The Unbilled Charges feature separates the creation of subscription related charges from the invoicing of them (compared to current behaviour where Chargebee will create charges and invoice them immediately).
There can be multiple charges incurred for a subscription, including
Upgrade or downgrade
Switch to a different plan
Addon attached in the middle of the term
Add a one-time charge and any other additions or changes to the subscription
Chargebee supports creating unbilled charges so the changes can be applied to the subscription immediately and invoiced on demand or on next renewal.
Subscription created: 1st of April 2017
Plan subscribed to: Silver Plan ($50)
Subscription updated on 15th of April 2017 with the following changes:
Add-on: Custom Report ($30)
One time charge: Migration support ($79)
You can add the two incurred charges to a list of Unbilled charges for the subscription.
An invoice for these unbilled items can be raised on-demand or when the subscription renews.
Here are the ways you can add a charge to the Unbilled Charges list via the web interface and API:
Here are the ways you can add a charge to the Unbilled Charges section by choosing the Add to Unbilled Charges option while -
Creating a subscription
Updating a subscription
Re-activating a subscription
Adding a One time charge
Here are the API calls you can use while adding a charge to the list of unbilled charges:
Get an estimate of any unbilled charges using the following API calls:
You should set the invoice_immediately parameter to false
Adding to unbilled charges via Change term end API call is not available at this time.
You can view the charges added to the Unbilled Charges list at following levels:
At Subscription level: All unbilled charges against the subscription are recorded and displayed
At Customer level: All unbilled charges against the customer (including multiple subscriptions) are recorded and displayed.
Chargebee will let you know when an invoice will be created for the charges (the upcoming renewal date)
You cannot view the list of changes to the Unbilled Charges via the web interface UI. However, you can refer the changes via the API .
You can invoice the unbilled charges based on the following criteria:
What level of detail do you want to generate the invoice with?
Subscription level: You can generate invoices for unbilled charges for subscriptions, including one-time charges and the charges incurred due to a change in the subscription.
Customer level: You can generate invoices for unbilled charges against a customer, including charges against multiple subscriptions, if Consolidated Invoicing is enabled in your Chargebee site.
You can generate invoices and invoice estimates for unbilled Charges via API:
If Consolidated Invoicing is disabled for Customer Level invoicing, then more than one invoice will be sent to the customer in case of multiple subscriptions.
When do you want to generate the invoice with unbilled charges?
Invoice Now: You can choose to invoice all the unbilled charges till date immediately. Navigate to the Customer or Subscription details page > Click the Invoice Now option.
Invoice on Next renewal: All the charges pending against a subscription will be added to the invoice created on the upcoming renewal.
How are Discounts and One Time charges applied on Unbilled Charges?
One time charges are not affected by existing coupons.
For example, if a subscription is created on the 1st of May, and a coupon is applied to the subscription on the 2nd of May, the coupon will not apply to all charges created after the 2nd of May.
If an ad hoc charge or non-recurring addon is added to unbilled charges, the discount(s) present in the subscription will not be applied to the charge immediately. When the unbilled one-time charge /non-recurring add-on is invoiced, the discount present in the subscription will be applied.
How are discounts applied to one time charges present as unbilled charges?
Coupons will be immediately applied to recurring charges that are added to the list of unbilled charges.
If a recurring charge of $50 is added to the list of unbilled charges, any coupons that are created after the charge is added will be immediately applied to the charge.
How is proration applied on Unbilled Charges?
If changes to a subscription affect existing charges present in the Unbilled Charges section, Chargebee will revise the unbilled charges so that any invoices raised are accurate and up to date.
A subscription is created with a Silver plan ($50/month) on 1st April.
It is not invoiced immediately.
An unbilled charge is created for $50 dollars in the subscription's details page for the billing period 1 Apr - 1 May.
On 16th April, the subscription is changed to Gold plan ($100/month).
This change affects the current unbilled charge (of $50 dollars for the Silver plan), Chargebee will revise it.
The list of unbilled items will now contain the following:
Revised charge for the Silver plan - $25 (1st April to 16th April)
Charge for the Gold plan - $50 (16th April to 1st May)
How are taxes applied on unbilled charges?
Tax exclusive: If you are operating with an exclusive price type, tax for unbilled charges will be calculated at the time of the creation of the invoices.
Tax inclusive: If you are operating with an inclusive price type, on the other hand, taxes will be calculated when you created the charge and will be applied immediately. In other words, if your prices include tax then all the pending charges that appear in the list of unbilled charges will include tax as well.
More info on price types.
