Shopify Payments Identity Verification: Fix a Failed Check

A banner in your Shopify admin, or an email to the store owner, says your information wasn't verified and asks for a document. Your store usually keeps taking orders, but payouts may be on hold. If your business is in Europe or the UK, a verification deadline may also be showing in your admin.

All three lead back to the verification request in your admin, where the upload page states why a document or detail didn't pass. This guide maps each reason Shopify lists to its fix, the documents your country accepts, and what happens to your money while the check is open. If you haven't activated Shopify Payments yet, start with our Shopify Payments guide.

What Does Shopify Payments Verify, and Why?

Shopify says the information it collects is used to confirm the identity of the business, the identities of the individuals linked to it, and the nature of the relationship between the two. The reason is regulatory, not a judgment about your store:

Every account lists one individual as the account representative, even when the business is a registered company or is owned by another company. The check isn't one-off either: as local rules evolve, Shopify and its banking partners might ask for more information throughout the life of the account, and the US requirements page says the same holds after an account has been verified.

Your payout bank account comes after all this: Shopify lets you connect it once the Shopify Payments account is verified. Here is what gets compared, and against what:

Who Can See and Fix the Request?

Only the store owner. Shopify authorizes only the store owner to access Shopify Payments account details, which makes the owner the only one who can resolve a hold on the account. On European and UK accounts, only the store owner can view and complete verification requests, and Shopify's Proof of Liveness page says only the account owner can complete a Liveness check, while Shopify's Europe and UK page asks the person on file to complete selfie verification or a document upload. A staff member who spots the banner can pass it on, but the fix is the owner's.

Why Your Information Wasn't Verified: The Reasons Shopify Names

When documentation is required, Shopify sends an alert that takes you to the upload page, where you can provide new information. If the message says your information wasn't verified, Shopify's instruction is to review the reasons on that page and act on them: upload new documentation, or update your account information to match the documentation you already uploaded.

For a hold, Shopify names two places to read first: the notification in your Shopify admin and the email sent to the store owner, which it calls the best source of information to resolve the issue.

The Six Most Common Reasons, and the Fix for Each

Shopify's account setup page calls these the most common reasons, not the only ones. Find the row that matches your upload page; the last column says which side you change.

Three other messages aren't in this table, because each has its own fix further down:

• An SSN, ITIN or EIN that couldn't be verified with the IRS: the United States section.
• A selfie or Proof of Liveness check that keeps failing: the liveness fixes.
• An error about the maximum number of attempts: when to contact Support.

Correct the Account or Replace the Document?

Shopify puts the rule in one line: your account details and your documents must match, and depending on the reason you either correct the details on your account or upload a document that matches your account. Names, birth dates and business details have a fixed reference point, the photo ID and the government registry in the table above, so Shopify's fix for those reasons is to enter them on the account exactly as those documents show them.

Addresses are the exception: either side can move. Correct the address on the account, or upload a document that shows the address already there.

In the US, Shopify's advice for a rejected document is to make sure the account matches the document you're submitting and to update the account if needed. While you're being asked to complete verification, those updates are made on the verification page itself, alongside the documents it requests.

How to Photograph and Upload a Document That Passes

Half of the six reasons above are about the document itself, and you can rule them out before you press upload. Shopify's documentation requirements:

• Photographed, not scanned, copied or screenshotted — and in color, not grayscale.
• Clear enough to read, with all four borders of the document in the frame.
• Complete: every detail visible, nothing censored, blurred or cropped out.
• Matching the information you entered on your Shopify Payments account.
• For documents issued to you digitally: the original PDF, without alterations and with all original pages.

Photo ID goes in as PNG or JPEG; proof of address and business documents can also be PDF. Once a document is uploaded, review can take up to 24 hours.

Where you upload matters as much as what you upload:

Which Documents Does Your Country Accept?

Shopify's own instruction, attached to the business-details reason, is that requirements are different in each region, so check your region's requirements page. Below is what those pages say for the US and the UK, the extra checks on European and UK accounts, and how to find any other country.

