Freelancers
With the Freelancer module you can simplify billing to your external employees.
Quickly and easily check the invoices you receive from your external employees: compare them with the employee's cost statement generated by ZEP. Or even easier: create credit notes for the employee and thereby avoid invoice checking altogether.
You can store internal hourly and daily rates for external or freelance employees, even project-specific if required. ZEP generates the cost statement for each employee for the hours they have worked. The cost statement can also function as a credit note: transfer the determined amount, and the time-consuming checking of the invoice submitted by the external employee can be completely dispensed with.
Areas of application:
Credits to freelancers:
Instead of receiving an invoice from an external employee and having to check it laboriously, you simply generate a credit note from ZEP and transfer the amount.Quick and easy checking of invoices:
Compare the invoice received from the external employee with the employee's cost statement in ZEP.
Can be combined with the product lines:
ZEP Compact with the Prices & Receipts module
ZEP Professional
The module offers the following features:
Identification of employees as “freelancers”
Selection of whether a freelancer issues invoices or receives a credit note
Freelancers with credit:
Specify the VAT and currency for the credit per employee
Recording of upper and lower credit text for each employee. Placeholder for account, IBAN, ...
Indication of whether receipts are to be settled with the VAT recorded on the receipt or with the VAT of the freelancer
Credits
Creation and storage of a credit note to the freelancer
Printout of the credit note on the invoice paper
Format selectable (pdf, MS Word, LibreOffice)
Generation of credit note numbers, format analogous to invoice numbers configurable
Internal daily rates, also possible on a project-specific basis.
The conversion of booked hours into daily rates is based on the daily rate shares maintained in the master data.
For revenue evaluations and credits: when allocating internal costs to projects, each project is considered individually.
Example: if the freelancer works 5 hours each on two projects, he will receive 0.75 daily rates each
With the Export module for accounting:
Deposit of special expense accounts and BU keys for freelancers:
for wages
for each document type
for VMA, mileage allowance.
Miscellaneous:
New menu item Credits for freelancers and under Employees > Reports for the controller/admin
The module has no impact on invoicing to the customer
View your own credits
Under My ZEP > Evaluations > Credits you can create an evaluation of your services (internal remuneration) including your (travel) expense report for any period of time. The default setting is the previous month before the 15th of a month and the current month from the 15th.
Filter settings:
Currency: Here you can select the currency in which the credits should be displayed.
Deadline check for tax-free use of additional meal expenses:
It will be checked whether you have regularly booked more than two days per week at the same work location and the same project over a period longer than three months.Time bookings that ZEP shows with this check could exceed the tax-free period . Check these times and, if necessary, rebook them to a location that shows the corresponding taxable flat rates.
To make these transfers easier for you, you can transfer time bookings to another work location under Evaluations > Project time evaluation .
Optionally, you can specify the following:
Checkbox in the table Additional meal expenses: Show comment of the first project time of the day:
For shorter trips, the comment for the outbound and return bookings is displayed. For trips lasting several days, the comment for the first time booking of the day is displayed in the expense report for days without a trip booking. Activate this checkbox to suppress the comment in the expense report.
Checkbox Show warning if data entry is incomplete
The evaluation can be exported as a PDF, ODT, DOC or DOCX file. Files uploaded to ZEP for receipts can be output as PDF receipt files.
Settings
If you use the Freelancer module, you can make the following settings in ZEP under Administration > Settings > Cost accounting & credit note :
Number range for credit notes:
Only one number range
Credit No. Prefix
The text entered appears as a prefix in the credit note number.
We have entered the following placeholder as a default:
%PERSNR%- The personnel number of the corresponding employee with the position: Freelancer with credit.
length
This is the length of the number that is inserted between the prefix and the suffix. The number is padded with leading zeros if necessary.
suffix
The text entered appears as a suffix in the credit note number.
If you use the Departments module , you can also set up a separate number range for each top department . The corresponding settings are then made under Department > Data .
Credits per project = Yes:
You can create a separate credit note for each project for your freelancers.
Please note if you have activated this setting:
A credit can only be made for each individual project.
If a project-related credit note is created, i.e. saved as checked, the entire period is still blocked (as with non-project-related credit notes).
the VMA, including meal deductions, are distributed proportionately among the projects involved (number of hours booked for the project relevant to the location in relation to all hours booked for the project relevant to the location).
