Add Services and Surcharges

Services in ServiceCore represent the standard line items that appear on invoices for customers to pay. Each line item displays a name, description, and total amount on the invoice they're added to.

Surcharges in ServiceCore are extra fees, charges, or taxes that you add onto the initially quoted price for a job or rental. Common examples include environmental fees, winterization fees, and additional fuel charges. They look the same as services (line items) on invoices, but are listed in a different section. 

Before You Start

Here are a few things to know before you continue:

• To see if you have access to this feature in ServiceCore, please check out this article on user permission levels.
• Surcharges can only be flat rates which cannot be prorated.
• Services can be flat rates or time-based (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly), but only time-based services can be prorated.
• Both services and surcharges must be associated with an Income Account. Income Accounts must already be added to your Chart of Accounts in your settings in order to be associated with services or surcharges.
• Any services that aren't currently being used as a rental rate for a product can be converted to a surcharge in your Accounting settings.
  • If you convert a service to a surcharge, existing invoices with the original service will NOT be changed to show a surcharge. However, all of your recurring invoice templates and all future invoices will show the line item as a surcharge and not a service.
• If you have either QuickBooks Online (QBO) or QuickBooks Desktop (QBD) integrated with your ServiceCore account, your services and surcharges will sync between both platforms.
  • We have a bi-directional sync with QBO and QBD, meaning that adding, editing, or deleting services and surcharges in either system will update the service/surcharge in both. 
• QuickBooks Online (QBO) does NOT differentiate services from surcharges. After your initial import is done during onboarding, you'll need to convert your services into surcharges as needed.
• QuickBooks Desktop (QBD) DOES differentiate services from surcharges.

Add a Service

To add a service to use on future invoices, follow these steps:

1. Click your name in the top right corner.
2. Select “Settings.”
3. Click “Accounting.”
4. Select “Services.”

5. Click the “Add Service” button. 

   
   
    

6. Enter a Name (e.g., Portable Toilet Rental - Standard, Delivery Fee, Weekly Cleaning, etc.).
   • This will appear as the line item name on invoices, estimates, credit memos and payment receipts. This will also appear as the service item on jobs and service tickets.
7. Add a Description. (Optional)
   • This will be visible to customers on invoices, estimates, credit memos and payment receipts. This will also be visible to technicians on jobs and service tickets.
8. Add a Short Code (e.g., Service Name is "Pump up to 2,500 gallons" the Short Code could be "P2500"). This is not visible to customers.
   • TIP: Use Short Codes to abbreviate service names, making them easy to search during invoice and job creation.
9. Select an Income Account. 
   • The drop-down menu will include Income accounts from your Chart of Accounts. If you have not set up accounts yet, please review this article on adding accounts to your Chart of Accounts.
10. Check the box if the service should be Taxable by Default. 
    • When enabled, the service is automatically included in tax calculations when added to an invoice. You can still change the tax setting when adding the service to a specific invoice. Customers marked as tax exempt will not be charged tax.
11. Leave Surcharge unchecked.
    • Only enable Surcharge for surcharge-type line items. See “Add a Surcharge” below for instructions.
12. Select the Billing Period. 
    • Flat Rate is used for one-time charges or charges applied once per recurring invoice, like winterization fees.
    • Use Days, Weeks, Months, or Years when the service needs to support prorated billing. These options are commonly used for rental rates and recurring fees.
13. Enter the Rate for your Service.
14. Add internal Notes. (Optional)

15. Click “Add New Service” to save.

    
    

Add a Surcharge

To add a Surcharge, follow these steps:

1. Click your name in the top right corner.
2. Select “Settings.”
3. Click “Accounting.”
4. Select “Services.”

5. Click the “Add Service” button. 

   
   
    

