Function #38: Charge rush fees for invoices

Hello everyone!

Rush fees are additional charges that businesses add to invoices when customers request expedited or prioritized services, compensating for the extra resources and effort. The method for calculating these fees can vary across industries and businesses. One commonly used method is the percentage-based approach, in which rush fees are calculated as a percentage of the item rate.

Consider Zylker Designs, a graphic design firm that typically delivers designs with a standard turnaround time of 5 days. ABC Corporation urgently requires a logo and promotional banners within 48 hours for an upcoming product launch, prompting Zylker Designs to implement rush fees. The standard fees are $1,000 for logo design and $800 for promotional banners, with rush fees set at 30% and 20%, respectively. 

Rush fees for the logo and banners are calculated as follows:
Logo Rush Fee = $1,000 * 30% = $300
Banners Rush Fee = $800 * 20% = $160

Thus, the total fee for the rush order = $1,000 + $800 + $300 + $160 = $2,260

Today's custom function can help automate this process of calculating and applying rush fees to item rates. When creating an invoice, users can enter the percentage of rush fees for each item in the item-level custom field (created specifically for this purpose). After saving the invoice, the custom function is executed, calculating the revised item rates.

Pre-requisites:

1. Create a Connection named "zbooks" to successfully execute the function. You can watch the GIF attached below to know how to create the connection.

2. Create a custom field called "Rush Fees (Percent)" to be displayed in the item table of invoices. The percentage of the item rate to be charged as rush fees should be entered in this field. 

3. Create another custom field called "Unit Rate" to be displayed in the item table of invoices. The purpose of this custom field is to store the original sales rate of the line item. 

4. Create a Check Box-type custom field by the name "Add Rush fees ?" for Invoices. Only when this field is ticked, the function will be executed.

Custom Function:

Navigate to Settings -> Automation -> Custom Functions -> +New Custom Function > Add the function code from this GitHub link -> Hit Save.

Workflow Rule: 

 

Go to Settings -> Automation -> Workflow Rules -> +New Workflow Rule and set up the workflow rule as shown below:-

In the final step of this workflow rule, associate the custom function you created and then hit Save.

Here's how it works:

After creating and saving the invoice as draft, the custom function will be executed. Initially, it copies the original sales rate to the Unit Rate (Custom) field. Then, it calculates the rush fees and adds it to the value in the Unit Rate field. The resultant is displayed in the Rate (Default) field. Following this, Zoho Books performs the calculation of Rate (Default field) * Quantity and fills the result in the Amount field.

Note: If you wish to hide the "Rate" - default field at the template level, go to Settings > Customisation > PDF Templates > Invoices > Edit > Table > Disable the checkbox for Rate field > Save. Now the invoice templates will only display the Unit Rate (Custom field), Rush Fees (Percent), Quantity field, and the Amount field.

If you wish to set up an alternative method for calculating rush fees, kindly send an email outlining your requirements to support[at]zohobooks[dot]com. We will be happy to help you.

See you next week with another interesting custom function! 

Regards,

Shireen Farhana

Zoho Books 

• Topic Participants

• Shireen Farhana

  

• Recent Topics

• workflow not working in subform

  I have the following code in a subform which works perfectly when i use the form alone but when i use the form as a subform within another main form it does not work. I have read something about using row but i just cant seem to figure out what to change

• Fetch data from another table into a form field

  I have spent the day trying to work this out so i thought i would use the forum for the first time. I have two forms in the same application and when a user selects a customer name from a drop down field and would like the customer number field in the

• Record comment filter

  Hi - I have a calendar app that we use to track tasks. I have the calendar view set up so that the logged in user only sees the record if they are assigned to the task. BUT there are instances when someone is @ mentioned in the record when they are not

• How to View Part Inventory and Warehouse Location When Creating a Work Order in Zoho FSM

  Hi everyone, We’re currently setting up Zoho FSM and would like to improve how our team selects parts when creating a Work Order. Right now, when we add a part or item to a Work Order, we can select it from our Zoho Inventory list but we don’t see any

• FSM too slow today !!

  Anybody else with problem today to loading FSM (WO, AP etc.)?

