Being Merchant of Record

On the App Store, Apple is the Merchant of Record on every subscription. On Google Play, Google is. They collect payment, handle tax across jurisdictions, process refunds, defend chargebacks, and pay you the net. You don’t think about any of it — and you don’t control any of it. When you move to direct billing, you become the Merchant of Record. Those responsibilities move to your side. Recurr’s job is to make them manageable: automated where they can be, surfaced clearly where they can’t. This page covers what changes and how it’s supported.

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What shifts to you

Four operational responsibilities move from the store to your side:

1. Tax collection and reporting — sales tax (US states), VAT (EU/UK), GST (AU), and equivalents in other jurisdictions
2. Refunds — when subscribers request them, you process them through your Stripe account
3. Chargebacks — when subscribers dispute a charge through their bank, you respond with evidence
4. Subscriber payment relationship — your name on the card statement, your Stripe account holds the funds, you’re the legal counterparty on every charge

You don’t take on cardholder data — Stripe holds the actual card numbers; you never see them. PCI scope stays with Stripe. What you take on is the merchant-side of the transaction: who’s responsible if something goes wrong, who answers when a regulator asks, who keeps the customer relationship.

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How Recurr supports each

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Tax

Tax calculation and collection is included in your Recurr platform fee — no separate charge to you or to subscribers. What’s handled:

• Real-time calculation per transaction based on subscriber address + product type
• Multi-jurisdiction support for US state sales tax, EU VAT, UK, AU GST, and 50+ other jurisdictions
• Threshold monitoring — alerts when you cross a nexus / registration threshold in a new jurisdiction
• Filing-ready reports that plug into your accounting flow or tax provider

You stay the tax filer of record — the platform produces the data; your accounting team or tax provider files. Already using Avalara, Anrok, or TaxJar? Stripe Connect integrates with most major providers; you can opt out of the included tax handling in favor of your existing setup. See tax + jurisdictions for the operational depth.

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Refunds

Refunds run through your Stripe Connect account directly. Recurr’s subscriber view surfaces the context your team needs to make the call:

• Subscription + plan history — every charge, every plan change, every renewal visible per subscriber
• Usage signal — recent engagement data so your team can see whether the subscriber was actively using the product
• One-click refund — full or partial, with a refund-reason field + audit-log entry
• Automatic state propagation — the subscription record updates and entitlement sync notifies your app

Refund decisions stay with your team. Recurr surfaces the context (plan history, usage, payment record) without making the call — the policy is yours.

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Chargebacks

Stripe handles the chargeback intake; Recurr surfaces it and helps with the response.

• Alerts — every chargeback fires a webhook event + dashboard notification, so your team sees it before Stripe’s response window closes
• Auto-collected evidence — Recurr packages the subscription record (payment history, plan changes, usage data, IP + device signal, billing portal interactions) into a dispute-ready evidence packet
• Submission workflow — review the packet, add any additional notes specific to the dispute, submit through Stripe’s dispute UI

Chargeback win rates depend on the dispute reason + the strength of evidence. Recurr’s automated collection improves the evidence side; the rest is the subscriber’s actual claim and your response.

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Subscriber payment relationship

You’re named on the subscriber’s card statement — your brand, not Recurr’s. Stripe deposits subscription charges directly into your Stripe Connect account on Stripe’s standard payout cadence (typically T+2 business days). Recurr never sits in the legal payment chain. The subscriber relationship is structurally yours:

• The Stripe account is in your company’s name
• The card statement reads your brand
• Subscriber communications come from your domain
• The data is in systems you own (Stripe Dashboard, your warehouse via Recurr’s webhook stream)

If Recurr ever disappeared, your subscriptions would continue settling to your Stripe account uninterrupted — you’d just lose the Recurr platform layer (cohort orchestration, lifecycle motions, dashboard, reporting). The rails underneath stay yours.

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What stays with Recurr

Recurr operates the platform layer on top of the rails:

• Cohort definitions + wave orchestration during migration
• Lifecycle motions (Winbacks, Annual nudges, Cancel deflections) post-migration
• Operator dashboard with wave performance, retention vs holdout, motion outcomes, audit trail
• Webhook event stream for your downstream systems (entitlement, analytics, CRM)
• Branded subscriber surfaces (checkout, billing portal, help center) on your domain
• Recurr’s CX layer for Tier 1 subscriber questions on the billing center

Recurr’s commercial relationship with you is the platform fee (3.5% on web-billed revenue) + the migration performance fee (2.5% on migrated subscribers, Y1 only). Both are deducted as application_fee line items at settlement — no separate invoicing, transparent in your Stripe Dashboard.

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Architecturally

• Stripe Connect Standard — your Stripe account, your name, your tax/legal/banking details
• Direct settlement — Stripe pays the subscriber’s charge directly into your account, net of Recurr’s application_fee + Stripe processing
• You sign the tax filings — the platform produces the reports; your accounting team or tax provider files
• Recurr is invisible to subscribers — they see your brand on the card statement, your domain on the checkout, your brand on the billing portal

See Stripe Connect → for the technical integration, billing + tax operations → for the settlement flow, and exit and portability → for the architectural exit posture.

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Common questions

“Do I need to register for sales tax / VAT in every jurisdiction where I have subscribers?” You register where you have nexus (a tax-collection obligation under that jurisdiction’s rules). Nexus thresholds are monitored and you’re alerted when you cross one. Most apps don’t need broad registration on day one — the threshold framework limits where you must register. Your accountant or tax provider makes the registration call; Recurr’s role is to surface the data. “What happens if a subscriber disputes a charge?” Stripe’s dispute UI handles the workflow. Recurr surfaces the dispute the moment it lands, packages the available evidence (subscription record, usage data, payment history, identity signals) automatically, and routes it to your team for submission. The decision authority stays with you; Recurr automates the collection. “Am I exposed to PCI compliance now?” No. Stripe handles card data; you never see card numbers or process payments outside of Stripe. PCI scope stays with Stripe. What you take on is the merchant-of-record position on the transaction, which is a different regulatory frame. “What about international subscribers?” Tax is calculated and collected across 50+ jurisdictions. Cross-border payment costs (international card surcharge, currency conversion) pass through at Stripe’s standard rates — see Stripe’s pricing for the country-specific breakdown. The Migration Review walks the specifics for your subscriber distribution.

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Why this architecture

Customer-as-MoR via Stripe Connect Standard is the right shape when you want:

• Direct control of the subscriber relationship — your brand on every surface, your data in systems you own
• Architectural exit freedom — subscriptions settle to your Stripe account regardless of Recurr’s continuity
• Operational support without legal-counterparty handoff — Recurr handles the platform, you handle the merchant position with platform support

The four responsibilities aren’t trivial — they require finance, operational, and (occasionally) legal capacity to manage well. Recurr’s role is to make each one as automated as it can be, and to surface the rest clearly so your team can act fast. Run the audit to see your specific numbers on this architecture, or book a Migration Review to walk it through live.