Visa recently updated its requirements for acquirers to submit merchant identification numbers for transactions processed by entities in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg.
Visa may assess acquirers for non-compliance with this requirement, and there is a risk that issuers may decline transactions without this information.
To follow these requirements, it will be mandatory to provide this information when onboarding sub-entities in these countries via our Platforms API, Dashboard, or hosted onboarding from January 18, 2027.
What fields are required?
For companies in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg, you’ll need to provide the following fields when using our onboard a sub-entity endpoint.
France
- company.business_registration_number - provide the 14 digit SIRET, e.g 73282932000074
Belgium
- company.business_registration_number - provide the 10 digit enterprise number, e.g 0123456789
Luxembourg
- company.business_registration_number - provide the RCS number, starting with one letter followed by up to 6 digits , e.g. B1123456
- company.national_tax_id - provide the 11 digit matricule (national identification number), e.g. 20182212345
For sole traders in Belgium, France, and Luxembourg, you’ll need to provide the following fields when using our onboard a sub-entity endpoint.
France
If the sole trader is registered as a business:
- individual.is_registered_company - provide true
- individual.business_registration_number - provide the 14 digit SIRET, e.g. 73282932000074
If the sole trader is not registered as a business:
- individual.is_registered_company - provide false
- individual.national_tax_id - provide the sole trader’s tax identification number
Belgium
If the sole trader is registered as a business:
- individual.is_registered_company - provide true
- individual.business_registration_number - provide the 10 digit enterprise number, e.g 0123456789
If the sole trader is not registered as a business:
- individual.is_registered_company - provide false
- individual.national_tax_id - provide the sole trader’s tax identification number
Luxembourg
If the sole trader is registered as a business:
- individual.is_registered_company - provide true
- individual.business_registration_number - provide the RCS number, starting with one letter followed by up to 6 digits, e.g. B1123456
- individual.national_tax_id - provide the 11 digit matricule (national identification number), e.g. 20182212345
If the sole trader is not registered as a business:
- individual.is_registered_company - provide false
- individual.national_tax_id - provide the 11 or 13 digit matricule (national identification number), e.g. 19850714123 or 1985071412345
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to change anything now?
The fields are optional until January 18, 2027, so your existing requests will keep working until then. We recommend sending the merchant identity numbers as soon as possible for both new and existing sub-entities.
What happens after January 18, 2027?
We will reject onboarding requests for sub-entities in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg that are missing a required number, or have the number sent in the wrong format with a validation error.
I already send a national tax ID for sole traders. Does that change?
It depends on the country. In France and Belgium, keep sending it for sole traders who aren't registered as a business. For registered sole traders, set individual.is_registered_company to true and send the SIRET or enterprise number in individual.business_registration_number instead.
In Luxembourg, individual.national_tax_id must be the 11 or 13 digit matricule from 18 January, for all sole traders. Registered sole traders also need the RCS number provided in individual.business_registration_number.