14.5. Configure Per-Client Billing Email, Payment Terms, Tax Region, and Invoice Layout

Client billing settings live on each client's record. They control how that client is invoiced: who receives the invoice, when payment is due, which tax jurisdiction applies, how zero-dollar runs are handled, and which invoice layout is used. Each value you set here overrides the tenant default. So you only need to fill in the values that differ from your global configuration.

Accessing Client Billing Settings

1. Open Clients from the sidebar.
2. Open the client, such as GreenLeaf Dental Group.
3. Select Billing setup > Billing > General.

The Billing tab on the client record contains three sub-tabs: General, Contracts, and Tax Rates. The client record also has a separate Tax Settings tab next to Billing. It is a sibling of the Billing tab, not a sub-tab inside it.

Billing Tab — General Sub-Tab

Most day-to-day billing configuration lives on the General sub-tab. This is where you set who gets the invoice, when it is due, and how the totals are calculated.

Billing Contact and Delivery

Payment and Financial Settings

Default Tax Region

The Default Tax Region field is on the General sub-tab. It selects the jurisdiction AlgaPSA uses to look up tax rates when it calculates invoices for this client. This is the field most teams are looking for when they think of client tax setup. It does not live on the Tax Settings tab. See 14.4. Tax Rate Configuration for how tax regions and rates are defined at the tenant level.

Billing Cycle

You configure the client's billing cycle and anchor directly on the General sub-tab. The billing cycle defines the client's normal invoice cadence and anchors the dates on which recurring charges become due. It answers two operational questions: how often is this client invoiced, and on which day or date does each billing period start?

Contract lines that use Invoice on client billing schedule as their cadence align to these dates. Most recurring MSP fees for a client then land on the same invoice, on the same rhythm.

Fields

• Billing Cycle Type: weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually.
• Anchor: the specific day, weekday, or date the cycle resets. The field depends on the cycle type you choose (see below).
• Billing History Start Date: an optional bootstrap date. Use it to seed billing history for a client you onboard mid-cycle.

Billing cycle types

AlgaPSA supports six standard MSP billing cadences:

Anchor dates

The anchor controls exactly when each billing period begins. The anchor field changes label and behavior with the cycle type:

• Weekly: Day of week (Monday–Sunday). If you leave it unset, AlgaPSA treats the schedule as rolling.
• Bi-Weekly: A specific reference date (UTC midnight) from which AlgaPSA calculates two-week intervals. If you leave it unset, the schedule is rolling.
• Monthly: Day of month (1–28).
• Quarterly / Semi-Annually / Annually: A specific month (1–12) and day of month (1–28).

Note: The day-of-month anchor is capped at 28 for every cycle that uses one. This avoids the 29th–31st edge cases in short months. There is no "last day of month" option. Pick a day from 1 to 28, and the same boundary lands cleanly in every month of the year.

There is no global default for the billing cycle itself. You set each client individually. (Contracts do have a separate default for the recurring cadence source; see below.)

How billing cycles interact with contracts

Contract lines have a cadence-source setting that determines whose schedule the line follows:

• Invoice on client billing schedule: The contract line follows the client's billing cycle. This is the most common choice for MSP recurring revenue, because it consolidates fees onto a single invoice tied to one cadence per client.
• Invoice on contract anniversary: The contract line follows its own start date. Use it when a specific agreement needs its own rhythm. For example, an anniversary-billed annual subscription should keep its own date instead of being reshaped to the client's monthly cycle.

The Contract Wizard has a contract-wide default for this setting, labeled Recurring Cadence Default. It applies to the recurring lines you create in the wizard. Contract lines with different invoice windows appear as separate invoiceable items in the Generate sub-tab, even when they belong to the same client.

For configuring contracts and lines, see 14.6. Creating Client Contracts and 14.7. Contract Lines, Presets, and Examples.

Recommended cadences

• Use Invoice on client billing schedule for most standard recurring MSP fees (managed services, seat licenses, monitoring) so everything lands on the same monthly invoice.
• Default to Monthly on the 1st unless the client specifically requires another rhythm. It is the simplest cadence to forecast against and the easiest for clients to reconcile.
• Reserve quarterly, semi-annual, and annual cycles for prepaid commitments or clients whose fiscal calendar requires it (e.g., invoicing on the 15th to align with their AP run).
• Use Invoice on contract anniversary sparingly. It fits one-off annual renewals that must keep their own date instead of collapsing into the client's standard cycle.

Tenant-wide view

To spot-check every client's cadence in one place, open Billing > Invoicing > Billing Cycles. The page lists each client's current cycle, anchor, and active contract assignments. A View Client Billing link in the Actions column opens the client's Billing tab. The list itself is read-only. You make all changes here on the client record.

Default Time Entry Service

The Default Time Entry Service section on the General sub-tab lets you pre-select the service that appears when a technician opens the time entry dialog on a ticket for this client. When a valid default is saved here, the Service field in the time entry drawer opens pre-populated rather than empty — the technician can still change it, but no longer needs to select a service on every entry if the same service covers most of this client's work.

The setting accepts any active hourly service that is eligible under the client's existing contract lines. AlgaPSA re-validates the choice at resolve time, so if the service is later deactivated or removed from the contract, the field falls back to the tenant-wide default (if one is set) or reverts to a required manual selection.

Resolution precedence for new ticket time entries: client default → tenant default → none.

See 14.2. Tenant Billing Settings for the tenant-wide fallback setting and 3.4. Log Billable Time on Tickets for how the pre-populated field appears in the time entry drawer.

Per-Client Feature Overrides

The General sub-tab also holds override blocks that let a specific client depart from the tenant-wide defaults.

• Zero Dollar Invoice Settings: controls whether AlgaPSA generates or suppresses $0 invoices for this client. The controls are:
  • Use Default Settings toggle: when enabled, the client falls back to the tenant-wide setting from 14.2. Tenant Billing Settings.
  • Invoice Handling: choose Create as Draft or Create and Finalize for the $0 invoices that are produced.
  • Suppress Empty Invoices toggle: stops AlgaPSA from creating zero-dollar invoices for this client at all.
• Credit Draw-Down Settings: controls whether this client's available credit applies to new invoices automatically, the order in which credits are consumed, and which service types are eligible. Go to Client > Billing setup > Billing > General > Credit Draw-Down Settings. Keep Use Default Settings enabled to use the system-wide default. To override it, turn that setting off and configure Automatically apply credit at finalization, Credit application order, and Eligible service types. The order choices are Oldest credit first, Newest credit first, and Expiring soonest first. The service-type modes are Use tenant default, All service types, and Only selected types. See 14.23. Issue and Apply Credit Notes for MSP Client Billing.

Figure: The client card mirrors the tenant controls and adds Use Default Settings to inherit them.

Choosing Use Default Settings now changes only the override block you are resetting. It no longer deletes unrelated billing overrides already saved on the client.

Billing Profiles

A client can have more than one billing entity while remaining a single client record. Billing profiles separate invoicing within AlgaPSA, with profile-specific bill-to details, delivery settings, payment terms, tax treatment, and billing cycles.

Use billing profiles when one client record covers separate legal entities, franchise locations, or cost centres that must be invoiced apart. For example, GreenLeaf Dental Group can remain one operational client while Downtown Clinic and Eastside Clinic receive and reconcile their own invoices. A profile set to bill separately also maps to a QuickBooks sub-customer beneath the client's own customer, so a site's balance still rolls up to the parent. See Billing Profiles for setup, assignment, and QuickBooks mapping.

Billing Tab — Contracts Sub-Tab

The Contracts sub-tab lists the contracts assigned to this client. It shows how each contract relates to the client's billing cycle. Use it to confirm what the client is billed for, and to check that contracts anchor to the correct cycle before you generate invoices. For creating and editing contracts, see 14.6. Creating Client Contracts.

Billing Tab — Tax Rates Sub-Tab

On the Tax Rates sub-tab you assign this client a default tax rate from the active tenant tax rates. A client-specific rate set here wins over the region-based lookup that the Default Tax Region on the General sub-tab drives. Use it when you have negotiated a specific blended or fixed rate with a client, one that should not come from the standard region table. You manage the tenant's tax rate definitions in 14.4. Tax Rate Configuration.

Tax Settings Tab (Sibling Tab)

The Tax Settings tab is a top-level tab on the client record, not a sub-tab inside Billing. It captures the client's tax posture, not its tax jurisdiction:

• Tax Exempt: when enabled, AlgaPSA applies no tax to this client's invoices.
• Tax Exemption Certificate: an optional certificate identifier. The field appears only after you turn the Tax Exempt toggle on.
• Reverse Charge Applicable: for B2B international transactions where the client self-assesses tax under reverse-charge rules.
• Tax Source: whether tax is calculated by the Internal engine or an External provider.

The Default Tax Region field is not on this tab. It is on the Billing tab's General sub-tab. The Tax Settings tab decides whether and how tax applies. The region decides which rates AlgaPSA looks up.

Best Practice

• Set the billing contact (or Alternative Billing Email) and delivery method for every client during onboarding so the first invoice run does not stall on missing recipients.
• Use consistent payment terms across the book unless a specific client agreement requires otherwise. Consistent terms keep AR aging reports comparable.
• Verify the Default Tax Region for every client, especially when clients sit in different jurisdictions than the tenant default.
• Only assign a client-specific Invoice Template when the client requires a different look or content from your tenant default layout. See 14.18. What Are Invoice Layouts for layout management, and 14.12. Generating Invoices for how these settings flow through invoice generation.

Related documentation

• 14.2. Configure Tenant Billing Settings — tenant-wide defaults that client settings can override
• 14.4. Configure MSP Tax Rates by Region — tax regions, rates, and invoice-time precedence
• 14.23. Issue and Apply Credit Notes for MSP Client Billing — credit balances and draw-down controls
• Billing Profiles — separate billing entities within one client record