2023/2024 US verification requirements update: details of changes

In October 2023, we communicated upcoming changes to how Stripe verifies business information for US connected accounts accepting card payments.

What specifically is changing?

Required information collected from connected accounts. We're updating the information we require from sole proprietorships, non-profits and single-member LLCs and simplifying how we obtain legal guardian consent for accounts opened by minors. In addition, an email for the account representative is now required for all legal entity types, and a change for government entities and public companies.
How we verify business information and provide new detailed verification responses. We're updating our criteria for valid business information and introducing new verification error codes when we unable to accept or verify information provided.
Threshold at which we verify tax identification numbers (TINs). For Custom and Express connected accounts, we're lowering the payments volume threshold at which we verify TINs to align with current federal tax reporting thresholds.
How we prefill statement descriptors and statement descriptor prefixes. If a statement descriptor isn't provided, the prefill logic has changed to use either the business profile name, the business URL, or the legal entity name of the connected account.

These changes will affect all users with a requested card_payments capability in the US.

Required information collected from connected accounts

New information collected and new fields added to the API:

Businesses that are company.structure of sole_proprietorship and single_member_llc, must provide their business address (“company address”). In the event that the business address is the same as the representative’s personal address, your connected accounts can provide the same values for both.
Legal entities that are company.structure of government_instrumentality, tax_exempt_government_instrumentality, governmental_unit, public_company, and public_corporation, public_partnership must provide an email for the account representative. This requirement now applies to all legal entity types.
To simplify how we obtain a legal guardian’s consent for accounts opened by minors, the Persons API has been updated with a new relationship type of legal_guardian as well as an additional_tos_acceptances field to record the legal guardian’s agreement to the Stripe Terms of Service. If the account representative’s date of birth indicates the individual is a minor, then an account requirement is triggered to add a legal_guardian before the account can be activated.

As a reminder, you can see the full list of required verification information to collect during onboarding for your specific connected account configurations.

How we verify business information and provide new detailed verification responses

Updates to the information we already collect

We’ll request the following information from your connected accounts:

Field	Updated requirements	Additional considerations
SSN or ITIN collected from US-resident Representatives (Reps)	Last 4 digits required at onboarding for all account types (including Custom and Express connected accounts)	This is the current behavior for Standard connected accounts
SSN or ITIN collected from US-resident Representatives (Reps)	If the last 4 digits fail to verify at onboarding, Reps will need to provide the full 9 digits at onboarding
SSN or ITIN collected from US-resident Representatives (Reps) or Owners	Full 9 digits required once payments volume exceeds $500K	A Representative (Rep) is defined as a person with significant responsibility to control, manage, or direct the organization; and is authorized by the organization to agree to Stripe’s terms. For a representative, the full 9 digits are required at $500K only if no Owners are listed on the account.

New verification error codes

When we’re unable to verify information provided by your connected accounts, we’ll surface detailed verification responses as new error codes in the requirements.errors array. View docs.

Synchronous errors

Field	New error code	Error message
Product Description	`invalid_product_description_length`	Your product description must be at least 10 characters.
Product Description	`invalid_product_description_url_match`	Your product description must be different from your URL.
(Full) Statement Descriptor	`invalid_statement_descriptor_length`	Your statement descriptor must be between 5 and 22 characters.
(Full) Statement Descriptor	`invalid_statement_descriptor_business_mismatch`	Your statement descriptor must be similar to your business name, legal entity name, or URL.
(Full) Statement Descriptor	`invalid_statement_descriptor_denylisted`	Generic or well-known statement descriptors aren't supported.
(Short) Statement Descriptor	`invalid_statement_descriptor_prefix_mismatch`	The statement descriptor prefix must be similar to the full statement descriptor.
(Short) Statement Descriptor	`invalid_statement_descriptor_prefix_denylisted`	Generic or well-known statement descriptor prefixes aren't supported.
LE Business Name	`invalid_company_name_denylisted`	Generic or well-known business names aren't supported.
Business Profile Name (DBA)	`invalid_business_profile_name_denylisted`	Generic or well-known business names aren't supported.
Business Profile Name (DBA)	`invalid_business_profile_name`	Business profile names must consist of recognizable words.
Persons DOB	`invalid_dob_age_under_minimum`	Person must be at least 13 years old.
Persons DOB	`invalid_dob_age_over_maximum`	Date of birth must be within in the last 120 years.
Persons phone	`invalid_phone_number`	The phone number doesn't seem to be valid. Make sure it's formatted correctly. Must be a U.S. phone number.
LE Business Phone	`invalid_phone_number`	The phone number doesn't seem to be valid. Make sure it's formatted correctly. Must be a U.S. phone number.
Company TaxID	`invalid_tax_id_format`	Tax IDs must be a unique set of 9 numbers without dashes or other special characters.
URL	`invalid_url_format`	Format as https://example.com
URL	`invalid_url_denylisted`	Generic business URLs aren't supported.

Asynchronous errors

Field	New error code	Error message
URL	`invalid_url_website_inaccessible`	This URL couldn't be reached. Make sure it's available and entered correctly or provide another.
URL	`invalid_url_website_business_information_mismatch`	The business information on your website must match the details you provided to Stripe.
URL	`invalid_url_website_incomplete`	Your website seems to be missing some required information. Learn about website requirements
URL	`invalid_url_website_other`	We weren’t able to verify your business using the URL you provided. Make sure it's entered correctly or provide another URL.
URL	`invalid_url_web_presence_detected`	Because you use a website, app, social media page, or online profile to sell products or services, you must provide a URL for your business.

Update to the threshold at which we verify tax identification numbers (TINs)

To align with the IRS reporting thresholds for Forms 1099-K, 1099-NEC, and 1099-MISC, we’re updating the threshold at which we verify the TIN to when your payments volume reaches $600 or within 30 days of first charge, whichever comes first.

How we prefill statement descriptors and statement descriptor prefixes

For new connected accounts, if a statement descriptor is not provided, it is prefilled using the following supplied fields (in this order): business_profile[name] (“doing business as”), business_profile[url], the legal entity name (either individual[first_name] + individual[last_name] or company[name]).

In addition, if the statement descriptor prefix is not provided, it’s prefilled from the first 10 characters of the statement descriptor.

For existing accounts, if a statement descriptor or prefix fails verification, your accounts will be required to update this information. Stripe will not modify these fields using our prefill logic.