Solicitors Accounts V: Submission, Reduction and Payment of Bills Including the VAT Element
Description
An extensive overview of Value Added Tax (VAT) regulations for law firms, focusing specifically on billing clients for professional charges and disbursements. The documents establish that solicitors must separately itemise professional fees, disbursements, and VAT on invoices and that any bill reductions require proportional VAT recalculations. Crucially, the sources differentiate between taxable legal services (which require VAT) and qualifying disbursements, which are costs incurred by the solicitor acting purely as an agent for the client and are therefore excluded from the firm's VAT supply. Finally, the texts explain the two primary methods for handling disbursements—the Agency Method (where the invoice is addressed to the client and no VAT is charged by the firm) and the Principal Method (where the invoice is addressed to the firm, and VAT must be charged to the client)—noting a special concession for handling counsel’s fees under the Agency Method.
United States
