Any small business enterprise faces a few ups and downs while maintaining the cash flow of the business. Moreover, business owner, just like any other deserves to get paid on time. But starting, running and managing a business is tough – easier said than done. In such a scenario, mistakes are bound to happen such as missing an item line while sending an invoice to customers.

To keep your cash flow in absolute balance, here are the 8 expenses that business owners should pass on to the customers. After all, if you have provided the best customer service and have done the best job possible for the client or customers than you are entitled to get paid for every minute and effort that you have put in.

1) Consulting fees

If you are meeting a client to discuss the scope of the project work and spending a considerable amount of time to reach an outcome to give an accurate cost estimate, then make sure to include this time as billable in your invoices. Of course, let know about this consulting fees to the client beforehand to avoid any confusion. Many businesses also offer the first consultation free.

2) Travel cost

If your work requires you to travel for a particular project or work of a client than you should ensure to charge the traveling cost in an invoice. As again, specify upfront to the client that you would be expecting this amount to be reimbursed when the invoice is issued.

3) Miscellaneous expense

This means that you should bill the client for expense such as meal, transportation or any incidental expense while you are on the work for a customer. Receipts for a taxi, meal, hotels, etc will suffice for you to claim back your money from the customer.

4) Research

Any work you do for the client is accounted to be billable. This includes any research work and time you needed to allow to finish the item. Mostly when you spend hours and hours in front of a computer to take details and make reports of it, etc. You can opt for a free invoice maker that has a time-tracking feature to help you capture every minute.

5) Supplies

As a part of your own business operation, you probably would have everything needed to get a job/project done such as your hardware and software infrastructure, etc in place. However, if your work requires you to specifically spend on supplies like printing, copying, etc then make sure to include that in the invoice.

6) Mailing Cost

If certain of the work done specifically needs to be shipped rather than to be sent electronically, in such cases all the shipping cost, postage and any other mailing fees associated should be charged to the customer upon finishing the work. This also includes if any boxes, mailers and packing materials used for the project.

7) Credit card fees

It is of course in your interest to offer multiple payment methods to get paid early and to maintain the business cash flow. Online payments are convenient and act in the interest of both parties. However, online credit card payment incurs additional 2-percent-plus transaction charge which amounts to much when you start adding a few transactions over a period of time. It is up to you to charge this fee to the customer or not.

8) Pain & suffering

Well, every business has few of those clients who would just eat up your head for any and everything until the task or project is finished. And obviously, this consumes your time. In such scenario, make sure to clear with such customers that only a limited number of consultations are free and if you’ll use them up then, you’ll bill for each phone call or email at a stipulated rate.

Concluding Note:

Moon Invoice lets your business be on top of the competition with Instant Invoicing & Billing, an Easy track of Payment & Notifications, Accurate Insights & Reporting Data. Few amazing add-ons with Moon Invoice are that you can add & “Manage Multiple Businesses”, “22+ Professional PDF Templates”, “Import/Export & Print Utility” and data backup “iCloud sync & MoonSync support”.

The feature can help you optimize, organize and can help you to take necessary action to get you to up to speed in terms of payments. There are many such online invoice software and solutions provider. But the best & #1 online invoicing application is ‘Moon Invoice’.

Recurring Payments Vs Recurring Invoices

Recurring Payments	Recurring Invoices
Recurring payments charge the customer’s credit card account or debit card account on a predetermined schedule for the same amount as preapproved.	Send an invoice to your customer on a regular basis. The client receives the invoice but, money is not paid unless the customer approves.
A business that takes prepayment of money and sells a monthly subscription service and product. Subscription services are excellent examples of this.	A company that provides fixed services with billable hours is an excellent choice for recurring billing. For example law firms and consulting agencies.

Pros and Cons of Recurring Invoices

Pros	Cons
You eliminate the possibility of human error by automating the billing process. If you use a recurring invoice, you will not be concerned about forgetting to charge your customers for the things they ordered.	You must exercise caution while recurring billing to prevent issuing inaccurate pricing. This also holds for price changes that could take place right once an invoice is created.
If you provide your customers with the option for recurring billing, they are more likely to buy products regularly.	It could be difficult to cope with recurring invoices if a transaction fails for any reason.

Net 45	Invoice is due in full within 45 days with no early payment discount offered
2/10 net 45 terms	2% discount if you pay within 10 days; otherwise full payment of the invoice is due in 45 days
1/15 net 45 terms	1% discount if you pay within 15 days; otherwise full payment of the invoice is due in 45 days
1/10 net 45 terms	1% discount if you pay within 10 days; otherwise full payment of the invoice is due in 45 days
1/7 net 45 terms	1% discount if you pay within 7 days; otherwise full payment of the invoice is due in 45 days

Category	Net Method vs. Gross Method	Explanation
Calculation Approach	- Applies tax credits first; reduces taxable income before computing tax liability.	- Doesn't apply tax credits; computes taxable income without considering tax credits.
Tax Credit Eligibility	- Allows for greater likelihood of tax credit eligibility due to reduced taxable income.	- Limits tax credit eligibility because taxable income hasn't been reduced yet.
Itemized Deduction Requirement	- Lowers threshold requirement for itemizing deductions due to decreased taxable income.	- Raises threshold requirement for itemizing deductions due to higher taxable income.
Advantages	- Leads to lower taxable income and increases chances of meeting qualifications for other tax benefits.	- Results in higher taxable income compared to net method.
Disadvantages	- May miss opportunity to reduce tax burden if taxpayer doesn't itemize deductions or take advantage of tax credits.	- Increases taxable income and may result in higher overall tax bill.