Counterparts

Learn how to manage the suppliers and customers that will appear on invoices.

Overview

Counterparts represent the suppliers and clients of an entity. They can be organizations or individuals.

A counterpart must be created before an entity create invoices, quotes, and other documents.

Roles and permissions

To use the /counterparts* endpoints with an entity user token, this entity user must have a role with the counterpart permission.

If using a partner-level token, no special permissions are needed.

Create a counterpart

To create a new counterpart, call POST /counterparts with the request body containing the name, address, contact information, and other details.

1curl -X POST 'https://api.sandbox.monite.com/v1/counterparts' \
2     -H 'X-Monite-Version: 2024-05-25' \
3     -H 'X-Monite-Entity-Id: ENTITY_ID' \
4     -H 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN' \
5     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
6     -d '{
7       "type": "organization",
8       "organization": {
9         "legal_name": "Acme Inc.",
10         "is_vendor": false,
11         "is_customer": true,
12         "phone": "+4930774619876",
13         "email": "acme@example.com",
14         "address": {
15           "country": "DE",
16           "city": "Berlin",
17           "postal_code": "10119",
18           "state": "BE",
19           "line1": "Flughafenstrasse 52",
20           "line2": "Additional address"
21         }
22       },
23       "language": "fr",
24       "tax_id": "123456789"
25     }'

The language field in the payload of the POST /counterparts request determines the language on all PDF documents for the counterpart. If the counterpart language is not provided, Monite checks whether or not the entity’s settings object contains a default language and creates PDF documents in that language. If neither is available, all PDF documents for the counterpart will be in English.

Notes on tax/VAT IDs

If the entity will issue invoices to this counterpart, make sure to provide either the counterpart’s tax_id (taxpayer identification number), VAT ID (VAT registration number), or both if available.

  • The tax_id is required for counterparts who are not VAT-registered.
  • For counterparts of the individual type, the tax_id can be a government-issued identification number such as the taxpayer number, passport number, national ID, or similar.
  • For French businesses, the tax_id is the SIREN/SIRET number.
  • For businesses in the Netherlands, the tax_id is the Dutch Business Register number (KVK).
  • Local sales in Lesotho require that the counterpart has both tax_id and VAT ID specified.
  • A Liberian counterpart’s tax number must be specified as its VAT ID rather than the tax_id.

The successful response contains the unique id assigned to this counterpart, along with other information.

1{
2  "default_shipping_address_id": null,
3  "default_billing_address_id": "912b0b741437-4562-b2a1-0ac6962bf",
4  "id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
5  "created_at": "2023-01-30T12:51:09.299Z",
6  "updated_at": "2023-01-30T12:51:09.299Z",
7  "type": "organization",
8  "language": "fr",
9  "reminders_enabled": true,
10  "created_by_entity_user_id":"0ac6962b-2aad-4dd1-b2a1-912b0b741437",
11  ...
12}

Counterpart addresses

  • When creating a counterpart—individual or organization, Monite creates an address for the counterpart using the information provided in the address field. This address becomes the counterpart’s default billing address and can be accessed using the default_billing_address_id field on the counterpart object. You can update this field after creating other counterpart addresses by making a PATCH request to the /counterparts/{counterpart_id} endpoint.

  • Spanish counterparts registered in the Canary Islands must use the country code IC instead of ES in their address.

    Spanish counterparts registered in Ceuta and Melilla must use EA as the address country code.

    This is required for Monite to apply the regulatory compliance checks specific to those regions of Spain.

After creating a counterpart, make sure to specify additional information about this counterpart:

Auto-linking

Every time a payable is created via OCR, updated, or approved for payment, Monite OCR checks if the counterpart_id is present in the payable. In case the counterpart_id is null, Monite uses the other counterpart information found in the payable to perform a search in the entity’s database on this sequence:

  1. Tax ID (tax_id field)
  2. IBAN (iban field)
  3. Sort code AND account number (sort_code + account_number fields)
  4. Exact name AND address (city, country, postal_code, and line1 fields)

The same logic applies if more than one record is found for tax ID. Monite then searches for the IBAN, Sort code AND account number, and finally for the name AND address to make sure the register found is unique. If, by the end of the final verification, there is still more than one counterpart, no counterpart is linked to the payable, i.e. counterpart_id remains as null.

If a unique counterpart register is found in the entity’s database, i.e. this counterpart already exists in the Monite system, the payable is then automatically linked to the counterpart found, avoiding any manual work. Monite also tries to enrich the counterpart register in the database with the supplied counterpart data.

In this case, the counterpart’s is_vendor field is set to true to indicate that this counterpart appears in payables.

Auto-creation

When a payable is moved to the paid, partially_paid, or waiting_for_approval statuses, Monite also tries the counterpart auto-linking.

If the counterpart cannot be auto-linked, a new counterpart will be automatically created with the information provided in the payable. The counterpart sub-resources are also created.

In this case, the is_vendor field is set to true to indicate that this counterpart appears in payables.

If the payable does not have enough information about the counterpart for its auto-creation, the counterpart cannot be created nor linked to the payable.

The auto-creation occurs only when the payable is submitted for approval, marked as partially or completely paid. Before this point, users are able to update the payable and new data for the auto-linking may be provided. Therefore, auto-creation is the final step before freezing the payable data.

Sub-resources

The counterparts sub-resources, which are addresses, bank accounts, and VAT IDs, can also be set during the auto-creation process, following this logic:

  • If no sub-resource information is found in the payable but the counterpart already exists in the Monite system, Monite fills the payable with the sub-resource information stored in the Monite system (the default register, when applicable).
  • If the sub-resource information is found in the payable, Monite checks if this information already exists in the Monite system:
    • If the sub-resource information is found in the payable but is not present in the Monite system, Monite automatically creates these counterpart sub-resources in the Monite system, if the mandatory fields are provided.
    • If the payable does not have enough information about the counterpart sub-resources for their auto-creation, the counterpart cannot be created nor linked to the payable.

