What are Incidental Charges and how do I use them?

Incidental charges

Incidental charges let you bill a customer for unexpected costs that come up during a project — equipment damage, lost items, additional services not in the original invoice.

Before you can charge a customer for incidentals, the customer must agree to your incidentals policy when they pay one of their invoices. Once they've agreed, you can charge incidentals against that project up to the limit you set.

Setting up incidentals on a project

You enable incidentals when creating an invoice for the project. When you do, you set two things:

• Charge limit. The total amount you can ever charge in incidentals on this project, across every incidental charge combined. Once you hit this limit you can't charge more.
• Policy. A short description of what incidentals may cover (e.g. "Damage to staging furniture, lost keys, additional cleaning"). This is shown to the customer at checkout and on every incidental invoice.

When the customer pays the invoice, they see your policy and charge limit as part of the payment authorization, and must explicitly agree before paying. Once they pay, incidentals are active on the project.

Can I change the policy or limit later? You can edit them up until the customer starts or completes a payment on the invoice. After that the policy and limit are locked. If you need to change them afterward, contact Titus Support.

A project can have only one active incidentals authorization at a time.

How to create an incidental charge

Once incidentals are active on a project:

1. Go to the project page
2. Select Charge incidental
3. Enter the charge amount and add a description explaining the reason
4. Upload up to 10 supporting photos (drag and drop or use the file picker). These appear on the invoice for the customer
5. Review and submit

Titus generates and sends an invoice to your customer.

What happens next

• Both you and your customer receive an email notification
• If the customer authorized a saved card or Pay at Close loan when they accepted the policy, the charge is processed automatically against that payment method
• If automatic payment fails, the invoice is sent to the customer for direct payment via the email link
• You can view full charge details, including any uploaded photos, on the invoice details page

If a payment fails

If the automatic payment doesn't go through, the invoice is still sent to the customer for direct payment. They can complete the transaction using the invoice link in their email. You'll also receive a notification.

FAQ

How do I turn on incidentals for a project?
Enable incidentals when you create the project's invoice, and set a charge limit and policy. The customer agrees when they pay that invoice.

Can I change the charge limit or policy after the customer has agreed?
No. Once the customer initiates or completes payment on the invoice, the policy and limit are locked. You can edit them freely before that point. Contact Titus Support if you need a change afterward.

What happens if I try to charge more than the limit?
The charge is blocked. The running total of all paid and pending incidental invoices plus the new charge can't exceed the limit you set.

How many photos can I attach?
Up to 10 photos per incidental charge.

Can I edit a charge after submitting it?
No. Once submitted, an incidental invoice can't be edited — same as any other finalized invoice. Contact Titus Support if you need a correction.

Will my customer see the details?
Yes. The policy, charge limit, charge description, and uploaded photos are all visible to the customer.

Do incidental charges sync with QuickBooks?
Yes. If QuickBooks integration is enabled, incidental charges sync automatically.

Still stuck? Contact us at support@gotitus.com