thread Re: Credit Card Payments for Churches? in Payments Troubleshooting

Credit Card Payments for Churches?

chinweeang — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 09:11:33 GMT

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to set up a new Square account for our church, so that we can use it to accept credit card payments when we do organise events such as conferences etc.

However, as I fill in the form for our church's ABN and business type etc, I received the message that Square does not support our business type or something like that. However, I do know of religious organisations or other churches that actually use Square.

So, what did I do wrong or how should I set up my account? Thank you for your help!

Re: Credit Card Payments for Churches?

VanKalkerFarms — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 11:30:40 GMT

I see you said ABN, are you from Australia? If so @Seamus should be able to help you onboard with Square. There are specific issues with ABN and setting up an Australian Square account.

Re: Credit Card Payments for Churches?

chinweeang — Sat, 22 Sep 2018 07:25:53 GMT

Hi, you're right in saying that I'm from Australia. Thank you for letting me know about @Seamus. I'll contact him about it and hopefully get it sorted.

Re: Credit Card Payments for Churches?

VanKalkerFarms — Sat, 22 Sep 2018 20:51:22 GMT

hopefully, he'll see they got tagged. I've seen them help others with ABN issues.

Re: Credit Card Payments for Churches?

Seamus — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 01:24:44 GMT

Hey @chinweeang,

Thanks for reaching out!

Check out this thread for more info on getting on-boarded with ABNs commonly associated with churches/NFPs. If your ABN is eligible for the pilot program please feel free to get in touch as per the linked instructions and a support team member will reach out with more info.

Let me know if you have any questions 🙂

Re: Credit Card Payments for Churches?

staidansstrathm — Sat, 01 May 2021 06:45:02 GMT

that is the same response I received today.

I have been informed by another parish that they have an account

Re: Credit Card Payments for Churches?

Baffled — Sat, 01 May 2021 23:57:30 GMT

I'm trying to do the same thing with same response but know of other churches with a square so there must be a way around it

Re: Credit Card Payments for Churches?

Seamus — Mon, 03 May 2021 02:36:46 GMT

Hey @staidansstrathm and @Baffled,

Thanks for getting in touch and sorry to hear your organisation is having trouble signing up with Square! At the moment the ABNs we are able to onboard for payments are:

Individual/Sole Trader
Partnerships
Companies
Trusts

We're working on a system to onboard more ABN types in the future - many NFP, club and association based ABNs currently require additional regulatory checks and paperwork that our onboarding process is unfortunately not able to accommodate at the moment. We plan to launch support for the following ABNs as soon as we can:

Other Incorporated Entity
Other Unincorporated Entity

I'd say your church's ABNs may fall under one of the above?

You probably know of some other Churches using Square who took part in a trial program we were formerly running to onboard different ABN types. That trial has since ended, however we're not far from launching full support for the above ABNs often used by churches. I'd be happy to come back and tag you both in this thread once I have more news to share, and sorry I can't be of more immediate help for now!

Re: Credit Card Payments for Churches?

Baffled — Mon, 03 May 2021 03:05:43 GMT

Thanks for replying, I am disappointed but that's life at least I am able to return the terminal for a refund.

Re: Credit Card Payments for Churches?

Seamus — Mon, 03 May 2021 05:03:49 GMT

@ITPAustralia,

You can return the Terminal to the place of purchase under our 30 day money back guarantee - if you purchased through the Square website you can find instructions here.

OtherwiseI don't expect it will be too much longer until we'll be able to onboard you for payments. I don't have a set in stone ETA but I'm hoping it's a matter of weeks rather than months.

Re: Credit Card Payments for Churches?

Baffled — Tue, 04 May 2021 10:57:57 GMT

Hoping it's weeks - or next week really, as I need too send terminal back for credit if its not going to happen soon. Thanks for info

Re: Credit Card Payments for Churches?

Seamus — Tue, 11 May 2021 01:43:49 GMT

@chinweeang @Baffled @staidansstrathm Your church should now be able to signed up for card payments with Square, provided you have an ABN usually used by churches.

Re: Credit Card Payments for Churches?

Baffled — Tue, 11 May 2021 07:57:51 GMT

Thank you so much for your help all is well and our church op shop has now been able to connect to this service. We had two words Hope and Believe and they came through for us. Well done team square, thank you!

Re: Credit Card Payments for Churches?

Seamus — Tue, 11 May 2021 23:27:39 GMT

Happy to help @Baffled 🙂