How to enable auto-linking and auto-creation

The auto-linking and auto-creation features are configured at the partner’s settings level via the boolean fields allow_counterpart_autolinking and allow_counterpart_autocreation respectively.

To enable or disable the auto-linking or the auto-creation, send a PATCH request to the /settings endpoint:

1curl -X PATCH 'https://api.sandbox.monite.com/v1/settings' \
2     -H 'X-Monite-Version: 2024-05-25' \
3     -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_PARTNER_TOKEN' \
4     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
5     -d '{
6       "payable": {
7         "allow_counterpart_autolinking": true,
8         "allow_counterpart_autocreation": true
9       }
10     }'

The auto-linking and auto-creation features are disabled by default.

Retrieve a counterpart

To get information about a specific counterpart, call GET /counterparts/{counterpart_id} as shown:

1curl -X GET 'https://api.sandbox.monite.com/v1/counterparts/3fa85f64...2c963f66afa6' \
2     -H 'X-Monite-Version: 2024-05-25' \
3     -H 'X-Monite-Entity-Id: ENTITY_ID' \
4     -H 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN'

The successful response returns information about the counterpart with the counterpart_id provided.

1{
2  "default_shipping_address_id": null,
3  "default_billing_address_id": "912b0b741437-4562-b2a1-62bf0ac69",
4  "id": "2e557c1e-db8b-48f9-8860-49336ef6fbab",
5  "created_at": "2023-06-22T11:44:48.630894+00:00",
6  "updated_at": "2023-06-22T11:44:48.630905+00:00",
7  "type": "individual",
8  "reminders_enabled": false,
9  "created_by_entity_user_id": "0ac6962b-2aad-4dd1-b2a1-912b0b741437",
10  "individual": {
11    "first_name": "test",
12    "last_name": "test",
13    "title": "test",
14    "is_vendor": true,
15    "is_customer": false,
16    "phone": "5553211234",
17    "email": "asingh@example.net
18  }
19}

List all counterparts

To get a list of all of an entity’s counterparts, call GET /counterparts as shown:

1curl -X GET 'https://api.sandbox.monite.com/v1/counterparts' \
2     -H 'X-Monite-Version: 2024-05-25' \
3     -H 'X-Monite-Entity-Id: ENTITY_ID' \
4     -H 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN'

The successful response returns an array containing all of an entity’s counterparts.

Sort and filter counterparts

You can sort the returned counterparts by name, and filter the results by ID, name, address, IBAN, email address, and other fields. For a list of available sort and filter parameters, see the description of the GET /counterparts endpoint. For example, the following request will return all counterparts whose IBAN matches the value provided:

1curl -X GET 'https://api.sandbox.monite.com/v1/counterparts?iban=GB33BUKB2020..5555' \
2     -H 'X-Monite-Version: 2024-05-25' \
3     -H 'X-Monite-Entity-Id: ENTITY_ID' \
4     -H 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN'

Here are some other filtering examples:

  • GET /counterparts?type=organization&sort=counterpart_name - get the counterparts that are organizations, sorted by name.
  • GET /counterparts?counterpart_name__icontains=net - get all counterparts whose name contains “net” (case-insensitive).
  • GET /counterparts?address.country=DE - get all counterparts registered in Germany (the address.country parameter is a two-letter country code).
  • GET /counterparts?created_at__gte=2022-01-01T00%3A00%3A00 - get all counterparts created on or after January 1, 2022.

Edit a counterpart

To edit an existing counterpart, call PATCH /counterparts/{counterpart_id}:

1curl -X PATCH 'https://api.sandbox.monite.com/v1/counterparts/411dcb...289b3' \
2     -H 'X-Monite-Version: 2024-05-25' \
3     -H 'X-Monite-Entity-Id: ENTITY_ID' \
4     -H 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN' \
5     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
6     -d '{
7       "default_billing_address_id": "f8c95f64-5717-ds6p-b3fc-2c963f2aada6",
8       "tax_id": "NL123456789B12",
9       "language": "nl",
10       "individual": {
11         "first_name": "Dana",
12         "last_name": "Cruz",
13       }
14     }'

Updating the language field of a counterpart will also update the language on all PDF documents created for that counterpart.

All PATCH requests to the endpoint must include the counterpart’s type object in the request body. You must provide an empty object if there is no data to be updated within the counterpart type object. For example, the following snippet updates the counterpart’s default_shipping_address_id and default_billing_address_id fields:

1curl -X PATCH 'https://api.sandbox.monite.com/v1/counterparts/411dcb...289b3' \
2     -H 'X-Monite-Version: 2024-05-25' \
3     -H 'X-Monite-Entity-Id: ENTITY_ID' \
4     -H 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN' \
5     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
6     -d '{
7       "default_shipping_address_id": "0ac3fa2b-2aad-4dd1-f8c9-4h5h963b741437",
8       "default_billing_address_id": "f8c95f64-5717-ds6p-b3fc-2c963f2aada6",
9       "organization": {}
10     }'

Delete a counterpart

To delete an existing counterpart, call DELETE /counterparts/{counterpart_id}:

1curl -X DELETE 'https://api.sandbox.monite.com/v1/counterparts/411dcb...289b3' \
2     -H 'X-Monite-Version: 2024-05-25' \
3     -H 'X-Monite-Entity-Id: ENTITY_ID' \
4     -H 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN'