Microsoft has announced an important change to the ReferenceId attribute in Partner Center reconciliation files. The change takes effect on April 15, 2026 and affects all CSP direct bill partners and distributors.

What is changing?

The ReferenceId value in both Billed Reconciliation and Unbilled Reconciliation files will switch from a plain text string to a structured JSON format:

json

{

  "id": "ab12CdefGiJ3",

  "v": "2.0"

}

The format now includes both a unique identifier and version information. No other fields in the reconciliation files are affected, and download locations and access methods remain unchanged.

Why is this happening?

The change standardizes ReferenceId to include both an identifier and version information. This improves consistency and reliability when correlating reconciliation records across billing systems.

What do you need to do?

If your organization parses or processes ReferenceId as a plain text string, you need to update your logic to handle the JSON structure before April 15, 2026.

Specifically:

- Review all reconciliation processes and reporting solutions that use ReferenceId
- Update parsing logic to deserialize JSON instead of treating the value as a flat string
- Test thoroughly before the deadline to avoid errors in billing reconciliation

Timeline

DateAction
March 11, 2026Change announced
April 15, 2026New JSON format takes effect
That gives you roughly five weeks to prepare. It is not a major change, but these quiet format updates can cause havoc in automated systems if overlooked.

Read the full announcement at Microsoft Partner Center.