Hi @Burly,
Yeah this is fairly standard practice for any financial institution in Australia. It's mainly to do with verifying your identity to prevent crime relating to $$ (ie money laundering, terrorism etc). It's not Square so much as it is the law in Australia (like when you buy a sim card these days, telcos ask you every little bit of info as they too are under similar laws to prevent their services aiding crime).
Last I had heard Square does require an ABN to set an account up too (and to be honest I didn't think it let you set an account up without one to even take payments!). I have seen mention that this may be removed at some point (as some organisations - ie charities etc - don't have ABNs like a regular business, but have tried to use Square for donations etc).
If you don't have an ABN, I'd definitely recommend setting one up if you are running a business (sole trader ABNs are generally pretty simple) โ ABNs are free and can be done on the ATO's website (sometimes it gives you the number instantly too). Alternatively if you have an accountant, they can help you (but it might cost $).
Alternatively, if your doing this as a hobby, you likely won't need an ABN (the ATO has more information on the definition of a hobby vs sole trader vs business etc). But in that case, if you don't have an ABN, you likely won't be able to use Square until they remove this requirement.
Hope that (sort of) assists!
