Expenses and mileage

Expenses work alongside time. Filing fees, courier charges, and mileage all cost your firm money, and some of it should reach an invoice.

Where to find it

Add an expense

1. Click Add expense.
2. Set the Date, the Client, and a Category.
3. Write a Description.
4. Enter the Cost amount.
5. Set Billable and Reimbursable.
6. Save.

Billable and reimbursable are different

This is the distinction that matters, and the two are independent.

Billable to client — the client pays for it. It reaches an invoice.

Reimbursable to me — your firm pays you back for it. It's an internal transfer.

An expense can be either, both, or neither:

• You paid a filing fee on your own card and it's rebilled → billable and reimbursable
• The firm paid a filing fee directly and it's rebilled → billable, not reimbursable
• You bought coffee for a client meeting on your card → reimbursable, not billable
• The firm's software subscription → neither

Setting these correctly at entry is the difference between an accurate invoice and an argument in April.

Markup

Markup % raises what you charge above what it cost, with Cost amount and Billable amount shown separately so you can always see both.

Be deliberate here. Marking up a disbursement is normal in some practices and unwelcome in others, and clients notice a $12 courier charge appearing as $18. Whatever you decide, make sure your engagement letter matches.

Mileage

Mileage is entered as Miles and a Rate / mile, producing a Total cost.

Set your rate to whatever your firm uses. Mileage is the expense most often not recorded at all, and over a season of client visits it's not a trivial number.

Getting it onto an invoice

Billable expenses accumulate the same way billable time does, and are pulled onto an invoice with Bill expenses.

An expense marked non-billable never reaches an invoice, which is correct — but if expenses seem to be missing at billing time, that setting is where to look first.

Notes and limits

• Expenses belong to a client. A firm cost with no client isn't billable.
• Markup applies to the billable amount, not the recorded cost.
• Reimbursement is tracked here but paid through your own payroll or expense process.
• Editing an expense already on an issued invoice doesn't change the invoice.