This article is for platforms who have been notified by Stripe that they have inactive accounts with unclaimed balances, such as unclaimed Stripe account balances or Stripe Treasury financial account balances.

US state laws require certain companies who hold funds on behalf of others to report and remit unclaimed property (such as Stripe balances) for inactive accounts. We are handling this process on behalf of businesses that use Stripe.

As part of this process, Stripe will notify inactive connected accounts of any outstanding and unclaimed balances via physical mail. We will attempt to pay out these balances to connected accounts that respond. If a connected account does not respond to Stripe's notification, we will remit the outstanding balances to the appropriate US state. Stripe will perform multiple rounds of outreach, based on state deadlines. Stripe has bucketed states with similar deadlines to streamline outreach and remittance.

As Stripe determines the population of inactive accounts that are in scope for the upcoming escheatment cycle, Stripe will provide you with a report of those impacted inactive accounts. We recommend that you review your inactive account list and request a correction from Stripe if you have additional information about your inactive accounts, such as platform support contact or login activity.

Stripe will aim to release the reports as soon as possible so that you have about 2 weeks to review the inactive accounts list, take proactive steps to reactivate those accounts or pay them out, or submit a correction request before Stripe must reach out to the connected accounts.

What platforms are impacted by this compliance effort?

Only platforms that have onboarded with Stripe, Inc. and their connected accounts (in any US state) that have been identified as inactive are in scope as of this time.

What does this mean for my inactive connected accounts?

US states require businesses to report and remit unclaimed property and funds to them and we're currently doing this on behalf of businesses that use Stripe. Stripe will notify your inactive connected accounts, via physical mail, of outstanding and unclaimed balances, attempt to remit or payout those balances to implicated connected accounts, and, if the inactive connected account does not respond to Stripe’s notification, remit these outstanding inactive balances to the relevant US states. Once these funds are remitted to the applicable state, if the inactive connected account wants to retrieve their funds, they will have to claim the funds from the applicable state agency.

US states require businesses to report and remit unclaimed property based upon the last known address of the account owner. Unclaimed property includes money and/or balances owed to an individual or business for which no activity has been made by the individual or business for a set period of time, usually three years or more.

Why does Stripe have unclaimed property related to my connected accounts?

If funds were moved into a connected account’s balance but they were never paid to a bank account off of Stripe, then Stripe may have unclaimed funds for the connected account. There are many reasons for this, including:

• the connected account closed their external bank account and Stripe was unable to distribute the funds;
• the connected account may not have instructed Stripe, or Stripe did not receive instructions, to payout the funds;
• the connected account’s data needed to payout the funds was unclear or incomplete such that the payout could not be executed;
• something else.

Why is Stripe contacting me about unclaimed balances in my connected account’s Stripe account or Treasury financial account?

Stripe is reaching out to you and your connected accounts now as guided by US state laws. We’re reaching out to you to inform you that we’re going to report and remit unclaimed property to the applicable US states to address inactive accounts for past years, even if we may not have a legal obligation to do so.

As such, the first step in this process is to notify the account holder about these balances, and provide a process by which the platform’s connected accounts can claim the balances from inactive accounts. As these notifications will need to go to your connected accounts, we are informing you about these notifications in case you receive questions from your connected accounts about the notifications or unclaimed funds.

Since each state has its own unique deadline, Stripe will perform multiple rounds of outreach, based on state deadlines. Stripe has bucketed states with similar deadlines to streamline outreach and remittance. See below for next steps.

UNDERSTANDING UNCLAIMED BALANCE AMOUNTS

How does Stripe determine that my connected account is inactive and their balance eligible as unclaimed property?

For Unclaimed Property, a connected account is considered inactive if there is no interaction with Stripe (e.g., no login, balance transactions, or contact with support) for a period exceeding US state-mandated limits, typically 3 or 5 years.

As we approach each escheatment cycle, we review your connected accounts’ balances and the last contact they’ve had with Stripe regarding those balances (via the Stripe Dashboard or Express Dashboard, Stripe support, processing a charge, etc.). If the period from our last contact with your connected account exceeds certain US state-mandated limits, the account is considered inactive and the balances are deemed eligible as unclaimed property.

What if the implicated connected account has multiple accounts, and has been in contact with Stripe about other, more active accounts? How does that impact the inactive balances?

The analysis of whether a connected account is “inactive” is determined account-by-account, not in the aggregate based on the identity of the account holder. As such, certain connected accounts may be inactive and others may still remain active.

CLAIMING CONNECTED ACCOUNTS INACTIVE BALANCES

How can I help my inactive connected accounts claim their balances?

