The billing breakdown shows every individual charge that makes up a Remote invoice. It is a line-by-line view of what you are being billed for, broken down by team member, country, cost type, and amount, and it uses the same format on every invoice, across every Remote product.
This article is for company admins and finance teams who review or reconcile Remote invoices. The billing breakdown is available on every invoice, for all products.
What is the billing breakdown?
Each Remote invoice has two main views, shown as tabs on the invoice page:
| View | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Invoice overview | The top-level summary: total amount due, taxes, and payment status. This matches your invoice PDF. |
| Billing breakdown | The detailed view: every charge that makes up the invoice, with the team member, country, cost type, description, amount, and currency. |
The billing breakdown is the same on every invoice, no matter which Remote product the charges relate to.
If you want to combine line items across several invoices at once, use the How do I use the Consolidated Billing Breakdown report? instead.
Where to find the billing breakdown
Open any invoice, then select the Billing breakdown tab. The breakdown is available from the moment the invoice is generated.
Columns in the billing breakdown
By default, the billing breakdown shows the following columns:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Name | The team member or resource the charge relates to |
| Employee ID | Remote's identifier for the team member |
| External employee ID | Your own identifier for the team member, set on their profile |
| Cost center | The cost center allocated to the employment |
| Invoice number | The invoice the charge belongs to |
| Type | The category of cost (see the cost types below) |
| Period | The period the charge relates to |
| Country | The country of employment |
| Description | Item-specific detail about the charge, often country-specific |
| Invoice amount | The charge in the invoice currency |
| Invoice currency | The currency of the invoice, for example USD, EUR, or GBP |
| FX rate | The conversion rate applied from the source currency to the invoice currency |
| Source amount | The charge in the original (payroll) currency |
| Source currency | The currency in which the charge was originally incurred |
Optional columns you can add
Use the column picker to add these columns. They are turned off by default, and you can add or remove them at any time.
| Column | When it is useful |
|---|---|
| Category | Groups cost types into broader buckets, mainly for incentives and expenses (for example, Bonus or Work-from-home allowance). Available on EOR, Payroll, PEO, and COR Protect charges. |
| Billing type | Distinguishes the pre-funding reversal from the final actual charge on EOR reconciliation invoices. |
| GL account | The general ledger account, available on Payroll invoices. |
| Custom fields | Any custom field you have defined on a team member's profile, with one column per field. |
What each cost type means
Every row has a Type (the category of cost) and a Description (item-specific detail).
| Type | What it represents | Example description |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | Fixed regular pay on a recurring basis | Monthly base salary |
| Other compensation | Variable pay tied to base salary | Overtime payment, holiday pay, signing bonus |
| Incentives | Performance or result-linked variable pay | Performance bonus, sales commission |
| Expenses | Reimbursed business costs | Travel reimbursement, home office equipment |
| Payslip benefit (cash) | A cash benefit processed through payroll | Meal allowance, transport stipend |
| Payslip benefit (non-cash) | A non-cash benefit processed through payroll | Health insurance (employee portion) |
| Other benefits | Benefits not processed through payroll | Employer-paid life insurance |
| Employer contribution | A statutory or mandatory employer contribution | Germany social security |
| Management fees | Remote's core service fee | Remote management fee |
| EOR add-on service | A recurring add-on that enhances the core service | Equity management fee |
| Ad-hoc service costs | A one-time service charge | Visa application assistance, background check |
| Local indirect tax | Country VAT or GST on Remote services, attributable to a team member | Local VAT/GST |
| Sales tax | Invoice-level sales tax on Remote services | Sales tax on services |
Example: A team member in Germany receives an overtime payment of 400 EUR. In the billing breakdown, this appears as one row with the Type Other compensation, the Description Overtime payment, and an Invoice amount of 400 EUR. The related employer social security charge appears as a separate row, with the Type Employer contribution and the Description Germany social security.
How pre-funding and reconciliation charges appear (EOR)
For EOR, Remote first issues a pre-funding invoice based on an estimate, then a reconciliation invoice based on the actual payroll costs.
On EOR reconciliation invoices, the Billing type column shows how each amount relates to the earlier estimate:
| Billing type | What it means |
|---|---|
| Pre-funding reversal amount | Reverses what was estimated and charged on the previous pre-funding invoice |
| Final actual amount | The actual cost based on real payroll outputs, charged on the reconciliation invoice |
For example, if the estimated base salary was 2,000 USD:
- Estimate matched the actual cost: a reversal of −2,000 USD and a final actual of +2,000 USD. Nothing further is owed.
- Actual cost was higher: a reversal of −2,000 USD and a final actual of +2,400 USD. You owe the 400 USD difference.
- Actual cost was lower: a reversal of −2,000 USD and a final actual of +1,600 USD. Remote issues you a 400 USD credit.
Cost center, external employee ID, and custom fields
The billing breakdown can show the attributes you use to organize your own reporting:
- Cost center appears as a column whenever your company has at least one cost center set up. Each employment shows the cost center allocated to it (or split allocations, where supported).
- External employee ID shows your own identifier for a team member, taken from their profile. It is empty if you have not set one.
- Custom fields that you have defined on a team member's profile each appear as their own column in the column picker, so you can turn them on or off independently.
Cost center, team member name, and country are captured at the time the invoice is generated. If you change any of these on a profile after an invoice is issued, the original invoice keeps the values it had when it was created. This keeps past invoices accurate and reproducible.
How the breakdown matches your invoice total
The sum of the Invoice amount column across every row in the billing breakdown always equals the invoice total.
The billing breakdown and the billed amount come from the same source, so the detail you see always adds up to what you are charged. Changes made to payroll data, profiles, or custom fields after an invoice is issued do not change that invoice's breakdown.
How to export the billing breakdown
Select Download CSV on the Billing breakdown tab to export the line items.
- The CSV includes whichever columns you currently have selected in the column picker, so turn on any optional column before exporting.
- The file includes invoice details such as the invoice number, period, currency, and total.
- There is one row per line item, and the amounts add up to the invoice total.
For some invoice types, a CSV breakdown is also attached to your invoice email.
Switching between the new and legacy views
During the transition to the new billing breakdown, you can switch between it and the previous invoice breakdown and itemized report on the invoice page. Your choice is remembered for next time. The previous format remains available until March 2027.
For invoices dated before December 2024, the billing breakdown will no longer be shown on the platform after March 2027. You can still download the itemized report or the original breakdown CSV for these invoices after that date. The on-platform experience is therefore limited for these historic invoices, but you keep access to the granular data that supports them.
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