Key takeaways
- Taxes, delivery fees, fuel charges, credits, and other fees on an invoice are entered as miscellaneous charges, not as line items.
- By default, MarginEdge books miscellaneous charges proportionately across all the Categories on the invoice.
- You can book each type of miscellaneous charge to a single Category instead, either for one vendor (Vendors > Edit Vendor) or for all vendors at once (Vendors > Configure Defaults).
- Miscellaneous charges change Category totals only. They never change a Product's price.
What are miscellaneous charges in MarginEdge?
Miscellaneous charges in MarginEdge are the invoice-level fees and credits that are not tied to a single line item: taxes, delivery, shipping, freight, and fuel charges, credits, and other fees. Miscellaneous charges are recorded in their own fields on the invoice, and your vendor settings decide which Categories they are booked to. In reports, miscellaneous charges appear within each Category as Misc Charges and Credits.
Miscellaneous charges are also referred to as misc charges, misc fees, invoice fees, non-line-item charges, taxes and delivery fees, or fuel surcharges.
Where miscellaneous charges appear in MarginEdge
Miscellaneous charge fields on the invoice
On the Orders page, open any invoice. The miscellaneous charge fields appear below the line items:
- Taxes / PST
- Input Tax Credits (GST/HST), shown only for Canadian restaurant units
- Delivery Fees
- Credit Amount
- Other, with a Description of Charge
Category Summary view on the invoice
To see how an invoice's miscellaneous charges were split across Categories, switch the invoice from the Line Items view to the Category Summary view.
Category Report and Usage Report
The Category Report shows the miscellaneous charges booked to each Category for each invoice. The Usage Report shows miscellaneous charges as Misc Charges and Credits within each Category.
Note: While these charges are booked to the categories on the invoice, they do not affect the product price in any way, only the category total.
How miscellaneous charges are booked
Each type of miscellaneous charge (Taxes / PST, Delivery / Shipping / Freight / Fuel, Credits, and Other) has its own booking setting. Each booking option is described below.
Book Proportionately (default)
Book Proportionately splits the miscellaneous charge across every expense Category on the invoice, based on each Category's share of the invoice's line-item total. New vendors are set to Book Proportionately for all miscellaneous charge types by default.
Book to One Category
Book to One Category sends the whole miscellaneous charge to a single Category you choose, such as a Delivery Fees Category. Use Book to One Category when your accountant wants a charge type tracked in its own general ledger account.
How tax-exempt Products affect tax booking
Products and Categories marked tax-exempt do not receive a share of the invoice's taxes when taxes are booked proportionately. If every Product on an invoice is tax-exempt but the vendor still charged tax, the tax is moved from the Tax Box to the Other Box and add the note: “Sales Tax on Consumables.” To set this up, see Make Products or Categories Tax Exempt.
Example
An invoice has two line items, a tax, and a delivery fee. The vendor uses the default Book Proportionately setting.
- Ground beef (Meat & Poultry Category): $20.00, which is 80% of the line-item total
- Gloves (Cleaning Supplies Category): $5.00, which is 20% of the line-item total
- Taxes: $2.00
- Delivery fee: $0.75
With Book Proportionately, the charges are split by those percentages:
- Meat & Poultry receives 80% of the tax: $1.60
- Meat & Poultry receives 80% of the delivery fee: $0.60
- Cleaning Supplies receives 20% of the tax: $0.40
- Cleaning Supplies receives 20% of the delivery fee: $0.15
If the vendor's Delivery / Shipping / Freight / Fuel setting is changed to Book to One Category with a Delivery Fees Category selected, the taxes are still split as above, and the Delivery Fees Category receives the full delivery fee of $0.75.
In both cases, the price of ground beef and gloves stays the same. Only the Category totals change.
How to book miscellaneous charges to one Category for a single vendor
- From the main menu, select Vendors.
- Select the vendor you want to configure.
- Select Edit Vendor.
- Scroll down to the Accounting Configuration section.
- Check the Configure how to handle Miscellaneous Charges checkbox.
- For each charge type you want to change, select Book to One Category.
- In the drop-down next to that option, choose the Category.
- Leave any charge type you want split across Categories set to Book Proportionately.
- Select Save.
For this example, we will map Delivery / Shipping / Freight / Fuel misc charges to the Category "Delivery Fees" but leave the other miscellaneous charges set to the default
If a charge type shows a lock icon, it is locked in Configure Defaults and can only be changed there. Select the lock icon to open the Default Settings page.
New vendor settings apply only to invoices not yet in Closed status.
How to set miscellaneous charge rules for all vendors at once
- From the main menu, select Vendors.
- Select Configure Defaults. The Default Settings page opens.
- Find the miscellaneous charges settings.
- Change the setting from Unlocked to Custom Default or Locked. While a setting is Unlocked, its options can't be edited. See “Unlocked, Custom Default, and Locked settings” section below for more information on these settings
- For each charge type, select Book Proportionately or Book to One Category.
- If you chose Book to One Category, choose the Category in the drop-down.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Save.
Here you will see the same basic interface allowing you to choose which miscellaneous charges you want booked to which categories.
Unlocked, Custom Default, and Locked settings
- Unlocked: The options on the Default Settings page can't be edited. Each vendor's own setting is used while the default is Unlocked.
- Custom Default: The setting on the Default Settings page applies to all future vendors, but you can still change it on an individual vendor.
