Disbursement management

A disbursement is an expense you incur on behalf of a client, such as travel costs, court fees, or bailiff fees. If you have the appropriate access rights, you can manage disbursements yourself: add disbursements, edit them, and delete them when they're no longer needed.

Managing disbursements

Go to Disbursements and search for the disbursement you want to manage. Each disbursement in the search results shows Edit and Delete buttons at the end of the row. For a disbursement that is already billed, the Delete button is disabled. For disbursements imported from your accounting software, both buttons are disabled. Hover over a disabled button to see why. Additionally, the disbursement overview shows the state (see ↪ Billable (B), non-billable (NB), zero rate (0), and write-off (W)) and amount (including and excluding VAT) for the disbursement.

Disbursement search results, showing the Edit and Delete buttons at the end of each row.

Use the search fields to narrow down the results, for example by matter, billing status, or date range. See the article ↪ Disbursement search for a full overview of the available filters.

Adding a disbursement

Note: If your Legalsense environment isn't linked to an accounting application, add disbursements manually as described below. If your environment is linked to an accounting application, you can also import disbursements from your accounting software. See ↪ Managing the integration with accounting software for when Legalsense imports a purchase invoice.

1. Go to Disbursements.
2. Click New disbursement.
3. Fill in the disbursement form.

New disbursement form, showing the fields for date, matter, disbursement type, amount, and other details.

Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required. Is purchase, Creditor, and Purchase invoice number only appear if creditors are enabled in your environment.

• Date*: the date of the disbursement.
• Is purchase: books the disbursement as a purchase invoice in the accounting application. This option is selected by default. If it's selected, you must also specify a creditor and a purchase invoice number. Clear it if your environment isn't linked to an accounting application.
• Creditor: click Add new creditor to create a creditor, entering its name and, if desired, its bank account number and BIC code. After that, select the creditor from the dropdown menu for future disbursements.
• Purchase invoice number: the invoice number as stated by the creditor.
• Matter*: the matter to book the disbursement on.
• Disbursement type: the type of expense, such as travel expenses, bailiff fees, or court fees. Manage the available disbursement types at Settings → Lists → Disbursement types, if you have the required permissions.
• Description: a description of the expense. This also appears on the invoice specification.
• Amount*: the amount stated on the invoice.
• Currency*: the currency of the disbursement. This field only appears when multiple currencies are enabled in your environment.
• Amount entered is*: whether the amount is inclusive or exclusive of VAT. Excluding VAT by default.
• Tax rate*: the applicable VAT rate.
• Is billable: whether the disbursement is billable. Selected by default.
• Include PDF with invoice: select this option to make the uploaded attachment available on invoices for this disbursement.
• Attachment: upload a PDF copy of the invoice or receipt.

4. Click Save.

Legalsense saves the disbursement on the matter. If Is billable is selected, the disbursement becomes available for invoicing.

Note: Besides adding a disbursement from the Disbursements menu, you can also add a disbursement line directly to a draft invoice. See the article ↪ Add a disbursement to an invoice.

Editing a disbursement

In the disbursement search results, click Edit next to the disbursement you want to change.

This opens the same form used when adding a disbursement, where you can edit the applicable fields. See Adding a disbursement above for a description of these fields.

What you can change depends on the disbursement's status:

• Not billed yet: you can change all fields.
• On a draft invoice: you can change the fields, and the change also appears on the draft invoice.
• On a final invoice: you can't change it. Legalsense shows It is impossible to make changes to the disbursement on the invoice until the invoice is credited or unfinalized.
• Imported from your accounting software: the disbursement is locked. See You can't change a disbursement below.

Deleting a disbursement

In the disbursement search results, click Delete next to the disbursement you want to remove, and confirm. For a disbursement imported from your accounting software, open the disbursement and click Delete there.

You can't delete a disbursement that is on a draft or final invoice. Legalsense shows Cannot delete this expense since it is already billed. Remove it from the draft invoice first, or credit the final invoice.

Important: Deleting a disbursement can't be undone.

Troubleshooting

A disbursement shows Unprocessed remainder

Unprocessed remainder is the part of a purchase invoice that isn't booked on a matter yet. You see it in the Matter column of the disbursement search results and on the disbursement itself. It appears when a purchase invoice is imported with lines that don't belong to a matter, or when the amounts booked on matters don't add up to the total of the purchase invoice.

To book the remainder on a matter:

1. Open the disbursement.
2. If the disbursement was imported from your accounting software, click Edit and confirm that you want to unlock it.
3. Click Add matter.
4. Select the Matter, and fill in the Disbursement type, Amount, and Tax rate.
5. Save. Legalsense recalculates the remaining amount.

To split the remainder over multiple matters, repeat these steps for each matter.

Important: Changes you make to an unlocked imported disbursement aren't sent to your accounting software. Make the same correction there yourself.

You can't change a disbursement

• The disbursement is on a final invoice: credit or unfinalize the invoice first, then change the disbursement.
• The disbursement was imported: Legalsense locks imported disbursements, so you can only change the description. Open the disbursement, click Edit, and confirm to unlock it. Legalsense shows that your changes won't be synchronized with your accounting software.
• The matter is archived: Legalsense shows You cannot edit a chargeable that is linked to an archived matter.

To change the disbursement type on many disbursements at once, or on disbursements that are already billed, contact Legalsense Support.

You want to write off a disbursement

For disbursements imported from your accounting software, use Write off on the disbursement. You can only write off a disbursement that is booked on a matter, billable, and not on an invoice. For disbursements you added in Legalsense, clear Is billable instead.

Whether Legalsense sends a change, deletion, or write-off to your accounting software depends on your integration. See ↪ Changes to disbursements aren't sent to your accounting software.