Rate plans in Karbon offer a streamlined approach to managing billing rates across roles, task types, and colleagues. This guide provides an overview of rate plans, their functionality, and how they integrate with your billing processes, simplifying the management of your firm's time charges.
Index
What Are Rate Plans?
Rate plans allow you to define and bulk manage rates for roles, task types, and team members in one centralized location. They provide a clear picture of what you charge for your team's time and when changes take effect.
Rate plans are sequential; each plan has a start date and is valid until the day before the next rate plan starts. To access rate plans, you will need the 'View dollar amount' and 'Admin' permissions.
Key Terminology
Rate Plans: A defined set of billable rates applied across roles, task types, and colleagues.
Start Date: The first date when a rate plan comes into effect.
End Date: The last date when a rate plan is in effect.
First Rate Plan: The rate plan with the earliest start date; it serves as the foundational plan and cannot be deleted.
Current Rate Plan: The rate plan that applies today.
Current Rates: The rates being sourced from the Current Rate Plan.
Last Rate Plan: The rate plan with the last start date.
How Rate Plans Work
Each rate plan has:
A start date for when the rates go into effect.
A column showing the Current Rates that apply today.
A list of rates for roles and task types or colleagues.
When a Colleague Rate is set, it will override Role and Task Type rates for specified colleagues.
Any changes that are made will be shown in the Activity on the main rate plans list. The Activity will cover when rate plans are created and deleted, as well as specific changes to individual rates on individual rate plans.
Rules to know:
You can edit any rate plan.
You can’t delete the First Rate Plan.
You can move the start date back for the First Rate Plan—but not forward.
If you create a new rate plan with a start date before the First Rate Plan, this newly created rate plan becomes the First Rate Plan.
The End Date for a rate plan is the day before the next rate plan's start date.
The Last Rate Plan has no end date.
Using Rate Plans with Time Entries
Time entries source their rates from an appropriate rate plan based on the date of the time entry.
If the rates on a rate plan are changed, then time entry rates will update automatically, except in two cases:
Imported time: These keep their original rate.
Custom budget time entries: These continue to follow the custom budget rate.
What happens when time is already billed?
The value of applicable time entries will update even if that time is already billed. The amount charged for time on an invoice will never change, so if the underlying time entry value changes, there will be a corresponding change to the write on/off.
Example:
If the rate for a 1-hour time entry is $200, and it is billed for $240, that means a write on/off of $40. If the time entry rate is changed to $300, and it is already billed for $240—which doesn't change—the write on/off changes to -$60.
Using Rate Plans with Budgets
If a Work Item spans multiple rate plans, you now have a setting to decide which rates to use when calculating budget estimates:
Start Date (default): Uses the rate plan active on the Work Item's start date.
Due Date: Uses the rate plan active on the Work Item's due date.
If no due date is set, Karbon will fall back to using the start date. If a due date is later added, Karbon will automatically update the budget estimate rate to reflect it.
You’ll find this setting on the Time & Budgets page in your firm settings.
What's Changing with Rate Plans?
This section of the article describes what changes if your firm has already been tracking time in Karbon. (Please remove this part after December 19, 2025)
Your First Rate Plan will be automatically created
When Rate Plans are available, you'll start with a rate plan created from your existing rates. This is your First Rate Plan. The start date of your First Rate Plan will be the date the Rate Plans feature goes live. It will include all role, task type, and colleague rates you currently use.
💡 You don’t need to take any action. Your rates will be carried over automatically for:
Rates for existing time entries
Rates for existing Work Item budgets
No need to manage rates elsewhere
You’ll no longer manage rates in individual colleague profiles or in the roles settings page. Instead:
Colleague rates will no longer be editable or visible.
When creating a new Role, you can set a default rate that will be used on the Current Rate Plan.
When editing an existing Role, you can change the name—but not the rate.
⚠️ Only users with the "View Dollar Amounts" permission can set rates. Others will see a $0.00 default when adding new roles.