If your connected account received a letter from Stripe indicating that they have an inactive account with unclaimed funds and they have determined that the balance is owed to them, you will need to work with your connected account to claim their inactive balance.

• If your connected account wants to claim an account balance, you can send them a manual payout.
• If your connected account wants to claim a Treasury financial account balance, you can issue an outbound payment.

What happens if the connected accounts don’t respond or claim the inactive balance by the deadline?

If the connected account does not respond by the deadline listed in the letter to them, Stripe will send ( “escheat”) the inactive balance to the appropriate US state with your connected account’s last known address. From there, the connected account will have to go to their state’s unclaimed property website and claim the property from that US state directly. There is no deadline for the connected account to recover unclaimed property from a US state.

Once the unclaimed balances are reported to the appropriate state, can Stripe help my connected accounts claim the unclaimed balance with the state directly?

No, Stripe is unable to assist in returning the inactive account funds to your connected accounts once Stripe sends them to the appropriate US state. Once these funds are remitted to the applicable state, if the inactive connected account wants to retrieve their funds, they will have to claim the funds from the applicable state agency.

You can direct your connected accounts to this Stripe Support article to learn more about how to contact their applicable state agency directly.

IMPACT TO CONNECT PLATFORM'S CONNECTED ACCOUNTS

Will Stripe be contacting my connected accounts and how?

Yes, but only a subset of them. Stripe will only contact connected accounts who have not had any account activity for a long enough period such that their accounts are determined to be inactive and reportable as unclaimed property (generally, three years or more with no activity, depending on the state). The letter will notify the connected account of the existence of an inactive balance, and give directions to the connected account on how to claim such balance. Each state’s unclaimed property laws require this contact (known as “due diligence”), and for that contact to be documented. The letters are subject to audit by the states. These laws also dictate the manner in which the owner must be contacted (electronic communication, first class mailing, etc.).

For all platforms that have onboarded with Stripe, Inc. with US connected accounts that have been identified as inactive with unclaimed balances, Stripe will be contacting the connected accounts directly via US mail, as required by various US state unclaimed property laws.

Stripe will advise you as to when such contact will be initiated such that your support teams may be aware of incoming questions from connected accounts on this front and provide you with a due diligence template letter reference, links to relevant Stripe support articles, and FAQs to enable your support teams.

What will Stripe be sending my connected accounts?

If you have been notified that your connected account is inactive and subject to escheatment, Stripe will send your connected account a letter letting them know they have an account that is inactive, the balance of the account, and instructions on how to reach back out to us. The below due diligence letter template is a sample, not an exact representation, of the letter that will be physically mailed to your connected accounts.

Due Diligence Letter - custom connected accounts - sample - Q1-2025.pdf

Due Diligence Letter - Treasury financial accounts - sample - Q1-2025.pdf

WHAT ARE NEXT STEPS FOR ME, AS THE PLATFORM?

Can I, as the Platform, handle the unclaimed property process?

These requirements are extremely detailed, burdensome and in many cases, very manual and high touch. In recognition of this fact, Stripe is addressing these requirements broadly and proactively, and rather than requiring every Platform to comply, Stripe will notify these inactive connected accounts of outstanding and unclaimed balances, attempt to remit or payout those balances to them, and, if the inactive connected account does not respond to Stripe’s notification, remit these outstanding inactive balances to the relevant US states.

To discuss further, reach out to your Account Team or contact Support.

Will I be able to see the escheatment activity in my dashboard for my connected accounts once funds are remitted to the state?

Stripe will reduce the merchant balance to zero through adjustments and remit the funds to the state. You will be able to see balance change adjustments for your connected accounts once their balances have been escheated or paid out. The adjustment description will provide the balance that was escheated to the relevant state, the filing deadline and the due diligence letter reference ID.

What do I need to do now?

We recommend that you download and review your list of inactive accounts with unclaimed balances. Learn more about how to access your inactive accounts list.

The report will be available for download in .csv format. Some checks you might want to perform include reviewing whether:

• The users listed had any activity with you (they wrote into support, logged into your dashboard, reached out to you in any other capacity),
• Balances shown are accurate,
• Users were flagged for fraud, or
• There is a compliance hold on the user.

If you've reviewed the inactive account list and agree with the information in the report, no further action is needed from your side. Otherwise, you can submit a correction request.

Your connected accounts may reach out to you once they receive the due diligence letter to request payouts for their inactive balances. You may find the FAQs for connected accounts helpful to assist your users.

Who can I contact with further questions?

Reach out to your Account Team or contact Support with any further questions.