Business to business

Are you tired of chasing invoices for goods and services you supplied some months ago?

Did you know that late payment currently costs British businesses £50 billion a year?

When you accept card payments from business customers you escape the spiral. You don't have to wait 30 days, 90 days or what seems like forever for your payment. It's in your account within 3 to 4 working days. That's a cash flow improvement no business can afford to ignore.

For information on accepting cards electronically using a PDQ terminal click here

Accepting card payments

Today more and more companies and Government Departments prefer to use cards. It's an easy way for them to order and pay for a whole host of business expenditure including travel, entertainment and supplies, such as stationery, computer software and electrical components. These commercial cards come in three distinct types - Business, Corporate and Purchasing.

Big benefits for your business

• Orders on demand
  You can trade with new customers over the phone, fax, e-mail or Internet. No need to set up a credit line or wait for purchase orders. In short, no need to turn new business away.
• Take their cards and join their list
  The increasing number of companies that prefer to pay by card is getting larger all the time. When you accept their cards you often move to their preferred supplier list; if you don't accept cards then you may be off their list altogether. That's a lot of potential repeat business you could be missing out on.
• Closer contact with your customers
  Cards are often placed in the hands of the "end users" who know their requirements (rather than a central purchasing function), therefore there is less chance of errors or returns.
• Satisfied customers
  The best way to keep your customers is to provide the service that they are looking for.

VISA VAT Directory

The directory is specifically designed to enable holders of Visa Commercial cards to identify suppliers able to provide them with electronic VAT invoices, in addition to the goods and services they require. The directory uses the following search criteria to enable cardholders to identify relevant suppliers:

• Name
• Postcode
• Merchant category groups
• Summary VAT Line Item Detail or VGIS (Visa Global Invoice Specification) capability

To view how these contact details are presented to prospective customers visit the Visa VAT Directory.

Help your customers

Using cards makes administration simpler. We can supply:

• Monthly statements that are clear and concise with every purchase accurately tracked.
• Electronic equipment or software allowing you to capture VAT information that can be passed to your Visa Purchasing customers at either Summary VAT Line Item Detail or VGIS (Visa Global Invoice Specification) level - all levels are fully approved by HM Revenue and Customs.
• Guidance on the best solution for your business and your customers.

Future Developments to Visa Invoicing Data

When HM Revenue and Customs accredited the Visa Purchasing VAT Process in 1997, it was limited to typical business to business purchases, and excluded travel and entertainment expenditure. Since then, we have been working closely with Visa International to define an overall Commercial card strategy that will reflect the different needs of the business to business marketplace.

Specifically, the objective is to support electronic invoice data across all Commercial card products in all acceptance markets, including the travel and entertainment sector, with full fiscal approval.

What is changing?

Line Item Detail has been replaced by a more flexible system and format that can cope with additional information. Visa International have specified a new data format - the Visa Global Invoice Specification (VGIS) - that holds merchant invoice information, tax information and market-specific information relating to, for example, hotel and car rental transactions. The data format is based on XML (eXtensible Mark-up Language) message structures and applies to both the physical and the ecommerce worlds.

How is it structured?

Commercial Card issuers will define their cards into three different categories: -

• Basic Data (similar to consumer card data)
• Enhanced Data - management information (invoice data for information only)
• Enhanced Data - tax (invoice data for tax/VAT reclamation)

Merchants will determine whether to provide invoice details along with the financial elements of the transaction, based on the type of card presented for payment.

Why should businesses be supporting Visa invoicing?

The demand for automated invoicing data from Commercial card users is increasing daily, with more people insisting on invoice data being captured as a condition of doing business. For buyers there are many advantages including:

• The elimination of re-keying into accounting and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
• The reduction in time spent and resource committed, following partial or full automation of the accounting process
• Monitoring and enforcement of purchasing and travel policies
• Electronic VAT evidence (for the invoicing data tax product - ERP)

Merchant benefits include:

• There is no need for a paper invoice to be issued by merchants if a tax accredited card is utilised, saving you time, paper & postage.
• You may no longer need to provide separate management information, where a Commercial card is utilised.
• By early adoption of Visa invoicing you will gain competitive advantage and ensure you meet your customers' needs.

We recommend that all our customers trading with other businesses who use Visa Commercial products should consider the implementation of an Visa invoicing solution.

We will be happy to discuss Visa invoicing developments with you in further detail and, of course, should you wish to implement Visa invoicing we will fully support you with the development.