Multi-Country Setup Guide

What this covers

This guide covers the complete setup for operating Prolifi across multiple countries and currencies. It covers: operating entity configuration, multi-currency pricing, country-specific billing configuration, and local payment method support.

Multi-country setup is the foundational configuration layer for global revenue operations. Every subsequent billing, tax, and reporting flow depends on operating entities being correctly configured first.

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Prerequisites

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1. Operating Entities

An Operating Entity (see Glossary: Platform Concepts) is the legal entity through which you conduct business in a specific jurisdiction. All billing, tax calculation, and payment collection flows through the entity context — the entity determines which currency applies, which tax rules are used, which gateway collects payment, and how invoices are formatted.

1.1 One entity per country of operation

If you operate as a single legal entity across all markets (e.g., a UK company selling globally), you may have only one operating entity. However, for businesses operating with local legal entities in multiple countries (e.g., UK Ltd, US Inc, German GmbH), each legal entity requires its own operating entity record in Prolifi.

Scenarios requiring multiple operating entities:

• You invoice customers in different countries from different legal entities
• You have separate VAT / GST registrations per country
• You need country-specific invoice formats (required in some jurisdictions)
• You need separate invoice number sequences per entity
• You collect payment in different currencies through different gateway accounts

1.2 Configuring an operating entity

For each operating entity:

1.3 Entity assignment to customers

Customer records are assigned to an operating entity. The entity assignment determines:

• Which entity’s details appear on the customer’s invoices
• Which tax rules apply to the customer’s charges
• Which gateway is used to collect payment

Entity assignment can be:

• Explicit: You specify the operating entity when creating a customer record (for B2B customers where the selling entity is determined by the commercial relationship)
• Rule-based: Prolifi assigns the entity based on the customer’s billing address country (common for B2C deployments where the entity is determined by where the customer is located)

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2. Multi-Currency Pricing

Multi-Currency Pricing (see Glossary: Pricing & Subscription Terms) allows you to set independent prices for each plan in each currency, rather than auto-converting from a base currency.

2.1 Why configure prices per currency

Auto-converting from a base currency (e.g., always converting from GBP using a live exchange rate) creates pricing that fluctuates as exchange rates change — which is poor for customer communication and commercial predictability. Explicitly configured per-currency prices allow you to:

• Set psychologically appropriate prices for each market (e.g., $99 USD vs. £89 GBP rather than the exact conversion)
• Offer market-specific discounts or pricing strategies
• Maintain price stability regardless of exchange rate movements
• Ensure customer-facing prices are round numbers in their currency

2.2 Configuring per-currency prices

For each plan, add a currency price variant for each currency you want to sell in:

Each currency price is independent — changing the GBP price does not affect the USD price.

2.3 Currency selection for customers

When creating a subscription for a customer, the billing currency is determined by:

1. Explicit currency assignment: If you specify a currency when creating the subscription or customer record
2. Customer’s currency preference: If the customer record has a currency preference set (typically derived from their billing address country)
3. Operating entity default: The default currency of the entity assigned to the customer

Once a subscription is created in a specific currency, all subsequent invoices for that subscription are in the same currency.

2.4 Exchange rate handling

For reporting purposes (consolidating revenue across currencies), Prolifi requires an exchange rate reference. Configure:

• Rate source: Fixed rate (you set and maintain the rate), or market rate (Prolifi fetches a reference rate periodically)
• Rate for reporting: The rate used to convert multi-currency amounts to your reporting currency for MRR/ARR calculations
• Rounding rules: How converted amounts are rounded for display and reporting

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3. Country-Specific Billing Configuration

Beyond currency, certain countries have specific billing and invoicing requirements that Prolifi can be configured to accommodate.

