Collections Management: #2 Late Payment Automation

"Sir, I'll process the payment by evening, please don't apply any late payment charges", the customer said while arranging papers on his desk.

Sanjay stood there with a tired smile. He had already visited twice that week. Payment collection was one thing. Explaining and justifying late fees was a whole different battle. After he left the office, he stopped at a small tea stall, opened his laptop, and stared at the spreadsheet he maintained every month, listing customer names, due dates, follow-up dates, and late fees applied.

The frustrating part was that the late fee column was always empty. Not because customers were paying on time, but Sanjay didn't want to go through another awkward conversation about why the late fee existed. He was tired of sounding like he was punishing customers for paying late, when in reality, late fees existed to protect cash flow, not to harm relationships.

He sipped his tea and thought, "If I can automate invoices and reminders... why can't the late fee be automated too?"

That moment changed everything.

Automating Late Fee 

At some point, for some businesses, applying a late fee may seem less empathetic. If you prioritise your relationship over revenue, it might feel unethical, but when you consider the lag that a payment delay creates for your business, it will feel genuine.

When late fees are automated, there is no debate and no room for negotiation. If a payment is delayed beyond the due date, the system automatically applies the late fee based on the rule you set. Late fees shift from being a personal enforcement to a standard business policy.

Instead of Sanjay saying, "I have added a late fee," the system silently states, "According to your billing terms, a late fee has been applied."

Ways to Automate Late Fee 

Zoho Billing supports late fee automation in two ways, based on the plan you are subscribed to.

Method 1: Using Custom Function Workflow 

You configure an automation in Zoho Billing that runs on a certain number of days after the invoice due date. When it triggers, it executes a custom function that posts a late fee charge to the customer's subscription. Everything happens behind the scenes, and no manual action is required.

​
Here is the deluge script used within the workflow.

lateFeeAccountID = ""; // -- Paste your latefee Ledger Account ID in the below variable.

lateFeeAmount = 10; // -- Change the late fee amount and invoice description as per your needs.

invReason = "Late Payment Fee";

invDescription = "Charges for late payment for the invoice " + invoice.get("number");

organizationID = organization.get("organization_id");

subscriptionID = invoice.get("subscriptions").get(0).get("subscription_id");

domain = "https://www.zohoapis.com/billing/v1";

payloadMap = Map();

payloadMap.put("account_id", lateFeeAccountID);

payloadMap.put("amount",lateFeeAmount);

payloadMap.put("name",invReason);

payloadMap.put("description",invDescription);

url = domain + "/subscriptions/" + subscriptionID + "/charge?organization_id=" + organizationID;

request = "Charging Late Fee for " + invoice.get("number");

response = invokeurl

[

url :url

type :POST

parameters:payloadMap.toString()

connection:"YOUR_CONNECTION_NAME"

];

// -- If the custom function fails to execute, an email will be sent to admin's email address.

if(response.get("code") != 0)

{

errorMessage = response.get("message");

sendmail

[

from :zoho.adminuserid

to :zoho.adminuserid

subject :"Error occurred in Custom Function while " + request

message :"<b>Affected url :</b><br>" + url + "<br><b>Error Message</b><br>" + errorMessage

]

}

Once configured, businesses no longer need to check overdue invoices manually. Zoho Billing handles it by itself.

Method 2: In-app Late Fee Configuration 

Zoho Billing also includes a built-in Late Fee configuration for specific pricing plans. Instead of scripts or workflow, you can define your rules.

You can choose whether the late fee is a fixed amount or a percentage-based, decide how many days after the due date the late fee should be applied, and select whether late fee invoices should be automatically created as draft or sent to the customer. The system acts accordingly without any intervention.

Note: The in-app Late Fee configuration is available only in plans over premium plan. Know the pricing of Zoho Billing. If you are in the plan that supports Late fee configuration, reach out to support@zohobilling.com to gain access to the feature.   

What Does a Late Fee Do to Business 

Late fee imposition brings more logic to the payment collection. It streamlines the payment collection. A Few months down the line, customers start to pay before the due date. You notice fewer overdue invoices, fewer follow-ups, and zero awkward conversations. The late fee no longer feels like a punishment. It becomes a predictable rule of business.

