> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://learn.withessential.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://learn.withessential.com/revenue/invoices/waive-processing-fees-on-an-invoice.md).

# Waive processing fees on an invoice

If your business charges a processing fee on card or bank payments, you can waive that fee on individual invoices, and set customers or properties so every new invoice for them starts with fees waived. A waived invoice is paid at its invoice amount — no fee is added, whatever payment method the customer uses.

## Before you start

* Your business has processing fees set up. See [Set processing fees and pass Stripe fees to customers](/administration/settings/set-a-minimum-charge-for-credit-card-fees.md). The waiver options appear as soon as fee waivers are turned on, even while a fee is set to 0% — a waiver saved then simply takes effect once a fee is charged.
* Fee waivers are off until your business turns them on. In **Settings → Invoicing → Payments**, turn on **Allow waiving processing fees per invoice** in the Processing Fees card and click that card's **Save**. You need permission to manage invoicing integrations to change this setting.

## Waive fees on one invoice

1. Open the invoice (it must be a Draft to change it).
2. Below Attachments, expand **Additional options**.
3. Next to **Processing fees**, click the pencil.
4. Choose **Waive fees on this invoice**. Optionally add a **Reason** — an internal note (up to 500 characters) that your team sees on the invoice and in its timeline. The customer never sees it.
5. Click **Save** in the dialog, then save the invoice.

To charge fees again, open the same dialog, choose **Charge standard fees**, and save the dialog and the invoice. The dialog lists your standard rates, for example "card 3%, ACH 0.8%".

While fees are waived, a **No processing fees** badge appears beside the property picker, and the collapsed **Additional options** row reads "Fees waived" (with any discounts, for example "2 discounts · Fees waived"). **Additional options** opens automatically whenever a discount or a fee waiver is set, so neither is hidden from you.

> **Where to find it:** On the open invoice, expand **Additional options** (below Attachments), then click the pencil next to **Processing fees**

## Waive fees on an invoice you already sent

If you're turning on **Never charge processing fees** for the invoice's customer or property anyway, you can waive the fee on its open invoices, sent ones included, in the same save — see [Waive fees for every invoice of a customer or property](#waive-fees-for-every-invoice-of-a-customer-or-property). To change only this invoice:

The **Processing fees** pencil is greyed out on a sent invoice, because only a Draft can be edited. To waive the fee on a sent invoice that has nothing paid on it:

1. Open the invoice and choose **Revert to Draft** from the ... menu, then confirm.
2. Waive the fees as described above and save the invoice.
3. Send the invoice again when it's ready. It keeps the same invoice number.

**Revert to Draft** is only offered for an Unpaid or Overdue invoice with no payment applied and no payment in progress. A card or bank payment that was started but never finished counts as in progress, for example after someone chose **+ Add Payment Method**, then **Credit Card**, in **Charge Payment Method** and closed the window. It shows on the invoice as a **Payment attempt** card, usually with the status **Unpaid** and the note "Checkout incomplete" (**Action required** if the customer stopped at a verification step): open that card's ... menu, choose **Cancel Payment**, and confirm. Canceled attempts charged nothing, and neither canceled nor failed attempts count as payments. See [Why can't I edit an invoice?](/revenue/invoices/why-cant-i-edit-an-invoice.md) for everything reverting does.

While a card or bank payment taken through Essential is applied to the invoice, it can't be reverted to Draft, so its processing fees can't be changed. A bank payment that later fails (is returned) no longer counts and no longer blocks **Revert to Draft**. Payments you recorded by hand with **Record Payment** are different: **Mark as Unpaid** in the ... menu undoes them, and **Revert to Draft** is then offered again.

## Waive fees for every invoice of a customer or property

1. On the customer page (or the property page), expand **Billing** and edit Customer Billing or Property Billing.
2. Under **Billing options**, check **Never charge processing fees**.
3. Click **Save**.
4. If the customer (or property) has open invoices that still have your standard fees, the same Billing window moves to a second step that asks what the change should cover:

   * **New invoices only** keeps those invoices as they are. Click **Save default only**.
   * **New invoices and the N open invoices** lists each one (number, status, amount, property) and waives fees on all of them. Click **Save and waive N invoices**.

