Client Deposits
In DesignSmart you can record and track two different types of client deposits:
- Merchandise Deposits
- Service Deposits (also referred to as Retainers)
Merchandise Deposits
Merchandise deposits are payments received from the client in advance for the items that you will be ordering for them. These deposits are automatically applied to the invoice when the items are invoiced and they can only be applied to "Material Invoices".
Your firm's default client deposit percent will be set up in the System Preferences. When you create a new project, the default client deposit will be assigned to the Required Client Deposit for that project. You have the option of changing it as desired.
When you create an item, the Required Client Deposit for the project will be assigned to that item. You can see in the image below that the Required Client Deposit for this chair is 50%.

When a proposal is created, the client deposit amount for all the items on the proposal appears at the bottom of the proposal as shown below:
The default setting is that sales tax will not be be factored into the Deposit Required calculation. If your firm needs the deposit to include sales tax, then please request that your Project Manager change this setting.
Service Deposits
Service deposits, or retainers, are payments made in advance for services to be rendered. When you create a service invoice, you can indicate how much of the service deposit is to be applied to the invoice.
Important: DesignSmart will base the client deposit amount by adding the extended price of the item including any sub-charges, but will not include the sales tax.