Platform, Billing
Every penny spent on the file, recovered cleanly
Court fees, counsel fees, Land Registry and expert reports tracked per matter with correct UK VAT treatment, flowing straight through to the bill.
Disbursements in Writford — court fees, counsel and Land Registry charges with hard/soft VAT classification and clean recovery on the bill.
Every disbursement tied to the matter it belongs to
Court fees, counsel fees, Land Registry searches, expert reports, medical records, and other out-of-pocket costs are recorded against the matter as you incur them. No more scrabbling through receipts at the end of the case. Each disbursement carries its supplier, date, amount, VAT treatment and whether it has been paid or is recoverable from the client.
- Add disbursements directly to the matter file
- Supplier, invoice reference and date captured
- Status: pending, paid, recovered, written off
- Attach a copy of the invoice or receipt to the entry
- Per-matter total and aged disbursement view
Court fees zero-rated, counsel fees passed through correctly
UK legal disbursements have nuanced VAT rules. Court fees and Land Registry fees are generally outside the scope of VAT and pass straight through to the client at cost. Counsel fees billed to the client are usually subject to VAT, and the firm acts as principal. Get the classification wrong and the bill will be challenged. Writford lets you flag the VAT treatment per entry so it flows through correctly to the invoice.
- Per-disbursement VAT flag (standard, zero-rated, outside scope)
- Counsel fees billed as principal with VAT applied
- Court fees, Land Registry, HMRC fees recorded outside the scope
- Bill output shows disbursements grouped and totalled correctly
- Aligned with HMRC VAT Notice 700/57 (legal services)
Disbursements appear on the invoice with the work they relate to
When you raise the invoice, every unbilled disbursement on the matter is included and grouped. The client sees what was incurred, when, and what it relates to. No reconstruction from email attachments. No disputes about whether a £40 search fee was actually for their matter. The audit trail is on the file.
- Unbilled disbursements flow into the next invoice automatically
- Group on the bill by date or by category
- Aged disbursements view shows what is unrecovered and by how long
- Recovery rate per matter for partner reporting
- Optionally exclude or write off entries before billing
Recover every cost. Bill with confidence.
See also: Billing · Time recording