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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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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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@jumpjam will do!

Seamus
Square, Australia
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We've been waiting for this to change.
We get asked every time we run a BBQ at Bunnings for our NFP fundraiser.
With COVID still hanging around and people wanting to swipe purchases we miss out on raising funds for the kids.

Please add me to the list. I would like to be informed as soon things change.

What is the hold up anyway? Can't understand what the problem is for NFPs and whay it's taking so long.

Cheers

John

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Hey @jacktar,

 

I'll be sure to tag you in this thread once we have a solution ready!

 

While I'm not able to go into operational aspects, we're in the process of building a system that is able to accomodate the additional onboarding requirements for many NFPs under existing Australian finance regulations.

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Hi @Seamus , can I please clarify something.  Is a Company Limited by Guarantee that is a registered charity, OK to use Square currently?

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Hey @kirribillibiz,

 

I'm not too sure what that entails, but it'll ultimately come down to the ABN entity type. If you want to send me a PM with your ABN I'd be happy to check for you!

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Hi @Seamus  , same here as the many others. NFP that needs to do contactless event payments. Super disappointed and frustrated, etc etc. I have read through the whole thread so I can see it has made it out of the icebox and is actively getting worked on so I won't bother asking about ETA for prod release. 

Anyway, kindly tag me too for whenever you get it working. 

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Will do @danc!

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Hi @Seamus 

Do you think this ABN issue might be sorted out in the near future or is it something that will only come about with a govt/taxation change?

Just wondering .... Do we wait for an undetermined amout of time, or find another platform that can give us this service. I've read that other devices can be used by NFPs (Paypal for instance).

Is this totally out of Square's capability?

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Hey @jacktar,

 

We're actively working on a system that will be able to largely automate the regulatory requirement process needed for these ABNs. It's a matter of when, not if! Hopefully in the next few months. There's a bit more context in past comments in this thread!

 

Understandable if you want to explore other options because of the wait. We don't have a set in stone ETA, but the situation is essentially we'll release it once it's working and ready to go.

Seamus
Square, Australia
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I'm really quite cross, please make this more obvious on your website Square. 

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Hey @LocalScoutGp,

 

Thanks for reaching out and sorry for the poor experience here.

 

I've moved your thread to this existing one, which covers the full extent of the situation regarding which ABNs we support, which ones we don't, and which ones we are in the process of building support for. Hopefully this clears things up a little.

 

If you have already purchased Square hardware please feel free to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. Otherwise, if your ABN is one of those listed in the original post as coming in 2021, you could always hold onto it if you wanted to wait a few months. I'll be tagging everyone who has posted in this thread once I hear more news, so you should receive an email notification from Seller Community when the time comes.

Seamus
Square, Australia
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There's an interesting discussion about this on the Whirlpool site  https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/9x2qvr29?p=-1#bottom

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Thanks for posting @clivey!

 

Hopefully Whirlpool users will be able to share better experiences once we go live, I certainly understand the frustration these organisations have felt over the past few years.

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Thank you for your interest.

We do not currently support your selected business type for payment processing. We will contact you once your business type is supported. In the meantime, Square can work as your point-of-sale solution. You can record sales, manage inventory, run powerful sales reports and analytics, send digital receipts and more.

 
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Hey @Darrenscfc,

 

Thanks for reaching out. I've moved your post to this thread, that details the current ABNs we are able to support for payment processing. We're building out a solution for the most common ABNs used by clubs, associations and NFPs, though this is still currently in development.

 

I can tag you in this thread once the situation changes, sorry I can't be of more immediate help here!

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Hi all I’m wanting to set up an account for a not for profit car club we have an acn not abn and can’t seem to work out how to do it 

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Hey @Cncscc2021,

 

Thanks for getting in touch and sorry to hear you're having trouble signing up as a club.

 

I've moved your messaging to this thread, that highlights what ABNs we are and are not able to onboard for payments at the moment.

 

We're hoping to introduce support for ABNs commonly used by clubs and NFPs in the coming months - I'll tag everyone who has posted in this thread once this happens.

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Hi @Cncscc2021 

If you have an ACN, can I assume your legal entity is a Company Limited by Guarantee?  @Seamus I thought this legal entity was OK?

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@kirribillibiz Unfortunately I'm not qualified enough to answer that question, and would need to point you in the direction of an accountant or financial advisor here!

 

Supposing that is the case though, Square account activation remains based on the ABN entity type regardless of if the ABN has an adjoining ACN, unfortauntely!

Seamus
Square, Australia
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Please add us to be informed when you can support incorporated associations. In the meantime we will take back the hardware, and also try to get out of the 24 month internet plan that we signed up to so we could use the Square system. 

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