Back office: onboarding, billing, payables and payroll (TPA)

Open it from your name menu → 🏢 Back office, from ⋯ More → 🏢 Back office, or from the Back office link at the top of the Claims Queue. Administrators, and anyone given access in Settings → Access, see these. Everyone else sees 🧾 Time & pay, where they log time and expenses on their claims and see their own pay. The back office runs on the team server; a copy of TPA opened without one explains this instead, and the hosted demo opens a preview with sample data.

Before you start

1. Set OFFICE_DATA_KEY. It encrypts tax ID numbers, bank account numbers and every uploaded document. The render.yaml in this folder makes Render generate one. Copy it into your password manager and never change it: data saved with one key can't be opened with another.
2. In Back office → Settings, fill in Company, Invoices and Bank file (the details your bank gives you for ACH payments).
3. In Settings → Onboarding, check the checklists and replace the starter agreement text with your attorney-reviewed version.
4. In Settings → Access, choose who can use each area:
   • People & onboarding: onboarding, worker files and I-9s
   • Billing & receivables: fee schedules, time & expense review, invoices and payments received
   • Payables & vendors: vendors, bills and vendor payments
   • Payroll: pay runs, payroll files and 1099 totals

Onboarding adjusters (W-2 and 1099)

Go to People → Add a person, choose W-2 employee or 1099 contractor, and email the onboarding link. The link is personal, lasts 14 days and stops working once you mark the person active.

You can turn items on or off, and add your own upload or read-and-sign items.

• Government forms: the person downloads the current form from IRS.gov or USCIS.gov, completes and signs it, and uploads it. Claimsfy collects and files the forms; it doesn't fill them in.
• Tax ID and bank details are entered online, encrypted, and shown only as the last four digits.
• Review: approve each item, ask for changes with a note, or mark it not needed.
• Payment approval: a bank account can't receive payments until you approve the direct deposit authorization. The person is emailed whenever their bank details change.
• Form I-9:
  • Section 1 is due by the first day of work.
  • You complete Section 2 within three business days of the start date, after examining the person's original documents. Record the date and upload the completed form.
  • Claimsfy shows the due date and keeps the form in a restricted folder.
  • It refuses to delete the form until three years after the start date or one year after the last day worked, whichever is later.

Filing system

Every document is filed under the person, vendor, carrier or company it belongs to, in folders such as Tax forms, Employment eligibility (I-9), Agreements, Licenses & certifications and Insurance.

• Files are encrypted on disk.
• Expiration dates feed the reminders on the back office home page.
• Files are searchable from Files.
• Removed files can be restored by an administrator.
• Opening a person's or vendor's document is recorded in the activity history.

Time & expense, fee schedules and billing per client

• Fee schedules (Billing → Fee schedules) come in three kinds:
  • graduated by loss amount, with bands and an optional percentage over the top band
  • flat fee per assignment type
  • time & expense, with an hourly rate by activity

Every schedule has expense rates (mileage and photos, with free units per claim, and other costs billed at cost) and extra fees such as reinspections. The templates contain sample amounts: replace them with your contract rates.

• Each carrier gets a fee schedule, billing email, payment terms, detail or summary invoices, and whether its claim number is required. Client companies from the client portal appear automatically, and you can add billing-only carriers.
• Time and expenses: adjusters log them on their claims. On the claim's billing page you approve them, then create the invoice. The fee, approved expenses and extras are filled in for you.
• Invoices: issue the invoice, then email it (the carrier gets a link to view and print it) or print it. Record payments, write off a balance or void it.
• Receivables: shows aging by carrier and statements. Invoices and payments download as CSV for your accounting system.

Payables and vendors

• Vendors get a setup link for their W-9, insurance certificates and bank details.
  • You track insurance expirations, service areas, ratings and the claims each vendor works on.
  • You can mark a vendor "do not use".
• Bills are added, approved and paid by check, card or wire, or by ACH. For ACH, Vendor bank payments makes a bank file to upload to your bank. Mark the file paid once your bank confirms it.

Payroll

• Pay setup for each person:
  • pay type: percentage of the fees billed, a flat amount per claim, hourly, daily or salary
  • paid by: your payroll provider, direct deposit or check
• Pay runs gather each person's earnings for the period, plus approved expenses to pay back. Pay runs can't overlap, so nothing is paid twice, and late entries are picked up by the next run. Add adjustments, approve the run, then download:
  • Payroll provider file (CSV) for W-2 employees. Set the columns to match your provider's import template in Settings → Pay & 1099.
  • Direct deposit file, a NACHA file for your bank. Individuals are paid in a PPD batch described as PAYROLL, as Nacha rules require for pay. Businesses are paid in a CCD batch.
  • Checks to write.
• Taxes: Claimsfy doesn't calculate tax withholding or file payroll taxes. Your payroll provider does that for W-2 pay. Contractors are paid without withholding.
• 1099 totals list payments to contractors and vendors by calendar year.
  • Card payments are left out, because card companies report them on Form 1099-K.
  • Corporations are marked.
  • The CSV for filing includes full tax ID numbers, and every download is recorded.
  • Set each year's reporting threshold in Settings → Pay & 1099. For payments made in 2026 it is $2,000. Confirm the figure each year with the IRS or your tax adviser.

Connecting other systems

• Payroll provider: import the payroll provider file.
• Bank: upload the NACHA files.
• API keys (Settings → Integrations) let an accounting or reporting system read pay runs, people, invoices, payments, bills and vendors.
  • Send the key as Authorization: Bearer <key> to /api/office/v1/payruns, /workers, /invoices, /payments, /bills or /vendors. Add ?since=YYYY-MM-DD to get only newer records.
  • Keys are read-only and never return tax ID or bank numbers.
• Webhooks post JSON when an invoice is issued, a payment is received, a bill is approved or paid, a pay run is approved or paid, or a person is marked active.
  • Each request is signed with an X-Claimsfy-Signature header: t=<timestamp>,v1=<HMAC-SHA256 of timestamp + "." + body>.