Everything you charge is organized by revenue category. Fees and taxes are set per category, so the math is the same on every quote, contract and invoice.
Configure it in Settings → Financials.
Revenue categories
A category is a kind of revenue: Room rental, Linens, Audio visual, Food & beverage, Setup & labor, Other. Room rental is built in and can't be deleted — it's where each function's room rental fee is counted. Add your own categories as needed.
Tax rates
Create each tax you collect (for example a state sales tax and a local tax) with its percentage, then tick which categories it applies to. A category can have several taxes; they add together.
Service fees
A service fee is a percentage added on top of a category's charges — a Service charge, a Damage waiver, a Credit card fee.
- A fee can apply to all categories or to one.
- Mark a fee taxable if tax should also be charged on the fee itself.
- Fees with the same name are grouped into one column on the contract, even if their percentages differ by category.
The price list
The price list (catalog) holds the items you sell often — "60″ round tablecloth", "House sound system" — each with a category, description and unit price. When you add services to a function you pick from this list, then adjust the title, description, quantity or price for that one event. Changing a function's service never changes the price list.
Money fields format as you type: 1500 becomes $1,500 and gets its cents when you leave the field.
How totals are calculated
For each category with charges:
- Base = room rental fees (for Room rental) or quantity × unit price for every service.
- Fees = each applicable fee's percentage of the base.
- Taxable amount = base, plus any fees marked taxable.
- Tax = taxable amount × the sum of the category's tax rates.
- Category total = base + fees + tax.
The event total is the sum of the category totals. Contracts show the breakdown; invoices are created from the same numbers (one line per room rental and service, one line per fee), so the contract and invoice always agree.
Worked example
A reception with $6,500 room rental and $300 of linens, a 10% service charge (taxable) on everything, a 10% damage waiver on linens (not taxable), and 8% tax on all categories:
| Room rental | Linens | |
|---|---|---|
| Base | $6,500.00 | $300.00 |
| Service charge (10%) | $650.00 | $30.00 |
| Damage waiver (10%) | — | $30.00 |
| Taxable amount | $7,150.00 | $330.00 |
| Tax (8%) | $572.00 | $26.40 |
| Total | $7,722.00 | $386.40 |
Tax-exempt venue
If your whole venue doesn't charge sales tax (for example a nonprofit-owned venue), turn on Tax-exempt venue at the top of Settings → Financials. While it's on, no tax is charged on any event, whoever the client is. Service fees still apply.
You can add an optional note (for example "Nonprofit venue — no sales tax collected") that is printed under the charges on contracts. Turning the setting off puts your normal tax rates back in effect for any new or recalculated charges.
Tax-exempt accounts
An account can be marked tax exempt. When an event's client belongs to an exempt account, no tax is charged on that event (fees still apply). Exemption needs an EIN on file, and stops counting once the certificate's expiry date has passed.
Reporting on fees and taxes
The Service charges & fees report source totals every fee and tax by event, category, month or type — for example Service charges & fees — last month for what's owed to staff at month end, or Sales tax collected by month for filing. See Reports.