How a scheme transaction ID works
The network creates the identifier when it processes the authorisation, and the acquirer passes it back to the gateway or the merchant. Messages that follow, such as an incremental authorisation, a reversal, the clearing record or a dispute, carry the same value, so each party can tie them to the original.
What Visa and Mastercard call it
Visa's name is the Transaction Identifier. The Visa Core Rules of 18 April 2026 define it as a unique value assigned to each transaction and returned to the acquirer in the authorisation response, which Visa uses to keep an audit trail through the life cycle of the transaction and all related transactions.
Mastercard's is the Trace ID, built from the network data and the settlement date of the original authorisation response. Since 17 October 2025, its Transaction Processing Rules also have acquirers echo a second value, the Transaction Link Identifier (TLID), in later messages for the same transaction.
Why a payment system stores the scheme transaction ID
A subscription renewal, like any merchant-initiated payment, is sent without the cardholder present. Quoting the ID of the first payment, which the cardholder made, shows the issuer that the new one belongs to the same agreement. Mastercard has acquirers, with their merchants and payment facilitators, retain the TLID of approved card-not-present payments started by the cardholder for use in later merchant-initiated ones.
A vault therefore keeps the scheme transaction ID next to each stored token.
Where a scheme transaction ID shows up in a platform
Modules that do the work
- Card acquiringCard acceptance on the phone, in store and online, through the acquirer you choose.
- CheckoutA hosted checkout for cards, wallets, bank payments and crypto, routed to the best provider.
- LedgerThe double-entry book of record behind every balance, fee and transfer.
Platforms that need it
Where it is written
The laws and standards this page's facts come from.
- Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, 18 April 2026: glossary, Transaction Identifier (Visa)
- Mastercard Transaction Processing Rules, 9 June 2026: chapter 2, Trace ID and Transaction Link ID (Mastercard)
General information, not legal advice: what applies to you depends on your services and your market.