- Effective October 1, 2022, Microsoft will remove the check payment option from new commerce invoices.
- Microsoft announced that partner invoices will no longer contain physical check remit instructions on the face of their summarized invoice.
- Check payers are required to update their accounts to pay through wire transfer or automated clearing house.
Microsoft officially announced that the company won’t be accepting check payments from the end of September. The decision is announced with an advisory and it will only affect the United States (including Puerto Rico) and Canada. The check payment option will be removed from new commerce invoices and the instructions to pay by check will not be included on invoices from October 1st.
Wire transfer or automated clearing house
The change affects direct-bill partners transacting through the Cloud Solution Provider program. The customers are required to update their accounts payable or procurement system to pay Microsoft through wire transfer or automated clearing house (ACH) going forward. All new and prospective partners will be required to remit payment to Microsoft only via wire transfer or ACH. Microsoft said,
Starting October 1, 2022, partner invoices will no longer contain physical check remit instructions on the face of their summarized invoice.
ACH is a bank-to-bank money transfer method that aims to replace physical checks. Although Microsoft didn’t announce the reason behind the change, the most obvious reason is checks require manual processing and it is a slower process than digital money transfer methods. Checks are also losing their popularity for a long time.