6. Enter a Name (e.g., Card Processing Fee, Mileage Surcharge, Fuel Surcharge, etc.).
   • This will appear as the line item name on invoices, estimates, credit memos and payment receipts. 
7. Add a Description. (Optional)
   • This will be visible to customers on invoices, estimates, credit memos and payment receipts. 
8. Add a Short Code (e.g., Surcharge Name is "Credit Card Processing Fee" the Short Code could be "CCFEE"). This is not visible to customers.
   • TIP: Use Short Codes to abbreviate surcharge names, making them easy to search during invoice and job creation.
9. Select an Income Account. 
   • The drop-down menu will include Income accounts from your Chart of Accounts. If you have not set up accounts yet, please review this article on adding accounts to your Chart of Accounts.
10.  Check the box if the Surcharge should be Taxable by Default. 
    • When enabled, the service is automatically included in tax calculations when added to an invoice. You can still change the tax setting when adding the service to a specific invoice. Customers marked as tax exempt will not be charged tax even if this option is selected.
11. Check the box next to Surcharge.
12. Billing Period will automatically select Flat Rate.
13. Select whether you would like the Surcharge to be a percentage (%) of the total invoice amount or a specific dollar amount ($).
14. Enter a percentage or dollar amount for Rate (based on your selection.)
15. Add internal Notes. (Optional)

16. Click “Add New Service” to save.

    
    

Edit or Delete Services or Surcharges

 To edit a service or surcharge, just follow the instructions below:

1. Click your name in the top right corner.
2. Click into “Settings.”
3. Click into “Accounting.”
4. Click into “Services.”
5. Click on the drop-down menu icon next to the service or surcharge you want to edit and click "Edit Service".
   
   
6. Make your changes and click "Save" when you're done.
   
   

To delete a service or surcharge, just follow the instructions below:

1. Click your name in the top right corner.
2. Click into “Settings.”
3. Click into “Accounting.”
4. Click into “Services.”
5. Click on the drop-down menu icon next to the service or surcharge you want to delete and click "Deactivate Service".
   
   TIP: If you don't want to full delete a service/surcharge from your account, but you don't want it to show in your main Services list you can leave it deactivated and stop here.
   
   
6. Click on the "Filter" button at the top of the list and check the 'Show inactive services' box.
   
   
7. All deactivated services and surcharges will be greyed out in the list now. Click on the drop-down menu icon next to the service or surcharge you want to delete and click "Delete Service".
   
   
8. Click "Confirm Delete" to completely remove it from your account.
   
   

TIP: If you want to reactivate a service/surcharge, follow Steps 1-7 above and click "Reactivate Service" instead of "Delete Service".

Sync Services and Surcharges with QBO or QBD

If you have either QuickBooks Online (QBO) or QuickBooks Desktop (QBD) integrated with your ServiceCore account, your services and surcharges will sync between both platforms.

We have a bi-directional sync with QBO and QBD, meaning that adding, editing, or deleting services and surcharges in either system will update the service/surcharge across both ServiceCore and QBO/QBD.

Sync with QuickBooks Online (QBO)

QBO does NOT differentiate services from surcharges; all surcharges will sync over to your QBO account as services.

Please Note: If you're setting up your new ServiceCore account during onboarding, you'll need to convert your services into surcharges as needed after they've been imported into your ServiceCore account.

Flat rate surcharges will sync to your QBO account as services while percentage surcharges will be automatically converted to a flat rate dollar amount. For example, a 6% Environmental Fee surcharge will sync into QBO as an "Environmental Fee" service with a rate of $0.06.

Please Note: Because our sync is bi-directional, editing percentage surcharges in QBO will sync that change back to ServiceCore as a flat rate service, changing it from a percentage surcharge to a flat rate service. This is why we strongly recommend to only ever update your services and surcharges in your ServiceCore account.

Sync with QuickBooks Desktop (QBD)

QuickBooks Desktop (QBD) DOES differentiate services from surcharges when the surcharges are percentages.

Please Note: If you're setting up your new ServiceCore account during onboarding, only percentage surcharges will be imported into your ServiceCore account as surcharges. You'll need to convert any flat rate surcharges from services back to surcharges in your ServiceCore account.

Flat rate surcharges will sync to your QBD account as services while percentage surcharges will be synced as surcharges. Because our sync is bi-directional, the same is true if you add or edit surcharges in your QBD account.

As a best practice, we strongly recommend only ever updating your services and surcharges in your ServiceCore account.

If you have any questions, please reach out to our Support team through the chat widget on the bottom of this page or by sending an email to support@servicecore.com!