This article applies only to self-employed individuals (sole proprietors).
For companies, BILLY uses the CODA system (coded bank statements) rather than PSD2. This Belgian standard provides more complete statements, which makes accounting processing easier for companies. Learn more about CODA processing for companies.
👉🏻 To start the synchronisation, head over here: how do I sync my business account?
Secured via GoCardless 🔒
When you add a bank account in BILLY, you are redirected to your bank to give your authorisation (a dedicated screen opens). In practice, you are granting a read-only authorisation to our provider GoCardless, which acts as an intermediary.
GoCardless is the provider that connects securely to your bank. It is accredited to connect to banks via the European PSD2 standard (it operates to the same security standards as a bank). Hundreds of banks across Europe are accessible through their service (check whether your bank is available directly in the BILLY app by adding a bank).
GoCardless is therefore the one supplying your transactions to us. This means that BILLY can only view your account and can never make a payment on your behalf.
European PSD2 standard
👓 Read access only
By giving your authorisation, you grant GoCardless (and therefore BILLY) read access to your transactions. This means it is impossible for BILLY to initiate a transfer.
🔄️ Authorisation renewal
The connection to your account remains active for 180 days. After this period, you will need to renew your authorisation. You will be notified in BILLY and the process is very straightforward (similar to the initial connection).
⛔ Suspending authorisation
You can also suspend your authorisation at any time. Simply send us a message via the live chat.
How BILLY handles your data
🎯 Centralising your business account in your bookkeeping
Your bank transactions from GoCardless are stored on our secure servers. This gives you centralised bookkeeping all in one place on BILLY.
You can view your bank transactions and your account balance directly in BILLY. You can add comments to your transactions to help you organise your business account better.
💡 The financial journal is a mandatory accounting record. It contains the list of all your professional bank transactions. BILLY brings your bank journal together in one place.
🛠️ Extra features: categorisation
Transactions can be categorised. This brings several benefits:
If you are self-employed and VAT-exempt, your income is based on receipts rather than sales invoices. You are required to classify your transactions in order to declare your income. In this case, BILLY helps you automate this process.
For all self-employed individuals, categorising transactions helps organise your bookkeeping. Thanks to links between invoices and payments, you can track the payment status of your sales invoices and detect, from a transaction, whether an expense invoice has not yet been imported.
Free for BILLY customers
The service is completely free for BILLY customers. BILLY covers the connection costs. This means you avoid the significant fees that Belgian banks charge for CODA (the "old-school" electronic bank statements — a system that is on its way out).
If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out via the live chat at the bottom right! 😊
See you soon 👋