- Locked: The setting on the Default Settings page applies to all vendors currently in the system and all new vendors and can't be changed on an individual vendor. For this reason, this setting should be used with EXTREME CAUTION. Locked settings show a lock icon on the vendor.
Configure Defaults applies to all units in the same company and concept.
The Default Settings page also has bulk settings for pulling vendor information from your accounting system and for handling handwritten adjustments. See Pulling Vendor Information from Your Accounting System and How Will MarginEdge Handle Handwritten Adjustments on my Invoices?
Custom Default: This setting allows you to set the default here for all vendors, but it still gives you the option to adjust any settings when editing a specific vendor.
Locked: This setting will apply whatever choices you make here to all vendors and they cannot be adjusted individually within the vendor, only on this page.
Note that in these settings you can also set bulk rules for pulling the information from your accounting system and for handling how handwritten adjustments are used.
And don't forget to click SAVE at the bottom when you are finished!
How to see how miscellaneous charges were booked on an invoice
- From the main menu, select Orders.
- Select the invoice.
- Switch from the Line Items view to the Category Summary view.
- Review the miscellaneous charge amount shown for each Category.
You can also select the invoice row on the Category Report to see the same breakdown. See Category Report.
How to correct a miscellaneous charge amount on an invoice
If a tax, delivery fee, credit, or other charge was captured with the wrong amount, you can correct miscellaneous charge amounts in Invoice Approval. See Using Invoice Approval. Editing miscellaneous charges in Invoice Approval is available to MarginEdge Admin, Restaurant Admin, and Accountant users. Editing miscellaneous charges is not yet available for vendors set to “Separate” for the Handwritten Vendor Credit Process.
Troubleshooting miscellaneous charges
A delivery fee or tax is split across Categories, but I wanted it in one Category
Work through these checks in order:
- Check the vendor's setting. Open the vendor, select Edit Vendor, and confirm Configure how to handle Miscellaneous Charges is checked and the charge type is set to Book to One Category.
- Check Configure Defaults. If the charge type shows a lock icon on the vendor, the Locked default controls it. Change it on the Default Settings page.
- Check which field the charge was entered in. A fuel charge entered under Other follows the Other setting, not the Delivery / Shipping / Freight / Fuel setting. Open the invoice and review the miscellaneous charge fields.
- Check when the invoice was processed. [Confirm whether invoices processed before the setting changed are re-booked.]
- Still split? Submit a support request with the vendor name, the invoice number, and the Category you expected.
Taxes are booked to Categories that shouldn't be taxed
Work through these checks in order:
- Check the Product's tax-exempt status. Products marked tax-exempt don't receive a share of proportionately booked taxes. Open the Product and check the Product should be tax exempt checkbox.
- Check the Category's tax-exempt default. Setting a Category to tax-exempt applies only to Products created after the change. Update existing Products individually or in bulk.
- Check the vendor's Taxes / PST setting. If taxes are set to Book to One Category, taxes go to that Category. [Confirm whether tax-exempt status has any effect when taxes are set to Book to One Category.]
- Still wrong? Submit a support request with the vendor name and invoice number.
I can't edit the miscellaneous charge settings
Work through these checks in order:
- On Configure Defaults, check the lock setting. Options can't be edited while the setting is Unlocked. Change it to Custom Default or Locked.
- On a vendor, look for a lock icon. A lock icon means the setting is Locked in Configure Defaults. Select the lock icon to go to the Default Settings page.
- On a vendor, check the checkbox. The booking options appear only after you check Configure how to handle Miscellaneous Charges.
- Check your user role. [Confirm which user roles can edit vendor settings and Configure Defaults.]
- Still can't edit? Submit a support request with the vendor name and a screenshot of the settings page.
I can't delete a Category
If deleting a Category shows the warning "Referenced by one or more default vendor settings," the Category is selected under Book to One Category on the Default Settings page. Choose a different Category in Configure Defaults, save, and then delete the Category.
Frequently asked questions about miscellaneous charges
Do taxes and delivery fees change my Product prices?
No. Miscellaneous charges are booked to Category totals only. Product prices are not affected.
What is the default setting for miscellaneous charges?
Book Proportionately. Each charge is split across the Categories on the invoice based on each Category's share of the line-item total.
Can I set different rules for taxes and delivery fees?
Yes. Taxes / PST, Delivery / Shipping / Freight / Fuel, Credits, and Other each have their own setting. For example, you can book delivery to one Category and keep taxes split proportionately.
What's the difference between Custom Default and Locked?
Custom Default sets a rule for all vendors that can still be changed on an individual vendor. Locked sets a rule for all vendors that can only be changed on the Default Settings page.
Why do I see Misc Charges and Credits in my reports?
Misc Charges and Credits is the share of an invoice's taxes, delivery fees, credits, and other charges booked to that Category.
Who can change miscellaneous charge settings?
Users with Franchise Accountant, Associate Accountant, Accountant, Restaurant Admin, and MarginEdge Admin rights can edit Vendor Accounting Configurations.
Related articles
- Vendor Settings - Accounting Configuration
- If you are wanting to understand more about categories, or restrict the category on a vendor level, please see this article: General Ledger Accounts, Categories, and Category Types
- If you want to learn how to set your products or categories as tax-exempt, please see this article: Make Products or Categories Tax Exempt
- If you want to learn how to adjust values in the Taxes, Delivery and other Miscellaneous Charges section, please see this article: Using Invoice Approval
- How Will MarginEdge Handle Handwritten Adjustments on my Invoices?
- Pulling Vendor Information from Your Accounting System
- Category Report