All businesses with legal entities incorporated in Ireland are required to register with the Central Register of Beneficial Ownership of Companies (RBO). The requirement to file beneficial ownership data with the RBO is in addition to the requirement to file company details with the Companies Registration Office (CRO) in Ireland.

You are NOT required to file data with the RBO if you are:

• An unincorporated business e.g. Sole Trader / Unincorporated Partnership
• An unincorporated business that has a registered business name with the CRO
• A company listed on a regulated market e.g. Public Limited Company (Plc)
• A branch of an entity that is not incorporated in Ireland
• Charities / Non-profit organization (NPOs) with no incorporated legal entity

If you qualify as one of the above and Stripe has applied RBO requirements to your account, please update your Type of business selection on the Tax details Settings page of the Dashboard.

Required information

Provided your business is in scope based on your Type of business selection, Stripe will check the business name, business number, and beneficial ownership information you have submitted on your account against the information listed on the RBO. You can review and update your business information in the Stripe Dashboard. We will check your:

• Company Registration Number (CRN), as it appears on the RBO
• Company Name, as it appears on the RBO
• Company status, as it appears on the RBO
• The number of Beneficial Owners listed on the RBO
• The Name, Date Of Birth (DOB) , and % of Ownership if applicable for each beneficial owner on the RBO

Discrepancy: if there is a discrepancy between the information provided to Stripe and the RBO, Stripe is required to report this discrepancy to the RBO. This does not affect your ability to accept payments or make payouts to your bank account. You can review the information listed on the RBO and make updates at any time.

No results: if Stripe cannot retrieve your business information in the RBO database (i.e. our search returns a ‘Not found’ result), if your business name submitted on Stripe does not completely match the name listed on the RBO, or if your Business status is inactive on the RBO, Stripe will ask you to register or add information with the RBO. In this case, your ability to accept payments or make payouts to your bank account will be restricted.

Troubleshooting

Here are the most common reasons why we are unable to find registered businesses in the RBO:

• The company number on Stripe cannot be found on the RBO database. Update your company number on Stripe to match the one used to register with the RBO.
• The company name on Stripe does not match the company name on the RBO database for the company number that was provided. Update your company name and/or company number on Stripe.
• Your company name and company number are correct on Stripe, but Stripe is requesting you for RBO proof of beneficial ownership. Confirm that your business type on Stripe is correctly set, and that your company status is active on the RBO. If it is not set to active, contact the RBO.
• You are a newly established business and your company’s incorporation and/or beneficial ownership details have yet to be filed. Complete your beneficial ownership registration and submit proof to Stripe.

If you cannot provide proof that your company has in fact registered with the RBO, your ability to accept payments and get payouts to your bank account will be paused. We are also required to notify the RBO that your legal entity information provided does not match the information in the RBO.

Accepted Evidence of RBO Registration

An RBO Proof of Beneficial Ownership document must be successfully reviewed before your account can be verified. You can obtain this proof by logging into your RBO account, and providing a screenshot of the data. You can find more detailed instructions here and on the FAQ section on the RBO website.