Payment processing for professional service firms

The best processor is the one that handles your retainers, invoices and milestone balances cleanly, so judge each on those jobs. Compare written quotes built on the same card mix, ticket size and channel split, then check the Fee Schedule, accounting connections, support and reconciliation reports. We price every account on interchange-plus, and Fee Check shows what your current statement contains.

The cost depends on your card mix, average ticket and channel split, so no single figure fits every firm. On interchange-plus pricing you pay interchange, set by the card networks and passed through at cost, plus your RapidCents markup as shown in your Fee Schedule, plus fees for equipment or services where they apply. Fee Check reads an uploaded statement and shows interchange separately from markup.

Yes. QuickBooks Online keeps your invoices, and RapidCents takes the payment. We connect settled transactions, fees and refunds to QuickBooks Online, so each retainer charge, invoice payment and refund lands beside the invoice it belongs to, without rekeying. You keep billing from QuickBooks Online as you do today. Your RapidCents representative will walk you through the setup for your edition.

You keep payment history by exporting it before the old account closes and by moving in a planned order. List stored cards, authorizations, recurring schedules, open invoices and pending refunds, test a sale, a refund and a deposit on the new account, then run both for a while. Stored cards move between processors only if both providers agree, so be ready to ask clients to re-authorize.

A professional service firm in Canada can offer Visa, Mastercard and American Express credit cards, Interac debit for in-person payments, and EFT or pre-authorized debit bank payments, with card payments settling in CAD. Retainers and invoice links can be paid by credit card, while PAD suits a recurring retainer with a signed agreement. Your RapidCents representative will walk you through the list for your firm before you quote clients.

Send the deposit as a payment link with the engagement letter, so the client pays when they sign. Contracts & eSignatures can capture the signature and take the deposit together, or Invoicing can issue a deposit invoice with a link. Record the deposit against the project, write into the contract whether it is refundable, and refund the original payment if work never begins. Advance fees held in trust follow your regulator's rules first.

Charge the retainer on its schedule with Recurring Payments and invoice additional work separately with Invoicing, so each appears as its own line. The client authorizes the stored card for the retainer amount only. Extra work gets its own invoice and payment link, so the client sees the amount before paying, and finance matches both to the same client file.

Create the invoice in Invoicing with your branding and send its payment link by email or SMS; the client can forward the link to accounts payable. Add an expiry date when the invoice has a payment deadline, and follow its status from draft to paid. If your accounting software issues the invoice, send a payment link from RapidCents and record the payment there.

Send each milestone balance as a payment link once the client accepts the deliverable, by email or SMS. A client who prefers to pay by phone can give the card to staff, who key it in the Virtual Terminal with AVS and CVV checks, though a link keeps the number out of the call. Keep the acceptance record with the invoice, because a milestone dispute is answered with it.

Refund the original payment, then record a matching credit against the same service contract in your accounting software, so the charge and the refund stay linked. The refund appears in your transaction and settlement reports, which lets the person who reconciles tie it to the original charge. Close the month only after the refund, the credit note and the contract reference agree.

MCC 8999, professional services not classified elsewhere, is commonly associated with this type of business. We set the merchant category with you during onboarding, based on what your firm actually sells. A firm whose main service has its own category, such as legal or accounting work, may be placed in that category instead, so describe your services accurately on your application.