Fixed charges

todo.vu’s fixed charges feature allows you to record item-specific charges to clients, projects and tasks in todo.vu.

This helps maintain accurate billing data in todo.vu, and supports simplified invoicing, as fixed charges can be added to client billing reports in addition to time-based charges.

Here’s everything you need to know about fixed charges in todo.vu.

To learn first about creating billing reports in todo.vu, see our Help article here.

Why use todo.vu’s fixed charges feature?

todo.vu integrates time tracking and billing, allowing time to be tracked at a specific billing rate. This enables you to generate detailed reports with built-in calculations that show total time and billing values at various levels—from individual tasks to entire projects.

You can use fixed charges in todo.vu to record additional billable items that are unrelated to time-based charges.

Take, for example, a web developer who charges by the hour but who also needs to charge clients a fixed domain registration fee. They can use todo.vu’s fixed charges feature to add the charge to the task for the client — and then include it in their billing report for that client.

When it’s time to invoice, todo.vu’s billing report can quickly and accurately reflect the web developer’s total time-based and additional charges for that client.

How to add fixed charges in todo.vu

You can add fixed charges to:

• tasks
• projects
• clients.

As per todo.vu’s data heirarchy, when a fixed charge is added to a task, its data is also visible on and categorised by the project the task belongs to — then by the client that project belongs to.

However, when a fixed charge is added to a client, it is neither visible on nor categorised by projects or tasks.

Once fixed charges are added to a task, project and/or client, you can then include them in your billing reports; more on this below.

Note

You may want to revisit this Help article to understand the relationship between tasks, projects and clients in todo.vu.

In short, tasks can be standalone or linked to projects and clients. As billing reports are created based on client profiles in todo.vu, tasks (and task charges) need to be linked to a client before they can appear on billing reports.

So, ensure your tasks are always linked to the right client, so that your task-specific charges can be included in your billing reports accordingly. (Ensure a task is linked to the right client by assigning the client to the task, or assigning a project to the task that already belongs to the client.)

1. Add fixed charges to a task

Beneath the comment editor on each individual task in todo.vu are a row of options represented by icons at the left-hand side – one of which is a currency symbol.

This currency symbol option allows you to add fixed charges to that task. Simply select the symbol, fill out the fixed charge’s details on the pop-up fixed charges modal that appears, and select ‘Add $X’.

The fixed charges modal

No matter where you add a fixed charge (to a task, project or client), the same pop-up modal is used to input details about the fixed charge — and create the charge.

On this modal, you have the options to input:

• a date of the charge
• a unit price
• a quantity
• a description of the charge
• a client/project/task. (A fixed charge will automatically inherit a client, project and/or task where applicable; see the note above. These details can easily be changed; however, this can reassign the charge to the new chosen client/project/task.)

Your fixed charge’s total will be automatically calculated based on the information you input on the modal.

2. Add fixed charges to a project

Click on ‘Projects’ in the left sidebar (or follow this link when signed in to your workspace). Select the project and then select the ‘Billing rates’ tab.

On this page, under the ‘Charges’ section, select ‘Add charge’.

The same fixed charges modal will appear, where you can fill out the details of your fixed charge, and add it to your project.

3. Add fixed charges to a client

You can add fixed charges directly to a client in two ways:

• Via the client’s profile:

Click on ‘Clients’ in the left sidebar (or follow this link when signed in to your workspace). Select the client and then select the ‘Billing rates’ tab.

On this page, under the ‘Charges’ section, select ‘Add charge’.

The same fixed charges modal will appear, where you can fill out the details of your fixed charge, and add it to your client.

• Via the billing report editor:

You can also add fixed charges to a billing report directly; as billing reports are created per client, this adds the fixed charge to the client.

