Retainers

A Retainer is money your Client pays up front for a Project. Once they pay, it becomes credit. hrglass takes that credit off the Project’s Invoices for you, so you never have to track the balance in a spreadsheet.

How a Retainer Works

1. You create a Retainer for a Client and Project.
2. hrglass creates a funding Invoice for the Retainer amount, saved as a Draft.
3. You send the funding Invoice. Your Client pays it.
4. The payment becomes credit on the Retainer.
5. When you invoice that Project, hrglass takes credit off the Invoice until the credit runs out.

Funding Invoices have no tax. Tax is charged on the regular Invoices the credit is applied to.

Create a Retainer

1. Go to Invoices.
2. Click Retainers in the sidebar.
3. Click Create retainer.
4. Select the Client.
5. Select the Project. Each Project can have one active Retainer at a time.
6. Enter a Name, like Monthly support retainer.
7. Enter the Funding amount per period.
8. Choose a Period type. See Choose a Period Type.
9. Set the Start date and End date. The end date defaults to one year after the start.
10. Choose what happens to Unused credit at period end. See Unused Credit.
11. Turn on Fund future periods automatically if you want a new funding Invoice each period. See Automatic Funding.
12. Click Create retainer.

hrglass opens the new Retainer. Its funding Invoice is waiting in your Invoices list as a Draft. Send it like any other Invoice.

Note

Creating your first Retainer? You’ll be asked to confirm your workspace time zone. Periods start and end at midnight in that time zone. Only the workspace owner can change it.

Choose a Period Type

Period type	How it’s funded
Monthly	A funding amount each month.
Quarterly	A funding amount each quarter.
Custom (one period)	One funding Invoice covers the whole term, from start date to end date.

With Custom (one period), the amount field changes to Funding amount for the term.

Unused Credit

Option	What happens
Carry forward	Unused credit stays available. Nothing expires.
Expire	Unused credit expires when each period ends. For a custom Retainer, it expires at the end of the term.

In the Retainers list, these show as Rollover and Use-or-lose badges.

Automatic Funding

Fund future periods automatically drafts a new funding Invoice at the start of each month or quarter. It isn’t available for Custom (one period) Retainers.

Turn on Email them to the client automatically to send each funding Invoice as soon as it’s created. Leave it off to review and send the drafts yourself.

How Credit Is Applied

Credit comes off Invoices for the Retainer’s Project only. It covers Tasks and tracked time billed as Hourly Rate, Fixed Cost or Other Rate. It doesn’t cover expenses.

• Credit shows on the Invoice as a Retainer credit line, taken off after tax.
• The oldest credit is used first.
• Credit is recalculated each time you save a Draft.
• Once you send the Invoice, its credit is locked in.
• You can’t edit or delete the Retainer credit line yourself. Change the Invoice’s other lines and save, and the credit updates to match.

If credit covers the whole Invoice, there’s nothing to pay. hrglass marks it paid as soon as you send it, and your Client doesn’t get a payment link.

Caution

If you see Retainer credit couldn’t be applied, the Invoice was saved without credit. Save it again to retry.

Check the Balance

Open a Retainer to see its balance:

• Funded: credit added from paid funding Invoices.
• Applied: credit taken off Invoices.
• Expired: unused credit that expired at the end of a period.
• Remaining: credit you can still use.

Below that, Credit history lists every change, with the Invoice it belongs to.

You’ll find the same balance on the Project page, in the Retainer card. Click Open retainer to see the full details.

Retainer Statuses

Status	What it means
Active	Credit is applied to new Invoices.
Ended, credit left	The end date has passed, but there’s still credit. It keeps applying until it runs out or you close the Retainer.
Closed	Credit is no longer applied to new Invoices.

Filter the list with All, Active, Ended, credit left and Closed.

Edit a Retainer

1. Go to Invoices › Retainers.
2. Click the Retainer’s name.
3. Make your changes.
4. Click Save changes.

A few rules keep past billing accurate:

• A new Funding amount only applies to future funding Invoices.
• A new Period type or unused credit option starts with the next period.
• The Start date is locked once the Retainer has credit.
• You can extend the End date at any time, but not to before the current period ends.

Close or Delete a Retainer

Use the Retainer’s actions menu, or open it and click Close retainer or Delete.

Action	What it does
Close retainer	Stops applying credit to new Invoices. Past Invoices stay as they are.
Delete	Moves the Retainer to Deleted Items. You can restore it from there. Past Invoices stay as they are.

If credit is left, hrglass warns you before closing or deleting. That credit won’t be applied to new Invoices, so you may want to refund it to your Client first.

Refunding a Funding Invoice

When you refund a paid funding Invoice, its credit comes off the Retainer. You can only refund up to the credit that hasn’t been used yet. See Refunds for how to record one.

Upgrade an Older Retainer

Retainers created before the current version show the message This retainer uses the previous format. They don’t apply credit to Invoices. The workspace owner can upgrade them:

1. Open the Retainer.
2. Click Upgrade to the new retainer.
3. Check the Funding amount per period, Period type, Start date, End date and unused credit option.
4. Read the summary. It tells you what happens to the existing funding Invoice:
   • Already paid: its amount becomes opening credit.
   • Draft: it’s updated to the new amount and stays a draft. Nothing is sent.
   • Sent but not paid: it stays as it is and becomes credit once it’s paid.
5. Click Confirm upgrade.

After the upgrade, credit applies to that Project’s Invoices. Drafts get credit the next time you save or send them. Invoices already sent or paid aren’t changed.