Add expenses to an invoice

Put billable expenses on a draft invoice from the invoice builder, or bill a single expense to a draft as one line.

Billable costs don't have to be retyped onto an invoice. Add them straight from your recorded expenses so the client reimburses you.

Before you start

Role: OwnerAdminManager

Expenses are a manager-tier feature. Members can't see expenses or invoices.

While building or editing a draft invoice, select the expenses you want to include. They're added as lines alongside any time you're billing. See Add expenses to an invoice for the builder flow.

Bill a single expense

From an expense, use "bill expense to invoice" to append that billable expense to a draft invoice as one line.

Pick a billable expense

On the expense list, choose a billable, not-yet-billed expense.

Bill it to a draft

Use bill expense to invoice and choose the draft invoice to add it to.

Review the invoice

The expense appears as a single line on that draft, ready to review before you send.

When Hoursmith refuses

Billing an expense to an invoice is refused when the expense is:

non-billable,
already billed,
a currency mismatch with the invoice,
zero amount, or

…or when the target invoice is not a draft. Expenses can only be added to draft invoices.

Currency must match because an expense snapshots the client's currency when created. If it doesn't match the invoice, Hoursmith won't add it. See Add an expense.

What happens next

Once on a sent or finalized invoice, the expense is marked billed and locks. See Billed & locked.

Troubleshooting

The expense won't add. Confirm it's billable, not already billed, has a non-zero amount, and its currency matches the invoice.
I can't add it to this invoice. The invoice must be a draft. Edit a draft, or create one.
It's missing from the builder. Non-billable and already-billed expenses don't appear there.

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Two ways to add

From the invoice builder