Labor Billing Rates

Use Labor Billing Rates to set up billing charges and job cost rates for labor.

HINT-- Goldenseal accounting software uses Labor Billing rates to calculate time billing. You can use a fixed rate, actual labor costs, or actual costs plus a "markup" percentage.

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Accounting Software | Time Billing Software | Time Tracking Software

Entering Labor Billing Rates

To enter an Labor Billing Rate, follow these steps:

Choose Billing Rates from the Options menu, then choose Labor from the submenu.
Click the New button, or click on an existing item and click the Edit button.
Enter details for the billing rate.

Data Fields

Enter the following information for each Labor Billing Rate:

Name-- Type in a brief name for this billing rate. This is the text that will appear in clairvoyant fields.
Description-- Type in any comments you'd like to make about this item.
Calculation Method-- Choose the method used to calculate this billing rate. See the next section for more about calculation methods.
Amount-- If you are using a dollar rate, enter the dollars per unit of time. If you are using Pay Rate Plus Percent or Net Plus Percent, enter the percentage that will be added to the actual payroll costs.
Startup Cost-- If you charge a fixed amount in addition to the hourly rate, enter it here.
Overhead Account-- Choose the overhead account associated with costs that use this billing rate.

Calculation Methods

There are several methods you can use to calculate labor billing rates.

Flat Rate-- A flat dollar rate for all uses of this billing rate.
Variable Rate-- A different rate for each employee (entered in the Employee account).
Pay Rate-- The basic pay rate for the employee.
Pay Rate Plus Percentage-- The basic pay rate plus a fixed percentage.
Net Cost-- The total labor cost for the labor, including employer taxes and benefits.
Net Cost Plus Percentage-- The total labor cost, plus a fixed percentage.

Net Cost Calculations

If the billing rate uses the Net Cost option, the actual cost of labor is not fully calculated until after payroll is completed.

HINT-- Before you write payroll, Goldenseal temporarily uses the Pay Rate calculation amount for billing and job costs.

After you write payroll, Goldenseal automatically adds burden to the billing amounts. Burden includes the cost of taxes, insurance and benefits that are paid by the employer.

If you need to do time and materials billing before you write payroll, don't use the Pay Rate calculation option in the labor billing rate. Instead, use a flat rate, or use the Pay Rate plus Percent option and add a percentage to cover employer burden (and overhead costs, if desired).

HINT-- The Net Cost option is more accurate, since it uses actual payroll costs.

Using Labor Billing Rates

Assign Labor Billing rates in Employee Accounts-- you'll use one rate for time and materials billing, and one to calculate job costs.

If the selected billing rate uses a Variable Rate calculation method, you can enter the specific billing rate that is used for that Employee account.

When you create a Labor Hours transaction, the billing and job cost rates from the Employee account are entered automatically. You can change either of the billing rates, if a different rate will be used for this transaction.