For sellers in the US region, in addition to daily store operations and logistics, they also need to pay attention to the choice of payment methods.
For sellers who use Shopify for independent site sales, Shopify Payment, developed by Shopify itself, is a good choice.
What is Shopify Payment?
Shopify Payment is a payment solution provided by Shopify and integrated within Shopify.
As an internal payment method within Shopify, it can effectively simplify the entire process of online transactions and is very consumer friendly.
However, in order for merchants to use Shopify Payment, their store must meet the following criteria——
1. The store needs to belong to one of the countries where Shopify Payment is available. The available countries include the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, etc.
2. The products sold in the store are eligible for Shopify Payment. Shops that sell regulated or illegal products cannot open Shopify Payment.
3. The store also needs to ensure that its business complies with Shopify and Shopify Payments' terms of service, including compliance with credit card information security processing.
4. The store also needs to have a valid bank account in the country where the business is located, and the account can receive electronic remittances.
What requirements do sellers in the US region need to meet to use Shopify Payment?
To use Shopify Payment, the above listed criteria are only the major prerequisites proposed by Shopify. The company operating the store also needs to meet conditions such as tax ID and actual operation.
duty paragraph
To obtain a Shopify payment account in the United States, the company operating the store must have an Employer Identification Number (EIN).
Actual operation
Merely registering a US company and having a US tax number is not enough, Shopify Payment also requires the company to have actual operations in the United States.
That is to say, a US company with an EIN tax number and registered agent address is far from meeting the eligibility criteria for Shopify Payment.
In order to confirm whether the company is actually operating in the United States, Shopify will require the company to provide utility bills, lease agreements, property insurance, and other documents for the past three months of operating addresses, and require the company to provide detailed explanations for these documents.
Business registration documents
Shopify needs to confirm that the company has indeed been legally registered in the United States, so it will request registration documents issued by the state government from the company.
Corporate bank accounts in the United States
Shopify Payment also requires companies to have a US corporate bank account to process transactions on Shopify.
03 In addition to EIN, ITIN is also required
The troublesome part of applying for Shopify Payment is that it not only requires the company to be in actual operation, but also has tax identification requirements for the company's responsible person.
According to Shopify, American merchants who set up Shopify Payment in the United States must provide the nine digit Social Security Number (SSN) or Personal Tax Identification Number (ITIN) for verification, and this is a mandatory step that cannot be skipped.
For sellers who need to apply for ITIN, it is important to plan and apply in advance.
ITIN usually takes 3-4 months from filling out forms and submitting materials in the early stage to obtaining approval from the IRS and issuing ITIN, and the waiting time can be quite long.
According to IRS regulations, applying for ITIN generally requires two types of documents: identification documents and relevant tax documents.
Generally speaking, a valid non-U.S. passport is the most commonly used and recognized primary identification document, and the IRS will require the applicant to provide the original passport.
The passport must include complete personal photo, name, date of birth, nationality and other key identity information.
On tax documents, the IRS not only requires applicants to submit an error free W-7 form, but also requires taxpayers to submit a 1040 form and indicate the reasons for applying for ITIN in the form.