Trust Administration Fee

The Trust Assurance Program is funded through the collection of the trust administration fee (TAF).

Lawyers must remit a $20 TAF for each distinct client matter with trust funds, unless the trust funds are solely for the purpose of paying legal fees or held as a retainer for legal fees.  Lawyers may treat TAF as a disbursement and pass the cost to the client or alternatively absorb the cost as a firm expense. The TAF becomes a firm liability in the reporting period that funds are received into trust and due in the corresponding quarter. The remittance of the TAF is not related to a firm’s billing cycle.

Under Rule 2-110, TAF payments must be remitted to the Law Society quarterly and within 30 days of the quarter end, as follows:

• April 30 for the period January 1 to March 31
• July 30 for the period April 1 to June 30
• October 30 for the period July 1 to September 30
• January 30 for the period October 1 to December 31

Under Rule 2-111, a late fee of 5% applies to all late remittances.

Please note the TAF was increased from $15 to $20 per applicable transaction, effective January 1, 2025. Read more about the TAF increase.

How to remit the fee

Each quarter, you must:

Step 1 Log in to create and complete a new invoice

Step 2 Print and sign the invoice

Step 3: Send the invoice and payment to the Law Society; either by delivering a cheque and invoice or paying on-line and emailing the invoice.

Cheque option:

Deliver the invoice and cheque to:

Finance Department
The Law Society of BC
845 Cambie Street
Vancouver BC  V6B 4Z9

On-line option:

On-line payments will not be processed if an invoice was not created. Please allow 3-5 business days for processing the payment.  Please email your signed TAF invoice to the Finance department Finance@lsbc.org.

Forms and resources

TAF Filing Instructions 

Trust Accounting Handbook