Invoicing for lawyers — hourly rate, retainer, 10-year archive
Lawyers, tax advisors and notaries have an invoicing agenda shaped by the profession: hourly rates with sometimes intricate calculations (15 minutes × €250/h = €62.50), retainer fees agreed by contract, travel and ancillary expenses, and above all client-data confidentiality. Add to that the obligation to archive tax records for 10 years under § 76 of the Slovak VAT Act, plus chamber ethical requirements on file retention after representation ends. This guide shows what to watch when invoicing in a law office.
What you wrestle with daily.
Four concrete problems almost everyone in this industry hits. You'll find a fix for each below — or the full set in the 1FAKTURA cloud product.
01
Micro-billing of time (15-minute blocks)
A lawyer tracks time in 15- or 6-minute increments. At 80 matters a month that is hundreds of line items. Manual calculations (0.25 h × €280/h × 23 % VAT) are a source of errors.
02
Travel and ancillary expenses
A trip to a hearing in Košice, parking, archive copies, photocopies. These are either pass-through (no markup) or marked up. The VAT regime differs in each case.
03
Retainer fee + additional items
A €2,000/month retainer contract, but the client requests an additional 4 hours on agenda outside the retainer. The invoice must cleanly separate the two — retainer in one line, extra hours in another.
04
Confidentiality of client data
An invoice may contain sensitive information (a dispute with a specific party, the size of claims). During archiving and any audit, attorney-client privilege must hold — the invoicing tool must cooperate.
Which VAT regime applies.
Reference: § 27 (standard rate) + § 15 (cross-border B2B services)
Full statute: slov-lex.sk.
For lawyers, the standard 23 % VAT rate applies to all legal services — no special exemption or reduced rate. Court fees paid by the lawyer on the client’s behalf (via a money transfer) are not a tax base — they are invoiced as „expense pass-through“ without VAT. Practical example: a lawyer pays a €500 court fee and re-bills the client without markup and without VAT — it is merely a transfer of funds, not the lawyer’s own service. Travel expenses (car trip, parking, accommodation during an out-of-town hearing) are invoiced to the client at 23 % VAT if there is a markup, or without VAT as a pass-through if billed at exact paid amounts. When representing a foreign client (EU B2B), § 15(1) of the Slovak VAT Act applies — reverse charge, invoice at 0 % VAT with a clause. For a private individual from the EU (non-business), Slovak 23 % VAT applies.
Monthly invoice for a B2B client — retainer + additional hours
Standard 23 % VAT — retainer and additional hours in separate lines.
| Item | Qty | Price | VAT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legal services retainer — May 2026 | 1 month | €1,500.00 | 23 % | €1,845.00 |
| Out-of-retainer representation (File SK-123/2026) | 1 h | €220.00 | 23 % | €270.60 |
| Travel to Košice hearing (ŽSR rail + accommodation) | 1 pcs | €145.00 | 23 % | €178.35 |
| Court fee (pass-through, no markup) | 1 pcs | €500.00 | 0 % | €500.00 |
| Net subtotal | €2,365.00 | |||
| VAT total | €428.95 | |||
| Amount due | €2,793.95 | |||
This is an indicative example. The actual line items and totals depend on the specific engagement and supply type.
Built for your industry.
For an instant start, try the free generator — no signup, no waiting for confirmation emails.
Open the generator →1FAKTURA for lawyers works in four areas. First: hourly invoicing with decimal quantities — the generator accepts 0.25 h (15 minutes) and computes the exact price without rounding errors. Second: mixed VAT rates per line — retainer at 23 %, pass-through at 0 %, cross-border B2B at 0 % with a § 15 clause — all on one invoice. Third: a 10-year archive under § 76 of the Slovak VAT Act with PDF + UBL XML export for every matter. Fourth: confidentiality — the generator runs in the browser, data is not stored on our server, nobody but you sees it (verify via Developer Tools — no network request carrying invoice content). UBL 2.1 XML for 2027 is standard for B2B clients.
Which 1FAKTURA plan to pick.
A solo lawyer with 5–15 regular clients (retainer + ad-hoc) fits Plan Start (€0 forever). A smaller law firm (3–5 lawyers) with 50–100 matters a month should consider Plan Lite — adding recurring invoices, hourly statements as a PDF attachment and Pohoda / Money S3 exports. Larger firms with 10+ lawyers and an in-house time-tracking tool will fit Plan Pro with REST API.
Frequently asked
about invoicing in this industry.
Something missing? Email us — we answer within 4 hours on a business day.
info@1faktura.skHow to invoice a court fee to the client?+
Travel to a hearing — with or without VAT?+
Client in the EU — do I charge VAT?+
Invoice with a 15-minute line — how do I write the quantity?+
Archive of invoices after representation ends — is 10 years enough?+
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