It is perfectly normal to incur expenses on behalf of your client, as providing such convenient service will boost your competitive advantage. Nevertheless, being flexible does not mean you need to endure those costs yourself. With FreshBooks, you can easily invoice an expense to a client, and keep all records of your cashflow.
The most important part is not to startle your client with unexpected invoices that are not clearly explained. Reimbursed expenses need to be previously discussed, and most of the times, provided with proof of payment. That is why FreshBooks allows you to describe the purpose of the expense and attach a picture of the receipt to stay on the safe side with your client.
Before starting with the invoice, we need to make sure that your expense is Marked as Billable.
Start creating your expense and follow these steps:
Head to the settings at the bottom of your Expense draft and click on ‘Marked as Billable’
When enabled, the following options will pop-up for you to fill out:
Choose a Client
Click on the client you will be billing from your clientele list.
Include Image of Receipt
Clients may require proof of bill if you’re incurring an expense on behalf of them. So including a picture will avoid any disputes regarding the payment.
If you attach a picture but do not enable this option, it will not be visible on the invoice.
Your client can view the attachment and download it as well.
Add a Mark Up
Depending on your agreement with your client, you can add a percentage mark up to the total amount in return for your services.
The total amount of your expense will remain the same. This percentage increase will only be added to your invoice.
Save your Expense and head to the Invoices tab at the bottom
(If you need more help creating an Expense, check out our guide on How to Add an Expense on FreshBooks)
Click on the green ‘+’ sign to create a new invoice
Choose your online payment method
Add a client
Choose the same client you have marked as billable to in your expense.
Add a line
Choose the first item on the list: ‘1 unbilled expense’.
It will automatically add your expense along with its purpose and picture.
If you have more things to charge your client with, you can add additional products or services from your items list to the same invoice.
Complete your Invoice and share it with your client
If you want to learn more about invoices, check out our guide on How to Create an Invoice on FreshBooks.
Keep in mind that your client will not see the breakdown of the total amount, so you may want to include the mark up detail in the notes or terms to clear things out.
Keep Track of your Invoiced Expenses
You can keep tabs on both charged and due bills with FreshBooks, as it automatically integrates the status of your expenses with the invoices sent to clients. Once you invoice an expense, the status will directly turn from ‘unbilled’ to ‘billed’.
Plus, if your client has several bills due, they will receive a reminder of the total outstanding payments at the beginning of every invoice. So you don’t have to worry about constantly following up on those bills.
If you’re looking for an easy payment method without the need of an invoice, you can use the Checkout Links feature. Learn more on What’s a Checkout Link on FreshBooks?
Yasmin is a former chef and event planner, currently pursuing her degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management, and adding a dash of spice to content writing.
Interested in running her own business one day, Yasmin enters the world of entrepreneurship with an eye for cutting edge solutions in the fintech world.