Release retainage at handover

The final release flows on both sides of a project — issuing the closing AR retention invoice to your customer, and recording the closing AP retention bill from your subcontractors and suppliers.

When to use this

At practical completion, end of defects liability period, or final handover — whatever milestone the contract specifies as the trigger for releasing the last of the retention. Most projects have one or two scheduled releases (e.g. half at practical completion, half at end of DLP); the final release happens when the last withholding balance needs to be settled.

This how-to covers both sides:

• AR release — invoicing the customer for the retention you've been holding from their account.
• AP release — recording the retention bill from a subcontractor or supplier so you can settle the retention you've been holding against their account.

Prerequisites

• All outstanding withholdings to be released exist on the project / vendor record
• The contract milestone that releases retention has been reached
• Permission to create retainage claim transactions — see Permissions
• For AP: the vendor has sent you a retention claim invoice (or your contract requires you to release retention without one)

Walkthrough

AR final release — releasing retention you've held from a customer

This is the AR side, mirroring Issue a retainage claim but specifically for the final release at handover. The process is the same; the difference is intent — at final release you typically release every remaining withholding on the project rather than a partial claim.

1. Open the project (Job) record at handover.
2. Click Create Retainage Claim.
3. The Retainage Claim suitelet opens with every outstanding AR withholding listed.
4. If your administrator has enabled Autofill Max Percentage for Receivables, the form opens with every line pre-filled at the maximum claimable — useful for a final release. If not, enter 100% in Percent Claimed on each line, or click each line's max-amount control.
5. Submit. The AR Retainage Invoice is created with one line per withholding being closed out.
6. Print the AIA-style retention invoice (the Print AIA button on the new invoice view) and send to the customer for payment.

After the customer pays, the project's Invoice Amount Retained rollup will show zero — every withholding has been claimed and settled.

AP release — recording the retention bill from a subcontractor or supplier

When you've been withholding retention from a vendor's bills, the vendor will eventually invoice you for the retained amount. Retainage's AP claim flow records that bill and posts the GL entry that releases the withheld balance back to accounts payable.

1. Open the vendor record in NetSuite. (You can do this from the project too — the AP release is usually triggered per vendor rather than per project.)
2. Click Create Payable Retainage Claim. (If your administrator has renamed the button, it may appear under a different label.)
3. The Payable Retainage Claim suitelet opens, with one row per outstanding AP withholding for this vendor. Each row shows the source bill, its date, the original bill amount, and the amount retained.
4. (Optional) If you want to filter to a specific project, select the project at the top of the form — the suitelet will narrow the list to withholdings attributed to that project.
5. Enter the Amount Claimed (or Percent Claimed) for each line you want to release.
6. Enter the vendor's reference number (e.g. the invoice number from the vendor's retention invoice) in the reference field.
7. Submit. A new FC AP Retainage Bill transaction is created and posts to the GL — debiting the Bill Credit account (releasing the AP retention liability) and crediting the Bill Debit account (restoring the balance to accounts payable).
8. The retention bill now appears in accounts payable for settlement like any normal vendor bill.

What success looks like

• For AR: the project's Invoice Amount Retained has fallen to zero (or to the next-scheduled-release balance if you're doing a partial release).
• For AP: the vendor's Retainage subtab shows no outstanding withholdings, or only those scheduled for a later release.
• Both the AR Retainage Invoice and AP Retainage Bill show their full claim line history — claim-to-date, this claim, and the source transaction.
• The GL effect on both sides has the same shape — moving the retained amount off the balance-sheet retention account and back into AR/AP for settlement.

Gotchas

• Settle the underlying bill first. On the AP side, if the original supplier bill is still unpaid for its non-retained portion, settle that first. The retention bill is a separate transaction and should be paid (or netted) separately, normally only once the retention release has been triggered.
• AP retention and tax retention. When Tax Retention is enabled, the AP release also reverses the tax portion. Make sure the vendor's retention invoice includes the tax component — otherwise the GL effect won't reconcile cleanly against the original withholding.
• Cancellation and credit memos. If a release has been raised in error, the credit variant of the transaction (FC AR Retainage Invoice Credit or FC AP Retainage Bill Credit) can be used to reverse it. Don't simply delete the claim transaction — the running claim-to-date totals on the linked withholdings won't recalculate.
• AP release without an invoice. Some contracts require the head contractor to release retention without waiting for a supplier invoice. You can still raise the AP Retainage Bill — it acts as the closing transaction either way. Use the vendor's standard payment terms or a contract reference in the reference field.
• Final release of a project with multiple subsidiaries. Releases happen per Configuration record. If a project spans subsidiaries (unusual but possible in OneWorld), each subsidiary's withholdings are released against that subsidiary's Configuration accounts.
• Splitting a release across multiple projects. If a vendor's retention spans several projects, the AP claim suitelet will let you select withholdings from across the vendor's whole project portfolio. Use the project filter at the top of the form if you only want to release one project's worth.

Related

• Issue a retainage claim — the AR side in more detail
• Set up retainage on a contract
• Permissions