Batch: 320 debits in a single file
The bank does not want a list in an email: it wants an XML in an exact format. And if one line is wrong, it does not reject that line: it rejects the whole file.
The set of debits or payment orders sent to the bank in one go, in a file in a standard format.
The format is the ISO 20022 standard. For direct debits, the message is pain.008 (CustomerDirectDebitInitiation); for transfers, pain.001. The Spanish implementation guide is published jointly by the AEB, the CECA and the UNACC, and it is updated with each revision of the standard: the message version your bank accepts today is not the same one it accepted ten years ago, so it is worth checking before you generate anything.
What it contains
- Header: the creditor, their SEPA identifier, the number of transactions, the total amount and the requested collection date.
- One line per debit: the mandate reference and the date it was signed, the debtor's name and IBAN, the amount and the description.
The sequence
Each debit carries an indicator: FRST (first), RCUR (recurring), OOFF (one-off) and FNAL (final). Since the 2016 revision it is no longer compulsory to flag the first one: everything can be presented as RCUR, which simplifies things considerably.
An example
320 debits of €39 fit in a file of about 200 KB. The bank confirms receipt, charges on the requested date, and the returns arrive afterwards, separately and with their reason codes.
The mistake that comes up most
Building the file by hand in a spreadsheet. Amounts go with a decimal point and no thousands separator, dates in ISO format and names without characters the standard does not accept. One badly formed field and the bank returns the whole file, usually the day before the collection date.
Where this carries on in Cairos: Generating batches from the invoices.
Terms that go with this one
Almost no tax concept makes sense on its own. These three are the ones that most often turn up beside it.
Direct debit
The collection order the creditor presents to their bank so that the amount leaves the debtor's account, backed by a mandate the debtor has signed.
Payments and bankingSEPA mandate
The authorisation signed by the debtor allowing the creditor to raise debits against their account and their bank to honour them.
Payments and bankingBank reconciliation
The process of reconciling the balance on the bank statement with the accounting balance of the current account, identifying every difference.
This, handled without thinking about it
Cairos keeps the invoices, the record books and Hacienda's forms from the same data, so the theory on this page turns into boxes that are already filled in.
No card and no minimum term.