VAT - Everything you need to know

Why is MultiSafepay charging VAT?

Since 2016, MultiSafepay has expanded its payment services by including so-called acquiring services for some payment methods. This means that for payment methods such as Bancontact, MultiSafepay can offer end-to-end payment processing and reporting services, which contributes to increased availability and reliability. As a result, we were required to start charging VAT as per 1st of January 2017.

If MultiSafepay can include your local VAT registration number in its monthly invoice, standard Dutch VAT of 21% can be shifted and will therefore not be charged to you.

How is the VAT charged?

The VAT is calculated based on all MultiSafepay fees: transaction fees, bank fees, and withdrawal and refund rates. As always, the transaction fees are charged as the transaction is processed. The bank rates and VAT will be charged in your account at the beginning of each month.

When are the VAT charges settled in my account?

The VAT is automatically deducted from your account balance at the end of the month. You can look up exact amounts by using ‘VAT’ or ‘Invoice’ as a search query in your transaction overview. You will receive your invoice by email. Additionally, all VAT invoices will be added to your account. The invoice is for administrative purposes only. You do not need to settle the amount separately.

Where can I find the VAT invoice?

You can find your monthly VAT invoice in MultiSafepay Control. Log in to your account and navigate to Finance > Invoices.

The VAT invoice is also sent to the email address listed under Financial email in your MultiSafepay Control. If you have not added an email address under Financial email, your invoices will be sent to the main email address, as listed in your account.

You can add a financial email address by selecting Contact Information in your account and adding your preferred email addresses.

Why do I pay VAT for certain payment methods and not for others?

It is the responsibility of the collecting party to charge VAT and, for most payment methods, MultiSafepay is tasked with this job. However, for some of them (e.g. PayPal) we are not the collecting party, meaning that for these transactions VAT will be applied via the scheme. Otherwise, double taxation would happen. The total count of transactions for which is someone else’s responsibility to apply VAT on, will be shown on your invoice with no VAT amount.

Is reverse-charging VAT possible?

Reverse-charging VAT is possible for merchants who use our services, but are not registered as a Dutch company.

For this feature to be enabled, it is important that your VAT number is registered with MultiSafepay. You cannot reverse-charge VAT if your VAT number is unknown to MultiSafepay.

To register your VAT number, please send us an email at [email protected]

What are the actual costs to be paid when I have IC ++ tariffs?

There are three cost components of the IC++ model, namely the Interchange fee that is paid to the issuing bank, the scheme fee charged by Visa or Mastercard and the acquirer fee. The costs associated with IC++ depend heavily on a range of factors, such as the countries of the merchant, the issuing bank and the cardholder, the merchant segment, the monthly transaction volume, etc.

Upon signing up with MultiSafepay, you should be presented with an estimation of these costs.

Why are refunds stated twice on my invoice?

It can happen that refunds are stated twice on your invoice. One entry is concerned with the payment methods we are the collecting part for, whereas the other is for those that do not fall under our responsibility and whose VAT will be charged by another party.

How is the counting of transaction fees created?

The total of transaction fees is the the count of all processed and completed transactions in a given period times the (universal) transaction fee agreed upon when signing up with MultiSafepay.

Which exchange rate do you use on the invoice and where to find it?

We always use our bank’s exchange rate from the previous day (closing). The exchange rate is not displayed on the invoice, but it is easy to calculate it by dividing the EUR amount to the foreign currency amount (or the other way around depending on what your target currency is).