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Automatic Late Fees on Invoices
Automatic Late Fees on Invoices

Automatically apply late fees to late invoices

Allie Melhem avatar
Written by Allie Melhem
Updated over 2 years ago

Overview

In Docketwise, you can use the automatic late fees feature to:

  • Automatically apply late fees to invoices

  • Automatically apply recurring late fees to invoices

  • Choose whether to charge a flat late fee or a percentage of the outstanding balance

Contents


How Automatic Late Fees Work

Automatic Late Fees

When the option is enabled, these late fees are automatically applied (overnight) to invoices that are considered to be late.

Note: An invoice is considered to be late if the invoice's balance is not fully paid by the time of the Due Date indicated on the invoice

Automatic Recurring Late Fees

When this option is enabled, you can set a frequency (in days) for how often recurring late fees should be added if the invoice remains Late and Unpaid.

Note: The recurring late fees will continue to be added until the invoice's balance is paid or the option is disabled on the invoice.

Automatic Late Fee Amount

When using late fees and recurring late fees, you are able to indicate how much is to be charged for the late fees as either a fixed fee or a percent interest.

Fixed Fee: Choose a dollar amount that will be added as a charge.

Percent Interest: Choose a percentage amount of the invoice's outstanding balance that will be added as a charge.


Setting Up Automatic Late Fees

You can set up automatic late fees for invoices on an individual invoice and/or in your firm's default invoice settings.

In an Individual Invoice

In order to set up automatic late fees for an individual invoice, you will need to follow the steps below:

  1. Open the invoice to which you would like to apply the automatic late fee(s)

  2. Access the Invoice Settings tab

  3. Activate the slider bar for the Include Automatic Late Fees & Interest option

  4. Choose whether the late fee will be a Fixed Fee or Percent Interest

  5. Enter the numeric value for the fixed fee or percent interest

  6. If you would like to add add automatic recurring late fees, you will need to follow the steps below:

    1. Activate the slider bar for the Recurring Late Fee option

    2. Enter the frequency in days for which additional late fees will be added

In Default Invoice Settings

After setting up automatic late fees under your firm's default invoice settings, all invoices created thereafter will reflect these automatic late fee preferences, which can be changed on the individual level if desired (see above).

In order to set up automatic late fees for your firm's default invoice settings, you will need to follow the steps below:

  1. Check the box for the Include Automatic Late Fees & Interest option

  2. Choose whether the late fee will be a Fixed Fee or Percent Interest

  3. Enter the numeric value for the fixed fee or percent interest

  4. If you would like to add automatic recurring late fees, you will need to follow the steps below:

    1. Activate the slider bar for the Recurring Late Fee option

    2. Enter the frequency in days for which additional late fees will be added

    3. Click the Save Changes button

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