   If every one of those invoices already has a payment applied or in progress, the step only says how many keep their fees; click **Save**. If Billing can't check the open invoices (for example, the connection dropped), the step says so: click **Back** and **Save** again to check them, or **Save** to keep only the new default.

   Click **Back** to return to the form, with your changes still there, without saving.

New invoices for that customer or property then start with fees waived. You can still charge fees on any single invoice from its **Processing fees** dialog. Open invoices are Draft, Unpaid, and Overdue invoices — for Customer Billing, those on the customer's properties that use Customer Billing (a property with its own Property Billing follows its own setting); the window doesn't list invoices with a payment applied or still in progress (it says how many keep their fees), and subscription invoices always charge your standard fees. Billing checks the customer's (or property's) oldest 500 open invoices; if there are more, it says how many weren't checked, and you change those from each invoice. If you choose **New invoices only**, an existing invoice keeps charging your standard fee until you waive it on that invoice (see [Waive fees on an invoice you already sent](#waive-fees-on-an-invoice-you-already-sent)).

When you waive open invoices, each change is recorded on that invoice's timeline ("Processing fees waived by …"), and the customer pays those invoices without a card or bank fee from then on — on the pay page and with **Charge Payment Method**. Nothing is sent to the customer. If an invoice can't be changed by the time you save (for example a payment started processing), Essential says which one and why, and the others are still waived. The window appears only for someone who can create invoices; anyone else saves the default for new invoices only.

The same precedence as payment terms applies: a property with its own Property Billing uses only that setting; a property on Customer Billing follows the customer. **Set Property Billing** starts from the customer's current choice. The **Billing** panel shows a **No processing fees** badge when it is on, and the invoice editor's **Context** tab shows the same chip for the property you're invoicing. Both describe the default for new invoices, not whether the invoice in front of you is waived.

In the invoice's **Processing fees** section, a waived invoice also tells you whether the billing default waives right now: "This property's billing profile waives fees by default", "'s billing profile waives fees by default", or "Set on this invoice only".

## What your customer sees

On the pay page, a waived invoice shows the Credit Card and Bank Transfer options without the usual fee labels, and no Fee or Total to Pay lines — the customer pays exactly the invoice balance. Nothing on the page mentions that a fee was waived. Card payments your technicians take in the app, and charges you run with **Charge Payment Method**, also charge the balance with no fee.

## Good to know

* Invoices created on the technician app, from a job, from a signed quote, or by AI drafting start with the customer's or property's default, just like invoices you create by hand.
* **Duplicate** keeps the original invoice's waiver and reason.
* While a customer payment is being processed on an invoice (a card or bank payment the customer has confirmed but that hasn't completed or failed yet), its processing fees can't be changed. Try again once that payment settles. A payment the customer started but never confirmed — for example, they picked a payment method on the pay page and left — doesn't block the change: Essential cancels that unfinished attempt, and the customer's next attempt is priced with the new fees.
* Subscriptions always charge your standard fees, including the invoices they generate.
* Turning **Allow waiving processing fees per invoice** off hides all of these options and charges your standard fees on every invoice again, including invoices that were waived. Nothing is erased: turn it back on and those invoices and billing settings are waived again.
* Each change is recorded on the invoice timeline ("Processing fees waived by …", with the reason when you gave one, or "Processing fees restored by …") and on the customer or property timeline.

## Related guides

* [Set processing fees and pass Stripe fees to customers](/administration/settings/set-a-minimum-charge-for-credit-card-fees.md)
* [How your customer pays an invoice online](/revenue/invoices/how-your-customer-pays-an-invoice-online.md)
* [Apply a discount to an invoice](/revenue/invoices/apply-a-discount-to-an-invoice.md)
* [Set customer billing (payment terms, tax exempt, autopay)](/customers-and-work/customers/set-a-customers-billing-profile-payment-terms-tax-exempt-autopay.md)
* [Use Customer Billing or set Property Billing](/customers-and-work/properties/property-billing-profile-the-customer-default-or-its-own.md)
* [Charge a customer's saved card for an invoice](/revenue/invoices/charge-a-customers-saved-card-for-an-invoice.md)


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