• Not able to Sign In in Zoho OneAuth in Windows 10

  I recently reset my Windows 10 system, after the reset when I downloaded the OAuth app and tried to Sign In It threw an error at me. Error: Token Fetch Error. Message: Object Reference not set to an instance of an object I have attached the screenshot

• Mapping a custom preferred date field in the estimate with the native field in the workorder

  Hi Zoho, I created a field in the estimate : "Preferred Date 1", to give the ability to my support agent to add a preferred date while viewing the client's estimate. However, in the conversion mapping (Estimate to Workorder), I'm unable to map my custom

• The sending IP (136.143.188.15) is listed on spamrl.com as a source of spam.

  Hi, it just two day when i am using zoho mail for my business domain, today i was sending email and found that message "The sending IP (136.143.188.15) is listed on https://spamrl.com as a source of spam" I hope to know how this will affect the delivery

• Delegates - Access to approved reports

  We realized that delegates do not have access to reports after they are approved. Many users ask questions of their delegates about past expense reports and the delegates can't see this information. Please allow delegates see all expense report activity,

• Split functionality - Admins need ability to do this

  Admins should be able to split an expense at any point of the process prior to approval. The split is very helpful for our account coding, but to have to go back to a user and ask them to split an invoice that they simply want paid is a bit of an in

• Is there a way to request a password?

  We add customers info into the vaults and I wanted to see if we could do some sort of "file request" like how dropbox offers with files. It would be awesome if a customer could go to a link and input a "title, username, password, url" all securely and it then shows up in our team vault or something. Not sure if that is safe, but it's the best I can think of to be semi scalable and obviously better than sending emails. I am open to another idea, just thought this would be a great feature.  Thanks,

• Single Task Report

  I'd like a report or a way to print to PDF the task detail page. I'd like at least the Task Information section but I'd also like to see the Activity Stream, Status Timeline and Comments. I'd like to export the record and save it as a PDF. I'd like the

• Auto-response for closed tickets

  Hi, We sometimes have users that (presumably) search their email inbox for the last correspondence with us and just hit reply - even if it's a 6 month old ticket... - this then re-opens the 6 month old ticket because of the ticket number in the email's subject. Yes, it's easy to 'Split as new Ticket', but I'd like something automated to respond to the user saying "this ticket has already been resolved and closed, please submit a new ticket". What's the best way to achieve this? Thanks, Ed

• How to Push Zoho Desk time logged to Zoho Projects?

  I am on the last leg of my journey of finally automating time tracking, payments, and invoicing for my minutes based contact center company - I just have one final step to solve - I need time logged in zoho desk to add time a project which is associated

• Cannot access KB within Help Center

  Im working with my boss to customize our knowledge base, but for some reason I can see the KB tab, and see the KB categories, but I cannot access the articles within the KB. We have been troubleshooting for weeks, and we have all permissions set up, customers

• Export to excel stored amounts as text instead of numbers or accounting

  Good Afternoon, We have a quarterly billing report that we generate from our Requests. It exports to excel. However if we need to add a formula (something as simple as a sum of the column), it doesn't read the dollar amounts because the export stores

• why my account is private?

  when i post on zohodesk see only agent only

• Getting ZOHO Invoice certified in Portugal?

  Hello, We are ZOHO partners in Portugal and here, all the invoice software has to be certified by the government and ZOHO Invoice still isn´t certified. Any plans? Btw, we can help on this process, since we have a client that knows how to get the software certified. Thank you.

• 500 Internal Server Error

  I have been trying to create my first app in Creator, but have been getting the 500: Internal Server Error. When I used the Create New Application link, it gave me the error after naming the application. After logging out, and back in, the application that I created was in the list, but when I try to open it to start creating my app, it gives me the 500: Internal Server Error. Please help! Also, I tried making my named app public, but I even get the error when trying to do that.

