# Bank Transfers Onboarding Requirements in Germany

[Bank Transfers](https://docs.stripe.com/payments/bank-transfers) provide a safe way for customers to send money over bank rails. Stripe uses Virtual Bank Account (VBAN) numbers to automate reconciliation and prevent exposing your real account details to customers. This payment method impacts your ability to receive payments, rather than your payouts.
### What’s changing:
To comply with German reporting obligations regarding Virtual Bank Account Numbers (VBANs), Stripe is required to collect additional information about German merchants who wish to process SEPA bank transfer payments with Stripe. German merchants activating the SEPA bank transfer payment method must provide the following information:
**Required Information**
* Tax Identifier:
  * For Businesses: German Company Economic ID (UST IDNr), e.g., DE123456789
  * For Individuals/Sole Proprietors: German Tax ID (Steuer-Identifikationsnummer)
* Company Registration Date
* Beneficiary Information
  * Beneficial Owner Last Name
  * Beneficial Owner First Name
  * Beneficial Owner Address
  * Beneficial Owner Tax ID (TIN) = ONLY the Individual related Steuer-Identifikationsnummer (11 Numeric number – not allowed to start with Zero)
### Specific Requirements for Beneficial Owner:
* **Individuals/Sole Proprietors:** same as the German Tax ID requirements for Individuals/Sole Proprietors.
* **Small Companies:** provide beneficial ownership information that was captured as part of the onboarding process.
* **Larger Companies:** provide beneficial ownership information for the person that has been mentioned in the underlying company's board resolution or trade register as signing authority in the jurisdiction where services are offered and payments received. This approach is aligned with supporting information required for physical account owners, and matches the reporting requirement.
### Why is additional information required for German-based merchants?
Stripe needs to collect additional information about German merchants who wish to process SEPA bank transfer payments with Stripe in order to comply with reporting obligations established by [German tax law](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ao_1977/__154.html).
### What happens if the information is not provided?
As of November 18, 2024, German merchants are asked to provide required information while activating the SEPA bank transfer payment method. Merchants won’t have access to SEPA bank transfers until all necessary information is provided during onboarding.
For existing merchants who had SEPA bank transfers enabled before November 18, 2024:
* In March 2025, Stripe disabled the payment method for merchants who never processed any SEPA bank transfer payments.
* Remaining merchants must provide the required information by July 25, 2025. It's crucial that you follow the guidance to provide additional business information.
  * If the required information isn't provided by this date, your ability to accept incoming SEPA bank transfers will be disabled, and all VBANs will be deactivated. Consequently, any payments sent to these VBANs will be rejected and returned to the sender.
  * If you can't provide this information by the specified date, let us know as soon as possible via email at [german-bank-transfers@stripe.com](mailto:german-bank-transfers@stripe.com).
### How to re-enable the SEPA bank transfer payment?
For Direct and Standard Connect users: To accept SEPA bank transfers, you’ll need to turn it on in your [Dashboard](https://dashboard.stripe.com/settings/payment_methods) and provide the required business information.
* If you have various [payment method configurations](https://docs.stripe.com/payments/payment-method-configurations), you'll need to activate the payment method in the relevant settings.
For Express and Custom Connect users: To allow your connected accounts to accept SEPA bank transfers, [enable the payment method](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/dashboard/managing-individual-accounts#updating-capabilities) in the Dashboard for your connected accounts, or [update your integration](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/account-capabilities#more-about-capabilities) to enable the sepa_bank_transfer_payments capability for them. Additional business information is required from your connected accounts to activate the payment method.
Even after SEPA bank transfers are re-enabled, the old VBANs will remain inactive. Thus, new VBANs will need to be created and communicated to the end customer.
### Can I reactivate my deactivated VBANs?
We don't support the reactivation of VBANs. Once the existing VBANs are deactivated, they cannot be reactivated. Instead, new VBANs will need to be created once the bank transfer capability is restored.
### Is there any impact on other payment methods in SEPA, such as SEPA Direct Debit?
SEPA Bank Transfers and SEPA Direct Debit are different payment methods. The new requirement only applies to SEPA Bank Transfers, and there will be no impact on SEPA Direct Debit payments or SEPA Credit Transfer payments (i.e. Issuing balance top ups).