Settlements
Run weekly driver pay, deductions, advances, and fuel and toll auto-deductions.
Run Your First Driver Settlement
Settlements → pick the week → Run. CloudTMS lists every eligible delivered load, computes loaded miles times loaded rate plus deadhead, applies recurring deductions and advance recovery, and produces a PDF settlement statement. Status flows: pending → approved → paid.
Set Up Recurring Deductions
From a driver profile, Recurring Deductions captures repeated charges (truck lease, escrow, insurance share). Frequency can be every settlement, weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Active deductions auto-apply when settlement runs.
Issue an Advance and Recover It Weekly
Driver profile → Advances → New. Capture total amount, weekly recovery cap, and reason. Each settlement automatically deducts the lesser of the weekly cap or the remaining balance, until the advance is paid back.
Toggle Fuel and Toll Deductions
Settings → Settlement Deductions has two flags: Deduct Fuel From Driver Settlements, Deduct Tolls From Driver Settlements. When on, matched fuel and toll transactions tied to a load become deduction lines on that driver's settlement. The same transaction never gets deducted twice.
How Settlements Are Generated
A daily cron job creates DRAFT settlements for every completed load that hasn't been settled. The 'Run Settlement' button on /settlements opens the same logic on demand — you preview which drivers have unsettled loads and choose who to generate for now. Either path lands the result in DRAFT status; nothing pays out until a teammate moves it through Pending Review → Reviewed → Approved → Paid.
Pay Bases Explained
Per-mile pays loadedMiles × loadedRate + deadheadMiles × emptyRate. Percentage pays a share of gross revenue (most common for owner-operators). Flat rate pays a fixed amount per settlement period. Hourly pays hoursWorked × hourlyRate. Each driver's pay basis is set on their profile and feeds the settlement engine — there's no company-wide default that overrides the driver record. Deadhead miles are computed from the TruckMileageLog: empty moves linked to a load count against that load's settlement; standalone empty moves are added as standalone deadhead line items.
Driver Types and Owner-Op Shadow Settlements
Company drivers settle on the company-driver pay class (default weekly). Owner-operators settle on the owner-op class (default biweekly Wednesday). Lease operators ride alongside owner-ops on the same class. Multi-truck owner-ops (a driver who owns their truck AND drives for a fleet owner) trigger a second 'shadow' settlement with an -OO suffix that captures the owner-operator side of the transaction. Both rows are independent — approving the primary doesn't auto-approve the shadow; each needs its own review.
Deductions and Advances
Recurring deductions repeat every settlement (or weekly / biweekly / monthly per the frequency you set). Advance recovery is one-time-with-a-cap: each settlement applies the lesser of the weekly cap or the remaining balance. Installment recovery breaks a single one-time charge across N cycles. Both flows live on the driver profile today — Settings → Settlements → Deduction Templates shows the de facto template catalog (the same deduction repeated across many drivers).
Approval Workflow and Write-Offs
DRAFT settlements are the operator's review queue. The accountant opens each workspace, adjusts line items as needed, and clicks Approve. Approved settlements move to Paid when payment is recorded. Negative-net drafts force a resolution decision (forgive / carry-forward / void / custom installment) before approval. Settlements that can't be recovered — driver abandoned, refused payment, in litigation, bankruptcy — are written off with a reason and notes (minimum 50 characters) instead of voided. Write-off is terminal: it preserves the record for audit but flips status to written_off.
Where to Change Configuration
Settings → Settlement Configuration is the review surface. The Pay Classes tab edits company-wide schedule defaults (frequency + day) plus the fuel / toll auto-deduction toggles and the recovery move threshold. The Rules tab shows pay-basis defaults (most of which are per-driver — edit on the driver profile). The Deduction Templates tab shows the de facto template catalog. The Approval Thresholds tab shows write-off rules — those are currently CloudTMS defaults; contact support to customize for your account.
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