Why SSN and personal information is required for Stripe | Playground Help Center (2024)

FAQs

Why SSN and personal information is required for Stripe | Playground Help Center? ›

This information is required as part of Stripe's mandatory identity verification requirement: Stripe must collect, verify, and maintain information on the individuals associated with every US Stripe account, as required by our regulators and financial partners.

This is intended to promote transparency and prevent individuals from using complex company structures to hide terrorist financing, money laundering, tax evasion, and other financial crimes.

If you have a US account and your business type is: Individual, Sole proprietor or Single membership LLC, we are required to collect your full personal tax ID - SSN or ITIN. If you do not have one of those, we may prompt you to enter your nationality. The nationality field is your country of citizenship.

Yes! Every user — whether an individual or a business — will always need to upload their government-issues photo ID in colour. It is part of Stripe's obligations to their banking partners to verify a company rep on the account.

These requirements come from our regulators and are intended to prevent abuse of the financial system, provide your potential customers with clear and useful information, and prevent material loss to your business or to Stripe. You can read more on that here.

Stripe ensures the security of verification data through encrypted connections, access controls, and by limiting access to only those who require it. Stripe will only use your verification data in accordance with the consent you granted before starting the verification process and our Privacy Policy.

Our service providers also use encryption to protect your data and are required to protect the security and confidentiality of personal data they process for Stripe.

Identity verification

If Stripe can't automatically verify your business and/or identity when you sign up for a Stripe account, you will need to upload a photo of your government ID. You will be notified if this is required.

Stripe may require users to upload a photo of a government-issued photo ID and a selfie for identity verification to the Dashboard. The photos must be… Stripe may require additional documentation for verification if it cannot be done automatically.

Stripe encrypts sensitive data both in transit and at rest. Stripe's infrastructure for storing, decrypting, and transmitting primary account numbers (PANs), such as credit card numbers, runs in a separate hosting infrastructure, and doesn't share any credentials with the rest of our services.

Can Stripe access my bank account? ›

With your consent, Stripe may access and store copies of the following financial information types from your account: Account details, including account number and routing number, account type, and account nickname. Account balances, including current and pending balances.

Founded in 2011, Stripe is a popular payment processing and merchant services company. It is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and maintains an A+ rating. Stripe offers a global payment system that can accept more than 135 currencies with transparent pricing and discounts for high-volume merchants.

High risk payments

Stripe reports payments as high risk when we believe they're likely to be fraudulent.

Stripe payment provider utilizes industry-standard encryption protocols to safeguard sensitive information during transmission. This includes Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption, which encrypts data transferred between the customer's browser and Stripe's servers, ensuring that payment details remain protected.

In other words, yes, Stripe does report to the IRS. If you use the platform to collect payment for your goods or services, the agency will typically know how much you earned during each tax year. If you report a lower amount on your tax return, it will mail you a letter and investigate the discrepancy.