Key points:
- Who prepares it: the form is issued by the creditor, the company that will collect from you, either personalised with your details or as a generic version.
- What you complete: your name, your IBAN, the type of payment (recurrent or one-off), the date, the place and your signature.
- What you can leave out: your bank’s BIC is not needed when both institutions are in the European Economic Area.
- The reference can come later: if it is not on the form when you sign, the creditor has to send it to you as soon as it has one.
- Who keeps it: the creditor. You do not take the signed mandate to your bank.
A new supplier sends you an email with an attachment and one line: “We need the signed SEPA mandate before the first charge.” You open the file and find a form with boxes, an identifier full of letters and numbers and a legal paragraph in small print. You want to know how to fill in each box of that SEPA mandate PDF so you do not have to send it back twice.
This guide goes through the form field by field, from the creditor’s details to the signature. It is based on the guidelines of the European Payments Council (EPC) on the appearance of mandates and on Regulation (EU) 260/2012, which sets out which data travels with each collection. It also covers the other side: what the template must contain if your business collects by direct debit. What a mandate is, how the CORE and B2B schemes work and which refund rights you have are explained in our article “SEPA mandate: what the documento SEPA is and what it contains”.
Where to get the SEPA mandate PDF
You do not ask your bank for the form: the creditor issues it. According to the EPC guidelines, the creditor can hand it over personalised, with the details it already knows from the contract, or as a generic mandate, for example inside a commercial publication. Either way you complete and sign it, and the creditor then finalises and accepts it. That is why the SEPA mandate PDF you need is the one sent by the company that will collect from you.
The format is open. The same guidelines say that the physical presentation is not governed by the direct debit schemes and that all forms of presentation are accepted. You may receive a PDF with editable fields, a SEPA mandate in Word to fill in, a printed sheet or a form on the supplier’s website. What matters is not the file but that all the mandatory details and the full legal text are there.
If you are looking to download a generic SEPA mandate online, keep its limit in mind. A model without the creditor’s name, address and identifier does not authorise anyone to collect from you, because a mandate is always signed in favour of a specific creditor. Those models are useful to see what the form looks like, not as a substitute for the one your supplier has to send you.
The fields of the SEPA mandate, one by one
The EPC guidelines distinguish between mandatory data, whose name and field must always appear on the form, and optional data the creditor adds if it finds them useful. This table sums up the mandatory fields of a SEPA mandate form and who completes each one:
| Field | Completed by | What goes in | Mandatory? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mandate reference | Creditor | A unique code that identifies the mandate | Required; it can be sent after signing |
| Creditor’s name | Creditor | The name of the company collecting | Required |
| Creditor identifier | Creditor | The code that identifies the creditor in SEPA direct debits | Required |
| Creditor’s address | Creditor | Street and number, postal code, city and country | Required |
| Debtor’s name | You | Your name or your company’s | Required |
| Debtor’s address | You | Street and number, postal code, city and country | Only if one of the institutions is in a SEPA country outside the EEA |
| IBAN | You | The full number of the account the bills will be charged to | Required |
| BIC | You | Your bank’s code | Not if both institutions are in the EEA |
| Type of payment | You | Recurrent or one-off | Required |
| Date and place of signing | You | When and where you sign | Required |
| Signature | You (and any other account holders) | Your signature | Required |
The mandate does not have to be a separate document either. The EPC guidelines show models where it is part of a combined form: for example, an insurance application that states the amount to be collected by direct debit and, underneath, the mandate block with the creditor identifier and the space for the reference. If you sign a contract with a section like that, that section is your SEPA mandate.
Besides these fields, the creditor may include details for information only, such as a customer number, the contract identifier or its description. They are not mandatory and do not change what you authorise.
Creditor details and identifier
The top of the form belongs to the creditor: its name, its address and its identifier. Regulation (EU) 260/2012 lists the “payee’s identifier code” among the data that accompany each direct debit, together with the payee’s name and the IBAN of its account. When you receive the mandate, check that this name matches the company you have the contract with: it is the part that tells you who you are giving permission to.
Unique mandate reference
The SEPA mandate reference is the code the creditor uses to identify your mandate among all the ones it manages. It is mandatory, but the EPC guidelines accept that it may not exist yet when you sign. In that case the creditor must send it to you as soon as it is available. If the box arrives empty, do not make up a number: leave it for the creditor.
Your details, the IBAN and the BIC
Your part of the form takes your name or company name, the address and the full IBAN of the account you want the bills charged to. The address is only mandatory when the creditor’s institution or yours is in a SEPA country outside the European Economic Area, although the EPC model includes those fields.
Two details prevent mistakes. According to the EPC, the creditor cannot pre-print a country code in the IBAN box: it could discriminate against IBANs issued in other SEPA countries, and that does not comply with EU law. And your bank’s BIC is optional when the creditor’s institution and yours are in the EEA, so you can leave it blank if the form marks it as optional.
Recurrent or one-off payment
The “type of payment” field takes only two values: recurrent, for periodic charges such as a monthly fee, or one-off, for a single collection. Tick the one that matches the contract: a software subscription with a monthly fee fits recurrent, and paying for a specific order fits one-off. The other categories the Regulation mentions, such as first, last or reversed, are data the creditor sends with each collection, not options on the form.
Date, place and signature
The mandate closes with the date, the place and the signature of the payer. If the account has several holders, the form provides for each one to sign. The date is not a minor formality: the Regulation requires the date the mandate was signed to accompany every direct debit collected under it. So write the actual date you sign, not the date of the first collection.
