Practice Resources

Transaction Levy

In order to ensure that insurance premiums charged reflect, to some extent, the risk associated with specific transactions, rule 10.04 requires lawyers to pay a levy on those transactions. It states that lawyers are required to

remit the accumulated transaction levy to the Law Society, and
provide a Transaction Levy Summary to the Law Society within 30 days of the last day of March, June, September and December.

The summary must be signed by a member and that member is responsible for the accuracy of the information in the report.

The rule also sets out exclusions and exemptions from the transaction levy. The amount of the levy depends on the type of transaction:

real estate transactions – $30,
civil proceedings – $70, and
personal property transactions – $30

With respect to accounting, the levy may be held in a trust account on behalf of the client when it is charged until it is paid to the Law Society. In the alternative, it may be transferred from the trust account to the general account. It should always be noted that payment of the levy to the Law Society is considered a liability of the lawyer and not a liability of the client.

For more information, see the Transaction Levy page on the Law Society’s website.

Links:

Transaction Levy: rule 10.04 (Law Society Rules)

Transaction Levy

Related Topics:

Maintenance of Records: rule 5.02 (Law Society Rules)

Statement of Account: section 3.6-3 (Code of Professional Conduct)

Payment and Appropriation of Funds: section 3.6-10 (Code of Professional Conduct)

Withdrawing and Transferring Funds from Trust Accounts

Managing Money

Law Office Organization and Administration

Real Estate Transactions