This calculated report will assist you in determining if the case is likely to involve a Surplus to Debtor situation in which the debtor actually gets money back and the claimants receive interest. It also helps to determine interest due on claims and recalculate trustee compensation. Before running this program, ensure the Trustee Compensation Worksheet is completed and all claims are entered. This worksheet is located at the following link: Trustee Compensation. Is can also be found in Reports under the Claims menu, and in the Distribution Wizard when running a surplus case.
Accessing the Report:
From the Trustee Suite Main Menu toolbar, select ‘Reports’, click on the ‘Claims’ tab and select ‘Surplus to Debtor & Interest’ from the Print Reports screen to invoke the Parameters for Surplus to Debtor & Interest on Claims screen (shown below).
How to Run Surplus to Debtor and Interest Report
Ensure all claims are entered, including the Trustee Expense Claim, in the Claims screen (invoked by clicking on the ‘Claims’ tab from the Form Selection toolbar on the far left side of the screen and shown below). You do not have to have the trustee compensation claim entered since this process will add it if it does not exist, or update it if it does exist.
- In the Claims screen, choose the ‘Distribution’ link from the Claims sub-menu (beneath the tabs on the far left side of the screen).
- In a surplus scenario, you will see a Trustee Compensation Claim Validation window. If you do, click on the ‘Don’t Update’ button. In every surplus case, you will always click on ‘Don’t Update’.
- The ‘Select a Task…’ window will open. Click on the blue link, ‘Create Proposed Distribution’. (The checkmark to the left simply indicates if this has been run in the past.)
- You will see three options: ‘Final Distribution’, ‘Apply a Specified Amount’ and ‘Percentage of Claim Allowed Amount’. This procedure recommends using the ‘Final Distribution’ option for most or all of your cases.
- Click on ‘Continue’ and you will see a message: “Warning: The case balance $ xxxx.xx exceeds the total claims $ yyyy.yy. Run the Surplus to Debtor & Interest report Now?”
- Click on ‘Yes’. You will then see Parameters for Surplus to Debtor & Interest on Claims:
- Trustee: Select a Trustee number of ‘-All-‘.
- Case: If your case is not chosen, please select it via the drop-down box.
- Projected Date of Payment: This is the approximate date that you think you will be cutting your checks (after your final report has been approved). Its purpose is to project interest in Trustee Suite through your TFR preparation date.
- Check all six of the boxes under ‘How to Calculate Surplus’ (this includes the ‘After Print/Preview of Recalculation, Prompt to Create/Update Surplus to Debtor Claim’ checkbox). This will ensure that all claims, including Trustee Compensation, Surplus to Debtor Claim and Claimant Interest, will be added or updated. This process also adjusts the trustee compensation, reducing the compensation claim by the amount of the debtor claim only.
- Enter the Interest Rate. Then click the Get Rate link. This feature will automatically find the T-bill rate of return based on the petition date of the case and enter the rate for you. This rate is an industry standard; however, you can enter manually any rate you choose for the calculation.
- Compounding Frequency: Enter the appropriate option from the drop-down menu (‘None / Simple Interest’ is the default).
- ‘Save Defaults’ (the button on the right side of the Parameters screen) will save your selections for the next time you run the report.
- Click on ‘Preview’. You will then see the Surplus to Debtor & Interest on Claims report results. Check the bottom section for any error messages, such as unbalanced claims. If you see that error, please cancel this process and verify your claims total paid amounts are valid. Use the Payments to Claims or Auditor for this purpose.
- Click on ‘Print’. Always save a hard copy of this report since, in the future, you cannot backdate the projected date of payment to reproduce this report.
- You will see a message, “Do you want to create/update trustee compensation claim?” Answer (select) ‘Yes’. You will then see two other similar messages for updating Interest claims and the debtor Surplus claims. Answer ‘Yes’ to the next two messages.
- This will invoke the ‘Amount to Distribute, Step #1’. Leave the selection at ‘Final Distribution’ and click on ‘Continue’.
- Next, you will see ‘Claims to Receive Distribution, Step #2’. This shows you a listing of the claims for the case. Click on ‘Calculate’. Note: Clicking on ‘Calculate’ is CRITICAL to this process since it updates the claims “Proposed” amounts, which are used in most of your reports. If you select ‘Cancel’ here, all of your updates will be lost.
- You will then see ‘Proposed Amounts Calculated, Step #3’. Please look at the Proposed amounts. Ensure all claims show a percentage of 100. If they do not, there is a problem with the claims; possibly a claim is not attached to a check, or the total paid amounts are not accurate.
- Click on ‘Save Proposal’. If you do not click on ‘Save Proposal’, all of your changes will be lost.
You can now preview reports, such as Claims Proposed Distribution and/or go back to claims and review them. If everything looks good, you are now ready to generate the TFR.