There are also project placeholders in the upper and lower credit note text.
There are also document variables for project short form and description (analogous to invoice).
If you do not want freelance employees to be able to see the names of other employees in the absence overview or in current attendance under My ZEP > Evaluations , then set this setting to Yes under Administration > Settings > Employees :
Freelancers (except administrators and department heads) are not allowed to see other employees in evaluations, e.g. in the absence overview
Then the freelancer only sees his own data in the evaluations.
Master data
Credit text blocks:
Compile your credit notes individually from pre-defined text modules at the touch of a button.
Under Administration > Master data > Employees there is the menu item Text modules . Here you can store predefined texts for the credit notes.
Click on + New text block , enter a name for the text block in the dialog box and select the appropriate language. Enter the desired text in the Content field. You can also insert certain placeholders here; these placeholders will then be replaced by the values in the corresponding text.
If you now want to insert such a text block in a credit note, click on Insert placeholder/text block under Upper text or Lower text and select the desired texts.
Employees
Employment types:
You can specify an employee's employment type in the Settings tab when creating a new employee ( Employees > Administration + new employee or Employees > Administration > [Employee name] > Data ).
Permanently employed
Permanent employees will receive an expense report if receipts were paid privately and if travel expenses (VMA, mileage allowance) were incurred.
Freelancer
Freelancers receive a cost statement including their internal wages (according to the information under Internal billing rates ), privately paid receipts and any travel expenses incurred (VMA, mileage allowance). In this employee's menu, the menu item "Internal hourly rates" changes to "Internal billing rates" (here you can choose between hourly and daily rates). If necessary, enter a VAT ID number for the freelancer. Specify whether the freelancer can see their own cost statement under My ZEP .
Freelancer with credit
Freelancers with a credit note receive a credit note with their internal wages (according to the information under Internal billing rates , privately paid receipts and any travel expenses incurred (VMA, mileage allowance)). In this employee's menu, the menu item "Internal hourly rates" changes to "Internal billing rates" (here you can choose between hourly and daily rates) and there is a new menu item Credit note settings .
If necessary, enter a VAT ID number for the freelancer. This VAT ID number is offered as a placeholder in the upper and lower text of the credit note (as well as in the text modules for credit notes) and can also be output in the credit note .
Specify whether the freelancer may see his or her own credit under My ZEP .
Employee evaluations
Employees > Reports > Credits
Here you will receive an overview of the credits for your freelancers with credits for the set period. You can select the currency in which the credits should be displayed.
If credits have already been created in the selected period, they are listed in the "Credits" table:
The internal wages, the tax-free and taxable VMA are listed for each line before and after meal deductions. The total kilometers driven, the kilometers driven in a private vehicle and the tax-free or taxable reimbursement amount are listed, as well as the receipts ("Total receipts" are all receipts that the employee has entered, "Reimbursement receipts" is the amount that is to be reimbursed to the employee due to private advance payments). Finally, advance payments already made and amounts not yet paid out are listed.
You can download the credit note by clicking on the PDF icon and delete it by clicking on the trash can icon.
If you click on the employee name, you will be taken to the employee's menu.
If you click on the listed period, you will be taken to the corresponding employee in the menu item Credits , where the period is already preset accordingly.
This procedure is the easiest way to create all credits for a month one after the other.
By clicking on the coin symbol you can generate a payout in the amount of the "not yet paid out" amount.
Click on the envelope symbol in the last column (sent as email) of the table. The credit note will be sent to the freelancer in the defined format.
The period in the created credit note is locked. No more changes can be made to the time entries and the receipts. (To make changes, you must first delete the credit note using the trash can icon and then create it again once the changes have been completed.)
Periods without credits:
This table lists the periods without credit notes created if the checkbox Display compressed to one line per employee is activated.
Credits
For a freelancer with a credit note, create a credit note instead of an "expenses statement":
In the Credits menu of a selected employee, you will receive an overview of their credits. The credit corresponds to the (travel) expense report for permanent employees and also contains the internal remuneration (services) for the selected period.
If you create a credit note for a period, this period is locked and no further changes can be made to the time entries and receipts.
You can select the currency in which the credit note should be displayed (the default is the currency specified under credit note settings ). You can also select the following settings:
Deadline check for tax-free use of additional meal expenses:
It will be checked whether the employee has regularly booked more than two days per week at the same work location and the same project over a period longer than three months.Time bookings that ZEP shows with this check could exceed the tax-free period . Check these times and, if necessary, rebook them to a location with the feature "Other travel, e.g. work away from home for longer than 3 months. Flat rates are generally not tax-free."
