Troubleshooting payments in Partner Center: Frequently asked questions

If you recently enrolled in this incentive program, and you're awaiting your first payment, make sure you appear as Enrolled on the Incentives - Overview page for the specific program. If you don't appear as enrolled, follow the steps outlined in Enroll for incentives with valid bank and tax profile. Some regions require tax invoice submission before payment is processed.

If you received payments but recently stopped receiving them, make sure all pending actions related to banks and tax updates are fulfilled. Check the Action required section of the Incentives - Overview page.

If you're enrolled and have up-to-date bank and tax profiles (in other words, no actions are required), check if the total accumulated earnings are over $200. Payments aren't processed until the program or earning type meets the minimum threshold of $200. To check your earning balance, see the Earnings page, select the enrollment ID, program, and earning type (for example, rebate or co-op) as filters, and check the total. If it's less than $200, it will be paid in the subsequent months after it reaches $200.

To summarize: Incentive earning payments are made only to partners that complete all incentive payment requirements. Payment requirements include partners that maintain complete tax forms and bank account information in their Partner Center incentive payment profile for each enrolled partner location ID. Payment requirements apply to all available incentive payment profiles.

If a partner fails to maintain accurate and complete payment profile information, or fails to complete documentation submission requirements for tax invoices, Microsoft updates the partner's payment profile status in Partner Center to indicate that an action is required of the partner. Microsoft also holds the incentive payment for 180 days. If partners don't provide their required bank or tax documentation, after 180 days, partners forfeit their incentive earnings.

For regions with invoice submission requirements, partners are notified that tax invoice submission is required to claim their incentive earnings. During each payment cycle, instructions are communicated that include information required on the invoice.

Microsoft holds incentive payments until a partner submits a partner invoice to Microsoft, which acts as an incentive claim. After the partner invoice is received, Microsoft validates the information provided before processing a partner's incentive earning payment.

When payments come through to your bank, a reference number is provided. Use the reference number to filter for the payment ID on the Earnings page of Partner Center. If the payment was made within the last three years and was for a program paid through Partner Center, the related information appears.

The Payment summary section shows the payment ID, which program it's for, and the earning type, along with other payment information. Except for claims, for all other payments, look at the earnings summary (by program) to get the breakdown level for the payment by program, engagement, or lever. Also look at the earnings summary (by customer) to get the customer-level breakdown. If the payment is recent and payment doesn't appear immediately in Partner Center, wait another 24 to 48 hours before you verify again.

If the payment cadence is monthly, quarterly, or greater, the earnings for a month can be paid in the following month or later.

When a payment is dispatched, there could be a delay in how soon the payment is linked with earnings and appears on reports. A delay of 48 to 72 hours is expected for all earnings to appear against the payments.

It depends on the payment cycle. For example, for a monthly payment cycle, if the transaction, consumption, or usage occurred in June 2023, and earnings were generated in July 2023, the payments would appear in August 2023.

The payment will most likely be sent during the upcoming payment cycle, if the following conditions are met:

• An earning is generated on time (within 45 to 55 days of a transaction, consumption, or usage).
• All payment requirements are complete. For example, the bank or tax profile is complete, the partner is enrolled, and the tax invoice is complete (required for selected regions).
• The amount is above the minimum threshold.

Known issue: When earnings are generated late, they might appear in a different month. For example, if the earnings were generated in October 2023 instead of July 2023, the estimated payment would appear as August 2023 instead of November 2023.

When commerce transactions occur, partners earn co-op claim status for the defined earning period. These earnings are put into the co-op funds pool. When the usage period activates, partners can choose from an approved list of activities and claim money from the co-op funds pool with proof of execution. After the claim is approved, payment is sent to the partner for that claim.

For example, in some programs, partners earn co-op claim status in the first six months, but they can start claiming only in the next six months.

There's no way to trace a claim ID to a particular co-op earning. It isn't feasible to state which claim is attributed to which customer, subscription, invoice, or product. To understand how co-op earnings came about, choose the earning time period on the Earnings page by applying the engagement, lever, and earning type = Coop filter.

Microsoft updated the billing model for the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program to meet partner preferences for engaging with Microsoft subsidiaries locally. As part of this alignment, all partners that meet the following criteria receive credit notes only as payments.

The partners must be:

• Transacting new commerce (New Commerce Experience) offers as CSP direct or indirect partners.
• Enrolled in the Microsoft Commerce Incentives program.
• Earning rebates.
• Located in one of the following limited risk distributor (LRD)-enabled countries or regions:
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Canada
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Norway
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom

You receive credit note payments for rebates only if you:

• Are a CSP direct or indirect partner.
• Are transacting in new commerce.
• Belong to an LRD-enabled country.

Use the credit note issued as payment for Microsoft commerce incentives to offset your unpaid invoices.

To download your credit note, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Partner Center, and select the Earnings workspace.
2. Select the Payment summary section.
3. Select the link to the credit note to download the document.

To offset the invoice by using a credit memo in Partner Center, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Partner Center, and select the Billing workspace. If you don't have access to the Billing workspace, contact your company's Billing Admin for support.
2. Create a support ticket from within the Billing workspace.
3. Indicate how you want to use this debit note to offset your unpaid invoice. Clearly specify the credit memo number, credit memo date, invoice numbers, and the amount you want to offset against each invoice (if more than one). If we don't receive instructions within 15 days of the document date, the debit note is used to offset your unpaid invoices at our discretion.

Partners from India, Mexico, Italy, Taiwan, and Korea must submit a tax invoice to receive the incentive payments. As soon as a payment order is prepared for these countries, the payment appears under View payments - By pending in the Payment summary section on the Earnings page with payment status as Pending tax invoice. After the partner submits the tax invoice according to country-specific instructions, it takes approximately 10 working days to process and release your payment. If the documents submitted are rejected, an email notification is sent with an explanation and next steps. Payment isn't released until the tax invoice document is approved.

The following material and information must be submitted:

• Invoice (partner generated) in local currency. Microsoft doesn't mandate a template. Send hard or soft copy based on country-specific instructions in the following table.
• CI reference number. Available as the CI reference number in the Payment summary section, By pending view on the Earnings page.
• Name of the incentive program, for example, Microsoft Commerce Incentives.
• Earning amount and tax amount.

Submission instructions per country:

• India: Send a hard copy of your invoice to Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt Ltd, Level 8th, Block 2, DLF DOWNTOWN, DLF PHASE 3, Sector 25A Gurugram, Haryana, 122002.

  GSTIN/UIN 06AAACM5586C1ZL, State name: Haryana, Code: 06, Place of supply: Haryana.

• Mexico: Email material to mexchip@microsoft.com.

• Italy: Upload the invoice in the Government portal. You get a unique number called an SDI. It must be submitted via Partner Center Support.

• Taiwan: Send only a hard copy of your invoice to 18 F., No.68, Sec. 5, Zhongxiao E. Rd., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City 110, Taiwan.

• Korea: Email material to korea-ap@microsoft.com.

• China: Send a hard copy of your invoice to No. 5, Danling street, Haidian district, Beijing, 100080, China.

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