Prepaid Fee

Setting up prepaid fees

Enable to use of prepaid fees

Open the Matter Setup page and enable the Prepaid Fee in Use setting in the Invoicing fasttab.

Set up prepaid fee templates

You can design templates for different kinds of fee. In most cases a single template will be enough.

• Choose the 🔎 icon, enter Prepaid Fee Template and open the page.
• Create a new fee template, complete the Fee Code and Description.
• Ending Date has three options:
  • Formula: A date formula specifies how the ending date for the fee validity period is calculated. Example: 1M as Ending Date Formula would mean that a fee starting Jan 1st 2025 would cover until and including Feb 1st 202.
  • No End Date: Fee will be valid forever. This option should only be used for one-off fees.
  • Subscr. Period End: The date will be set from the subscription period. Example: 1M as Next Date Formula on a subscription order would mean that a fee starting Jan 1st 2025 would cover until and including Jan 31st 2025.

Define standard fee templates for items

You must select a fee template for each item that will be used as a prepaid fee.

• Open the Items list.
• In the Prices and Sales fasttab select the appropriate template in the Default Fee Template Code field.

Using Prepaid Fees

To use a prepaid fee a matter ledger entry for the fee must be created. Matter ledger entries for prepaid fee can be created from subscription orders or a journal.

Prepaid fees in subscription orders

In a subscription order any line with an item that has a Default Prepaid Fee Template defined will automatically be treated as a prepaid fee. The matter ledger entry created when posting the subscription order will contain information about the fee and its validity period.

The validity period always starts on the first day of the subscription period. If the prepaid fee template has Ending Date set to Subscr. Period End then the validity period will end with the end of the subscription period. This is the most common case.

Prepaid fees in journals

In a matter journal any line with an item that has a Default Prepaid Fee Template defined will automatically be treated as a prepaid fee. The matter ledger entry created when posting the journal will contain information about the fee and its validity period.

The validity period always starts on the posting date set in the journal. If the prepaid fee template has Ending Date set to Formula then the validity period will end based on the End Date Formula defined in the Prepaid Fee Template. This is the most common case.

Invoicing with prepaid fees

Matter invoices can include prepaid fees in two different ways. For the client to pay and affecting the how/if time on the invoice is billed.

If the matter ledger entry for the prepaid fee is marked as chargeable it can be included on the invoice as a line item to pay. When or if it is invoiced does not affect the validity period of the fee. A fee could be invoiced in November but be valid for February through March.

For each task covered by the invoice the period of resource usage is calculated. Any fee for each task that has a validity period that covers the period of resource usage will then be used to reduce the billing of the resource usage.

Reviewing and updating prepaid fee deductions / excess

The calculation of the prepaid fee deductions / excess can be reviewed using the Prepaid Service Fees action the in Actions menu on the Sales Invoice.

If manual changes are made to the resource usage on the invoice, the prepaid fee deductions /excess must be recalculated by opening and closing the Prepaid Fee Calculation page, this is done with the Prepaid Service Fees action the in Actions menu on the Sales Invoice.