Asking a client to deposit into trust: the trust deposit request
Updated · ZA · BW
When a matter needs money up front — a deposit on account, transfer duty, counsel's fees — the client must be told exactly how much to pay and where. That document is a trust deposit request. It is NOT a tax invoice: it carries no VAT and puts nothing into income, because the money will still be the client's when it arrives.
First: full trust banking details
A deposit request tells the client exactly where to pay, so it cannot be printed until the trust account has the bank, the account holder's name, the full account number and the branch code. Until then the page says "Trust deposit requests can't be printed yet — still needed:" and names what is missing.
- On Money held for clients, press Trust banking details (top right), or scroll to Client money bank accounts and press Edit banking details.
- Fill in Bank, Account holder (the name on the trust account, e.g. "Mokoena Attorneys Inc Trust Account"), Account number and Branch code.
- Press Save banking details.
Creating the request
- On Money held for clients, find the client's ledger and press Request a deposit (or open the Ledger and go to Trust deposit requests).
- Set Dated. Under What the deposit is for, describe each amount — "Deposit on account", "Transfer duty", "Counsel's fees" — with its Amount. Add a line for each.
- Add a Note to the client (optional), then press Request — the button shows the total.
- Press PDF beside the request and send the PDF to the client yourself.
When the money arrives: link it
Record the money under Move client money with What happened set to Money received for a client. When the ledger has an open request, Answers deposit request offers it — and with only one open request it is chosen for you. Linking it shows the request as received and keeps Deposits requested, Received against them and Still required correct on the ledger.
If you import the trust bank statement instead, each Paid in line for that client offers the same choice of deposit request (or No deposit request).
Money paid beyond a request is simply more held for the client — the ledger is never pushed below zero by an over-payment.
Cancelling a request
If the client paid directly or the matter settled, open the request on the client's ledger and press Cancel the request. Why is it being cancelled? is required — the reason is kept with the request.
Common mistakes
- Raising a fee note or tax invoice for the deposit. That books the deposit as income and VAT — see the guide on why never to invoice a trust deposit.
- Recording the deposit as a payment against a fee note. When you record a payment, Ledgr asks "Was this money paid into your trust account as a deposit?" — answer It's a deposit into trust and it is taken to the client's trust ledger instead.
- Printing before the banking details are complete — the client cannot pay without the full account number and branch code.
Where these numbers come from
Current as at for South Africa (SARS) and Botswana (BURS). Rates and thresholds change; the sources below are the authority, not this page.
This guide explains how the rules work. It is not tax advice, and nothing here files anything for you — for your own position, speak to a registered tax practitioner.
Keep the books that answer this
Client money kept the way the rules expect — one ledger per client, every movement explained.
Keep reading
- Client money
How client money (trust) works in [[brand]]
One pooled trust bank account, a ledger per client, four kinds of movement and the firm's own ledger for bank charges — how [[brand]] keeps client money apart from the firm's.
- Client money
Why you should never invoice a trust deposit
A real case, anonymised: a deposit invoiced as a fee became income and VAT that the firm never earned. What went wrong and how to put it right.
- Client money
Recording money received into trust, and the balance brought forward
Recording a deposit on a client's trust ledger one at a time, and bringing in money you already held before you started on [[brand]].