We have implemented SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) B2B Direct Debit as a new payment method on Multiplier. It will allow Multiplier to automatically withdraw funds from your authorised bank account on a pre-agreed date, upon your approval.

For FAQs, refer here.

To start using SEPA B2B Direct Debit for invoice payments, you will need to initiate the setup process as guided below:

Step 1: Navigate to the ‘Company settings’ module under the Settings section on the left sidebar.

Step 2: Scroll down and click on the “Payment settings”.

Step 3: You can view the SEPA Direct Debit option. Click on “Setup”.

Step 4: Enter the IBAN and click on “Check IBAN”

Note: If you get an error message saying “Incorrect input. Re-enter IBAN without spaces and hyphen”, simply make those changes and click on “Check IBAN” again for validation.

If you get an error message saying “Invalid IBAN. Does not support SEPA Direct Debit”, it means your bank does not support SEPA B2B Direct Debit and hence this payment method cannot be enabled for you.

Step 5: Once your IBAN is validated, fill in the necessary information like Company name, Signatory contact name and email address.

Once that’s done, you must upload the below documents for verification.

5.1) Click on ‘Confirm’ to proceed.

Step 6: A confirmation pop-up with potential next steps will appear on your screen. Read all the points carefully, and once you understand the steps, click on “Yes, confirm”

Step 6.1) Once you confirm, the agreement will be sent for signature and the status of the Direct Debit setup will change to - ‘Awaiting company signatory’

Note: Under ‘Additional settings’ the ‘Automatic Debit’ toggle will be enabled by default. This indicates that invoices payments will get debited automatically on the auto-debit dates.

Step 7: You will receive an email with the SEPA B2B Direct Debit agreement that must be signed to complete the setup. Once you have completed the signature, the agreement will be sent to Multiplier and the status of the setup will change to “Awaiting Multiplier signature”.

Step 8: Once Multiplier signs the mandate, you will receive an email confirmation and the setup status will change to ‘Ongoing bank registration’.

Note: The following steps must be mandatorily completed on your end to finalise the setup process.

Step 8.1) Contact your bank to register your SEPA B2B Direct Debit using the signed mandate agreement

Step 8.2) Once registration is successful, inform Multiplier team and they will initiate the SEPA activation process

At every step, you can track the progress of your SEPA activation by clicking on “Track progress”.

Step 9: Our team will verify the documents and the information you have provided.

The team will validate whether the bank registration is successful by initiating a transaction of a micro amount of 0.01EURO.

Once the micro-amount verification is successful, the status on your platform will change to ‘Available for payments’.

Note: To disable SEPA Automatic debit, click on the toggle button and select ‘Yes, disable’’.

Once disabled you will be required to manually make payments via the ‘Invoice Payments’ module (refer here).

Once SEPA B2B Direct Debit is set up for your company and automatic debit is enabled you will receive an email intimation from Multiplier for your upcoming automatic debit 5 days prior to the invoice due date. In the email, you can find the total amount, bundle ID, and auto-debit date. For more details, visit the ‘Invoice Payments’ module on the platform.

The payment will be initiated on the specified auto-debit date, i.e, 2 days before the invoice due date. Settlement between banks takes 1 business day after auto debit is initiated.

In other words, if 7th April is the invoice due date, watch out for the following:

Effective 27th November 2024, you'll have the option to set a preference for initiating auto-debit for contractor invoices between 1 to 5 days from the approval date.

Example: If you set a preference of 3 days, the auto-debit will be initiated 3 days after you approve the contractor invoice. Once the payment is received, the contractor will be paid immediately. If no preference is set, the default schedule will be 2 days post-approval.

Step 1: On the payments section, select the execution day of auto-debit from the drop-down list.

Step 2.1: Read the details and click on "Yes, update"

Step 2.2: The execution date is now updated.

Note: The auto-debit email notification will be sent only once by the end of the approval date, consolidating all payments approved during the day.

To review the invoices before the auto-debit date you can follow the below steps:

Step 1: Click on ‘Invoice Payments’ under 'Payments' on the left sidebar

1.1) You can review auto-debit invoices under ‘Upcoming auto-debit’.

Step 2: Click on the view icon to review a particular invoice as shown below.

Step 3: You can check the details & download the invoice if needed.

3.1) If you have any concerns about a particular invoice, click on ‘Raise a Query' from the drop-down menu as shown below.

If you have enabled automatic debit but want to pay the invoice before the auto-debit date then head over to the ‘Invoice Payments’ module and follow the steps mentioned below.

Step 1: Go to ‘Invoice Payments’ and select the invoice(s) you’d like to initiate payments for. You can select and initiate payments for invoices under the following categories:

1.1) For invoices under ‘Upcoming Auto Debit’ you can pay the bundle amount before the due date by clicking on ‘Pay bundle now’ from the drop-down menu

1.2) To view the invoices in a bundle, select ‘View all invoices’ as shown below.

1.3) You can view all invoices and pay the bundle amount by clicking on ‘Pay Now’ as shown below.

1.4) If you wish to download the invoice, click on the download icon.

Next steps in the manual payment process cont'd from Step 2 onwards.

1.1) Select the relevant invoices and click on ‘Pay Now’.

Step 2: On the checkout page, select the payment method as ‘SEPA direct debit’.

Step 3: Click on ‘Proceed to Checkout’.

Step 4: Review the items and click on ‘Continue’.

Step 5: Click on ‘Confirm and pay’ to initiate direct debit from the provided bank account.

Step 6: The invoice status will change to ‘Processing’ & you can view the invoices under the ‘Processing’ tab.

FAQs - SEPA B2B Direct Debit

References:

https://stripe.com/in/resources/more/sepa-direct-debit#:~:text=SEPA%20stands%20for%20%E2%80%9CSingle%20Euro,almost%20all%20EU%20member%20states.