Summary
Carrier Invoice Processing lets you upload the invoice files your carriers send, extracts the charges from them and matches each billed shipment to the shipment in your portal by tracking number. Freight, duty and tax, and surcharge invoices are supported, so a shipment’s total cost covers everything the carrier billed for it.Who it’s for
Logistics operations managers who receive invoice files on the carrier’s billing cycle, and finance teams who need every charge attached to the shipment it belongs to before month-end close. It replaces manual re-keying of invoice lines into spreadsheets.Key benefits
- One upload flow for every invoice type. Freight, Duty & Tax and Other Charges invoices are uploaded in the same place with the same steps.
- Charges land on the shipment. Costs are allocated to shipments by tracking number, and one shipment can carry several invoices while one invoice covers many shipments.
- Surcharge type is detected for you. For Other Charges invoices you do not pick the surcharge type; it is identified from the file and shown as its own line item.
- Status and notifications. Each invoice moves from Processing to OK or Failed, and you receive an email when processing finishes.
- Invoice history stays in the portal. The invoice table keeps every upload with its status, uploader and original file for download.
How it works
Invoice types
An invoice is identified by its Invoice Type plus Invoice No., so the same invoice number can exist as a Freight and as a Duty & Tax invoice without conflict.
Each carrier’s invoice format is integrated for your organization before you can upload it. During onboarding you provide sample invoices (and rate cards, duty tables and contracts where relevant) for each carrier you want processed. For a carrier that is not yet integrated, contact your account team.
Upload rules
- Up to 5 files per upload, 50 MB in total. For Other Charges, one file per upload.
- In the upload dialog you choose the carrier and the invoice type. Only carriers configured in your organization are offered, and only the invoice types supported for the selected carrier. The upload area is enabled once both are set.
- A ZIP for Duty & Tax must contain exactly one PDF and one Excel file; any other count is rejected with the message “ZIP file must contain exactly 2 files (1 PDF and 1 CSV)”.
- When you select Other Charges, a helper line confirms that the surcharge type is detected automatically from the file.
Processing statuses
The invoice details header is green for OK, yellow for Processing and red for Failed. A failed Other Charges invoice shows one of two messages: a general processing error, meaning the Perform.AI team has been notified, or “Unsupported Invoice Type”, meaning that surcharge type is not yet enabled for your carrier and needs to be enabled before you re-upload.
Matching to shipments
Invoiced shipments are matched to portal shipments by tracking number or shipment reference, regardless of shipment status. A shipment can be linked to several invoices (for example one Freight and one Duty & Tax) and one invoice can cover many shipments. The shipment’s total cost is the sum of all its linked, successfully processed invoices; uploading a surcharge invoice adds to the freight cost rather than replacing it. Shipments that appear on an invoice but not in the portal are counted as Shipments Not in Portal on the Invoice Overview dashboard.Surcharge invoices
For Other Charges invoices the specific surcharge type is identified from the file content. Each surcharge becomes its own line item in the shipment’s Cost Breakdown (for example “Remote Area Surcharge”), and the Invoices table on the shipment lists the invoice under that specific type with a tooltip naming the charges it covers. For some surcharge types the rate-card rate can only be determined after the invoice is processed; for those, a rate-card recalculation runs automatically once processing finishes so the comparison is ready without a manual step. Previously processed invoices are not remapped when a new surcharge type is enabled.Duplicates and deletion
- Duplicate upload. If you upload an invoice with the same Invoice Type and Invoice No. as an existing one, the new file is processed and you receive an email asking you to delete the old one. Both stay in Invoice Overview until you delete the old one. For Other Charges invoices, duplicate detection is not available.
- Same type, different number. The invoice is processed and the shipment costs update with the latest data.
- Deletion. Invoices of any status can be deleted, individually from the invoice details header or in bulk from Invoice Overview. Deleting removes the linked shipment-level costs and recalculates the dashboard, the invoice table and the shipment costs. The confirmation reads “Deletion in progress. This may take some time.”
Invoice Overview table
All columns except Download are sortable; the default sort is Last Updated descending. Filters for Status, Carrier, Invoice Type, Invoice Date, Invoice No. and Date Added (default: the past year) combine with AND.
Languages
Line item names and the “Charges covered” tooltip are available in German, Spanish and French, falling back to English where no translation exists. Invoice type names in the table and its filter stay in English.Set up in the portal
- Go to Cost Audit > Invoice Overview and select Upload Invoice.
- Choose the carrier and the invoice type (Freight, Duty & Tax or Other Charges).
- Add the file or files and submit. Keep the page open until the invoice shows Processing.
- Wait for the email. When the status is OK, open the invoice row to check the Service Overview and Cost Breakdown, or select View Invoiced Shipments to see the matched shipments.
- If the status is Failed, read the error on the invoice, correct the file and upload again.
Use via API and MCP
Invoice upload is portal-only; there is no REST endpoint. From an AI assistant connected through the Perform.AI MCP,list_invoices, get_invoice_detail and get_invoice_stats list your invoices, open one with its cost breakdown and return invoice statistics. See Installation and Tools.