This article covers how different types of rate updates are applied to your projects. Please note that Harvest doesn't support historical rates in all areas.

For an overview of setting billable rates, check out our article and video on Setting cost rates and billable rates 🎦.

Person billable rates

A person can have a default rate set in their user profile as well as project-specific rates.

Updating a person's default billable rate

If you update a person’s default billable rate (set in their profile), the new rate will apply to all projects set to bill by Person billable rate and using the person’s default rates, starting on the date specified. It won’t apply to projects set to bill using a project-specific custom rate for the person or projects using other billing methods. 

Changing a person's custom billable rate on a project

If you change a person’s project-specific billable rate from their default rate to a custom one, the new custom rate will apply to all of the hours that they track to the project. This includes hours tracked before the rate change.

If you change their project-specific rate from a custom one back to their default rates, any default billable rate changes in the person's profile that are tied to dates will once again apply to time tracked to the project.

If you update a person's project-specific billable rate from one custom rate to another, the new custom rate will apply to all of the hours that they track to that project. This includes hours tracked before the rate change.

There’s currently no way to change a person’s project-specific custom billable rate as of a certain date and maintain the previous rate for time tracked before that date. If you need to do this, we recommend duplicating the project and using the new billable rate in the new, duplicate project. You’ll have as many projects as you do rates per person, but this will ensure the accuracy of your reports and invoices.

Task billable rates

Task default rates can be set from Manage > Tasks and you can also set custom task rates per project.

Updating the default billable rate for a task

Updates to a task's default billable rate from Manage > Tasks will apply only to newly created future projects billing by Task billable rate.

Updating a custom task rate on a project

Updates to the task billable rate for a project that bills by Task billable rate will apply to all entries for that task on the project. This includes hours tracked before the rate change.

There’s currently no way to change a task's billable rate on a project as of a certain date and maintain the previous rate for time tracked before that date. If you need to do this, we recommend duplicating the project and using the new billable rate in the new, duplicate project. You’ll have as many projects as you do rates per task, but this will ensure the accuracy of your reports and invoices.

Project billable rates

For projects that bill by Project billable rate, an update to the hourly rate will apply to all entries for the project. This includes hours tracked before the rate change.

There’s currently no way to change a project's billable rate as of a certain date and maintain the previous rate for time tracked before that date. If you need to do this, we recommend duplicating the project and using the new billable rate in the new, duplicate project. You’ll have as many projects as you do project hourly rates, but this will ensure the accuracy of your reports and invoices.

Changing the billable rate setting for a project

Updating the billable rate setting for a project, for example, from Task billable rate to Project billable rate, will apply to all entries for the project. This includes hours tracked before the billable rate setting update. 

A note about updating rates via import

It is possible to update a person's default billable rate using a people import, however, default historical rates are not supported when updating rates via import. The imported rate (or even an empty rate field) will override a person's current default, including any historical rates. 

Also, if you’re re-importing an existing teammate, keep in mind that in addition to billable and cost rates being overridden, existing roles, user permissions (the Admin column, which only supports Administrator (Y) and Member (N) permissions), employee/contractor status, and capacity will also be updated based on the new import.