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Transfer Ownership of Your Square Account

Who is this article for?
  • Only account owners can transfer ownership of a Square account.
  • About transferring your Square account

    You can transfer your Square account to a new owner or accept a transfer to become the new owner of an existing Square account. Transferring an account changes all the personal information associated with an account, such as the owner’s name, email address, date of birth, and Social Insurance Number (SIN).

    Before you begin

    Before beginning an account transfer, make sure you have:

    • Presence of existing owner: The existing owner of the account must be able to sign in to their Square account on their Square Dashboard, verify their identity, and transfer ownership.

    • Set aside time: Once the existing owner starts the account transfer process, the new owner must complete the final steps within 24 hours. If the new owner waits longer than 24 hours, the ownership transfer request will expire and must be re-requested by the existing owner.

    You cannot undo an account ownership transfer. Once the transfer is complete, the only way to regain ownership of the account is to complete another transfer.

    Review transfer eligibility for account owners

    There are a few reasons why an ownership transfer might not be supported for your Square account.

    Loans requirement

    If you have an active Square loan, you can transfer your account 10 days after your loan balance is fully paid off. If you have a pending application, you can cancel it to transfer your account. Visit the Loans section of your Square Dashboard to manage your loans.

    Hardware financing

    If you have an active hardware financing plan from Square, you can transfer your account when your balance is fully paid off.

    Frozen or disabled account

    If your account is frozen, or your payments have been disabled, you must resolve the issue before initiating an account ownership transfer.

    Negative account balance

    If your account has a negative balance, you must resolve the issue before initiating an account ownership transfer.

    Sale of Business

    Square does not support transferring an account during the sale of a business.

    Original owner or designate is not willing or able to transfer the account

    The original owner must verify their identity by entering their personal information.

    If your Square account is not eligible for transfer, or if you’re the new business owner and the original account holder is no longer associated with the business or organization, we recommend the following:

    1. Download the previous account’s sales history. Learn how to view sales summaries.

    2. Contact the previous account holder and request they deactivate the current Square account.

    3. Activate a new Square account using your information. Learn how to create a Square account with the Square setup guide.

    Start a Square account transfer

    1. Sign in to your Square Dashboard and select Settings > Account & Settings.

    2. Select My Business > About > Transfer business.

    3. Fill out the form to verify your identity, including your legal name, date of birth, and last four digits of your SIN. If your SIN is not on file, you will need to provide additional information to verify your identity, including your phone number and your address on file

    4. Enter the new account owner’s email address. Square sends an identity verification form to the new owner.

    5. Select the box for Transfer of Account Agreement, then select Agree & Continue.

    6. Read the Transfer of Account Agreement and select OK.

    7. Check your email inbox for the automated Transfer Account Confirmation email.

      Select Confirm Transfer.

    Accept a Square account transfer

    If you are the new account owner, you must complete these steps within 24 hours of the transfer initiation.

    1. Open the Transfer Account Verification email sent to the email address attached to the Square account and select Verify Identity.

    2. Fill out the identity verification form, including your legal name, home address, SIN number and phone number. Your personal information will only be used to confirm your identity and will not be used to perform a credit check.

    3. Check the box for Transfer of Account Agreement and select Agree & Continue. If the identity verification is successful, then the ownership transfer is complete.

    4. Check your email for a password reset notification email from Square. Open the email and select Reset Password.

    5. Enter your new password, and select your language and time zone preferences.

    6. Select Save Changes.

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