Document & Item Charges Module
User Guide
Background / Problem Statement
Businesses often need to apply additional charges to sales
orders beyond standard item pricing. These charges may include flat document
fees, percentage-based surcharges, or item-specific charges. Standard Business
Central functionality does not provide a flexible, rule-driven structure to
automatically apply these surcharges based on customer, shipping, or order
conditions.
This enhancement introduces a structured surcharge framework allowing automatic
application of document-level and item-level charges based on configurable
criteria.
Solution Overview
1. New Table: Sales Surcharges
A new table 'Sales Surcharges' is created to define
surcharge rules.
This table supports configuration of both document and item-level surcharges
based on customer, group, shipping, and date criteria.
2. Customer Card Enhancement
A new field is added to the Customer Card (Pricing tab,
below Price Group):
- Surcharge Group (Code & Description – linked to new table)
This allows customers to be grouped for surcharge application.
3. Sales Surcharges Table Fields
The Sales Surcharges table includes the following fields:
Type Field (Options): Customer, All Customers, Customer Group
Type Value:
- Lookup Customer No. if Type = Customer
- Lookup Customer Group if Type = Customer Group
Ship-to Code (Customer Ship-to lookup)
Shipping Method (Lookup)
Shipping Agent (Lookup)
Shipping Agent Service (Lookup)
Charge Type: Document or Item
Item No.: Lookup item (required if Charge Type = Item)
Rate Type Options:
- Flat Rate
- % of Total
Charge Posting Type:
- G/L Account
- Item Charge
Type Value: Lookup G/L Account or Charge Item depending on selection
Amount or Percentage Value
Starting Date
Ending Date
Item Charge Allocation Type (Amount, Quantity, etc.)
Include in Unit Price (Boolean – Only applicable if Charge Type = Item)
4. System Behavior
Document Charges
When a Document surcharge applies:
- The system inserts one surcharge line at the end of the sales order.
- The charge is calculated based on Flat Rate or Percentage of Total.
- Posting follows the defined G/L Account or Item Charge setup.
Item Surcharges
When an Item surcharge applies:
- The system inserts a charge line directly after the related item line.
- The charge line is linked to the item.
- Allocation follows the defined Item Charge Allocation Type.
- Posting follows the defined G/L Account or Item Charge setup.
5. Include in Unit Price Logic
If 'Include in Unit Price' = TRUE and Charge Type = Item:
- The system sums the original item unit price and the related item charge.
- The combined value appears as a single unit price when printing the sales
document.
- Internally, Business Central maintains two lines (item + charge).
This allows customers to see a single consolidated price while preserving
correct accounting structure.
6. Report Changes
Report 1305 (or a new custom report) must be modified to:
- Merge the item charge or G/L charge into the related item line
- Display a single consolidated unit price when Include in Unit Price = TRUE
If Include in Unit Price = FALSE, charges print as separate lines.
Result
- Automated surcharge application
- Flexible configuration by customer, shipping, and date
- Support for flat and percentage-based charges
- Clear separation between document and item surcharges
- Optional consolidated pricing display for customers
Business Impact
- Reduces manual surcharge entry
- Improves billing accuracy and consistency
- Supports complex pricing agreements
- Enhances customer invoice presentation
- Maintains accounting integrity while simplifying customer-facing documents