The Percentage billing type lets you add a fee that's automatically calculated as a percentage of the revenue recognized on other billable services in the same budget section.
It's designed for studio fees, management fees, or any overhead charge you want to bill transparently as a separate line item.
📌 This billing type is only available in the advanced budget editor. It cannot be used in the Simple Editor.
When to Use It
Use the Percentage billing type when you charge a fee that's proportional to the rest of the work. For example, a 10% project management or studio fee applied on top of all billable services in a budget section.
Without it, you'd typically calculate the fee manually and add it as a fixed line item, updating it every time time is tracked or revenue changes. The Percentage billing type handles this automatically.
Example: A budget section has three services:
UX Design: Time & Materials, $120/hr
Website Development: Fixed, $24,000
Fee: Percentage, 10%
As time is tracked and revenue is recognized on UX Design and Website Development, the Fee service automatically calculates 10% of that recognized revenue.
How to Add a Percentage Service
Open the budget and go to the Services tab.
Click the dropdown arrow next to + New item.
Select Add percentage fee.
The new service line appears with Percentage as the billing type.
Assign a service type (e.g. Project Management, Studio Fee).
Enter the percentage in the Qty field (e.g.
10for 10%).Click Save changes.
📌 The Unit field will display % instead of hour or day. The Price field is not used for percentage services.
Section-Level Calculation
Percentage services calculate based on the section they belong to (not the entire budget). A Percentage service in one section won't pull revenue from services in another section.
If different sections each have a Percentage service, each calculates independently and appears as a separate line item on invoices.
How Multiple Percentage Services Are Calculated
If a section has more than one Percentage service, each calculates independently against the same base — the total recognized revenue of all other billable services in that section. They don't stack or compound.
Example:
Service | Type | Amount |
Development | T&M | $1,000 |
Studio fee | 10% | $100 |
Admin fee | 5% | $50 |
Section total |
| $1,150 |
The Studio fee and Admin fee both calculate from the same $1,000 Development revenue, and not from each other.
How Revenue Is Recognized
The Percentage service recognizes revenue automatically whenever revenue is recognized on any other billable service within the same budget section.
Time & Materials example:
Development service: $100/hr
Fee service: 10%
2 hours tracked and approved → $200 recognized on Development → $20 automatically recognized on Fee
Fixed service example:
Design service: Fixed, $5,000, revenue spread across time
Fee service: 10%
As Fixed service revenue is recognized (via any method), the Fee service recognizes 10% proportionally
The Percentage service follows the revenue recognition date settings configured for Fixed services in your organization settings.
👉 Learn more in Revenue Recognition in Productive.
Budget Total and Budget Used
Percentage services are included in both values:
Budget total: calculated as the percentage of the total of other billable services in the section
Budget used: includes recognized revenue from the Percentage service
Example:
Development: 10h × $100 = $1,000 budget total
Fee: 10% = $100 budget total
Budget total: $1,100
After 5 hours are tracked and approved:
Development: $500 budget used
Fee: $50 budget used
Budget used: $550
Invoicing
When you create an invoice, the Percentage service behaves like a Fixed service and appears as a separate line item showing the fee amount (not the percentage itself).
It is included in:
Uninvoiced time and expenses: the recognized but uninvoiced amount from the Percentage service is shown
% of total amount: included in the calculation
Total amount: added as a separate line item
How the Fee Appears on the Invoice
When a Percentage service is pulled onto an invoice, the line item shows the following:
Description: generated automatically as the service name and percentage, e.g. Studio fee - 10%. Can be edited to better fit your invoice if needed.
Unit: set to Piece automatically. Cannot be edited.
Quantity: always set to 1. Cannot be edited.
Rate: the calculated fee amount (the percentage applied to the total of other billable services in the section). Can be edited if you need to adjust the invoiced amount manually.
Amount: the result of Quantity × Rate (i.e. equal to the Rate, since Quantity is always 1).
📌 Percentage billing logic only applies when the service originates from a budget: it cannot be added manually to a blank invoice line item.
Reversals
If a time entry is unapproved or deleted, the revenue on the Percentage service adjusts automatically. The same applies to expenses, deleted services, or any other change that affects recognized revenue.
If the recognized revenue was already invoiced, a credit note or manual adjustment may be required.
Limitations
Percentage services are calculated automatically and cannot be configured the same way as other services. The following options are not available:
Tracking time or expenses against it
Booking it in the Resource Planner
Restricting it to specific services or people
Applying discounts or markups
Setting a fixed cap or budget overrun limits
Financial Month Closing
When a financial month is closed:
The percentage value cannot be edited for locked periods
Recognized revenue on the Percentage service cannot be modified
The service is locked if any period within the budget's date range is closed
👉 Learn more in Financial Month Closing.