Some contracts stipulate that retention should stop accruing after a certain amount of the contract has been billed. To restrict the amount of retention withheld, type the maximum amount of retention to withhold in the Maximum Amount box from the Progress Billing Setup window. When the total retention withheld, calculated from the rates for each line item, equals or exceeds the maximum, Sage 100 Contractor stops withholding retention on the printed progress billings and the posted receivable invoices. However, within the Progress Billing window, Sage 100 Contractor continues to calculate the total retention.

You can also set up a secondary retention rate. When the total retention withheld exceeds the amount in the Maximum Amount box, Sage 100 Contractor applies the rate in the Secondary Rate box from the Progress Billing Setup window. Sage 100 Contractor does not replace the original rates in the Retention Rate column of the progress bill with the secondary rate because it uses the original rates to compute the total retention for comparison against the maximum. The secondary rate applies to each line item that has a retention rate; you cannot change the secondary rate on a line by line basis.

If you want to withhold retention for stored materials, type the rate in the Material Rate box. When you enter costs for stored materials in the Current Stored column, Sage 100 Contractor calculates the retention using the rate in the Material Rate box from the Progress Billing Setup window.

While you include retention on billings, payment is not due until you complete the project. Posting an invoice declares the gross amount of the invoice as income. However, a percentage of the gross amount is withheld as retention, so the client is actually billed for the net amount (gross invoice amount – retention = net invoice amount). Therefore, retention is already declared income but is not yet due. Consequently, Sage 100 Contractor does not include retention in the invoice aging, and does not apply finance charges to it.

When you are ready to bill the client for retention, it is not necessary to create a new invoice. The retention has already been declared income, so you simply release the retention in both progress billing and accounts receivable. You can release retention on each invoice individually, or you can release the retention for the entire job at one time. You can then send the client a statement reflecting the amount that is due your company.