Commercial, purchasing and business cards are used like personal credit cards, however they offer employers enhanced reporting and valuable features and capabilities. These cards carry higher interchange rates, however many merchants can qualify for lower interchange rates by collecting Level II and Level III payment data.
Level II Data includes:
- A Tax Indicator denoting the presence of sales tax.
- An itemized sales tax amount (To qualify for the reduced interchange rate, the amount must be greater than zero. For Visa the tax amount must be between 0.1% and 22% and for MasterCard the tax amount must be between 0.1% and 30%.). Notice for Level III qualification, the tax amount can be $0.00 with the tax indicator denoting the transaction is tax exempt. (This is important for Government Contractors and Vendors)
- A customer code (for transaction tracing) if provided by the cardholder. Required for MasterCard and Visa Purchasing Large Ticket transactions only
Level III Data:
Only Corporate and Purchasing cards on Visa can qualify; any commercial card on MasterCard can qualify for Level III Interchange rates. The table below shows Level III data fields and requirements.
Discount Amount
The total discount amount applied to a transaction (i.e. total transaction percentage discounts, fixed transaction amount reductions or summarization of line item discounts). Must not be all zeros if a discount amount exists and last two digits are implied decimal places. Must be all zeros if discount amount does not exist.
Freight/Shipping Amount
The total freight/shipping amount applied to a transaction. Merchants can choose to deliver the contents of a single transaction in multiple shipments and this field reflects the total cost of those deliveries. Must not be all zeros if a freight/shipping amount exists and last two digits are implied decimal places. Must be all zeros if freight/ shipping amount does not exist.
Duty Amount
The total duty amount applied to a transaction. Duty can also be known as Import Tax, Excise, Customs Tax, Impost or Levy. Must not be all zeros if a duty amount exists and last two digits are implied decimal places. Must be all zeros if duty amount does not exist
Item Commodity Code
Commodity codes are used by corporate purchasing organizations to segment and manage their total spend across diverse product lines. There is no universally accepted commodity code standard, but the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC) is widely deployed. Must not be all spaces or all zeros. Refer to document to the right for your industry’s commodity code.
Item Descriptor
A specific description of the item purchased. Must not be all spaces or all zeros.
Product Code
Product code is typically the supplier’s unique product identifier. This is usually identified with an inventory number or UPC code. If the merchant doesn’t have an inventory numbering system, the merchant needs to enter something other than spaces or zeros. Must not be all spaces or all zeros.
Quantity
The number of products for this line item included in the transaction. Must not be all spaces or all zeros. The last four digits are implied decimal places.
Unit of Measure
The metric used for understanding quantity (i.e. a box of 12 pencils may be called DOZEN or BOX). Must not be all spaces or all zeros
Unit Cost
Used to determine the cost of the measurable unit. In the example used above, the unit cost would be the cost per box of pencils. This field is not intended to derive the cost of the lowest measurable unit (i.e. cost per pencil). Must not be all spaces or all zeros. The last four digits are implied decimal places.
Discount Per Line Item
Used to capture discounts applied at a line item level. Examples include line item (or product level) percentage discounts and fixed amount reductions. Line Item discount totals should be reflected in the PURCHA Discount Amount field. Must not be all zeros if a Discount exists, and the last two digits are implied decimal places. Otherwise must be all zeros.
Line Item Total
This field is a calculation of the unit cost multiplied by the quantity and less the discount per line item. The calculation is reflected as: [Unit Cost * Quantity] – Discount per Line Item = Line Item Total. Must not be all spaces or all zeros, and last two digits are implied decimal places.
Extended Item Amount
This is the total purchase amount spent on an item. It’s normally calculated as the unit price multiplied by the quantity sold. Must contain the “extended item amount” and be a number greater than zero, unless the “zero cost to customer indicator” is marked with a “Y” for yes. This field is usually automatically filled in by the point of sale device.
Debit or Credit Indicator
Indicates whether the extended item amount is a debit or credit. Must contain one of the following values: D – Extended item amount is a debit. C – Extended item amount is a credit. This field is usually automatically filled in by the point of sale device.
Have questions about Level 2 or Level 3 processing or simply want to speak to a Level 3 specialists? Give us a call at 888 790 3450 or email info@ revolution-payments.com