A PTA reimbursement form should capture who to pay, their address, contact information, the date, what the purchase was for, the total, the original receipts, and a signature block for the approvals your bylaws require. You may also have a “for treasurer use only” section to capture payment-specific details. This will capture the information you need to pay back your volunteer, create a meaningful audit trail, and document the approvals your bylaws require.
I served as a PTA treasurer for three years across two school districts and trained the treasurers who came after me. The reimbursement form was the centerpiece of my job as treasurer, the thing so many tasks orbited around, and where I spent the most time. Having a good form and reimbursement process is probably the biggest thing you can control to make the treasurer’s job easier and run more efficiently.
A quick note: the fields below reflect the financial procedures most PTAs, PTOs, and booster clubs follow. Form names and dollar thresholds vary from one organization to the next, so always check your own bylaws and adapt the template to match.
What a PTA reimbursement form needs
Each field answers a question the treasurer, the board, or a year-end financial reviewer would otherwise have to come back and ask.
- Who to pay. The payee, the person or vendor getting the money. Leave room for a separate submitter name too, for when someone files on another’s behalf or hands you a vendor’s invoice to pay rather than a reimbursement to themselves.
- Their address. Where a mailed check goes and a record of whom was paid beyond just a name.
- Contact information. A phone number and email in case you have follow-up questions.
- The date. When the request was submitted.
- What the purchase was for. An itemized description of what was bought and for which program or event. “Poster board and markers for the fall festival, $84” is much better than “Supplies, $84.” Ask the submitter to be descriptive and include the program so you know which budget category to code the request to.
- The total. It should reconcile with the line items and receipts. If the request and the receipts disagree, resolve that before anything moves.
- The original receipts. Itemized receipts, including name, date, and amount paid. If there was a tip, ask the vendor to write it on the receipt so it is documented.
- A signature block. The lines where the expense gets authorized, covered in the next section.
Many forms add a small for treasurer use only section at the bottom: the date paid, the check number or electronic transaction reference, a box to confirm it was coded to the right budget line, etc. This can be helpful depending on your process.
The signature block
The signatures on the reimbursement form authorize the expense. Releasing the payment is a separate control, and only the authorization belongs on the form.
Most PTA procedures have the president and secretary sign to document that the expense was properly authorized: it was in the approved budget and released by the membership. Your bylaws set which roles sign, so match the lines on your form to them.
The payment itself is released later and off the form. When the money actually goes out, two authorized check signers sign the check, or a separate electronic-payment authorization.
For the full workflow, from collecting the request through paying and reconciling it, see the PTA reimbursement process, step by step.
Download a fillable template you can make your own
To save you starting from a blank page, we put together a reimbursement form with all of the fields above already laid out, including the itemized description, the budget-line prompt, the receipts reminder, the full signature block, and the treasurer-use section.
Download the fillable PDF to fill out on a computer, or print it and complete by hand. Adapt the budget categories, signature roles, and any dollar thresholds to match your own bylaws.
Want it with your own name and logo on it? The free reimbursement form generator lets you add your organization’s name and logo, choose which fields to include, name your signers, and download a branded version in a few seconds.
From a paper form to an efficient online process
Whatever your form looks like, the work it creates is the same: fill a form, check it against the budget, the right people sign, pay it, and record it into the books. A form on paper means every person involved is a separate handoff. We built Volo Cash to make that all easier.
- A volunteer submits without an account. They fill out one form online, suggest a budget category, and attach the receipt. No login, no paper to lose in a folder.
- The request arrives already coded. It reaches you on the right budget line, with the remaining balance for that line shown before you approve.
- The signature block becomes your signing rules. Volo Cash collects the signatures your bylaws require without coordinating times to sign paper.
- The payment authorization is generated for you. When the last signer approves, you have a documented electronic-payment authorization and can pay straight through your bank’s bill pay.
- It lands in your books automatically. The moment it is paid, it is recorded against the right budget line, so there is no second bookkeeping step and reconciliation becomes matching what is already there.
You can try Volo Cash free for three months and run a real reimbursement through your own organization’s setup, from a volunteer’s phone to your year-end books.
For the whole workflow around the form, see the PTA reimbursement process, and for where the form fits in the rest of the job, the complete PTA treasurer handbook.