FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

[Seamus]

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.

[BasketballSteve]

Thanks, but not really, that's about 12 months ago.  So what I understand that it is your system that is not big enough to be able to handle the extra ABN's?  I can understand if that is the case and the company doesn't  believe there is enough of the ABN's that can't be used that would use it to make it justifiable, which would be no problem and people could move on.  Anyway just asking... 🙂 

[Seamus]

Hey @BasketballSteve. Not sure if you're reading the wrong post, but it's from 2 months ago and provides as much info as I'm able to share! If you click on the link, wait for the page to load further down the screen to the applicable post (currently on page 3 if you're sorting by most recent first). I'll copy it below in any case:

The additional regulatory requirements for "Other Incorporated Entity" and "Other Unincorporated Entity" ABNs alluded to in the original post involves checks and ID verifications Square is required to perform under the Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act (2006). You can read more about these requirements here. We previously trailed doing this in a manual fashion, but this was not scalable on a wider level to meet the demand we were seeing.

For the ABNs we do officially support, it's a pretty simple process of linking to the Australian Business Register's API (Application Programming Interface) to obtain the required info. Unfortunately for other ABNs, the ownership/financial control structure isn't as straightforward or listed on the ABR and instead requires sourcing this information from various other places.

So without getting too technical, we're working on a system that aims at automating the process in a fashion similar to how it works for other ABNs. The caveat is that our existing API integration with the ABR won't cover this, so we need to build entirely new systems using different APIs from other government departments - all of which takes time and resources, engineering, requires regulatory approval etc.

That's about as far as I can go into the process, hopefully it gives a little more context though!

[BasketballSteve]

Sorry Seamus I was looking at when you first responded that you (square) were working on it Seamus

‎04-14-2020 05:42 PM ... it's all good, just a bit frustrating when NFP's know they can't use one of the best systems's going around, according to your system parameters...anyway worst case we only have to wait another 103 days for you to have it up and functional! 🙂 🙂  

[Seamus]

Understandably so @BasketballSteve!

Hope you have a good weekend and I have more news to share here soon 🙂

[avonvalleyshoto]

Hello, we have also just purchased a square for our sporting club out here in the Western Australian Wheatbelt.  We are extremely disappointed to have travelled to Perth to purchase the device and then find that we can not use it for our membership fees & fundraising events as planned.  It could be construed as misleading to not have this information on the box.  We are super disappointed and have spent money, time & fuel on something we can not use.  When will it be available for sporting groups and non-profit organisations?  Please provide an expected date rather than the standard blurb. 

[HFS-Melbourne]

Disappointed - such a trash word - Square Be honest - it costs you too much and we have low volumes so very low return on investment  so you are not going to be supporting this

I'm not sure why this is such a problem as our paypal business account accepts credit payments without problems  - I'm still looking at if I can create a limited rights second account so people can use the paypal POS without having full access to our groups paypal  - but that is what I'm looking at

[Seamus]

@avonvalleyshoto @HFS-Melbourne I've moved both of your posts to this thread, which has more information on the situation and is the place we'll be providing updates once we have a solution available.

While I don't have a set time-frame, we're actively working on a solution for clubs, associations and NFPs and we're hoping this will be available in the first half of 2021.

[jcdm]

I'm a committee member of a non-profit sports club and would also love to be using Square for things like canteen sales and other fees.

We've just gone through a month of pain to not quite get signed up with another vendor. Incredible frustrating when Square, which I and a number of peers use for business, is tantalisingly just out of reach!

Joining this thread to 'add my vote' and be kept in the loop.

[Seamus]

Thanks for your interest @jcdm! I'll ping you once we have more to announce - this project is well underway and I'll share more info as soon as I'm able!

[HeyfieldTC]

Could I please be notified when this becomes available to incorporated ABN types? 

We purchased a square in the hopes of being able to sell our merchandise and food/drinks at our non for profit sporting club, and only found we could not use it once we bought it.

Hopefully it's not long now until we can use it.

[tjovic]

Hi @Seamus, As a golf club we also received the message that "My business type is unsupported for payments at this stage" and would also be interested in knowing if/when this changes. 

I would like to make a suggestion though, maybe the fact that not all ABN holder are eligible to take payments at this stage should be included on your web page as it would have been nice to know this was the case before purchasing the square terminal. I know that we can return it for a refund but that is not the point your web site list Health and Fitness and also Non-profit organisations as business types it supports and after thoroughly researching the best/easiest/cost effective way that our club could go to contactless payment given the current COVID environment we live in yours was the best option. We still believe that but are just disappointed that we did not find out until afterwards that we could not use it. 

[Seamus]

Hey @tjovic,

Yep, I understand this is a frustrating experience and wish I could do more help alleviate that. As usual I'll continue passing on feedback to the wider team. We do list the ABNs we support on our support centre, but I also take the point that is not super visible unless you're looking for it.

Hopefully it won't be too long now, updating this thread will be the first thing I do once we launch support, I know how important it is for everyone who's posted here!

[1326]

It is now February 2021, still, we have no idea as to when we are able to use Square for transactions for a Rotary (NFP) organization/Club. What are the chances of some changes to allow this to happen? 

Is a definite date still within this century?

[Seamus]

Hey @1326,

Per an earlier response in this thread, we don't have a set ETA at the moment - essentially it will be ready when we have a finished and workable solution, and we're working on it at the moment (as opposed to it simply being in the pipeline for the future). Internal project timelines are always subject to shifting and changing for various reasons, but everyone at Square in Australia is keen to get this out as soon as we're able to.

If I had to give you a ballpark estimate I'd say hopefully within a few months / the first half of 2021.

[DVBALL]

Adding myself to the list of dissappointed/disgruntled not for profits to be kept in the loop.

[TrishK]

I'm adding myself to this thread as our incorporated registered Charity really needs Square as it would be perfect for us as we have low turnover as I would imagine thousands of other societies would be in the same boat. Fingers crossed!!

[KT21]

Adding myself too as would love to know when Square will be available for use with our sporting club which is an Incorporated Association. 

[NASC-INC]

Adding us to the every-growing list of community organisations waiting to know when we can finally use Square for EFTPOS processing. Please let us know when we can!

Regards

Narrabeen Amateur Swimming Club Inc.

[Cemetery_Gal]

Hi folks,

The person who originally set up our Square account put in the incorrect business type and I'd like to change it but can't figure out how.

Do I need to deactivate the current account and start all over again?

Thanks in advance.

[Seamus]

Hey @Cemetery_Gal,

I've moved your thread to this one here - it sounds like unfortunately the account has been created with an ABN that Square doesn't currently support for card payment processing.

We're working on building support to be able to accept more ABN types for payment processing in the next few months, and I'l be updating this thread once we have more to announce here.

Sorry I can't be of more help for now!

[jumpjam]

Can I please be informed when Square is available ofr other ABN types.