Stripe, our payment processor, sends your payouts. Like any organization that transfers money to people and businesses, Stripe has to follow “Know Your Customer” (KYC) rules — under the PATRIOT Act in the US, and equivalent regulations elsewhere. To run these checks, Stripe verifies both your company and the person who represents it, wherever the company is based.
For every company, the following information is required:
Company legal name
Company address
Company tax ID (for example, a Federal Employer ID Number in the US or a Companies House Registration Number in the UK)
Stripe also asks for information about the person representing the company, and may ask about its directors and owners:
Legal name
Date of birth
Home address
If the company representative’s address is in the US, Hong Kong or Canada, Stripe may also ask for a national identity number — a Social Security Number in the US, a Hong Kong Identity Card (HKID) number in Hong Kong, or a Social Insurance Number in Canada.
If your company is based outside the United States and Canada, you complete this verification with Stripe directly: the Company Information page sends you to Stripe’s own verification flow, where Stripe may ask for further details or documents, such as a photo ID or a proof of address, depending on your country.
If the company representative’s address is in the US, the form also asks for the last 4 digits of their SSN or ITIN, and Stripe may require the full Social Security Number before payouts can be sent. See Why does Storefront need the last 4 of my SSN? and Why do I need to provide my full Social Security Number?
These requirements are primarily so the relevant governments can ensure that money is not being transferred to individuals, or individuals representing a business, who are on a “Prohibited Persons” list (sanctions, terrorism, money laundering).