Guide
Billing cycles and payments
Last reviewed: · by TaxProsRated editorial
Billing cadences
Three cadences available: monthly, quarterly, annual. Monthly bills on the calendar day of upgrade (e.g., upgrade on the 14th, monthly billing on the 14th of each subsequent month). Quarterly bills 90 days from upgrade and every 90 days thereafter. Annual bills 365 days from upgrade and every 365 days thereafter.
Annual prepayment receives an effective discount equivalent to roughly two months of monthly billing (i.e., annual rate ≈ 10× monthly rate). Quarterly prepayment receives no discount over monthly; the cadence is offered for firms whose accounting workflows align better with quarterly invoicing.
Payment methods
Credit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover) processed via Stripe. SEPA Direct Debit for EU/EEA-domiciled customers. ACH Direct Debit for US-domiciled customers. Wire transfer for annual prepayment over USD 5,000 (Premium tier annual or multi-listing aggregations); wire-transfer setup requires 5 business days lead time.
Bitcoin payment is not currently supported. PayPal is not currently supported.
Currency
Default billing currency: USD. EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD billing available; the conversion rate is locked at upgrade for monthly cycles or at renewal for quarterly/annual cycles. Cross-currency billing receipts include the original-currency amount and the USD-equivalent reference for accounting workflows.
VAT/GST/HST is added where applicable based on the customer's billing-address jurisdiction. EU customers can provide a VIES-validated EU VAT number to apply the reverse-charge mechanism (zero-rated with VAT obligation transferred to the customer). UK customers are charged 20 percent VAT unless the firm provides a HMRC-issued VAT number applying the reverse-charge equivalent.
Failed payments
If the payment method fails on the billing date, the system retries on day 1, day 4, and day 8 after the original date. After three failed retries, the listing tier is automatically downgraded to the next-lower tier (Premium → Featured-Plus → Featured-Standard → Enhanced → Free); the listing is not deleted and existing data is preserved.
If the entire chain of attempts fails (no successful charge across three retries) and the listing has reached Free, the firm dashboard displays a "Payment failed — please update payment method" banner; tier-upgrade access is gated until the payment method is updated.
Updating payment methods
Update from the billing dashboard. Adding a new payment method does not automatically replace the old one; you must explicitly mark the new method as primary. The system retains the old method as backup unless explicitly removed.
For accounts using SSO, the billing dashboard requires re-authentication via the original password-based account before payment-method changes can be made; this is a fraud-prevention measure.
Receipts and invoices
Each successful payment generates a receipt and a tax invoice. Receipts are emailed to the billing-contact email and downloadable from the billing dashboard. Tax invoices include the directory's billing entity, the customer's billed entity, line items, applicable VAT/GST/HST, and the underlying period being billed.
Annual customers can request a single consolidated annual invoice covering the prepayment in lieu of period-by-period invoices; submit the request via the billing-support form before annual upgrade or renewal.
Refunds
Monthly: 14-day refund window from initial upgrade or from each recurring charge. Quarterly: 21-day refund window. Annual: 30-day refund window. Refunds outside these windows are not issued; the higher tier remains in effect through the cycle end.
Refund-policy detail is covered in the refund-policy-overview article. Pro-rated refunds for partial-period downgrades are not issued (the higher tier remains in effect through cycle end and downgrade takes effect at next billing date).
Discounts and promotions
Standard tier pricing is published on the listing-tier-comparison article. Promotional discounts (founder-cohort discount, early-claim discount, multi-listing discount) are applied automatically at checkout where eligible; the eligibility logic is published on the promotions page. Custom discount codes for negotiated arrangements (Premium-tier multi-year, partner-network referrals) are issued by the editorial team's billing operations and are non-transferable.
Important disclaimer
Informational only — not tax advice. This page summarises publicly available information about tax as of August 2026. Tax laws change, individual circumstances vary, and the application of any rule depends on your specific facts.
TaxProsRated does not provide tax, legal, accounting, or financial advice. Before acting on anything you read here, consult a qualified tax professional licensed in your jurisdiction . TaxProsRated, its operators, and its contributors disclaim all liability for action taken in reliance on this page.