Pay with SEPA

SEPA, the Single Euro Payments Area, is a payment-integration initiative of the European Union to simplify bank transfers denominated in euros. SEPA allows you to send payment orders to your bank to automate bank wire transfers.

SEPA is supported by the banks of the 27 EU member states, as well as:

EFTA countries:

  • Iceland;

  • Liechtenstein;

  • Norway;

  • Switzerland.

Non-EEA SEPA countries:

  • Andorra;

  • Monaco;

  • San Marino;

  • United Kingdom;

  • Vatican City State.

Non-EEA territories:

  • Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon;

  • Guernsey;

  • Jersey;

  • Isle of Man.

When paying a bill in SotaERP, you can select SEPA mandates as a payment option. At the day’s end, you can generate the SEPA file containing all bank wire transfers and send it to the bank.

By default, the file follows the SEPA Credit Transfer ‘pain.001.001.03’ specifications. This is a well-defined standard among banks. However, for Swiss and German companies, other formats are used ‘pain.001.001.03.ch.02’ for Switzerland and ‘pain.001.003.03’ for Germany.

Once the payments are processed by your bank, you can directly import the account statement in SotaERP. The bank reconciliation process will seamlessly match the SEPA orders you sent to your bank with actual bank statements.

Configuration

Activate SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT)

To pay suppliers with SEPA, you must activate the SEPA Credit Transfer setting. To do so, go to Accounting ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings ‣ Vendor Payments: SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT). By activating the setting and filling out your company data, you will be able to use the SCT option when paying your vendor.

Note

According to the localization package installed, the SEPA Direct Debit and SEPA Credit Transfer modules may be installed by default. If not, they need to be installed.

Activate SEPA payment methods on banks

From the accounting dashboard, click on the drop-down menu (⋮) on your bank journal and select Configuration. Click the Outgoing Payments tab, and, if not already present, add SEPA Credit Transfer under Payment Method.

Make sure to specify the IBAN account number (domestic account numbers do not work with SEPA) and the BIC (bank identifier code) in the Journal Entries tab.

Registering payments

You can register and vendor payments made with SEPA. To do so, go to Accounting ‣ Vendors ‣ Payments. When creating your payment, select SEPA Credit Transfer as the Payment Method.

The first time you pay a vendor with SEPA, you have to fill in the Recipient Bank Account field with the bank name, IBAN, and BIC (Bank Identifier Code). SotaERP automatically verifies if the IBAN format is respected.

For future payments to this vendor, SotaERP will automatically suggest you the bank account, but it remains possible to select a new one.

Once your payment is registered, do not forget to confirm it. You can also pay vendor bills from the bill directly using the Register Payment button at the top of a vendor bill. The form is the same, but the payment is directly linked to the bill and will be automatically reconciled with it.