Square for political donations

[fcoulter]

I'm thinking about getting a Square to process donations for political campaigns.  Florida law limits cash donations per election per donor to only $50, but treats credit cards and checks identically, with a $1,000 limit per election per donor.  Since fewer and fewer people actually carry check books, being able to accept credit cards at events seems like a no-brainer.

However, I'm the campaign treasurer for more than one campaign.  I'd like to be able to switch the deposit account easily from one campaign account to another.  The account wouldn't generally change on a transaction by transaction basis, but before each event.

How difficult is it to change the account that a donation is made to?  Having them all go into a single account, and then dispersed to the correct account is probably illegal.  Having the money deposited into my personal account is definitely illegal.

Any thoughts?

(Also, any other information and advice you've got on using Square for a political campaign would be appreciated.)

[Chad · Accepted solution]

Hello @fcoulter, welcome to the Seller Community! 

I don't have any experience when it comes to using Square for political campaigns, but I know a lot about switching between multiple accounts. 

If you're going to have multiple bank accounts and separate campaigns I recommend setting up two completely independent Square Accounts. With separate email addresses. I'll list the reasons why. 

1. Even utilizing our locations feature, you will still have to sign out each time switching between locations or accounts. 
2. If you process more than $20,000 dollars and have 200 transactions we will file a 1099-K for the account. 
3. It could help avoid transactions being taken on the incorrect account. 
4. If you take a transaction on the incorrect account you'll have to move funds between bank accounts once its deposited. 

If you have any other questions please let me know! 

[SquareIntegrate]

Do you know about GiveWP donation plugin? you can use that with Square for GiveWP you can easily change the square account from settings whenever you want, thanks to detailed documentation.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Saad