Manage construction retainage in Ramp Bill Pay

Overview

Available on Ramp Plus. See Ramp Plus overview for plan details.

Ramp Bill Pay can record retainage on invoice and purchase order line items, withhold the retained amount from payment, track the remaining balance, and create a bill to release it. Retainage is currently eligible for businesses using Sage Intacct or Universal CSV.

The retainage actions available to you depend on your Bill Pay and purchase order permissions. If you can view a bill or PO but cannot edit its retainage fields or create a release bill, ask someone with permission to create or edit bills or purchase order requests to complete the action.

Requirements by accounting provider

Ramp supports retainage for businesses using Sage Intacct or Universal CSV. A bill with retainage cannot include more than one purchase order.

Sage Intacct: Each bill that withholds or releases retainage must have exactly one matched purchase order.
Universal CSV: A matched purchase order is not required. You can withhold retainage on a bill without a purchase order, and you can create a retainage release bill without one.

Add retainage to a bill or purchase order

Open or create a bill in Bill Pay. On a bill line item, enter the Retainage %. Ramp calculates the Retainage amount and withholds it from the payment.

Matched bill line item showing a 10 percent retainage and calculated retainage amount

Open a purchase order from Manage spend > Purchase orders, select Add retainage from the three-dot menu above the line items, and enter the percentage. You can apply the percentage to other eligible lines, but you cannot change retainage on a line that is already matched to a bill. When a draft bill is matched to a retainage PO, select Mark bill as retainage release if the bill should release an existing balance instead of withholding more.

Find bills by retainage status

Use the Retainage status filter in Bill Pay to find bills that are Withholding, Unreleased, or Releasing. Withholding means the bill holds back part of the payment, Releasing means the bill releases retained funds, and Unreleased means the linked purchase order still has retainage remaining.

For retainage linked to a purchase order, these statuses can overlap. For example, a withholding bill remains Unreleased until its retained balance is fully released, and a partial release remains Unreleased while a balance is still outstanding.

Release retained amounts

Open Bill Pay, select New bill, and choose Create retainage release bill. If you are releasing against a purchase order, match the PO whose balance you want to release; Ramp fills each matched line with the remaining amount withheld on that PO. You can release less than the remaining balance, but a PO-linked release cannot exceed it.

On Universal CSV, you do not need a purchase order to release retainage. Instead of creating a release bill from a purchase order, create a bill from the vendor's invoice for the amount you are releasing and leave it unmatched. If Ramp detects retainage on the invoice, select Mark bill as retainage release.

Release retainage with Sage Intacct

Before releasing Sage Intacct retainage, make sure the original withholding bills are paid and synced and that the release bill is matched to the same purchase order. After the release bill is paid, Ramp syncs the release and its payment to Sage Intacct.

If the release does not sync, confirm that the purchase order still has retainage to release and that the original withholding bills are paid and synced. In Bill Pay, filter bills by Sync status, then select the affected bill and use Retry Sync after correcting the issue. See Managing bills and payments for Bill Pay actions.

Understand Universal CSV retainage exports

Universal CSV does not sync bills directly to an accounting provider. Follow Exporting bills via CSV to download the bill accounting export. Use the Retainage Type column to identify withholding and release bills. Withholding rows also show the retained amount in Retainage Amount.

Troubleshoot missing retainage fields

If you use Sage Intacct or Universal CSV but do not see the retainage fields, open Retainage in the Ramp for Construction setup guide. If you cannot access the setup guide, ask someone who manages your Ramp construction settings.