• Client Script | Update - Client Script Support For Portals

  Dear All! We are excited to announce the highly anticipated feature: Client Script support for Portals. We understand that many of you have been eagerly awaiting this enhancement, and we are pleased to inform you that this support is now live for all

• Professional Plan not activated after payment

  I purchased the Professional Plan for 11 users (Subscription ID: RPEU2000980748325) on 12 September 2025, and the payment has been successfully processed. However, even after more than 24 hours, my CRM account still shows “Upgrade” and behaves like a

• how to edit the converted lead records?

  so I can fetch the converted leads records using API (COQL), using this endpoint https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v5/coql and using COQL filter Converted__s=true for some reasons I need to change the value from a field in a converted lead record. When I try

• Auto Update Event Field Value on Create/Edit

  Hi there, I know this question has been posted multiple times and I've been trying many of the proposed similar scripts for a while now but nothing seems to work... what might I do wrong? The error I receive is this: Value given for the variable 'meetingId'

• Pre-orders at Zoho Commerce

  We plan to have regular producs that are avaliable for purchase now and we plan to have products that will be avaliable in 2-4 weeks. How we can take the pre-orders for these products? We need to take the money for the product now, but the delivery will

• Constant color of a legend value

  It would be nice if we can set a constant color/pattern to a value when creating a chart. We would often use the same value in different graph options and I always have to copy the color that we've set to a certain value from a previous graph to make

• Zoho Pagesense really this slow??? 5s delay...

  I put the pagesense on my website (hosted by webflow and fast) and it caused a 5s delay to load. do other people face similar delays?

• Payroll and BAS ( Australian tax report format )

  Hello , I am evaluating Zoho Books and I find the interface very intuitive and straight forward. My company is currently using Quickbooks Premier the Australian version. Before we can consider moving the service we would need to have the following addressed : 1.Payroll 2.BAS ( business activity statement ) for tax purposes 3.Some form of local backup and possible export of data to a widely accepted format. Regards Codrin Mitin

• Problem with Email an invoice with multiple attachments using API

  I have an invoice with 3 attachments. When I send an email manually using the UI, everything works correctly. I receive an email with three attachments. The problem occurs when I try to initiate sending an email using the API. The email comes with only

• Page Layouts for Standard Modules like CRM

  For standard modules like quotes, invoices, purchase orders, etc, it would be a great feature to be able to create custom page layouts with custom fields in Zoho Books similar to how you can in Zoho CRM. For example, and my current use case, I have a

• Non-depreciating fixed asset

  Hi! There are non-depreciable fixed assets (e.g. land). It would be very useful to be able to create a new type of fixed asset (within the fixed assets module) with a ‘No depreciation’ depreciation method. There is always the option of recording land

• Fixed asset management

  I want to know if there is any individual module for fixed assets management

• One time sale item in billing automatically detects as service

  if i have some items which i don't want to add in my "item" list because its sold only for one time. but when i type item name in invoice, it (system) automatically takes it as a service and despite of HSN , it shows SAC code to be entered. if its selectable i.e. either item or service , it would be very helpful and a must have feature.

• Project template after project creation

  How can I apply a project template AFTER the project has been created?

• convert the project to templet

  i have some deployment ME product for different customer , i need to create a fixed template for use it rather then keeping creating this template every time

• Seriously - Create multiple contacts for leads, (With Company as lead) Zoho CRM

  In Zoho CRM, considering a comapny as a lead, you need us to allow addition of more than one contact. Currently the Lead Section is missing "Add contact" feature which is available in "Accounts". When you know that a particular lead can have multiple

• Related Module in Sharing Rules

  Zoho CRM team recently added the feature to filter records by Related Records It will be really beneficial if we can have this feature for Sharing Rules as well

• Assignment Thresholds Resetting After Lead Conversion

  Hello everyone, We're facing an issue with Zoho CRM's lead assignment thresholds that makes them unsuitable for our workflow. I'm hoping to find a potential workaround or solution from the community. Here’s our current process: A new lead is created automatically

• Zoho CRM Analytics - Allow To Reorder Dashboards

  I would like to suggest that you add the ability to reorder dashboards in the Analytics Module. I can see that this has been requested some time ago, the latest 9 years ago. I am not sure if this is a big or small endeavor, but such a small fix can go

• Territory view for custom modules?

  I have recently activated territories however I can't seem to find how to use territories for custom modules? These modules have territories:  Contacts /  Accounts / Opportunities These modules don't have territories:   Buildings (custom module) and 

• Zoho Books - How to Invoke a Custom Function in Schedulers

  We have multiple schedulers that send emails to customers in batches. Currently, we are maintaining the same code across several schedulers. Is it possible to use a custom function inside a scheduler script? If yes, how can we invoke the custom function

• Next Page