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E
EastwoodPest
February 17, 2026
Question

Unable to add fees to invoices after VAT quarter

  • February 17, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 4 views

Can anyone please tell me how I can add reminder/administration fees to a very overdue invoice without QB telling me "Any transactions in a VAT period marked as filed can't be changed on the Flat Rate Scheme. If you need to uodate something, just create a new transaction."

I don't want to be raising multiple invoices for reminders on top of the original invoice.

1 reply

K
KenoLee_PQuickBooks Team
QuickBooks Team
February 17, 2026

Hi there, EastwoodPest. The Automatic Late Fee feature is available only in QuickBooks Online (QBO) for the US. It can be enabled under Account and Settings.

 

For users outside the US, you can manually add late fees to new or existing invoices as a workaround. 

 

Here’s how:

 

  1. On the left side of your screen, hover to My apps.
  2. Select Sales & Get Paid, then Invoices.
  3. Choose the overdue invoice from the list and click View/Edit.
  4. Under the Product/Service dropdown, select the service item associated with the fee. If needed, create a new line item for the late fee.
  5. Enter the late fee amount in the Amount field.
  6. Add a note about the fee in the Message on invoice section. (Optional)
  7. Click Save and send.
  8. Adjust the email message if necessary, then click Send and close.

 

For additional information, you can click on this article: Add service fees manually to invoices.

 

If you have any additional questions, feel free to comment below.

E
EastwoodPestAuthor
February 18, 2026

Hi Keno,

 

Sadly that doesn't help me. I need to retrospectively add seevice/reminder fees to an invoice raised in a previous VAT quarter. 

 

QB won't allow me to amend invoices once the VAT return has been done. This particular invoice is now  9 months overdue so a couple of VAT quarters ago.

J
Jelayca VQuickBooks Team
QuickBooks Team
February 18, 2026

Hello, @EastwoodPest. It's certainly a challenge when system restrictions limit your options. Currently, QuickBooks Online (QBO) doesn’t allow retrospective edits to invoices tied to a VAT quarter that has already been filed.

 

To ensure compliance with VAT regulations, QuickBooks locks invoices once the VAT return has been submitted. While this helps maintain accurate reporting, I understand it may seem limiting when you need to make adjustments, such as adding late fees.

 

For now, as mentioned by my colleague, you'll want to manually add late fees by either creating a new invoice or updating an existing one.

 

I can see how allowing these edits could help you manage invoices more effectively. We encourage you to share your feedback with us, as it helps improve our invoicing process and QuickBooks functionality.

 

  1. Go to the Gear icon and select Feedback.
  2. Enter a brief description of your product suggestion.
  3. Click Next to submit it.    

 

Please leave a reply below if you have further questions. I'll be here to help.

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