To make these transfers easier for you, you can transfer time bookings to another work location under Employees > Evaluations > Project time evaluation or Projects > Evaluations > Project time evaluation .
Optionally, you can specify the following:
Checkbox in the table Additional meal expenses: Show comment of the first project time of the day:
For shorter trips, the comment for the outbound and return bookings is displayed. For trips lasting several days, the comment for the first time booking of the day is displayed in the expense report for days without a trip booking. Activate this checkbox to suppress the comment in the expense report.
Checkbox Show explanations on VMA, e.g. application of the midnight rule, arrival/departure without minimum absence
Checkbox Show warning if data entry is incomplete
The evaluation can be exported as a PDF, ODT, DOC or DOCX file. Files uploaded to ZEP for receipts can be output as PDF receipt files.
Credits:
If credits have already been created in the selected period, they are listed in the table:
The services (internal remuneration), the tax-free and taxable VMA are listed for each line, before and after meal deductions. The total kilometers driven, the kilometers driven in a private vehicle and the tax-free or taxable reimbursement amount are listed, as well as the receipts ( "Total receipts" are all receipts that the employee has entered, "Reimbursement receipts" is the amount that is to be reimbursed to the employee due to private advance payments). Finally, advance payments already made and amounts not yet paid out are listed.
You can download the credit note using the PDF icon and delete it using the trash can icon
Using the pile of coins symbol, you can generate a payout equal to the "unpaid" amount.
Periods without credits:
Periods in which amounts are due for credit but no credit has yet been created are listed in detail.
Headboard:
The overview shows the total amount to be (reimbursed) both gross and net. If applicable, payments already made for the set period (entries in the payment documentation) are also listed, along with the corresponding new amount to be paid out.
You can "Create a Credit Memo" and you can generate a "Prepayment" for the amount to be refunded. A prepayment is a payout for a credit memo that has not yet been created.
Table of services:
Each time booking is displayed with the date, project, number of hours, comment and the amount (number of hours x internal hourly rate or the corresponding daily rate).
Table of additional meal expenses:
For each day worked outside the standard place of work, a VMA is calculated depending on the location and the time of absence.
Only displayed if the administrator has specified the appropriate country setting for the calculation method under the menu item Administration > Settings > Additional meal expenses .
If in the settings: Display project column in the VMA table of the cost accounting is set to Yes , the project for which the VMAs were incurred is displayed.
In the German method of calculating additional meal expenses, the statutory flat rates for breakfast or lunch/dinner are deducted when meals are specified (see My ZEP > Project time table ).
The percentage deduction refers to the flat rate for 24 hours, even if the employee was absent for less time. If the deduction for meals is higher than the flat rate to be paid out for the VMA, this amount is displayed but only deducted to the amount of the meal allowance incurred. (In this case, the employee receives 0 euros reimbursement for this day).
The Austrian calculation method is the same for the daily allowance, except in places with a collective agreement, where the deduction for meals refers to the "aliquot daily allowance", i.e. the portion of the daily allowance that is calculated based on the time of absence.
Table of evidence:
All receipts recorded by the employee are listed. The amounts to be refunded to the employee based on privately paid invoices are calculated. If invoices were paid with the company credit card that contained a private portion, these receipts are also listed and the amounts deducted. The total of the receipts per VAT rate is listed individually if Refund receipts with recorded input tax is activated under Employee > Credit note settings .
Mileage allowance:
For journeys in your own private vehicle, a (reimbursement) amount is calculated: a flat rate is reimbursed for each km driven. All journeys in a company vehicle are also listed, of course without mileage reimbursement.
If the display of warnings is activated, you can click on the warning to switch to the project times of the corresponding employee and correct incorrect entries.
The basic data for travel expense accounting (flat rates for different locations, vehicles, etc.) can be maintained by an administrator under Administration > Master data .
Internal billing rates
Employees > [Employee name] > Internal billing rates
Here you enter the freelancer's internal billing rates (with or without credit).
ZEP requires the figures for the internal hourly or daily rate to calculate the internal remuneration in the cost accounting (employment as a "freelancer") or in the credit note (employment as a "freelancer with credit note"), in the internal costs, in the project evaluations and for the departmental evaluations regarding costs.