Whether through custom function automation or the built-in late fee settings, Zoho Billing transforms late fees into a standardised, system-driven action. This changes the payment collection pain point into a predictable revenue stream.

Up Next: Tackling Payment Failures

• Topic Participants

• Hari Hara Sudhan. S

  

• Sticky Posts

• Community Learning Series | Digest #5 — September 2020

  Dear customers, We're happy to bring you the September edition of our #CommunityDigest! Keep track of your subscription KPIs right from your smartphone: Last month, we enhanced our Android mobile app to help our customers get daily updates on their business health. We got to know from a lot of customers that this has made their job much more easier because they no longer have to keep a reminder to manually check on the previous day's revenue or activations. If you have not downloaded it yet, here's

• Community Learning Series | Digest #4 - August 2020

  Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. I'm happy to bring you the fourth edition of our #CommunityDigest with some brand-new updates from us. 1. Daily Business Updates (for Android users) The Zoho Subscriptions Android app has got a cool new update: You can now get a push notification to your smartphone that lets you know how many activations and cancellations have taken place, and what's the net revenue for the previous day. The best part is, you can tell the app when exactly you

• Community Learning Series | Digest #3 - July 2020

  Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. We're glad to bring you the July edition of our #CommunityDigest. New community members can view our previous newsletters here. This time, we have two major updates and three interesting topics for you: 1. Zoho Subscriptions Developer Community Since the inception of Zoho Subscriptions, our team believed that the recurring billing platform we provide should be able to offer an extensive API library that empowers businesses to automate most

• Introducing: Community Learning Series | Digest #1 - May 2020

  Dear customers, We hope you are staying safe and healthy. Helping businesses manage their customer subscriptions more efficiently has always been, and always will be, our goal at Zoho Subscriptions. We strongly believe this is possible if we grow together as a community and share what we know with each other. To nurture this shared learning experience, here is our brand-new Community Learning Series! ​ Welcome to the first edition of our digest! Each edition of our community digest includes guides

• Recent Topics

• FSM App Oddity

  We recently rolled out FSM to our technicians, and only one technician is having an issue. He's using an iPhone with iOS 18.6 installed. When he goes to service appointments using the calendar icon at the bottom of the app, he gets a list view only. Typically,

• Cliq Not Working !

  Zoho Cliq has been experiencing connectivity issues since this morning. The app is unable to establish a connection with the server.

• Injecting CSS into ZML pages

  Is there a way to inject CSS into ZML pages? Use case: 1. Dashboard displays 'Recent Activities' card displaying a list of newly added records 2. Each item in list links to the record onClick 3. When a user points the cursor over an item in the list,

• Power of Automation :: Automated Weekly Notifications for Unapproved Timesheets

  Hello Everyone, A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate

• Extracting Data from Sitelink APIs

  Hi All, I'm working to pull data on Sitelink using API calls but i can't seem to extract it. If you click expand, you will see it has a lot of data in it. I tried extracting from the map but it's not giving me anything. Is there a workaround on this or

• Export a list of fields for all modules in a spreadsheet with specific field data

  Many of my clients are using spreadsheets to create lists of fields for all modules when starting a new implementation or when updating an existing setup. This is a useful process but also a very time consuming one. It would be good a list of fields could

• [Important announcement] Zoho Writer will mandate DKIM configuration for automation users

  Hi all, Effective Dec. 31, 2024, configuring DKIM for From addresses will be mandatory to send emails via Zoho Writer. DKIM configuration allows recipient email servers to identify your emails as valid and not spam. Emails sent from domains without DKIM

• 【Zoho Backstage】2025年7月のアップデート紹介

  本投稿は、本社のZoho Desk コミュニティに投稿された以下の記事を翻訳し、一部抜粋したものです。 What's New - July 2025 | Zoho Backstage ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 本投稿では、Zoho Backstage の直近のアップデートを3点抜粋して、ご紹介します。 目次 1.参加可否の確認：RSVP 2.証明書作成ツール：Certificate Builder 3.登録の承認 ：Registration Approval 1.参加可否の確認：RSVP

• Can we have Backorder Management ?

