Contractor of Record: Using Prepaid Funds to pay contractors

Prepaid funds allows you to add funds to your Remote account in advance of paying contractors. This ensures faster, more predictable contractor payments, with fewer delays and approval bottlenecks.

Adding Prepaid funds can help you:

• Ensure on-time payments to contractors, improving trust.
• Avoid internal delays tied to complex finance or approval processes.
• Enable faster payouts. Remote can release funds without waiting for your payment to clear.

Prepaid funds let you fund contractor payments in advance, reducing delays while your payment clears. They do not mean the contractor is paid immediately when you approve an invoice or when a credit note settles it.

• How to set up Prepaid funds
• Credit Notes in CoR Prepaid funds

To use Prepaid funds:

• You must be a Contractor of Record customer.

To set this up on Remote: 

1. Go to Prepaid funds from the sidebar or the Invoices tab.
2. Click Add Funds to open the Prepaid Funds page.
3. To add funds to an entity, choose the legal entity you want to preload funds for.
   Note: Prepaid funds are specific to each entity and cannot be transferred between them.
4. Click Add Funds and enter the amount.
   
   
   
5. We'll suggest recommended amounts based on your payment history. 
6. Once you've inputted the amounts, click Create Prepaid funds invoice.
7. The invoice will show as Generating until ready. Once generated, you'll receive both an email and in-product notification when your invoice is ready for payment.
8. Once invoice has been generated, complete the payment to top up your prepaid balance. 
   
   
9. Pay your prepaid invoice using your available payment methods. Here's an estimate of how long each method takes to reflect in your prepaid fund balance: 

   Payment Method	Timeline
   USD ACH Direct Debit	T+4
   SEPA Direct Debit	T+2
   BACS Direct Debit	T+3
   Credit/ Debit Card	T+2
   Bank Transfer	T+1-3

To make payment for contractor invoices using the Prepaid Funds: 

1. Go to the Contractor Invoices and select the invoices you'd like to approve. The system shows the total required.
2. Click Approve to generate a CoR Payment Invoice.
   
   
3. If your prepaid balance covers 100% of the CoR payment invoice, the invoice is marked as Paid right away. This status means your prepaid funds have settled the invoice. It does not mean the contractor has been paid yet. Remote releases the payment to the contractor four business days after we receive your funds. If prepaid funds balance is too low, you'll need to pay the remaining balance manually.
   See also: Paying contractors through Remote
4. To track usage of funds, you can view your funds' history, including amounts added, amounts used, fund allocations, and associated contractor payment invoices from the Prepaid funds tab.

When you pay a CoR prepaid funds invoice, you'll see a credit note is automatically generated. This is normal and expected behavior.

Credit notes enable the automatic payment system for your contractor invoices

They act as the payment mechanism that applies your prepaid funds to future CoR payment invoices

This process starts immediately after your prepaid funds payment is confirmed

1. You pay a CoR prepaid funds invoice
2. System automatically generates a credit note for the full amount paid
3. When contractors submit invoices and you approve them, a CoR payment invoice is created
4. Your credit note automatically pays the CoR payment invoice. Depending on your available prepaid funds amount, the credit note pays the invoice either partially or in full. If you have insufficient prepaid funds, you'll need to pay the remaining CoR invoice amount.
5. Process continues until your prepaid funds / credit note is used up

What You'll Experience

Credit notes created from CoR prepaid funds payments will appear in your billing documents - this is expected behavior

CoR payment invoices may show as "Closed" immediately if fully covered by your available prepaid funds. This confirms that the invoice has been settled, not that the contractor has received payment.

For partial coverage, available credit applies first and shows remaining prepaid funds

You don't need to take any action - the system handles payments automatically

Important: This Differs from CM Prepaid Funds

• CoR prepaid funds: Generate credit notes immediately to enable automatic payments
• CM prepaid funds: Only generate credit notes after 7 days of unused funds

The two systems work completely separately and cannot share balances

• Can Prepaid funds be used for all Remote payments?
  No, they can't. Prepaid funds are restricted to contractor invoices under Contractor of Record (CoR) and Contractor Management. It cannot cover management fees or reserves.
• Do Prepaid funds expire?
  No, they do not. Prepaid funds remain available until used or refunded.
• Can I request a refund for my Prepaid funds?
  We only offer full refunds for unused prepaid funds. For example, if you have USD 100 in prepaid funds and request a refund, we will refund the entire USD 100—you cannot keep USD 50 and refund USD 50. Please contact us if you want a refund issued.