3.1 Invoice format requirements

Some jurisdictions mandate specific invoice content or format requirements. Common requirements include:

• VAT invoices (EU): Must include the seller’s and buyer’s VAT numbers, VAT rate, and VAT amount as separate line items
• Tax invoices (Australia, India): Must display the entity’s GST registration number and the GST amount
• Sequential invoice numbering: Many jurisdictions require strictly sequential invoice numbers without gaps
• Electronic invoice formats: Some countries mandate specific electronic invoice XML formats (e.g., e-invoicing requirements in Italy, India, and parts of LATAM)

Configure these requirements at the operating entity level. Prolifi generates invoice content that meets the requirements for each entity’s jurisdiction.

3.2 Payment terms by country

Standard payment terms vary by market and industry:

• UK/EU B2B: Net 30 is common; some industries use Net 60 or Net 14
• US B2B: Net 30 is standard; high-volume SaaS often uses Net 7 or immediate
• Some markets have statutory maximum payment terms (e.g., EU Late Payment Directive limits)

Configure default payment terms per operating entity, with the ability to override at the customer or subscription level.

3.3 Billing period rules

Certain markets have conventions around billing period alignment:

• Whether to use calendar month billing (1st to last day) or subscription-start-anchored billing
• Whether to pro-rate the first billing period or start billing from the next full period
• Whether annual subscriptions are billed on a calendar year or subscription year basis

Configure billing period rules at the operating entity level to apply defaults for all customers billed through that entity.

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4. Local Payment Methods

Local Payment Methods (see Glossary: Payments & Integration Terms) are payment options specific to particular countries or regions. Supporting local payment methods is one of the highest-impact ways to improve conversion rates in non-English-speaking markets — customers strongly prefer paying with the method they know and trust.

4.1 Common local payment methods by region

4.2 Gateway support for local methods

Local payment method availability depends on your connected payment gateway. Not all gateways support all local methods. When selecting a gateway for a country:

1. Confirm which local payment methods are required in that market
2. Confirm the gateway supports those methods in that country
3. Enable the methods in Prolifi’s payment collection settings for the relevant operating entity and collection country

4.3 Mandate management

Some local payment methods require mandate setup — a formal authorisation from the customer to collect payments. Key examples:

SEPA Direct Debit (EU): Requires a SEPA mandate. The customer must sign (digitally or physically) a mandate authorising recurring debit from their bank account. Mandates must be retained for audit purposes.

BACS Direct Debit (UK): Requires a Direct Debit mandate, typically collected via a service user number (SUN) arrangement. Customers must receive advance notice of each collection.

ACH (USA): Requires customer authorisation for ACH debits. Authorisation can be collected as part of the payment method setup flow.

Prolifi manages mandate creation and storage through the payment method attachment flow for supported mandate-based methods.

4.4 Collection currency and local methods

Some local payment methods are currency-specific (e.g., SEPA is EUR-denominated, BACS is GBP). Ensure that the payment method configuration for each collection country aligns with the billing currency for that market.

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5. Cross-Border Considerations

5.1 Where the customer is vs. where you sell from

Cross-border selling introduces complexity around:

• Invoice issuer: Which of your legal entities issues the invoice
• Tax treatment: The tax regime of the customer’s location, the seller’s location, or both
• Payment routing: Which gateway and in which currency to collect

Prolifi resolves these through the combination of: operating entity assignment (who is invoicing), collection country configuration (where payment is collected and in what currency), and tax configuration (which tax rules apply).

5.2 B2B cross-border transactions

For B2B cross-border sales (e.g., UK entity selling to a German business):

• Verify the buyer’s VAT registration number (required for zero-rated EU B2B transactions)
• Configure tax treatment to apply the appropriate reverse charge or zero-rate treatment
• Ensure invoices include all required cross-border B2B invoice content

5.3 Digital services VAT (EU)

For digital services sold to EU consumers (B2C), the EU digital services VAT rules apply — you must charge VAT at the rate applicable in the customer’s country, not your own. This is often called the “EU OSS” (One Stop Shop) regime. Configure Prolifi Tax or your third-party tax provider to handle EU digital services VAT correctly for each consumer billing country.

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Cross-references

• Glossary: Platform Concepts
• Tax Management
• Getting Started: Finance
• Product Catalog & Pricing