Steps:

• Go to your Billing Dashboard and select the client from the left-hand side to whom you need to bill a fixed charge.
• Remain on the existing default billing report editor page, which is auto populated with your unbilled time (if any). Or, select the plus (+) icon to the right of the ‘Billing reports’ section to create a new billing report for editing.
• On both the default editor and the editor that opens on a new report, you can add fixed charges with the plus (+) icon to the right of the ‘Charges’ section header.

Including fixed charges in billing reports

Billing reports are customized digital records of time billing and fixed charges for a client. They are created per client.

When you add a fixed charge in todo.vu — either to a client, or to a task or project that belongs to a client — the charge automatically appear in the default ‘Unbilled’ section of the billing report editor for that client. Here, this data is ready to be used to create a billing report.

All fixed charges are organised under a separate ‘Charges’ section within the billing report editor. If they are associated with a task or project, they will be organised accordingly.

Note: When fixed charges are added directly within the billing report editor, they’re not connected to either a task nor project. You can connect them to a project and task by editing the fixed charge; see below.

To create and publish a billing report that includes fixed charges for a client, follow the comprehensive steps here.

How fixed charges appear on published billing reports

On published billing reports, fixed charges added at a client level display first on the report, above any time-based charges.

Then, fixed charges are categorised per the project and, if applicable, task they belong to. Fixed charges appear underneath any time-based charges for that same project.

Tax on fixed charges

In todo.vu, if you have configured taxes (such as sales tax) within your billing settings, these are added at the end on top of the final charge of your billing reports. This includes your fixed charges.

So, if your fixed charge already includes a sales tax, ensure you omit this when you add the fixed charge to todo.vu, to avoid adding tax twice.

Edit fixed charges

You can edit any detail on a fixed charge, including the date of the charge, the unit quantity and price, the description, and the task/project/client to which the charge belongs, if any.

To edit a fixed charge on a task:

• Find the charge you want to edit from the timeline underneath the comment editor on a task.
• Ensure that the charge hasn’t already been recorded on a published billing report. If it has, you will see a bill number next to it and it will be uneditable. (If you still want to edit it, you will have to unpublish the report via the billing section of todo.vu using the ‘Retract’ option at the top right of the published report Then, you can proceed with editing the charge.)
• Hover over the charge and select the pencil icon that appears on the right to open the charges modal for editing.

In the screenshot above, a user is free to edit a fixed charged via a task as it has not yet been billed to a client.

To edit a fixed charge from a billing report:

• Ensure that the charge you want to edit hasn’t already been recorded on a published billing report (if it has and you still want to edit it, you will have to unpublish the report via the billing section of todo.vu using the ‘Retract’ option at the top right of the published report).
• Hover over or select the charge you want to edit under the ‘Charges’ section of the unpublished report.
• Select the pencil icon that appears on the left as you hover OR the ‘Edit charge’ button that appears at the bottom of the report if you have selected the charge.
• Use the pop-up fixed charges modal that appears to edit your charge.

Batch edit fixed charges

If you want to edit more than one fixed charge at once, you can do so via the billing report editor.

For this reason, you can only batch edit fixed charges that have been charged to the same client.

Here’s how:

• Ensure the charges you want to edit haven’t already been recorded on a published billing report (see first dotpoints above).
• Select the charges you want to edit; you can select as many as you want.
• Select the ‘Edit charges’ button that appears at the bottom of the editor.
• Use the modal to batch edit your charges.

Note

Even though you can edit multiple charges at once, you can choose to edit only specific aspects of the charge, keeping other aspects the same.

For instance, if you want to edit the description of your charges to the same description, but keep their separate charge value/quantities the same, you can do so. Just edit the description in the modal.

Delete fixed charges

To delete fixed charges, follow the same steps as above to navigate to the fixed charges modal for a charge you want to delete. Then, select the bin icon on the top right of the fixed charge modal that appears to delete the charge.

Fixed charges and your reporting

Fixed charges will soon appear in your Reporting section in todo.vu – stay tuned for more information.

READ NEXT:

Learn about fixed-price projects in todo.vu. Read here >>