Required Identity Verification Information

Learn what information is needed to onboard sellers.

Part of onboarding requires collecting different identifying information about your users in order to meet Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements.

This information includes:

  • Business Information: Information about the business like business name, tax id, or the business incorporation type.
  • Control Owner Information: Information about the person who is signing up the business. They need to have permission to sign up the business, commonly the owner.
  • Beneficial Owner Information: The information about any person with 25% or more ownership. This is collected as an Associated Identity.

Finix's identity verification policies are part of Finix’s Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering program and are required by our payment processing partners.

The following tables list the KYC information that needs to get provided to Finix to provision and underwrite Merchants.

Business Information Verification

Field Description
business_name
  • Seller's full legal business name
  • If business_name is INDIVIDUAL_SOLE_PROPRIETORSHIP, pass:
    • First name
    • Full legal last name
    • Middle initial
doing_business_as Another name the business is known by. If there is no other name, use the same value as business_name.
business_type Pass one of the following values:
  • INDIVIDUAL_SOLE_PROPRIETORSHIP
  • CORPORATION
  • LIMITED_LIABILITY_COMPANY
  • PARTNERSHIP
  • ASSOCIATION_ESTATE_TRUST
  • TAX_EXEMPT_ORGANIZATION
  • INTERNATIONAL_ORGANIZATION
  • GOVERNMENT_AGENCY
business_tax_id Pass one of the following values (nine digits):
  • Tax Identification Number (TIN)
  • Employer Identification Number (EIN)
If business_type is INDIVIDUAL_SOLE_PROPRIETORSHIP use the principal's Social Security Number (SSN) if a TIN or EIN isn’t available.
url The URL of the seller's public website.
business_phone Customer support phone number where the seller can be reached.
incorporation_date The Date (mm/dd/yyy) the company was founded and registered with the US.
business_address The primary address of the seller.
  • Must be a physical address.
  • Can’t be a PO Box or mail drop location.
ownership_type Values can be either:
  • PUBLIC to indicate a publicly-traded company.
  • PRIVATE for privately-held businesses.

Control Owner Verification

Field Description
first_name The first name of the seller's Control Owner.
last_name The last name of the seller's Control Owner.
title The corporate title of the Control Owner (e.g. Chief Executive Officer, CFO, etc. Max 60 characters.).
principal_percentage_ownership The percentage of the company owned by the Control Owner (must be greater than 0; max 100).
tax_id Pass one of the following values (nine digits):
  • Social Security Number (SSN)
  • Tax Identification Number (TIN)
  • Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)
dob The date of birth of the Control Owner.
phone The phone number the Control Owner can be reached at.
email The email address the Control Owner can be reached at.
personal_address The Control Owner’s personal home address.
  • Must be a physical address.
  • Can’t be a PO Box or mail drop location.

Beneficial Owner Verification

Field Description
first_name The first name of the seller's Beneficial Owner.
last_name The last name of the seller's Beneficial Owner.
title The corporate title of the Beneficial Owner (e.g. Chief Executive Officer, CFO, etc. Max 60 characters.).
principal_percentage_ownership The percentage of the company owned by the Beneficial Owner.
tax_id Pass one of the following values (nine digits):
  • Social Security Number (SSN)
  • Tax Identification Number (TIN)
  • Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)
dob The date of birth of the Beneficial Owner.
phone The phone number the Beneficial Owner can be reached at.
email The email address the Beneficial Owner can be reached at.
personal_address The Beneficial Owner’s personal home address.
  • Must be a physical address.
  • Can’t be a PO Box or mail drop location.

Additional Verification Scenarios

If there is an issue validating the information collected during the onboarding process, we’ll provide a rejection code which may require you to submit government-issued IDs, a W-9 for certification of the user’s taxpayer identification number (TIN), or any other documentation that’s needed to investigate and verify the identity of the user.

For more information on reject codes and how to upload additional verification documents, see Uploading Files to Finix.