> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.kick.co/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.kick.co/accountants/bookkeeping-workflows/invoicing/billable-expenses.md).

# Billable expenses

Track expenses you've paid on a customer's behalf and bill them back on a Kick invoice.

### What are billable expenses?

A billable expense is a business expense you plan to charge back to a customer, such as travel, materials, or software you bought for a client project.

In Kick, any expense becomes billable when you assign it a billable customer. From there, you can add it to a Kick invoice and track whether that invoice has been paid.

***

### Counterparty vs. billable customer

Every transaction can have both, and they serve different purposes:

* **Counterparty**: the vendor you paid. For a flight, that's the airline.
* **Billable customer**: who you're billing the expense to, such as the client the trip was for.

Both are picked from the same list on the Counterparties tab.&#x20;

Setting a billable customer doesn't change the counterparty, the category, or how the expense posts to your books.

***

### Assign a billable customer

**One transaction**

1. Go to the [Transactions](https://use.kick.co/transactions) tab and click the transaction.
2. In the details panel, open Billable customer and choose a customer, or click Create new billable customer.

You can also set it directly in the Billable customer column of the table.

**Several transactions**

1. Select the transactions.
2. Open the bulk actions menu and choose **Set billable customer**.

To clear it, choose Remove billable customer.

**Automatically, with rules**

Add the Assign billable customer action to a transaction rule to tag matching expenses as they come in. For example, assign every charge from a project's dedicated card to that client.

→ [Rules](/accountants/bookkeeping-workflows/rules.md)

{% hint style="info" %}
If you change or remove a billable customer that a rule set, that rule's billable-customer action won't change it again.
{% endhint %}

***

### Add billable expenses to an invoice

1. On the Transactions tab, filter by Billable customer to find the customer's expenses.
2. Select the expenses you want to bill.
3. Open the bulk actions menu and choose **Invoice to customer**.

A new Kick invoice opens with the customer and entity filled in, and one line per expense. Each line uses the transaction's description, with the expense amount as the rate.

You can edit each line's description and coding, and you can add other lines. Quantity and rate on expense lines can't be changed, so the invoice always bills the exact amount you spent.&#x20;

To leave an expense off, delete its line before you save.

The expenses are linked to the invoice when you save it. From there, finish and send it like any Kick invoice.

{% hint style="info" %}
Invoice to customer only appears when all of these are true:

* Every selected transaction is an expense
* Every selected transaction is from the same business entity
* Every selected transaction has the same billable customer
* None of them have been billed yet
  {% endhint %}

→ [Create a Kick invoice](/accountants/bookkeeping-workflows/invoicing/create-a-kick-invoice.md)

***

### Track billing status

Once an expense is on an invoice, the Billable invoice status column on the Transactions tab shows that invoice's status: Draft, Open, Paid, Void, or Uncollectible. Click the status to open the invoice.

Use the Billable invoice status filter to find expenses by status, for example everything billed but not yet paid.

After an expense is billed, its billable customer is locked and can't be changed. If you delete a draft invoice, its expenses become unbilled and can be added to a new invoice.

→[ Invoice status](/accountants/bookkeeping-workflows/invoicing/invoice-status.md)

***

### View billable expenses by customer

1. Go to the Counterparties tab.
2. Find the customer and click the number in the Billable expenses column.

A drawer opens with every transaction billed or billable to that customer. Filter by date, category, account, or amount, then select expenses and choose Invoice to customer to bill them from there.

***

#### Related articles

* [Create a Kick invoice](/accountants/bookkeeping-workflows/invoicing/create-a-kick-invoice.md)
* [Invoice status](/accountants/bookkeeping-workflows/invoicing/invoice-status.md)
* [Rules](/accountants/bookkeeping-workflows/rules.md)


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