Setting up service charges

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Before you assess service charges for past due invoices, the firm administrator (or staff member with security permission to add and edit billing information) should enter service charge information into the application. Once you have added service charge information, you can apply charges to clients on the Billing tab of the Clients setup screen.

Adding a new service charge

To add a new service charge in Practice CS, follow these steps.

  1. Choose Setup > Service Charges.
  2. Click the Add button.
  3. Enter an appropriate Description for the service charge.
    Enter a Description that will be easily identifiable by anyone applying service charges. Examples might be Low Risk - 6%, Standard - 12%, and High Risk - 18%, or some other means of distinguishing the rates charged to various clients.
  4. Enter an Annual Rate as a percentage (up to four decimal places).
  5. Enter the number of grace days after due date before service charges are billed to clients in the Grace Days field.
  6. Use the Calculate from list to choose the date from which the charges should be calculated. Choices are Invoice Date, Due Date, and Due Date + Grace Days. If you choose Due Date + Grace Days, the application will calculate the date based on the number of grace days you entered in the Grace Days field.
  7. Enter the minimum outstanding balance required before the application will calculate service charges. Balances below this amount will not be assessed the charge.
  8. Enter the minimum service charge amount. This minimum will be charged when there is a calculated service charge but it is less than the minimum amount.
  9. If you wish to set a maximum amount for service charges, mark the Maximum Charge checkbox and enter an amount. If the application calculates an amount greater than this amount then the maximum amount will be charged.
  10. Mark the Compound Service Charges checkbox if you wish to calculate service charges on outstanding service charges.
  11. Mark the Round to dollars checkbox if you wish to round all service charges to the nearest dollar.
  12. Click Enter to save the new service charge.

Notes

  • You can add, edit, or delete service charge entries on the fly by right-clicking in a related field elsewhere in the application and choosing the desired action from the shortcut menu. An example of such a field is the Assess Service Charges, use rate: field in the Billing tab of the Client setup screen.
  • See How Practice CS calculates service charges for some examples of service charge calculations.

Activating service charges for the firm

Before you can assess service charges, you must follow these steps to enable the charges at the firm level.

  1. Choose Setup > Firm and click the Billing and A/R tab.
  2. Mark the Assess Service Charges, use rate checkbox
  3. Select a service charge rate from the drop-down list next to the checkbox.
  4. Click Enter to save your changes.

Activating service charges for clients

Before you can assess service charges for your clients, you must follow these steps to enable the charges at the client level.

  1. Choose Setup > Clients.
  2. Select a client and click the Edit button.
  3. click the Billing and A/R tab.
  4. Mark the Assess Service Charges, use rate checkbox.
  5. Select a service charge rate from the drop-down list next to the checkbox.
  6. Click Enter to save your changes.
  7. Repeat these steps for each client who is eligible for service charges.

    Tip: You can update service charge information for multiple clients at once by clicking the Edit multiple Clients link at the bottom of the Clients setup screen and then using the Edit Multiple Clients dialog to change service charge information for the selected clients.

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