How to fill in the SEPA mandate step by step
With the mandate PDF in front of you, the easiest order is this:
Read the creditor’s name and identifier at the top and confirm they belong to the company you signed the contract or placed the order with. If the mandate reference is already on the form, note it down.
Write your name or your company’s and, if the form asks for it, the full address with postal code, city and country. The address is only mandatory if your bank or the creditor’s is in a SEPA country outside the EEA.
Copy the IBAN of the account the bills will be charged to, with the country code at the start. The BIC is only needed if the form requires it.
Tick recurrent for periodic charges or one-off for a single payment, as agreed with the creditor.
Add the date and place, sign and return the mandate to the creditor through the channel it indicates. Keep a copy with the contract.
The legal text of the mandate
The small-print paragraph is not decoration. The EPC guidelines ask for the scheme’s legal wording to be reproduced without any alteration or omission. In the CORE mandate model, that text explains that you authorise the creditor to send instructions to your bank and your bank to debit your account in line with those instructions, and it reminds you of your right to claim a refund within eight weeks of the charge.
That period matches the one Royal Decree-law 19/2018 grants in Spain in its article 49: eight weeks from the date the funds were debited. If you are not a consumer, article 34 allows you to agree with your bank that article 49, the one that sets this period, does not apply in whole or in part. The EPC publishes translations of the mandate text, each legally checked locally, and recommends using only those approved translations.
CORE or B2B mandate: how to tell them apart
The EPC guidelines have a model for each scheme, and you can tell them apart by the legal text. The B2B mandate has its own title, business-to-business SEPA direct debit, and warns that it is intended only for transactions between businesses: once the bill is charged there is no right to a refund, but up until the due date itself you can ask your bank not to debit your account. The mandate reference does not tell them apart: both the B2B model and the combined CORE form mark it as data the creditor completes. If you receive a B2B form and you are a consumer, or you did not expect to give up refunds, ask the creditor before you sign.
Worth knowing: the legal text tells you which scheme you are signing. If it reminds you of your right to claim a refund within eight weeks, it is CORE; if it says there is no right to a refund after the debit, it is B2B.
SEPA mandate template for your business
If your business collects by direct debit, you prepare the SEPA mandate template: under the EPC guidelines, the creditor issues the form. The SEPA mandate model you send to your customers must include at least:
The guidelines also ask for a size any debtor can read and enough space to complete the fields in an official SEPA language they understand. Once signed, the mandate stays with you: the Regulation leaves mandates, their amendments and their cancellations in the hands of the payee or of a third party acting on its behalf.
The mandate also feeds every collection you send afterwards. Under the annex to Regulation (EU) 260/2012, each direct debit carries, among other data, the type of debit, your name and IBAN as payee, the payer’s name and IBAN, the unique mandate reference, the date of signing, the amount and your identifier code.
What to check before sending it back
Before you send the signed mandate, a quick read stops the first bill from bouncing or landing in the wrong account:
If you change accounts later, tell the creditor. Amendments to the mandate, such as a new IBAN, also stay in its hands.
SEPA bills with your Vivid account
If you pay bills with Vivid Business, the IBAN you write on the form is your Vivid account’s. Vivid supports SEPA CORE direct debits, so you can sign mandates under that scheme; under the B2B scheme, receiving direct debits is not possible for now. To avoid copying the number by hand, you can download from the app or the web an account confirmation with the IBAN, the BIC, the company name and the address.
Vivid Money S.A., which provides the account, is an e-money institution and operates in Spain through its branch. This is what it offers when you sign a mandate with your business account:
Vivid in brief: with Vivid Business you pay SEPA CORE bills from a business account with a Spanish IBAN, and its account confirmation brings together the account details a mandate asks for: IBAN, BIC, company name and address.
The IBAN for your SEPA mandates
Open your Vivid Business account online, use its Spanish IBAN in SEPA CORE mandates and send each bill to the pocket you prefer.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I download a fillable SEPA mandate PDF?
You do not need to look for it: the company that will collect from you sends the PDF, either personalised or as a generic form you complete. If you download a model instead, use it only as a reference: to sign, you need the creditor’s own form.
Can I fill in the SEPA mandate in Word?
Yes. The European Payments Council guidelines accept any form of presentation: PDF, Word, paper or a web form. What must always be there are the mandatory details and the full legal text.
Can I leave the BIC blank on the mandate?
Yes, when the creditor’s institution and yours are in the European Economic Area. It is only mandatory if one of them is in a SEPA country outside the EEA. If the form asks for it and you have it at hand, you can still write it.
Who assigns the mandate reference?
The creditor. It is the unique code it uses to identify your mandate and, if it does not exist yet when you sign, it must send it to you as soon as it has one.
Can I use a SEPA mandate model from the internet?
It helps you get to know the form, but not as a mandate. A mandate is signed in favour of a specific creditor and must carry its name, its identifier and the scheme’s legal text unchanged.
Which should I tick, recurrent or one-off?
Recurrent if the creditor will charge you periodically, for example a monthly or quarterly fee. One-off if it is a single payment, such as a specific order. The form only allows those two options.
Who do I return the signed mandate to?
To the creditor. Regulation (EU) 260/2012 leaves mandates and their amendments with the payee. It also lets your consent reach your bank through the payee, without you taking the document there.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice. The rules quoted come from Regulation (EU) 260/2012, Royal Decree-law 19/2018 and the European Payments Council guidelines on the appearance of mandates; the actual forms depend on each creditor. Vivid Money S.A. is an e-money institution authorised by the CSSF (Luxembourg); its Spanish branch is registered with the Banco de España under number 6731.