  Can we have Backorder Management ?

• Display a field of an Account on the Ticket view

  Hi there, We would like to display of the Account of the user submitting a ticket on the ticket view. See for example: How can this be achieved? It doesn't really matter where it will be placed as long as it is shown there. Thanks, Snir

• Insurance Agencies

  I am reaching out to see if anyone has any experience in the Insurance Agency world with using Zoho exclusively for the CRM and commissions side of things. Lots of strong features like drip campaigns, meeting, calendars, emails, can all be found in here.

• Problem with Egyptian internet ISP

  Dears,  We have problem with our ADSL internet SP, That your site not working with. So, we contact them and they asking us to contact you to solve this problem.  The problem that when we are connecting to Tedata ADSL your website not working (Business Email).  BR,, Mohamed Omar 

• Mail Not Showing In Inbox or Sent Box

  Hi, there are mails that are not displaying in both my inbox and sent box. I just tried the iPad app and it is the same but there is a blank field where a mail should be and it refers to a server error. Please fix this.

• Marketing Automation List Entry Criteria is no longer an option

  For a couple of years now we have used the "List Entry Criteria" option to filter our Journey recipient list. All of a suddent the option no longer exists for New Lists and I can only delete the option from existing lists but can no longer edit it. Anyone

• GCLID arrives not in CRM with iframe integrated ZOHO Form

  Hello amazing community, I enabled Adwords integration in ZOHO CRM. I have a ZOHO Form integrated in a wordpress. I tested iframe and Javascript. I enabled the "handover" GCLID in the ZOHO Form. When I add a GLID with http://www.example.com/?gclid=TeSter-123.

• Bidirectional sync between Zoho Bookings and Zoho CRM - Part 1

  Hey, community members! The default integration between Zoho CRM and Zoho Bookings is unidirectional, which means that any appointments booked, rescheduled, or deleted in Zoho Bookings will be reflected in Zoho CRM. However, any modifications made to

• Is it possible to edit placeholder text?

  In the master slides I want to make sure my templates have more meaning for the users and want to replace the standard placeholder text with something more instructional. Instead of "Click to edit Mast subtitle styles" I want to have "Click to enter reporting

• Delay function execute

  I've got a workflow which uses a webhook to send information to Flow, which in return updates a record in Creator. Problem is, by the time this has executed, the rest of my script has run and can't find the (yet to be) updated info in the record. Is there

• How to allow download of a file AFTER information is collected?

  I can't find this anywhere. Can someone help with what seems to be a pretty basic web function today? - File is stored in Workdrive - Prospect goes to a URL where the file is located - System requests prospect to enter "Name" and "Email" - An email is

• Add Baseline methods to API

  There are no API methods for creating or querying baselines,  Use case: Customer is notified of the current project start date according to plan via another product/integration. We would like to auto create a baseline (Automated via API) at the point

• Bulk Fill In & Edit PO/Bill/SO/Invoice

  Hello, I am adding stock in bulk on a PO, the system is automatically populating the Rate (price) and Tax from the item data. Problem is that the bill rate is different from the rate on the item data, so I have to manually erase each and enter the price.

• Fixed Assets beg balance

  Hello, I trust you are well I'm a new zoho books user and I find it difficult to plug in the fixed assets balance and here's what I have done: 1- I imported the fixed assets data into the fixed assets module as per the instructions 2- the import process

• Syncing with Google calendar, Tasks and Events

  Is it possible to sync Zoho CRM calendar, task and events with Google Calendar's tasks and events. With the increasing adoption by many major tool suppliers to sync seamlessly with Google's offerings (for instance I use the excellent Any.do task planning

• CRM Deluge how can link attach file with workdrive file.

  Hi, We have create file at workdrive and would like to link to attachment at crm module by deluge. Right now can only upload it to attachment but can not link the file from workdrive. Thank you

• Feature announcement: AI-powered document generator in Zoho Sign

  Hi there! We recently announced manual document creation by offering an editor within Zoho Sign. Today, we are excited to announce AI-powered document generation to help you draft agreements, purchase orders, and other important business documents in

• Permanently deleted files

  Is there a way to get back permanently deleted files from your account if they were accidentally deleted and no longer recoverable from the recycling bin? I know I am probably screwed but I just figured I would ask.

• Shared Mailbox in iOS app

  Hi, On the desktop I am using a Shared mailbox for our company's general mailbox that somebody else should be able to view. In the iOS app however I can't find it? Old sources on the internet says this isn't possible but that can't be right? Somebody

• Tip #41- Simplify Compliance and Efficiency with Zoho Assist’s Data Cleanup Feature- 'Insider Insights'

  Managing device data efficiently is just as important as securing remote access. With Zoho Assist’s Data Cleanup feature, admins can easily remove outdated or unnecessary device records, keeping the console organized and secure. This action is carried

• Revenue Management: #6 Revenue Recognition in Professional Services Industry

  If you run a consulting firm, agency, or any service-based business, you have a situation where you have signed the contract, maybe even sent the invoice, and have received some initial payments. So, can you consider this as revenue? What if the project

• Zoho fsm scheduled maintenance dispatch

  Hi, I'm reaching out regarding an issue I'm encountering with the Scheduled Maintenance feature in Zoho FSM. I’m trying to configure it so that it automatically dispatches all maintenance jobs scheduled within the next 150 days, starting from today. However,

• zoho.inventory.getRecords returns no records

  I running a custom function (Deluge) in Zoho Flow with a connection to Zoho Inventory. To debug the problem, I created the test function below. It returns "Number of contacts fetched: 0". This confirms that there's no issue with the org ID or connection

• Feature announcement - Simplifying document creation with Zoho Sign

  Hi there, We are pleased to announce the release of our document creation feature, enabling you to create, edit, and finalize documents like agreements, purchase orders, and contracts without relying on external tools or applications. &lt;br&gt; This

• Integrating File Attachments in Zoho Flow Email Notifications

  Hi, I would like to be able to send an email once an entry is made in a form, and in this email, I would like to attach a file that has been added to the form using the ImageUpload (or FileUpload) widget. So, I started by creating a flow that will trigger

• Zoho project purchases

  Hi Folks, I think having a purchase module in projects will help in putting together a project p and L. Project wise purchases and expenses.  Do let me know your thoughts.

• Create Tasklist with Tasklist Template using API v3

  In the old API, we could mention the parameter 'task_template_id' when creating a tasklist via API to apply a tasklist template: https://www.zoho.com/projects/help/rest-api/tasklists-api.html#create-tasklist In API v3 there does not seem to be a way to

• How can I restore all the deleted Time entries of a Task in Zoho Projects

  How can I restore all the deleted Time entries of a Task in Zoho Projects? Query: In Zoho Projects, I cloned a task and deleted the time entries from the cloned task. However, this also deleted the time entries from the original task. How can I restore

• Is there a way to make an account inactive in ZoHo Desk

  We have a few Clients "Accounts" that we no longer do business with. It would be beneficial for them to not show up in lists. However, we want to go back and view tickets, time, etc.

• How to set the value of the Phone field importing contacts in Zoho Desk

  Hi everyone, i'm new in Zoho Desk, we're setting up the environment and i'm importing contacts from another CRM using a file CSV and i'm getting a problem with phone numbers (italian): the leading zero is cut away, also if the value is inside double quotes.

• Deprecation Notice: OpenAI Assistants API will be shut down on August 26, 2026

  I recieved this email from openAI what does it means for us that are using the integration and what should we do? Earlier this year, we shared our plan to deprecate the Assistants API once the Responses API reached feature parity. With the launch of Conversations,

• How to center a field inside a section?

  I’ve been trying to center a field inside a section in Zoho Canvas. When I align it visually, it looks centered in the editor, but after clicking Save, the field appears misaligned on the actual canvas. I also tried setting the field to full width, but

• Next Page