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Legal Software
Paying the Firm from Advance Retainer Deposits – Efficiently and Ethically
Lawyers have a unique opportunity when it comes to getting paid: the advance retainer deposit.
So why is it that lawyers don’t capitalize on the opportunity to have money in a trust account before doing any work for their clients?
If you think that you don’t need time and billing software for attorneys, ask yourself if you can accurately say how much money each client has on deposit with your law office right now.
When your primary focus is meeting your responsibility to your clients, you often forget about your responsibility to be profitable – which is why you need Easy Soft’s “Easy TimeBill” and “Easy Trust” software products. You can keep your firm in the black using this combination of billing software for attorneys and trust accounting software for attorneys.
Easy Soft’s trust accounting software for attorneys you enter amounts of advance retainer deposits made by clients, manage disbursements, and see reminders to ask clients to refresh their advance retainer deposits.
When you use the trust accounting software for attorneys with the Easy Soft billing software for attorneys, you see information about the client’s advance retainer deposit balance each time you start billing on a client file. This integrated use of two legal billing and accounting software products means that you will always know whether your client has enough money on deposit to pay for the work you are about to perform.
At Easy Soft, our products are designed specifically for attorneys. We know that there are several critical steps involved in legal billing and accounting software, and our software is designed to help you meet those ethics requirements.
If you want to ensure that your law firm is using an automated, systematic approach to billing and trust accounting, you need to implement Easy Soft’s law office billing software. To do anything else might just be objectionable.
Time is Money – Don’t Waste It!
Time is Money. How often have we heard that cliché?
Phrases become clichés because they represent simple truths, in this case, that a lawyer can only earn as much as gets billed to clients.
So why do many lawyers insist on trying to remember to handwrite time slips on bits of paper that get lost in the wash?
At Easy Soft,we’re willing to bet that if you purchase our time and billing software for attorneys, you’ll notice an improvement in your bottom line.If not, you have our 30-day, unconditional, money-back guarantee on this law office billing software.
Take a moment to get an overview of “Easy TimeBill” law office billing software, watch a short video, download a free trial, and go ahead and buy the program. Questions before buying? Just call us at Easy Soft at 800-905-7638 and ask whatever questions you may have about our time and billing software for attorneys.
The screens for the Easy Soft time and billing software for attorneys are simple, fill-in fields that include client name, matter, work description, billing rate, and a start-stop clock or manual time entry. If you are sitting at your desk, simply start this billing software for attorneys, make less than one minute of entries, click on the clock and you’re billing. You can also make manual entries, such as for expenses. This law office billing software was designed specifically for attorneys and law office staff.
At the end of the month, all you have to do is print and mail your invoices. This Billing Software for Attorneys has already computed the billable charge, totaled all time and expense charges, and compiled the same matters into individual bills.
We know that changing a routine approach to billing is going to take some persuading and some support, and that’s why we’re here. So, instead of rummaging through your pockets and purses for last month’s receipts, why not save yourself some real money by investing in Easy Soft’s Attorney Billing Software – today. After all, time is a wastin’.
Making your 1099S List – and checking it twice (or Five Times)
It’s that time of year again. Time for settlement agents all across the country to file 1099-S forms to the IRS. As with your taxes, the longer you wait, the more painful things get. So don’t wait.
Filing the statements in a timely manner has become even more critical given new Tier-3 penalty rates. Here’s how it breaks down:
- 1099s (not to be confused with 1099S’s) need to be filed by January 31, 2012. We mention this since the similar form number makes things rife for confusion.
- You have till February 15, 2012 to file your 1099S’s. We believe the IRS provides a slightly longer timeframe since the forms are so complex. Note: you’ll want to check and double-check your work. Make sure there are no typos. Make sure names match tax ID numbers. You could end up paying dearly for discrepancies!
- The IRS reporting deadline is March 31, 2012. When this deadline comes around, the IRS will be able to verify the underlying information, and notify you of errors.
- If you haven’t corrected your 1099S mistakes within 30 days, it’s considered a Tier-1 penalty, and you will be assessed accordingly. This is a sham, and we’ll explain why in a minute.
- If you haven’t corrected your 1099S mistakes within 60 days, it’s a Tier-2 penalty, and you’ll be assessed accordingly. We believe this is a sham, too. Keep reading.
- You get 180 days to correct a mistake and pay a Tier-3 penalty of $100. The reason this – in our opinion – is the only realistic penalty is that the IRS is sifting through a lot of forms. The agency will take a few months before informing the filer about a mismatch in the first place. Therefore, too much time will have passed for you to return a corrected form in time to qualify for the Tier-1 and Tier-2 penalties. Tier-3 is only option left.
Once again, your Tier-3 errors will cost you a cool $100: each. If you’re filing the average number of forms (somewhere in the neighborhood of 50) for settlement agents, they’ll surely hunt you down. We are talking about a nation in debt.