In the employee's projects, you can also enter a (different) project-specific internal hourly rate or daily rate. This internal hourly rate or daily rate will then be used on a project-specific basis for all of the above-mentioned evaluations.
The conversion of booked hours into daily rates is based on the daily rate shares maintained in the master data.
An employee's "internal billing rates" have a validity period. They are always valid from the date you enter under "Valid from".
If the internal billing rates change, click on + Create new internal billing rate and specify from when which amount should apply.
You specify the currency of the internal billing rate under Credit Settings.
Credit settings
Enter the VAT that should be shown on the credit note for this employee and a currency. Optionally, you can choose whether receipts should be refunded with the recorded input tax. If the setting is deactivated, a credit note only contains one VAT rate that is applied to the sum of all net amounts. If this setting is activated, the tax rates specified for the receipts are used in the credit note.
Please provide an address for the credit.
You can define an upper and a lower text for the credit note, you can insert placeholders and, if necessary, text modules (to be defined under Administration > Master data > Employees > Text modules ).
Apply this tax rate also to receipts, as they are in the freelancer's accounting
If you activate the checkbox, documents in the credit note will always be taken into account with the credit note tax rate (entered in the VAT field) of the freelancer (e.g. 19%), even if the document was recorded with a different tax rate (e.g. 7% depending on the document type).
This means that receipts that this employee records with a private payment method belong to his accounting and are taxed at his tax rate when a credit is issued, not at the tax rate recorded on the receipt.
Not checked means: the recorded receipt tax is passed on in the credit note, just like in the cost accounting of a permanent employee.
Then the VAT from Employee > Credit Settings is only applied to wages, VMA and mileage allowance.
If you have activated this checkbox and also use the Export to Accounting module, you must enter an expense account for receipts and the associated BU key for these receipts (which are part of the freelancer's accounting).
Credits evaluation table
Credit table:
All credits created within the evaluation period are displayed.
Then, for each selected employee, the credit notes that have not yet been created are listed.
Headboard:
The total amount to be reimbursed is shown both gross and net. The specified period is a link to the employee's credit notes, where the "credit note can be created".
Table of additional meal expenses:
For each day worked outside the standard place of work, a VMA is calculated depending on the location and the time of absence.
Only displayed if the administrator has specified the appropriate country setting for the calculation method under the menu item Administration > Settings > Additional meal expenses .
If in the settings: Display project column in the VMA table of the cost accounting is set to Yes , the project for which the VMAs were incurred is displayed.
In the German method of calculating additional meal expenses, the statutory flat rates for breakfast or lunch/dinner are deducted when meals are specified (see My ZEP > Project time table ).
The percentage deduction refers to the flat rate for 24 hours, even if the employee was absent for less time. If the deduction for meals is higher than the flat rate to be paid out for the VMA, this amount is displayed but only deducted to the amount of the meal allowance incurred. (In this case, the employee receives 0 euros reimbursement for this day).
The Austrian calculation method is the same for the daily allowance, except in places with a collective agreement, where the deduction for meals refers to the "aliquot daily allowance", i.e. the portion of the daily allowance that is calculated based on the time of absence.
Table of evidence:
All receipts recorded by the employee are listed. The amounts to be reimbursed to the employee for privately paid invoices are calculated. If invoices were paid with the company credit card that contained a private portion, these receipts are also listed and the amounts deducted. The total of receipts per VAT rate is listed individually if Reimburse receipts with recorded input tax is activated under Employee > Credit note settings .
Mileage allowance:
For journeys in your own private vehicle, a (reimbursement) amount is calculated: a flat rate is reimbursed for each km driven. All journeys in a company vehicle are also listed, of course without mileage reimbursement.
If the display of warnings is activated, you can click on the warning to switch to the project times of the corresponding employee and correct incorrect entries.
The basic data for travel expense accounting (flat rates for different locations, vehicles, etc.) can be maintained by an administrator under Administration > Master data .
Credits filter setting
Display compressed to one line per employee:
If this checkbox is activated , you will receive the credits for the selected period in tabular form . Each line lists the internal wages and the tax-free and taxable VMA before and after meal deductions for each employee. The total kilometers driven, the kilometers driven in a private vehicle and the tax-free or taxable reimbursement amount are listed, as well as the receipts ("Total receipts" are all receipts that the employee has entered, "Reimbursement receipts" is the amount that is to be reimbursed to the employee due to private advance payments). Finally, advance payments already made and amounts not yet paid out are listed.
