---
title: "Transaction fees and capitalisation"
slug: "transaction-fees-and-capitalisation"
updated: 2026-07-21T07:38:55Z
published: 2026-07-21T09:15:35Z
canonical: "support.lusid.com/transaction-fees-and-capitalisation"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.lusid.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Transaction fees and capitalisation

LUSID has a transaction fee engine that can automatically calculate transaction fee amounts and either capitalise or expense them.

> **Note**: A capitalised fee is added to the cost of acquiring (or netted from the proceeds of disposing of) an asset, whereas a non-capitalised fee is expensed as P&L during the period incurred, without impacting the asset’s cost basis.

For example, suppose all equity purchase transactions incur four fees, two of which are capitalised and two not:

- Broker fee and exchange fee: capitalised
- Clearing fee and NFA fee: non-capitalised (that is, expensed)

To enable this feature:

- For each fee, create a [transaction fee type](/v1/docs/how-do-i-create-a-transaction-fee-type) that contains a formula for calculating the fee (for example, 0.5% of gross consideration), and nominates a property in which to store the result.
- In the transaction type for equity purchases, add a `Fee` [calculation type](/v1/docs/what-is-a-transaction-type-calculation) for each fee to determine whether it is capitalised or not, optionally according to a condition such as the number of units traded or some attribute of the parent portfolio.
- In the same transaction type, make sure you also use the `Txn:GrossConsideration` and `DeriveTotalConsideration` [calculation types](/v1/docs/what-is-a-transaction-type-calculation#txngrossconsideration-calculation), where the formula for total consideration is gross consideration plus total fees (capitalised and expensed).
- Append a side to the transaction type that carries expensed fees as P&L.

Once enabled, for each transaction belonging to the transaction type, LUSID automatically:

- Calculates an amount for each fee and stores it in the nominated property on the output transaction.
- Calculates the total fee amount, the total capitalised fee amount and the total non-capitalised fee amount, and makes these calculations available for use in other operations and areas (such as sides).
- Adds or subtracts just the capitalised fees to or from the [trade amount](/v1/docs/transactions-and-manual-vs-automatic-calculation-of-amounts), which can be used to adjust the asset’s cost basis.

[Work through a tutorial](/v1/docs/capitalising-or-expensing-transaction-fees).