Run a Call can add a late fee to invoices that are still unpaid after their due date. You choose a percent of the balance or a flat amount, how many days after the due date the first fee lands, and whether it repeats every 30 days until the invoice is paid. Late fees are off until you turn them on.

Who can do this: owners and admins. Anyone else sees the settings read-only, with Only an owner or admin can change late fees.

Turn on late fees

  1. Go to Invoices and click the gear icon (Invoice settings) next to Generate invoice.
  2. Open Late fees.
  3. Turn on Add late fees to past-due invoices.
  4. Under Late fee, choose Percent of balance or Flat amount, and type the amount.
  5. Set Days after the due date. The first fee is added this many days after the invoice's due date.
  6. Leave Repeat every 30 days until paid on to add another fee every 30 days, or turn it off to add a single fee.
  7. Click Save changes.

Below the settings, an example shows what an invoice with $1,000.00 unpaid would get, so you can check the numbers before you save.

The rules

  • Only invoices created in Run a Call. Invoices you imported from your previous software or from QuickBooks never get a late fee. Draft, paid and void invoices are skipped, and so are payment schedule (milestone) invoices.
  • Membership renewal invoices are skipped, so a fee never lands on a renewal that may be on autopay.
  • Paused reminders mean no fee. If you paused overdue reminders on the invoice or on the customer, it doesn't get a late fee while they're paused. See Overdue invoice reminders.
  • Fees start from the day you turn this on. Nothing is charged for the time before. With repeat on, an invoice that's already past due gets its first fee at its next 30-day mark. With repeat off, an invoice whose fee date has already passed doesn't get one.
  • No late catch-up. A fee whose date passed more than a week ago is never added later, for example after an invoice's reminders were paused and then resumed.
  • Changes apply from today. Changing the days or the repeat setting doesn't add or remove fees on past dates.
  • Fees are worked out on what's still owed. A percent fee is a share of the unpaid balance, never of earlier late fees. It's capped at 25% per 30 days. A flat fee is never more than what's still owed on the invoice.

The check runs every morning.

What happens on the invoice

The fee is added as a Late fee line on the invoice, with Added automatically on and the date under it. The invoice total and balance go up by the fee.

Nothing is sent to the customer when a fee is added. If you want them to see the new total, open the invoice and click Resend invoice. Overdue reminder texts and emails that go out after the fee was added show the new amount.

Waive a fee

  1. Open the invoice and click Edit.
  2. Click the three dots on the Late fee line and choose Delete this item.
  3. Confirm, then click Done editing.

A fee you delete isn't added again.

In QuickBooks

If you're connected to QuickBooks Online, the fee syncs on the same invoice as a non-taxable line, posted to the same Services item that custom lines use. See How invoice details sync to QuickBooks Online.