Billing Rate Settings

The Billing Rates section controls how hourly billing rates and billable status are handled across your site. Choose a Rate Structure, decide whether billable status is set by Project or Task, set a global Default Rate, and (optionally) update existing time entries to a new default.

Where to find it: Company > Preferences > Billing Rates (section).

Jump to a section:

• Rate Structure
• Billable vs Non-Billable
• Default Rate
• Update Rates for Existing Time Entries
• Tips & safeguards
• Troubleshooting

Rate Structure

Choose how your billing rates are determined. You can use a Basic model or an Advanced model with exceptions.

Basic options

• “Our billing rates depend on which Person does the work.”
• “Our billing rates depend on the Project.”
• “Our billing rates depend on the Task or activity performed.”

Advanced options (Team plan or higher)

• “... the Task, and we make exceptions for certain projects.”
• “... the Task, and we make exceptions for certain people.”
• “... the Person, and we make exceptions for certain clients.”
• “... the Person, and we make exceptions for certain projects.”

Billable vs Non-Billable

Decide whether billable status is controlled by the Project or by the Task.

• By Project: The Project Details page includes a Billable field; list views also display billable status per project.
  
• By Task: The Task Details page includes a Billable field; list views display billable status per task.

Note: If your organization uses Project Estimation features (for example, Resource Management), the Task-based billable option may be unavailable since those workflows rely on projects.

Default Rate

Set a company-wide Default billing rate (for example, for people) that can be applied when creating a Person, Project, or Task. For each entity, you can either use the default or specify a custom rate.

• Use Default: The entity tracks the global default. If you later change the Default Rate here, any entity using the default will reflect the new value.
• Custom Rate: The entity uses its own rate and will not change when you update the global default.
  

Update Rates for Existing Time Entries

When you change the Default Rate, you can optionally apply that new default to past time entries from a chosen date.

• Scope selector: Apply to unlocked entries only, or to locked and unlocked entries.
• Cutoff date: Choose the “on or after” date to limit which entries are updated.
• What updates: Only entries that used the default rate are updated. Entries with a custom rate are not changed.
  

Related setting: In Security Settings, administrators can permit bulk changes to rates that affect historical entries. If you enable this option, administrators and managers in your company will be able to make billing rate and cost changes to historical non-locked time entries. They will also be able to make payment type and expense type changes to historical non-approved expenses.

The audit log will record the actual change of cost and billing rates associated with the person or task (depending on your company's Billing Rates settings) and the expense type and payment type changes, but it will not provide a detailed log of all historical time and expense entries affected by these changes.

Tips & safeguards

• Decide once: Pick a rate structure before rollout; switching later can change how rates are selected and may require data cleanup.
• Document exceptions: If you use an Advanced model, note the logic you will follow for client and project exceptions.
• Stage changes: For large Default Rate updates, test on a small date range first, then apply more broadly.

Troubleshooting

• “Billable column is not where I expect.” Check whether you set billable by Project or Task; the flag appears on the corresponding Details page and list.
• “Task-based billable is missing.” Estimation features may be enabled; switch to project-based billable or adjust your estimation setup.
• “I cannot apply to locked entries.” Use the scope selector to include locked and unlocked entries if policy allows, or adjust your lock and approval workflow before applying changes.