Are You Able to Open Merchant Account with ITIN?

Hey, everyone. So today we’re going to be talking about, are you able to open up a merchant account with an ITIN?

Hey, everyone, this is Sina Bonabi from EIN Express. I’m an IRS certified acceptance agent, and I’m both trained and authorized by the IRS to help non-U.S. citizens all over the world, just like you, to successfully get their EINs and ITINs for them.

We’ve assisted over 2,249 non-U.S. citizens to get their EINs and ITINs. And I would love to help you get yours as well too.

Apply for your ITIN here: https://einexpress.com/itin

Can I Open a Merchant Account With an ITIN?

So today we’re going to be talking about, are you able to open up a merchant account with an ITIN? And the answer to that question is simply yes.

So a lot of these popular merchant companies like Stripe, PayPal, et cetera… Normally they request, when you want to open up a merchant account with them, especially on the business side, they request you to provide them an SSN.

How Can I Open a Merchant Account With an ITIN?

Now, I do know for certain, that if you cannot provide them an SSN, let’s say for example you’re a nonresident alien or a non-U.S. citizen, and you cannot provide an SSN.

The alternative to that tax ID requirements would be an ITIN, an individual tax identification number. And I do know that they accept it.

You just have to make sure that you contact their customer service and let them know that you don’t have an SSN but you’d like to provide an ITIN instead. And they’ll instruction on how to do that. To take it a step further in addition to the ITIN, they don’t just need that, they need other stuff as well too.

You have to make sure that you contact the merchant company’s customer service to make sure you have all the information you need to open up that merchant account with them.

In addition to just having the ITIN, it also addresses issues, or business documentation, et cetera. So make sure you contact customer service.

A lot of my clients, especially on the business side, they’re always trying to open up merchant accounts with Stripe, PayPal, et cetera. And I always tell them, cause I’ve worked with Stripe and PayPal before, you have to contact their customer service to make sure that you get all the information you need, and the requirements that they have to open up these merchant accounts.

Apply for your ITIN here: https://einexpress.com/itin

Why ITIN is Important in Opening a Merchant Account?

Now I do get clients who come to us and they tell me, “Hey Sina, I had a business, I formed an LLC in the States. And I got my EIN and I went ahead and I signed up, and I opened up a merchant account with PayPal” And they didn’t have an ITIN.

So I want to tell you guys what I often see with these type of cases is that, PayPal or Stripe, more so PayPal, they’ll allow sometimes for nonresident aliens, non-U.S. citizens who had their EIN’s and LLC’s and everything, but without ITIN’s, they’ll allow them to open up the merchant account.

But what ends up happening is, once they hit a certain threshold on transactions, etcetera, PayPal goes ahead and suspends the account, because they don’t have for their tax reporting purposes an ITIN for that merchant account for that individual.

So then they tell the client, you need to provide some ITIN, otherwise, we’re going to close the account. It’s similar to when you are… You owe… Like some of these us banks who open up… They’ll allow you to open up personal bank accounts without having the ITIN as well.

After a certain period, they’re going to request the ITIN from you for their tax reporting purposes. And if you can’t provide it to them, they do hold the right to be able to close that account. It’s the same that applies to merchant accounts as well. I’ve seen this with PayPal a lot.

They’ll sometimes allow you to open up the merchant account without the ITIN, but then after a certain period, it’s pretty shortly after they’re going to put a pause or suspend the account. And say, “Okay, for our tax reporting purposes, you need to give us an ITIN.” And oftentimes this is where a lot of foreign entrepreneurs, where non-U.S. citizens run into problems.

So we’ve been able to successfully work with them, and get their ITIN’s from the IRS so that they can comply with the reporting requirements of PayPal, and Stripe, and other merchant companies.

Apply for your ITIN here: https://einexpress.com/itin

What To Do Next

I’m really happy to help foreign entrepreneurs. That’s something I’m very passionate about. So you are more than capable of using an ITIN to help open up a merchant account online.

I just always made sure to let every client that I have that’s, in this case, know, in addition to the ITIN always contact customer service at these merchant companies. And request to find out additional requirements, aside from the ITIN that they need to have to open up those accounts successfully.

So I hope this video was informative, it was helpful. If you have any questions, comments, go ahead and post them below. And if you’re ready to sign up and get your ITIN, go ahead and click the link below to get started now. Thank you. Take care.

Apply for your ITIN here: https://einexpress.com/itin