Correctly flag recurring and merchant-initiated transactions (MIT) versus cardholder-initiated transactions (CIT) to meet card network compliance requirements

Verified steps

1. A CIT occurs when the cardholder is present and actively initiating the payment; a MIT occurs when the merchant charges a stored credential without the cardholder being present (e.g., subscription renewal, unscheduled charge)
2. For MITs, include the appropriate MIT indicator in your authorization message; in Stripe, this is expressed by setting off_session=true on the PaymentIntent and ensuring the card was stored with a proper CIT
3. For the first transaction in a recurring series (the CIT), collect the cardholder's consent, authenticate via SCA or card verification, and store the payment method; Stripe captures the network transaction ID from this CIT
4. On subsequent MITs, reference the original network transaction ID from the CIT in your authorization request; this is handled automatically by Stripe when you use off_session=true with a stored PaymentMethod attached to a Customer
5. Unscheduled MITs (such as topping up an account when a balance is low) must also be flagged correctly; use payment_method_options.card.mit_exemption or the appropriate Stripe parameter for your use case
6. Review card network rules for your specific MIT category (recurring fixed, recurring variable, unscheduled) as each has different requirements for original transaction reference and descriptor