Some of this content was co-authored by S360 staff and secure AI. We try to keep things accurate and clear, but a quick double-check never hurts—robots have their off days too!

Purpose and Scope

Configure Q360 and run day‑to‑day processes so tariff surcharges are recovered from Customers, costed to jobs, and tracked clearly in financial statements. Guidance applies to all tariffs and similar import duties regardless of Vendor or Industry

Intended Audience

• Estimators / Sales Engineers
• Purchasing and Supply Chain Coordinators
• Accounts Payable (AP)
• Project Managers and Project Accounting
• Finance & Controllers

Definitions

• Tariff – Government‑imposed charge on imported goods.  In Q360, we treat it as a pass‑through cost, not inventory
• Tariff Matrix – A manually-tracked table (external to Q360) of current tariff percentages by Manufacturer or Vendor
• Tariff Master – A dedicated non‑stock Item used everywhere tariffs are recorded

Business Context

Tariffs fluctuate by trade policy, Vendor, and product line.  Companies need a repeatable method to:

1. Capture the Vendor cost (often a separate invoice surcharge but sometimes embedded in Item’s cost)
2. Bill the Customer transparently (in case of separate surcharge)
3. Keep both postings in a single GL Account so the year‑end net is zero

Configuration Checklist

Create the Tariff Master Part: suggested attributes for the Master

Tariff Revenue GL Account

• Add Account XXXX Tariffs Revenue to the Chart of Accounts
• Account nature: Income
• Note: only if you are using Job Cost Class method of revenue recognition, set Job Cost Type to REVENUE and Job Cost Class to Material.

Tariff Expense GL Account

• Add Account XXXX Tariffs Expense to the Chart of Accounts
• Account nature: Expense
• Job Cost Type: COGS.  Note: if you are using Job Cost Class method, similarly set the Job Cost Class

Link Master to New GL Account

1. On Tariff Master > Details tab, set the Sales Revenue and COGS accounts to the ones created in previous steps.
2. On the Tariff Master > Ext. Account tab, create rules for revenue and COGS for every sale type in which you can potentially buy products with levied tariff charges (multiply this if you have multiple companies).

Below is an example of this type of configuration:

Operating Procedures

Manually Maintain a Tariff Matrix

• Keep a shared spreadsheet of Tariff % by Manufacturer.  Update whenever Vendors issue new guidance
  Estimating / Quoting

1. Add a Tariff line for each Manufacturer Group; set Cost = Price (no margin)
   • Grouping Quote lines by Vendor / Manufacturer helps in running the calculation
2. You may also use Auto Add Rules to always add Tariff line if A, Q or Unverified Items are detected on Quotes.  If so, set Cost and Price of Auto Add Rule to zero. With an Auto Add Rule, estimators will have this line added as a reminder to calculate tariff costs and charges on their Quotes.  They may then click on Quote > Details tab > Bypass Auto Add Rules to be able to override the Cost and Price of the auto-added tariff line

Purchasing

• Do not add Tariff to the Purchase Order. Instead, you may add an internal note: “Expect tariff surcharge on Invoice” if you need to pass such expectation to Accounts Payable
• For visibility, you may attach the Vendor notice or tariff matrix snapshot to the Purchase Order record

Accounts Payable

• When receiving a Vendor Invoice that includes tariff surcharge:

1. Voucher the Purchase Order normally
2. Click Find Product and add Tariff Master
3. Enter the Tariff Amount
4. If Purchase Order is related to a job, link the added tariff line to the respective job
   • If multiple jobs are included in the Voucher, you may need to add multiple tariff lines in case the Vendor has broken out the tariff charge across different Products

Project Management & Billing

• If the Tariff was not estimated, create a change order (ICO or CCO depending on whether you want to pass the cost to your customer) equal to the tariff amount.
• If the Tariff was estimated, the Tariff line created during quoting will flow to the Customer Invoice automatically

Month‑End Review

• Finance runs a Trial Balance on the Tariff Account.  A large debit or credit balance signals unbilled or unpaid Tariffs that need follow‑up (keep in mind this is subject to costing vs. billing timing)

Summary of Tariff Scenarios

Governance & Controls

• Quote Authorization Gate – Confirm Tariff lines align with matrix
• Order Approval Gate – Confirm Tariff lines align with matrix if necessary

FAQ / Troubleshooting