Billing rates are similar to price levels, but they focus on who does the work (employee or vendor), rather than who the work is done for (customer).
This feature is only available in the Contractor, Professional Services, and Accountant versions of QuickBooks.
The next screenshot shows the New Billing Rate setup window. It is accessed at Lists|Billing Rate Lists.
A name must be selected in order to create a new billing rate. That is entered in the upper most field in the window. Then two alternatives are presented. The billing rate can create the same hourly rate regardless of service performed. Or, it can allow the setting of different hourly rates for different service items.
For our example here, we will create a billing rate named Apprentice. We will select the service item Labor. The rate for Labor, using the Apprentice Billing Rate Level will be $35.00. Normally, the price for Labor is $55 per hour.
We need to specify to QuickBooks where we want to use this billing rate. What employees and/or vendors work at the Apprentice rate?
In the above screenshot, the employee Elizabeth Mason has been selected. We will specify that, by default, Elizabeth performs Labor at the Apprentice Billing Level.
Elizabeth works her time for the week and it is recorded on the Weekly Timesheet in QuickBooks. Ten hours of her time was spent on Kristy Abercrombie’s Kitchen job.
When the time is pulled into the invoice, it populates the invoice with the Labor service item, but at the Apprentice rate of $35.00 per hour. The top line in the above invoice was entered manually using the Labor item, thus the $55 rate. Elizabeth’s time populated the invoice at $35 per hour.
Billing rates are a good way to assign different hourly rates for the same service to various employees and vendors with different level skill sets. The person entering the invoice data does not need to know the various rate levels in order to produce the invoice. QuickBooks knows.
Hector Garcia, CPA
Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor
12401 Orange Drive #136
Davie, FL 33330
954-414-1524
hector@garciacpa.com
