Law, accounting & consulting
Professional services firms invoice high-ticket, get paid late, and absorb credit-card fees that destroy margins. Trust accounting (IOLTA) for legal practices adds another layer of regulatory complexity that most processors silently break. Xray Payment builds professional-services accounts that surcharge legally, accept ACH at retail rates, and keep IOLTA funds untouchable.
Why generic processing fails Professional Services.
Card fees on $5K invoices eat your fee
2.9% on a $5,000 invoice is $145 — sometimes more than your hourly rate.
Clients who pay 60 days late
You did the work in January. They paid in March. Your AR is killing your cash flow.
Trust accounts that get mixed
IOLTA rules say client funds can't be commingled. Processors that auto-deduct fees from settled batches violate this — and ethics complaints follow.
No-show clients, no late fee
Consultation booked, client cancels at the last minute, you eat the hour.
What Xray actually configures for Professional Services.
Surcharge program (legal in 47 states)
Add 3% to credit card payments, pass the fee to the client. Disclosed at invoice, on receipt, on the hosted payment page. Net rate: 0%.
ACH at 0.50% — 5x cheaper than card
For B2B invoices, ACH is the right rail. Same-day or next-day settlement; flat 0.50% (capped at $5).
IOLTA-compliant trust account routing
Separate operating account and IOLTA. Fees auto-deduct from operating only. Settled batches preserve trust funds untouched.
Hosted payment pages with branded URL
pay.yourfirm.com — clients pay invoices online; auto-applies to QuickBooks; chases overdue payments via reminder emails.
The terminals we ship for Professional Services.
Every device pre-configured for your account, menu, and tip prompts before it ships.
Clover Mini
For firms that take occasional in-person retainer payments.
PAX A35
Customer-facing PIN pad for the rare in-person consultation.
Dejavoo iPOSgo!
Tap-to-phone — solo practitioners who don't need fixed hardware.
Programs we run
Configured on your account before activation.
- Surcharge — pass card fees to the client (legal in 47 states)
- ACH at 0.50% — replace card payments for B2B invoices
- IOLTA-compliant fee routing (trust account untouched)
- Recurring billing for retainers
- Pay-by-link and hosted payment pages
- Card-on-file vault for repeat clients
Software & integrations
Bidirectional, real-time wherever supported.
- Clio (legal practice management)
- MyCase (legal)
- PracticePanther (legal)
- QuickBooks Online, Xero
- FreshBooks, Bill.com
- Karbon, Canopy (accounting practice management)
Features tuned for Professional Services.
What it looks like on a Tuesday.
Boutique law firm Friday close: paralegal sends three invoices via Clio. Two clients pay by ACH at 0.50% — the firm nets $4,950 of a $5,000 invoice (vs. $4,855 on card). One client pays by credit card — surcharge program adds 3%; client pays $5,150 and the firm nets the full $5,000. Retainer client auto-charges $2,500 the 1st of every month — never touches the firm's AR. All three payments hit QuickBooks via the Clio integration; trust funds auto-routed to IOLTA, operating fees auto-deduct from the operating account only.
Why generic processors fall short.
Most processors do not understand surcharge compliance — they'll set you up with a surcharge that's actually illegal in your state (debit cards can't be surcharged, the disclosure has to be at point of sale, etc). They'll route fees through your IOLTA account in violation of bar rules. And they price ACH like a luxury at 1.5%, when it should be 0.50%.
The actual math.
A mid-size firm doing $4M/year, 60% on cards, pays $69,600 in fees. With a surcharge program on credit (35% credit, 25% debit, 40% ACH), effective fees drop to roughly $8K — a savings of $60K/year. The shift to ACH alone, even without surcharge, saves $30K+ on B2B invoices.
Professional Services questions, straight answers.
Is surcharge legal where I practice?
It's legal in 47 states. We confirm your state before setup and ensure compliant disclosure on every invoice and receipt.
Will my clients hate the surcharge?
In practice, B2B clients accept it as cost of business. About 30% switch to ACH or check to avoid it — which is great for you (cheaper for them too).
How does IOLTA work?
You have two bank accounts: operating and IOLTA. Trust deposits flow to IOLTA; fees auto-deduct from operating. Settled batches never touch the IOLTA balance.
Can I integrate with Clio?
Yes — payments flow back to Clio automatically, including matter-level allocation.