If there are any credit notes that have not yet been created in the set period, they will be displayed in a separate table .
If the checkbox is not activated , the periods without credits are listed in detail ; you can also select the following settings:
Deadline check for tax-free use of additional meal expenses:
It will be checked whether the employee has regularly booked more than two days per week at the same work location and the same project over a period longer than three months.Time bookings that ZEP shows with this check could exceed the tax-free period . Check these times and, if necessary, rebook them to a location with the feature "Other travel, e.g. work away from home for longer than 3 months. Flat rates are generally not tax-free."
To make these transfers easier for you, you can transfer time bookings to another work location under Employees > Evaluations > Project time evaluation or Projects > Evaluations > Project time evaluation .
Optionally, you can specify the following:
Checkbox in the table Additional meal expenses: Show comment of the first project time of the day:
For shorter trips, the comment for the outbound and return bookings is displayed. For trips lasting several days, the comment for the first time booking of the day is displayed in the expense report for days without a trip booking. Activate this checkbox to suppress the comment in the expense report.
Checkbox Show explanations on VMA, e.g. application of the midnight rule, arrival/departure without minimum absence
Checkbox Show warning if data entry is incomplete
The evaluation can be exported as a PDF, ODT, DOC or DOCX file. Files uploaded to ZEP for receipts can be output as PDF receipt files.
Table of receipts
Table of evidence:
All receipts you have entered are listed. The amounts to be reimbursed to the employee for privately paid invoices are calculated. If invoices were paid with the company credit card that included a private portion, these receipts are also listed and the amounts deducted. The total of the receipts per VAT rate is listed individually, depending on the administrator's settings.
Mileage allowance:
For journeys in your own private vehicle, a (reimbursement) amount is calculated: a flat rate is reimbursed for each km driven. All journeys in a company vehicle are also listed, of course without mileage reimbursement.
If the display of warnings is activated, you can switch to your project times by clicking on the warning and correct any incorrect entries.
The basic data for travel expense accounting (flat rates for different locations, vehicles, etc.) are maintained by an administrator.
Table of additional meal expenses
Table of additional meal expenses:
For each day worked outside the standard place of work, a VMA is calculated depending on the location and the time of absence.
Only displayed if the administrator has specified the appropriate country setting for the calculation method under the menu item Administration > Settings > Additional meal expenses .
If in the settings: Display project column in the VMA table of the cost accounting is set to Yes , the project for which the VMAs were incurred is displayed.
In the German method of calculating additional meal expenses, the statutory flat rates for breakfast or lunch/dinner are deducted when meals are specified (see My ZEP > Project time table ).
The percentage deduction refers to the flat rate for 24 hours, even if you were absent for less time.
If the deduction for meals is higher than the flat rate to be paid out for the VMA, this amount will be displayed but only deducted up to the amount of the meal allowance incurred. (In this case, you will receive a refund of 0 euros for that day).
The Austrian calculation method is the same for the daily allowance, except in places with a collective agreement, where the deduction for meals refers to the "aliquot daily allowance", i.e. the portion of the daily allowance that is calculated based on the time of absence.
List of your credits
If credits have already been created in the selected period, they are listed in the table:
The services (internal remuneration), the tax-free and taxable VMA are listed for each line, before and after meal deductions. The total kilometers driven, the kilometers driven in a private vehicle and the tax-free or taxable reimbursement amount are listed, as are the receipts ( "Total receipts" are all receipts that the employee has entered, "Reimbursement receipts" is the amount that is to be reimbursed to the employee due to private advance payments). Finally, advance payments already made and amounts not yet paid out are listed.
You can download the credit note using the PDF symbol.
Click on the envelope symbol in the last column (sent as email) of the table. The credit note will be sent to the recipient by email in the defined format.
Periods without credits:
Periods in which amounts are due for credit but no credit has yet been created are listed in detail:
Headboard:
The overview shows the total amount (to be refunded) both gross and net. If applicable, payments already made for the set period (entries in the payment documentation) are also listed, along with the corresponding new amount to be paid out .
Table of services:
Each time booking is displayed with the date, project, number of hours, comment and the amount (number of hours x internal hourly rate or the corresponding daily rate).
