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FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

EDIT: May 2021 Update

 

Payments support is now available for associations, clubs and NFPs who have an ABN. Read more here, thanks for your patience 🙂

 

EDIT: 2021 Update

 

Work has commenced on building payments support for the following ABNs commonly used by clubs, associations and NFP organisations. While we don't have a set ETA for availability, we hope to launch support for these ABNs at some point in the first half of 2021:

 

  • Other Incorporated Entities
  • Other Unincorporated Entities

 

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I’ve tried signing up with Square and received a message about my business type being unsupported for payments. Why am I receiving this message?

 

In Australia, different ABN entity types are subject to different regulatory requirements that determine eligibility to register for financial services such as electronic card payment processing. Due to the additional requirements for some entities, Square is not currently able to support all ABN entity types for payment processing.



What ABNs does Square support/not support?

 

ABNs we can on-board via the online signup process:

 

  • Individual / Sole Trader
  • Partnerships
  • Private and Public Companies
  • Trusts (approx. 4 weeks processing)

 

ABNs we don't currently support

 

  • Other Incorporated Entities
  • Other Unincorporated Entities
  • Government Entities
  • Co-operatives
  • Any other entity type not listed as supported



I know someone who is using Square for their organisation - why can’t you support mine now?

 

Square previously trialed a program that involved experimenting with different ways to support the manual onboarding and verification of business information so that certain organisations could be supported for payment processing. 

 

This trial proved challenging for both Square and the organisations involved due to the additional obligations Square needs to meet to comply with Australian regulatory requirements, and it is not scalable at this time. While we cannot support payment processing for you, remember Square can still work as a free point-of-sale application to record sales, manage inventory, run sales reports and analytics, send digital receipts and more.



When will it be possible for my organisation to use Square?

 

While we don’t currently support your business type for payment processing, we can take your details and reach out to you if this changes in the future.



I’ve already purchased hardware, how can I get my money back?

 

If you have purchased hardware via the Square website, please visit our Support Centre to learn more about submitting a request for a refund. Alternatively, if you purchased Square hardware you can return it to the place of purchase with your receipt for a refund.

 

 

Can I just sign up as an individual or use another ABN rather than use my club/organisation’s ABN?

 

As per our Terms of Service, we require you to provide accurate and complete information about the business or organisation you’re taking payments for at the time of sign up. Setting up a Square account as an individual or different ABN would be in violation of our Terms of Service.

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Admin

Best Answer

Associations, clubs and NFPs using either an “Other Incorporated Entity” or “Other Unincorporated Entity” ABN can now sign up for payments with Square 🥳

 

For more information please check the following guides:

 

Sign up with an Incorporated Association Entity

Sign up with an Unincorporated Association Entity

 

FAQ

 

I already started creating a Square account previously. How do I continue the sign up process?

 

You’ll need to log into your Square Dashboard, then click “Verify information to start taking payments”. This will take you to the next step of the onboarding process, where you’ll need to provide some personal information, before you’ll be asked to supply more information about the club and its key position holders.

 

Screen Shot 2021-05-11 at 9.43.09 am.png

 

 

When I log into my dashboard it comes up with a message saying “You have nothing to manage”.

 

This means you’ve manually deactivated your account in the past. To reactivate it you’ll need to call our support team on 1800 760 137. Lines are open Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm Melbourne time. Alternatively, you can simply sign up again using a different email address,

 

What information will I need to provide?

 

Other Incorporated Entity ABNS

 

Business information:

 

  • Provide basic business information, including the incorporated ABN
  • Annual General Meeting Minutes: Upload a PDF copy of the most recent meeting minutes showing the election of office holders, including President, Treasurer and Secretary.
  • Certificate of Incorporation: Upload if applicable to your association. You can find this on the Australian Securities and Investment Commission website.
  • Provide the Incorporation Registration Number. You can also find this via the ASIC website. Note: You can only search by association name, not the ABN.

