Agent fees are what an agent pays the brokerage out of their own share of a commission: office admin, E&O, B&O tax. Set them up once and they're ready on every transaction.
Introduction
Every brokerage takes something back from its agents at closing. Office admin, E&O, a B&O tax, a mentor charge on a new agent's first few deals. Typed in by hand on each disbursement, those are exactly the amounts that get missed in a busy month.
An agent fee is money flowing from an agent to the brokerage, and that direction is the whole test. If what's owed is owed to your company, it's an agent fee. If it has to reach anybody else, an in-house teammate or an outside firm, it's a deduction instead. Set each fee up once and it's waiting for you at commission entry with its amount already filled in, still editable on the deal that isn't like the rest.
Fees come out of the agent's share after the broker/agent split is calculated, so nothing about an agent fee changes the gross everyone divides. And if a fee comes out at a number you didn't expect, it's usually the basis it calculates from rather than the amount you typed. That basis is a setting, which means it's something you can change and re-run rather than something you have to work around.
How It Works
Agent fees are one list, set up by a master admin, applied per transaction.
Where Agent Fees Live
The list lives in Admin / Settings, under Agent Fees in the Financials section of the left menu. Only master admins can see or change it.
What Fills In Automatically
The Default Fee Amount you enter is what auto-fills when someone enters commissions. It's a starting point, not a lock — you can change or remove the amount on any individual transaction. If a fee is different every time, leave the amount blank and enter it as you go.
Dollars or Percent
Each fee is either a flat [$] amount or a [%]. Choose the percent option and you also pick what Pipeline calculates it on.
What the Percentage Runs Against
The Fee % Basis column sets the number the percentage runs against: Gross Commission, Sale Price, Distributable Commission, Broker Gross, Agent Gross, or Gross Commission less Referral Commission. This is the setting behind almost every "the math is wrong" question — a fee meant to be a slice of one agent's earnings has to be set to Agent Gross, not Gross Commission.
When you're entering commissions and want to check which basis a fee uses, hover over that fee's [%].
When They Come Out
Pipeline applies agent fees in Step 3 — Fees & Deductions, after it works out each agent's share. They reduce that agent's net payable and add to the brokerage's. They never touch the gross.
Where They Show Up
On the transaction, Financial Info totals every agent fee paid to the brokerage under Brokerage Fees + Taxes Collected — that label is fixed, so if your agents don't pay you taxes, the tax portion reads $0. For a fee-by-fee breakdown of what one agent paid across the year, use the agent's commission statement or the Agent Income report with deduction details included.
Add an Agent Fee
Add a fee to the Agent Fees list so it's available every time someone enters commissions.
Who Can Do This: Master admins.
To add an agent fee:
- Click the [Gear] in the upper-right corner, then [Admin / Settings].
- Click [Agent Fees] in the Financials section of the left menu.
- Type the fee's name in the Fee Name column.
- Enter the standard amount in the Default Fee Amount column, or leave it blank if the amount changes from transaction to transaction.
- Choose [%] or [$] to set whether that amount is a percentage or a dollar figure.
- If you chose [%], pick the Fee % Basis the percentage should be calculated on.
- Click [Save Settings].
The fee now appears in Step 3 — Fees & Deductions on every transaction, with its default amount filled in.
Change an Agent Fee's Percentage Basis
Point a percentage-based fee at a different number — an individual agent's gross rather than the whole transaction's, for instance.
Who Can Do This: Master admins.
To change an agent fee's percentage basis:
- Click the [Gear] in the upper-right corner, then [Admin / Settings].
- Click [Agent Fees] in the Financials section of the left menu.
- Find the fee, then open the Fee % Basis dropdown beside it.
- Select the value the percentage should be calculated on.
- Click [Save Settings].
The new basis applies the next time you enter commissions. Transactions that already have commissions entered keep the old figure until you re-enter commissions on them.
Delete an Agent Fee
Take a fee off the list so it stops appearing when you enter commissions.
Who Can Do This: Master admins.
To delete an agent fee:
- Click the [Gear] in the upper-right corner, then [Admin / Settings].
- Click [Agent Fees] in the Financials section of the left menu.
- Clear the Fee Name of the fee you want to remove.
- Click [Save Settings].
The fee stops appearing on new commission entries. Amounts already recorded on past transactions stay as they were.
Apply Agent Fees on a Transaction
Charge the fees an agent owes the brokerage while you're entering commissions on the transaction.
Who Can Do This: Admins with the enter financial data permission for the transaction's location.
To apply agent fees on a transaction:
- Open the transaction and click [Manage Commissions] or [Update Commissions] in the left menu.
- Work through to Step 3 — Fees & Deductions. Every agent fee you've set up is listed under the agent, with its default amount filled in.
- Confirm each amount, type a different one, or clear a fee that doesn't apply to this transaction.
- To check what a percentage is being calculated on, hover over that fee's [%].
- Continue through the remaining steps and save.
Pipeline subtracts the fees from that agent's net payable and adds them to the brokerage's, and carries them into your financial reports.
When the Money Isn't Owed to Your Office
A transaction coordinator, a home warranty company, a teammate owed a cut. Booked as an agent fee, that money lands in the brokerage's column and stops there, with no line on the disbursement telling title who to pay.
Deductions come out of the brokerage's share or an agent's share of a commission and get paid to someone else — an in-house teammate or an outside company.
See Deductions
Agent Fees FAQ
Agent fees run from the agent to the brokerage, come out of the agent's share after the split, and can never exceed what that agent earned. Answers to the common questions about setting them up, percentage bases, and zero-commission deals.
See Agent Fees FAQ
Agent Fees Troubleshooting
Numbers not landing where you expect? Start here.