign ones with China entities) will accept for reimbursement.
An e-receipt proves you paid. A fapiao proves the merchant declared the sale to the tax authority. Finance teams care about the second one.
So if your expense report comes back again even after you attached e-receipts, that's why. You need the fapiao route.
The fapiao route
The good news: for a traveler, getting one is usually just a sentence at the counter.
Ask the merchant directly. When you pay at a hotel, restaurant, or shop, say "fapiao" (发票, roughly "faa-piao"). Even one word works — hand over your phone with the word typed in the notes app if your pronunciation dies. Many merchants can issue an electronic fapiao on the spot, sent to your email or shown as a QR code.
Know what title you need. For personal expenses, the fapiao goes under your own name — have your passport name ready to spell out. For a company reimbursement, you typically need the company name and the company tax ID, so ask your finance team for the exact title before the trip, not after. This is the part that quietly ruins a whole stack of fapiao: the name on it doesn't match what finance needs.
Mind the window. Tax invoices have an issue deadline, and for things like rides it arrives sooner than most travellers expect. If your trip is long, don't leave the whole stack for the last week — requests expire quietly.
Hotels are your friends. Big hotels issue fapiao at checkout almost reflexively — just ask when you settle the bill, and check the name and amount before you leave the desk. Small vendors and street food often can't issue one at all; that's normal, so don't build your expense plan around those meals.
If the merchant can't or won't
A few fallbacks, in the order I'd try them:
- Check the merchant's own mini-program. Many chains (coffee shops, fast food, ride receipts) issue receipts or invoices more cleanly inside their own mini-program than through the wallet app you paid with.
- Use the e-receipt plus a transaction screenshot as interim proof. It won't satisfy strict finance departments, but it keeps your report moving while you chase the fapiao.
- Ask at the brand level, not the branch level. If one branch says no, the chain's customer service can often point you to their standard invoice channel.
And keep everything the moment you get it. Screenshots of e-receipts, fapiao PDFs, ride history — one album per trip. Future-you at the airport is too tired to do archaeology.
The 60-second nightly routine
- Open today's transactions in Alipay and WeChat, apply for the e-receipt on anything reimbursable.
- Anywhere you'll want a fapiao, ask at the counter when you pay, with the right title ready.
- For Didi rides, request the PDF receipt the same evening, before the invoice window closes on you.
- File everything in one photo album per trip.
Do that, and "no receipts attached" never happens.
The full step-by-step version of this — the exact tap paths for each app, why the button is buried there, and the three fallbacks when the in-app receipt isn't enough — I keep at https://chinaunstuck.com/fix/alipay-request-receipt/. It's part of a larger collection of China sticking points ($9.99 for the whole offline kit, but that page is free).
Have you ever had an expense report torched by Chinese payment apps — or found a trick smoother than the nightly routine? I'd like to hear it in the comments.
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