Personal Information:

  • Verify the account holder’s identity by providing their name, current residential address, and date of birth using a valid driver licence, passport, or Medicare card.
  • Verify the President and Treasurer, and identify the Secretary (or equivalent positions) . For this step, you need to provide the full name, date of birth and current residential address for the President and Treasurer, and the full name of the Secretary of your association. Make sure you have that individual’s consent to provide this information to us.

 

Other Unincorporated Entity ABNS

 

Business Information:

 

  • Provide basic business information, including the Unincorporated ABN. 
  • Provide Annual General Meeting (AGM) minutes: Upload a PDF copy of the most recent AGM minutes, showing the election of office holders, including President, Treasurer and Secretary.

Personal Information:

  • Verify the account holder’s identity by providing the full name, current address, and date of birth using a valid driver licence, passport, or Medicare card.
  • Verify the President, Treasurer, and Identify the Secretary. For this step, you will be asked to provide the full name, date of birth and residential address for the President and Treasurer, and the full name of the Secretary of your association.

 

Why do I need to provide this information?

 

Square is obligated to request and verify the above information when onboarding clubs, associations and NFPs under the AML/CTF Act.

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Hi Arie,

 

As I understand P&C associations in NSW require 2 signatories on bank accounts whereas Square requires at most 1. How are there P&C associations making this work, is there something I am not understanding correctly?

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Hey @jeanlou,

 

You can read a little more about bank requirements with Square here. I'm not sure what other associations in NSW are doing or what the specific rules are state by state, however you might be able to talk to you bank about whether they are able to provide further help here.

 

I have heard of this before - Square doesn't look at how many signatories are on bank accounts, however I understand many bank accounts with multiple signatories don't allow for 3rd parties to make direct debit withdrawals from the account. This is required with Square as part of our terms of service because we may need to withdraw money from your linked bank account to cover things like refunds.

 

If you were able to get a dual signatory bank account that allowed 3rd parties to make withdrawals via direct debit, I'd say this should work - though I'm not sure what each bank might be able to offer here, have a chat with them and see if they have something you'd be able to use!

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Hi Seamus,

I'm trying to set up a system for a Local Government to use at one of our sites, and possibly more. But I've run into the problem of it does not support our type of business. 

 

Is there a way around this please? 

 

Thanks  

 

Chris

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Square Community Moderator

Hi @Chrisclark,

 

Jumping in for @sheamus here. At this time, Government ABNs types aren't supported. We're working on supporting more ABN types in the future, and will be sure to share an update with you here! 

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We will not be taking payments via our (draft) business website - as our business is not a shop but a consultancy that does not operate like a shop.

Our other Weebly-built websites are science/campaign information projects linked to our volunteer work. Financial payments are not part of their equation.

 

I need to know if I'll be able to migrate those Weebly websites to Square as non-incorporated projects, and if I'll be able to edit and build them as per Weebly?

There is so much time and effort invested in these website - I really need to know now if Square will be allowing full migration of my Weebly projects into the future.  Weebly has been an exemplar and it is beyond disappointing if Square intends on abandoning those thousands of small non-commercial/non-incorporated projects who do not have ABNs, let alone management committees or Boards with office-holders.

Would Square please be very clear if we need to learn how to use another website building platform and start rebuilding our information-only websites please?


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Square Community Moderator

Hi @HelenB,

 

Thanks for writing in! While you would have received an email prompting you to create a Square login, your existing Weebly sites will not be impacted by this. For reference, even though Square Online sites allow you to set up an eCommerce component, this is completely optional and you could still create an information-only, business site via Square Online. 

 

As per the update to this original post, both Incorporated and Unincorporated ABN types can now use Square for payment processing. But even if you weren't using Square or Weebly to process payments at all, you could still create a website to display information for your business, then and now. 

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Why does it say (in the abn box) not required for an idividual but wont allow me to progress?

 

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