Stripe, SSN and ITIN: what non-US founders need

What Stripe asks for, depending on who the representative is

Two things decide which tax ID Stripe wants: the country your Stripe account is in, and the business type you choose when you sign up. Where your customers are doesn’t change it.

The rest of this page goes through each row, then covers a case that’s easy to miss: a founder with a US LLC who still has to file a US return personally.

Non-US representative: local tax ID, no SSN or ITIN

If you live in one of the countries on Stripe’s global availability page, you sign up for a Stripe account in that country, with a local bank account, and Stripe verifies you with local details. A US tax number doesn’t come into it. A few countries, including India and Indonesia, are marked as preview on that page, which means you contact Stripe’s sales team rather than signing up directly.

The same applies if you’re a non-US owner or representative of a US company. Stripe’s article on US company accounts says that without an SSN or ITIN, it expects “your local non-US tax ID and respective documentation to confirm you aren’t a US taxpayer.”

US tax forms on a non-US account

Stripe sends 1099 forms to users who are based in the US or are US taxpayers. A non-US account normally gets none. If a non-US account adds a US bank account or a US address, Stripe may ask for a Form W-8 or W-9 to establish where you’re a tax resident, and it asks you to complete it within 14 days of being notified.

As a non-US individual you’d complete Form W-8BEN. It asks for the tax number your home country issued, known as your foreign TIN. The IRS instructions require a US TIN on that form only in narrow cases, such as income from a partnership that runs a US business, and even a treaty claim can use your foreign TIN instead.

US individual representative without an SSN: ITIN

Stripe says the business representative of an Individual or Company – Sole Prop account “must be a US individual.” It expects the SSN you’d list on your US tax return, and if you don’t have one, your ITIN. Without either, Stripe says it can’t support that account type.

This is the setup the ITIN was designed for: someone who lives in the US, files US taxes as a resident and isn’t eligible for an SSN. If that’s you, an ITIN lets you open a US Stripe account as yourself. What an ITIN is explains who qualifies, and ITIN vs SSN covers why you can’t hold both.

Stripe may take only the last four digits at sign-up. If it does, the representative has to give the full nine-digit SSN or ITIN once the account reaches $500,000 in lifetime payment volume.

US LLC with an EIN: what’s needed

A US LLC or corporation signs up as a Company and gives its EIN. Stripe then collects details on the people behind it. US individuals give an SSN, or an ITIN if they don’t have one. Non-US individuals give their local tax ID, as above. So a founder who lives abroad and owns a US LLC normally needs the company’s EIN and their own home-country tax number, not an ITIN.

Getting the EIN without an ITIN

You don’t need an ITIN to get an EIN. The IRS’s online EIN application requires the responsible party to have an SSN, ITIN or EIN, so founders without one use Form SS-4 instead. The SS-4 instructions say to enter “Foreign” or N/A on line 7b if the responsible party doesn’t have and isn’t eligible for an SSN or ITIN. Applicants outside the US can get an EIN by phone on 267-941-1099 (not toll-free, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern, Monday to Friday), or send the form by fax or mail. ITIN vs EIN compares the two numbers.

Stripe also runs Stripe Atlas, which forms a Delaware LLC or C corporation and gets the company’s EIN from the IRS.

When the founder still needs an ITIN

The EIN covers the company, not your personal US tax filings. By default, a single-member LLC is disregarded for income tax, so its income is treated as yours. If you’re treated as engaged in a trade or business in the US, the IRS expects you to file Form 1040-NR, and that return needs an SSN or ITIN. Whether your activity crosses that line depends on the facts, so it’s worth asking a tax professional.

Separately, a foreign-owned single-member LLC files a pro forma Form 1120 with Form 5472 attached every year. The penalty for not filing is $25,000. Form 5472 asks for the owner’s foreign tax number, so it doesn’t need an ITIN.

Fixing SSN/ITIN verification errors

Stripe checks the representative’s legal name against the SSN or ITIN entered. Most errors come from a mismatch:

• Name doesn’t match. The full name on Stripe has to match what the IRS holds for that number. For an ITIN, compare it with the letter the IRS sent when it issued the number, the CP565 notice.
• Still failing. If you don’t have the letter, or you’re sure the details are right and it still fails, Stripe suggests calling the IRS ITIN line on 800-908-9982.
• Wrong business type. Stripe says Individual and sole proprietor accounts that were set up with a non-US representative have to give updated representative details, including a US TIN. If you don’t have an SSN and your business is registered with a government body, Stripe says the right type is likely Company. You change it in the Dashboard under Settings > Tax details.

When an ITIN is the right answer

• You live in the US for tax purposes, can’t get an SSN, and want a US Individual or sole proprietor account.
• You’re a US individual without an SSN who owns or represents a US company on Stripe.
• You have to file a US federal return yourself, such as Form 1040-NR for income from your US LLC. Stripe doesn’t ask for this. The IRS does.

If none of these fits, you probably don’t need one for Stripe. PayPal works along similar lines; see ITIN for PayPal.

How to get an ITIN

You apply with Form W-7, usually attached to a federal tax return, along with a passport or other documents that prove identity and foreign status. The IRS says to allow 7 weeks, or 9 to 11 weeks if you apply from outside the US or between January 15 and April 30. The IRS doesn’t charge for it. How to apply for an ITIN walks through each step and the documents to send. If you’d rather have the paperwork prepared for you, TheITINapp’s pricing page explains what the service includes.