thread Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia in Payments Troubleshooting

FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

Seamus — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 08:53:43 GMT

EDIT: May 2021 Update

Payments support is now available for associations, clubs and NFPs who have an ABN. Read more here, thanks for your patience 🙂

EDIT: 2021 Update

Work has commenced on building payments support for the following ABNs commonly used by clubs, associations and NFP organisations. While we don't have a set ETA for availability, we hope to launch support for these ABNs at some point in the first half of 2021:

Other Incorporated Entities
Other Unincorporated Entities

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I’ve tried signing up with Square and received a message about my business type being unsupported for payments. Why am I receiving this message?

In Australia, different ABN entity types are subject to different regulatory requirements that determine eligibility to register for financial services such as electronic card payment processing. Due to the additional requirements for some entities, Square is not currently able to support all ABN entity types for payment processing.

What ABNs does Square support/not support?

ABNs we can on-board via the online signup process:

Individual / Sole Trader
Partnerships
Private and Public Companies
Trusts (approx. 4 weeks processing)

ABNs we don't currently support

Other Incorporated Entities
Other Unincorporated Entities
Government Entities
Co-operatives
Any other entity type not listed as supported

I know someone who is using Square for their organisation - why can’t you support mine now?

Square previously trialed a program that involved experimenting with different ways to support the manual onboarding and verification of business information so that certain organisations could be supported for payment processing.

This trial proved challenging for both Square and the organisations involved due to the additional obligations Square needs to meet to comply with Australian regulatory requirements, and it is not scalable at this time. While we cannot support payment processing for you, remember Square can still work as a free point-of-sale application to record sales, manage inventory, run sales reports and analytics, send digital receipts and more.

When will it be possible for my organisation to use Square?

While we don’t currently support your business type for payment processing, we can take your details and reach out to you if this changes in the future.

I’ve already purchased hardware, how can I get my money back?

If you have purchased hardware via the Square website, please visit our Support Centre to learn more about submitting a request for a refund. Alternatively, if you purchased Square hardware you can return it to the place of purchase with your receipt for a refund.

Can I just sign up as an individual or use another ABN rather than use my club/organisation’s ABN?

As per our Terms of Service, we require you to provide accurate and complete information about the business or organisation you’re taking payments for at the time of sign up. Setting up a Square account as an individual or different ABN would be in violation of our Terms of Service.

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

Eureka — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 22:37:26 GMT

Hi - this is disappointing as there is a huge market and demand for systems such as Square with linked card readers/payment platforms to be used by the numerous “unsupported” groups. Also just checking - do sporting clubs, which may be incorporated associations, still fall into this unsupported group? Is this likely to change?
The Square pos and connected card reader is ideal for these environments due to ease of set up and use plus limited hardware and equipment required.

I am interested to see if this will ever progress?

Regards

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

Seamus — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 00:57:22 GMT

Hey @Eureka,

Thanks for reaching out.

It's understandably disappointing to not be able to get an account verified to take card payments and I wish there was more I could do here to help!

Whether or not a sports club would be able to sign up for Square to take payments is determined solely by the ABN entity type - so for a club that used an "Other Incorporated Entity" ABN, this is unfortunately not possible at the moment.

It is always subject to change in the future, though I don't currently have a time frame as to if and when this may happen. Long term I certainly hope we are able to support clubs and associations in Australia, and will continue to track and pass on feedback coming from these organisations.

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

LizT1 — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 05:38:06 GMT

As soon as you aware if you are able to support clubs and associations please let me know too!

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

Seamus — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 06:57:10 GMT

I'll be sure to update this thread once we're able to support more ABN types @LizT1!

School P &C trying to register a square device

coobypc — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 06:01:59 GMT

Hi everyone,

We are a small school and are hoping to use the square reader for fundraising events, we have changed our account to a business account and yet it still says we are not supported?

Why is this happening?
we really need a contactless payment system for fundraising events

Re: School P &C trying to register a square device

Seamus — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 00:27:26 GMT

Hey @coobypc,

Thanks for getting in touch and very sorry to hear you're having trouble getting activated to use Square. I've moved your message to this thread that highlights which ABN entity types we can and cannot support at the moment.

Unfortunately it looks like your ABN is currently unsupported. We are exploring ways to accommodate more ABN entity types and we know there are a lot of associations, clubs and organisations who really want to use Square at the moment! I will update this thread and tag you if I hear of any changes.

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

VictorianDWK — Sun, 09 Aug 2020 12:18:37 GMT

Hi, I am from an incorporated association which cannot use square due to being a not for profit group. Can you please add me to the list for notifications for when you will be able to support our associations again. This was very disappointing as Square was recommended as a great payment tool.

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

WestcoastPhysie — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 02:30:43 GMT

We are, like many others, a dance club (unincorporated) who are disappointed we can't use Square for our limited yearly fundraising efforts, or as a way to take our club fees from our members. Any further information on when we can be supported would be welcome. Thanks 🙂

Re: School P &C trying to register a square device

LizT1 — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 04:08:09 GMT

Hi contact community banking WBC has monthly seasonal product. Worth looking into. May not be as cheap as square but if you need something a good alternative until supported and no lock in contract.

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

focp2039 — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 22:53:17 GMT

We are an Association and are also disappointed. Please let me know when this changes.

I want to now use it for personal reasons. Can I delete setting up as a business and set up my Square for personal use?

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

Seamus — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 23:26:46 GMT

Hey @focp2039,

If you'd like to deactivate your Square account you'll need to call our team on 1800 760 137. Lines are open Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm Melbourne time!

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

focp2039 — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 21:52:42 GMT

If I deactivate my Business Account, can I then set up as a personal account? Unfortunately I used my personal email to try and set up the Business Account when the business email was not successful. I understand that once you use an email address you can't use it again.

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

Seamus — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 23:17:57 GMT

@focp2039 if you call our team they can delink the email from the old account so you can use the same one again 👍

Note you can't set up a personal account to take payments for your association though!

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

DevoDog — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 03:23:55 GMT

If I run into the same problem with the other incorporated entity bit. How do i still use the Square as a point of sale device?

Guy

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

Seamus — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 04:40:58 GMT

Hey @DevoDog,

If you get the "Unsupported Business Type" message you can skip past it in the web browser to access your Square account and then simply sign in on the Point of Sale app.

It won't feature the ability to process card payments via Square, but you can still use the POS app to record payments, track your inventory etc.

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

DevoDog — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 05:08:40 GMT

Ah got thank you. Will have to wait until we can use it for currently unsupported organisations.

Thanks.

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

Seamus — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 05:17:11 GMT

I'll make sure to tag everyone who has commented in this thread @DevoDog 👍

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

tlccdarwin — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 04:44:04 GMT

Hi We too are an association, has this or is this likely to be rectified or fixed sooner rather than later?

Re: FAQ: Supported and Unsupported Business Types in Australia

Seamus — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 03:16:52 GMT

Hey @tlccdarwin,

Thanks for reaching out.

I don't have a timeline to share unfortunately, but we are actively working on it - hopefully we'll have more to share here in the coming months.