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Square Payroll: Square is saying that my EIN is invalid

The title of this thread has been edited from the original: How do I speak to someone in person for a payroll question?

How do I speak to someone in person about a payroll question?  I have emailed twice with no response.  For some reason, Square is saying that my EIN is invalid and will not pay or file any of my taxes until it is updated correctly.  My number has never changed.  I need to speak to an actual person to get this rectified, as W2's are supposed to be processed right now.  I can not tell you how frustrating this is.  I may need to find a more reliable payroll service.

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Hi @tbetzler I'm very sorry that you haven't heard back form the Payroll team. I'm including the steps to call in below, and some tax payer information troubleshooting steps here too.

 

Sometimes you'll see an 'invalid' error when the EIN and TaxPayer Name doesn't match the IRS records. These troubleshooting steps might help:

  1. If you have a DBA, enter your legal name instead of your business name. For example, John D. Smith DBA “John Smith Enterprises” should be entered as “John D Smith.”
  2. Make sure you are entering your full business name.
  3. Make sure you are entering your full legal name. For xample if you got married recently, try using your maiden name instead.
  4. Don’t include any commas, periods, or apostrophes within the business name in the Tax Form section of your Dashboard - the IRS website doesn’t allow for these characters.
  5. Make sure that you’re entering information that has been issued by a federal agency such as the IRS, and not by a state agency.

If you keep seeing this error please do call the Payroll Team — the steps to call in are in this Support Center article. Phone support is available from 6am to 6pm Monday through Friday.

️ Helen
Seller Community Manager

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Admin

Best Answer

Hi @tbetzler I'm very sorry that you haven't heard back form the Payroll team. I'm including the steps to call in below, and some tax payer information troubleshooting steps here too.

 

Sometimes you'll see an 'invalid' error when the EIN and TaxPayer Name doesn't match the IRS records. These troubleshooting steps might help:

  1. If you have a DBA, enter your legal name instead of your business name. For example, John D. Smith DBA “John Smith Enterprises” should be entered as “John D Smith.”
  2. Make sure you are entering your full business name.
  3. Make sure you are entering your full legal name. For xample if you got married recently, try using your maiden name instead.
  4. Don’t include any commas, periods, or apostrophes within the business name in the Tax Form section of your Dashboard - the IRS website doesn’t allow for these characters.
  5. Make sure that you’re entering information that has been issued by a federal agency such as the IRS, and not by a state agency.

If you keep seeing this error please do call the Payroll Team — the steps to call in are in this Support Center article. Phone support is available from 6am to 6pm Monday through Friday.

️ Helen
Seller Community Manager

Did you find help in the Seller Community? Mark a Best Answer to help others.
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@Helen I am getting this message too. I was wondering if perhaps it is because of the Shutdown somehow ? The two systems are not able to connect the information ? Anyway, I am trying every combination of name and number ( middle name, no middle name, middle initial etc...) to see if I can get it right. Is there a place on our taxes that has the ' official ' name and number used by the IRS to identify us ? since we have 2 names and numbers and a DBA...all this is quite confusing.

Thank you.

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Admin

Oh dear, sorry for the frustration this is causing @IndigoSkin. The IRS downtime should not have affected your ability to update your taxpayer information but I'm sorry you're still seeing these errors. This information would have been included on official documentation from the IRS — but you might have to give them a call to confirm exactly what they have on file for you.

 

If you continue to see an error in the Dashboard go ahead and call our Customer Success team so we can take a closer look. 

️ Helen
Seller Community Manager

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I can't even find a phone number. Click here just take you to a page with no phone numbers.
I keep getting this error when I enter information "We are currently unable to contact the IRS to validate the name and TIN you provided. Please try again at a later time." I have been trying for several days. How do I get it so I can update the EIN?

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Square keeps sending me emails saying that the tax I’d number on file does not match the IRS records but I have checked and Square does have the correct number. 

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Square Community Moderator

Hey @TwinbrookPlants and welcome to the Community!

 

I moved your post to a thread where this issue was brought up by another seller.

Check out the Best Answer above for details. 

 

Just to be sure they're from us too, what email address are these coming from?

 

In the future, don't hesitate to search your question first here or on the Support Center for your quickest answer too!

Ashley C
Community Moderator, Square
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SAME HERE and I am absolutely fed up. I am so sick of not being able to speak to a human being since they dont bother to answer emails. I have started just sending a copy of my IRS letter as an attachment every time they send me that idiotic email.  Tired of this program.  3 business I have using Square and cant get a legitimate reason that this error message keeps coming up

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Hello is there a way I can verify my account on square payroll without SSN? I only have EIN. Please help.

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Square Community Moderator

Hello @jelinenina 👋

 

At this time both the SSN and the EIN are required in order to activate your Square account with Payroll.

JJ
Community Moderator, Square
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Hello--

 

What if the company account is an LLC with no SSN. Could it be possible to set-up the account?

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Square Community Moderator

Square accounts need to have an Owner (Individual) besides the company information so an SSN will always be required to be able to activate your account.

JJ
Community Moderator, Square
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Beta Member

Hello - 

 

I have received the "Invalid EIN number" email this evening from the account payroll@help-messaging.squareup.com 

 

We have been using Square Payroll for over two years and as recently as this morning to do our weekly payroll.  

 

We did not change a thing.  Our name, our dba, our reporting.  Nothing.  

 

Is there an issue on your end?  Are my people getting paid on Friday via Direct Deposit? 

 

Please advise, 

 

Thanks. 

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I received the same emails, as well. I have been using the service for years now with zero changes. I was emailed from 

payroll@help-messaging.squareup.com

 

Claiming that I have an invalid EIN, and also emailed from no-reply@messaging.squareup.com claiming that my account verification is incomplete. I tried to update all into and it's still kicking it back to me. 

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I ended up here as well trying to make sense of the same email. Been using Square and Square payroll successfully for years and suddenly my EIN isn't valid? I haven't changed a thing. Last I tried, contacting IRS Support is literally impossible, so not even going to waste time trying that path.

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