Now for the good news. Here at Easy Soft, we’re happy to handle your filings for you. All you have to do is sign up for our 1099S electronic filing service. You handle the closing. Then give us the dirty work of filing the forms. We’ll be the ones making your list—and checking it twice (or five times). We’ll be the ones keeping our eyes on that February 15 deadline. Your work – as far as we’re concerned – is done!
Easy, right? The 1099S electronic filing service is part of Easy Soft’s Easy HUD software package. For more information, give us a call at 800-905-7638.
January 5, 2012 in Real Estate Closing
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Technorati Tagged : 1099S electronic filing service, file 1099-S forms, hud software
Technorati Tagged : 1099S electronic filing service, file 1099-S forms, hud software
Oh No! More Changes in Store for RESPA and HUD-1
The federal government is at it again. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development made a so-called “simplification” to the HUD-1 RESPA form, which involved expanding what was a relatively unfussy two-page form into three lengthier, altogether less simplified–and more stringent–pages.
Just when we’ve all gotten a chance to acclimate, there’s another change in store. This one’s a doozy: rumor has it that three pages will now become five or six. We suspect that the plan is to merge Truth in Lending disclosures along with RESPA into one even more expansive form.
While both sets of forms ultimately serve as disclosures to the borrower, the information contained in each varies widely. RESPA disclosures are typically made by lenders to provide borrowers with information about their settlement charges and the lender’s mortgage servicing intentions. These take a good deal of prediction, precision (with defined accuracy rates), and conservatism.
Truth in Lending disclosures are another beast entirely. They provide an opportunity for lenders to reveal the cost of a loan–beginning to end. These figures include interest rates, additional charges (such as late fees), and total payback amounts.
These are two entirely different sets of disclosures–provided at different times, by different departments, and for different reasons. Consolidating them might simplify the paper, but it will most certainly not simplify the paperwork.
At this point, we don’t know the precise details about these disclosures. But we do know that you’ll need for your HUD-1 software to stay on its toes.
Here at Easy Soft, we like to do just that. We’ll keep abreast of the changes, and as soon as anything definitive is revealed, our programmers will be hard at work to keep your real estate settlement software primed and rigorously up to date.
Until then, give us a call # (732)–398-1001 to learn about our HUD-1 software, and more.
Legal Time and Billing Solutions You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet!
Where did the time go? Is it really 2012?!
It was just four years ago–2008–that Easy Soft launched Easy TimeBill, a platform which has since revolutionized legal time and billing procedures for thousands of small and mid-sized law firms.
Since then, our legal billing software has rapidly grown and evolved. Today, Easy TimeBill is a distinguished product of choice. Its ease, elegance, and simplicity dovetail nicely with a deep, intuitive understanding of what you need, down to the integration of everything from automated billing to payment reminders to everyone’s favorite: legal trust accounting. On its fourth anniversary, our proud young software is widely employed–and celebrated!–across the nation.
And it’s not just a matter of tooting our horn (although we are very proud!). To our fans and users and prospects, let it be said. You ain’t seen nothing yet.
Still to come: a full suite of practice management tools, including an integrated calendar, to-do lists, and even appointment makers.
You see, our philosophy is very simple. We’re intent on giving you features that make sound sense. Email functionality? That’s just silly. Most of you are on Outlook, and the ones who aren’t are likely on Google Apps. So we won’t bother with that.
But wouldn’t it be nice to tick off your tasks, view your week at a glance, and allow your clients to fill your appointment book–all from a program that you hand out in for most of the workday? We thought so. So we’ll be rolling that out, among other things, in 2012.
Hold applause, please. Your patronage suits us fine. To learn more about our legal time and billing software and its integration into trust accounting and other delights of law firm administration, give us a call # (732)-398-1001.
Clearing Out the Haunted Past
A few months ago, Easy Soft introduced a service known as Lien Release Tracking. Already, it’s one of our more popular services. It’s available to real estate attorneys and other Easy HUD subscribers. For just $35 a pop, you can pass the responsibility for tracking releases after the payoffs to someone else (i.e. us). You can close the customer file, and go on your merry way.
However, what you might not have known is there is another related service which is equally valuable, especially when you need it.
Say you’re representing the buyer, seller, or bank on a HUD-1 closing. The title insurance company comes back with bad news. There’s a lien on this property, but it predates the current ownership. Or there are defects in the chain of title, and it’s unclear who owns the property, or what property they own.
We’re sure you already know this, but it happens all the time. It’s a tricky situation, since the seller – much as he/she would like to clear it – often doesn’t have access to the lienholder. Perhaps a bank holds an old mortgage. Or a public entity has an old easement. Or the lot lines are ambiguous, or inconsistent. Sometimes, the lien goes back many decades – and several generations. You can’t even tell if the holder of the lien is still alive.
If your client wants the deal to go through, you need that lien cleared and released.
We have a solution for you with our Curative Title service. For $250, our real estate title professionals will attempt to clear a title with an old lien, and provide the proof. The service isn’t guaranteed. But if we can’t do it, we don’t charge you.
As with our Lien Release Tracking Service, you can pass the cost to your client.
To learn more about our Curative Title service, call Easy Soft at 800.905.7638 today.
