Charge Late Fees on Unpaid Invoices

A Consequence, Not a Reminder

Some customers pay when you ask. Some pay when it costs them not to. Late fees add a charge to an invoice that's sat unpaid past its due date, and re-send the bill with the new balance.

This is on both plans. Only the shop owner can turn it on or change it, and it's off by default.

Turning Late Fees On

1. Go to Settings and open the Invoices tab.
2. Find the Late fees card and switch on Charge late fees automatically.
3. Set your terms:
   • Days past due before the first fee. Your grace period. Starts at 0, meaning a fee can land the day after the due date. Most shops want 5 to 15 here.
   • Fee type: % of balance or Flat amount.
   • Fee, either the percentage or the dollar amount, depending on the type.
   • Repeat every (days, while unpaid). Starts at 30. This is a recurring fee, not a one-off.
   • Late fee terms, the sentence printed at the bottom of every invoice.
4. Tap Save late fee settings.

Write Your Terms, and Mean Them

The Late fee terms box is what the customer actually sees. Something like: "A 10% late fee applies to balances unpaid 30 days after the due date."

Your terms print at the bottom of the invoice PDF, the print view, and the customer's online invoice page, but only while late fees are switched on. You can type terms with fees off, and nothing will print. A fee that arrives with no warning on the original bill is a fight you'll lose, so turn the switch on and let the terms ride along.

What Actually Happens

Once a day, KeyBolt looks for unpaid invoices past their grace period and adds the fee as a line on the same invoice, labelled with the date it was applied. The customer gets the invoice email again with a banner showing the fee, the new balance, and your terms. The payment link doesn't change, so an old email still works.

Two things worth knowing:

• The fee is calculated on what they owe you, never on other late fees. No compounding fees on fees.
• Late fees are never taxed. A finance charge isn't a sale.

When a Fee Won't Be Charged

KeyBolt skips an invoice that's paid, void, written off, still inside its grace or repeat window, or carrying a credit memo. That last one is the escape hatch: if you want to forgive a customer's late fees, issue a credit memo and KeyBolt stops adding fees to that invoice.

Related

• Chasing unpaid invoices
• Issue credit memos