[Message] This customer's location couldn't be validated as required for compliance with the new EU VAT 2015 rules. Subscriptions for this customer will cancel upon renewal if the required information isn't updated.

Problem Statement

This article helps you understand '[message] this customer''s location couldn''t be validated as required for compliance with the new eu vat 2015 rules. subscriptions for this customer will cancel upon renewal if the required information isn''t updated.'.

Solution

Why am I seeing this message?

Chargebee performs location validation on digital services for customers as per EU VAT Rules. This is to ensure that the right tax rules are applied. This validation is carried out both when a card is added and updated. If any of the customers fail this location validation you would see the message on their subscription details page in Chargebee. (Reference screenshot below)

Why has my customer failed location validation by Chargebee?

Location validation in Chargebee can fail if there's a mismatch in the following:-

• The customer's payment method would have been updated from a different IP (when compared with the country).

• The Credit Card's BIN would be different from the source country.

Here's more on location validation in Chargebee.

Okay. How do I fix this?

1. If there is an IP mismatch, you would need to use Chargebee's Update a card payment source API and pass the correct IP address in the header of the request.

For Example:

curl https://abcdef123-test.chargebee.com/api/v2/payment_sources/pm_1mkVvpLQxIB1zWJjL/update_card \

-u {site_api_key} 

-H chargebee-request-origin-ip:46.101.38.123 

-d card[first_name]="John"

2. If there's a mismatch in the Credit card BIN and the Country of the user, you would need to contact the customer and ask them to update with a new payment method whose BIN matches the customer's Country.

The Request Payment Method option within the Customer or Subscription can be used to send customers an email with a secure link to update their payment details. If you've allowed customer portal access to your customers, they can update the payment information themselves by logging into their account.

Temporary quick fix:

If you want to charge the customer immediately and ignore the error, for now, you can turn "Auto Collection" off for the customer, select the invoice and click the "Collect now" option to manually collect the payment using the payment method on file.

-If "Auto Collection remains" off, all future invoices for the customer will also be generated in "Payment Due" state and you will need to manually collect the payment each time (Location validation also would not occur for this customer),

-If you turn "Auto Collection" on after collecting the payment for the current invoice, you will get the same message until the next renewal as well and if by then the card BIN is not updated, the subscription will be canceled.

If you have any more questions regarding this, please reach out to support.