# Billable Expenses

Marking an expense billable puts it in a queue against a customer, ready to be recharged on their next invoice at cost or with a markup.

It is the cleanest way to make sure costs you incur on a client's behalf actually reach their invoice.

![The Expenses table, with the Customer column sitting between Paid Through and Status. It is empty on most rows, which is how a cost that is not being rebilled appears, and carries Kirkstall Precision Ltd on the one expense that is being rebilled.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/expenses/expense-list.png)

*A rebillable cost is one with a customer against it. Everything else is your own overhead.*

## The queue

1. **Expense paid**: You spend the money
2. **Marked billable**: Tagged to a customer
3. **Added to invoice**: Recharged, with markup if any
4. **Billed**: Removed from the queue

Once invoiced, an expense is marked as billed and will not be offered again. That single rule is what stops the same cost being recharged twice, which is the failure mode this feature exists to prevent.

## Recharging it

- **Mark the expense billable and name the customer**

  Either when recording it, or by editing it afterwards.
- **Raise the customer's invoice as normal**

  Unbilled expenses for that customer are offered as lines you can add.
- **Choose cost or markup**

  At cost passes it straight through. A markup adds your percentage and shows only the final figure to the customer.
- **Edit the description if it is internal**

  The expense description becomes the invoice line, and it is often written for your bookkeeper rather than for your client.

> **Warning:**
>
> **Check the description before sending**
>
> "Taxi, client meeting, £42 (Dave)" is a fine expense note and a poor invoice line. It goes out exactly as written unless you change it.

## Markup and tax

| Question | Answer |
| --- | --- |
| Is the markup taxable? | Yes. The recharged line is a sale and carries your sales tax treatment. |
| Do I recharge the tax I paid? | Normally no. Recharge the net cost and apply your own tax on the line. |
| What if the cost was tax exempt? | Your recharge may still be taxable. It follows the sale, not the purchase. |
| Can I recharge in a different currency? | The invoice is in the customer's currency. The expense is converted at the invoice rate. |