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Paypal accepts EIN without a SSN?
 

The Ebay guide says that Paypal is not accepting EINs?

Is this still true? Can you just give them EIN without them asking for SSN?

Re: Paypal accepts EIN without a SSN?
 

From my experience when they ask for a Tax ID. They give you 3 options. SSN, EIN or TIN. Assuming you aren't a immigrant worker TIN is no good. So you have to go with one of the two.

Never heard anyone say that EIN didn't work for them when the paypal registration info matched that given on the EIN.

Any Tax advice talk to a CPA or accountant. Just giving you advice on how PayPal seems to deal with that Tax ID request.

Re: Paypal accepts EIN without a SSN?
 

Where are you getting these from?

You are completely missing what is CURRENTLY happening.

It is possible to supply an EIN to paypal to meet their requests. At the time of supply, the EIN alone works.

But, if paypal ever decided they want an SSN, then there is an issue.

You must understand the subtle difference.

EG, with the request for info to meet the 200/$20,000 a LIST of different Id might be needed. Most users have managed to just give an EIN.

Re: Paypal accepts EIN without a SSN?
 

Any further questions are best handled with tax professional advice

Re: Paypal accepts EIN without a SSN?
 

Right from the newest Ebay Stealth guide, just read it yesterday. It said that they were still asking for SSN even if you use EIN

I'm not just making the stuff up. I know from my experience with reading Amazon Stealth that a lot of the info is outdated so I was asking questions to be sure. Ebay stealth is new to me, my Ebay account got suspended not to long ago so here I go.

Re: Paypal accepts EIN without a SSN?
 

I second this, I was on the phone with them when I had issues (usually never do this but account wasn't limited, it just changed me from verified to unverified so I couldn't withdraw and thought why not) and specifically asked if I could use JUST the EIN since it was a business account and didn't want it tied to me personally. He said essentially "don't worry for tax purposes we use the EIN with the IRS but to verify who you are we still need to get your SSN".

I will add though that I used just the EIN when creating the account and had this issue only a little bit later on where they wanted my SSN.

Re: Paypal accepts EIN without a SSN?
 

These are two separate issues.

PayPal and Amazon will both accept an EIN ONLY for tax reporting purposes. They gather this information to comply with IRS rules. This is one issue.

The OTHER issue is that your account gets flagged for potential fraud, or your sales ramp up to the point where they use underwriting to validate your account. In this case, they will ask for the SSN of the business owner REGARDLESS of whether or not a EIN is on file. In this situation, they want the information for IDENTITY VERIFICATION.

The best way to avoid the second situation is to stay under the radar. I cannot GUARANTEE this number, but $5,000 per month in gross sales is where most payment processors want to start digging into details of your business so they can properly assess their risk. Since there is most likely very little information available about your small business, it boils down to identity verification, credit history and what you are selling. If the risk managers do not like what they see, they close the account. This is true of ALL payment processors. What sets PayPal apart is that they do NOT gather this information upfront. If you apply for a real merchant account, you would have to supply all of this information AND they would ask for an estimate of your monthly gross sales. Most likely they would run your credit either way. If you have great credit, you are most likely approved. If your credit is just ok, but has a few dings, then they may want a rolling reserve, or they may put a monthly cap on your sales. Again, the difference is they will tell you this UP FRONT, while PayPal does all of this after the fact.

My response might be a little long in this case, but I think it is important to understand the how and why of how these entities actually work.