United States: SSN, ITIN, EIN and Accepted Documents

On the US requirements page, tax numbers are checked with the IRS. If your SSN or ITIN can't be verified, you're asked to update the number to match your IRS documentation and can be asked for a photo ID. If your EIN can't be verified, you might be asked for an IRS document such as an SS-4 or a 147c Letter.

If you're signing up as an Individual or a Sole Proprietorship, a valid SSN or ITIN is a requirement that can't be bypassed — what to do if you don't have an SSN has its own answer.

One more limit applies only to US businesses that want Shopify Balance or Shopify Credit: virtual addresses, mail forwarding services, co-working spaces, registering agent addresses and similar addresses the business uses on paper but doesn't physically occupy can't be used.

United Kingdom: Identity and Address Documents

The UK requirements page accepts four identity documents and ten address documents, three of which count only when dated within 6 months:

The UK is also on Shopify's Europe and UK verification list, so the checks in the next section apply to UK accounts too.

European and UK Accounts: Selfie, Registry Match and Owners of 25% or More

Shopify's Europe and UK verification page splits the check into three parts:

• Person: every field must match the person's government-issued documents — legal name, date of birth, home address and personal phone number. Selfie verification, a photo of a photo ID plus a selfie, is the recommended route, and Shopify says it has a higher success rate than submitting documents manually.
• Business: the legal business name, business identifier number and business address must match your government business registry.
• Ownership: anyone the registry lists as owning 25% or more equity must be on your Shopify Payments account with the Owner role. In the UK, a business with beneficial owners must verify both its owners and its directors. If no one owns 25% or more, Shopify says to add no one with the Owner role and to list every director on your registry with the Director role. Digital attestation — clicking Sign to confirm that the ownership information on your account is correct — is the recommended option. The rule applies to registered businesses, not to individuals and sole proprietors, publicly traded companies or government entities.

Other Countries and the Proof of Liveness Check

For any other country, Shopify's supported-countries index links to a page per country, and that country's requirements page is the reference for which documents it accepts.

Whether you also face a Proof of Liveness check depends on your country. It uses your webcam or phone to upload a selfie, only the account owner can complete it, and Shopify says it's necessary to complete Shopify Payments setup and process transactions. If the ID or the selfie won't submit, Shopify suggests:

• Clearing the browser cache and submitting again.
• Removing or deactivating active browser extensions, for example VPNs or ad blockers.
• Trying a different device or a different browser.

What Happens to Payouts and Sales Until You're Verified?

Passing verification and receiving payouts are two separate gates: the first decides whether your details pass, the second decides what happens to your money while they don't.

All Accounts: Payouts Can Be Held, the Store Keeps Running

Shopify says your payouts might be placed on hold until your information and documents can be verified. A new account isn't exempt: it can accept payments, but if Shopify's banking partners require more information for your business, the account is put on hold until your details can be verified.

Shopify's account-holds page says you can still use your Shopify store while the account is on hold — with one caveat: in some cases, your store can't accept new orders.

The fastest way out, by Shopify's account:

• Provide any information that's been requested.
• Reply directly to any email from Shopify.
• Work from the notification in your admin or the email sent to the store owner — Shopify calls them the best source of information.

One hold has nothing to do with documents: payouts might also be held until two-step authentication is activated on your store — see what happens if you don't turn it on.

If verification is complete and a payout is still late, look at the other payout delays and their fixes.

Europe and the UK: The Deadlines That Pause Payouts, Then Orders

For European and UK accounts, the deadline is displayed in your Shopify admin. If you don't complete a verification request by then, payouts are temporarily paused until verification is complete.

Once payouts are paused, a second deadline might appear: the date your ability to accept orders through Shopify Payments is paused as well.

Until verification is complete, accounts created in or after June 2026 have payouts paused immediately; charges and refunds follow a clock counted from the first Shopify Payments order:

The last row is the expensive one, because the money goes back to customers: on European and UK accounts created in or after June 2026, payments processed through Shopify Payments are refunded if verification isn't complete within 90 days of your first Shopify Payments order.

How this clock sits beside Shopify's other timing figures is covered in how long Shopify Payments verification takes. Asking for an exemption doesn't change it:

When to Contact Shopify Support, and What It Can't Change

Most fixes happen on the upload page itself. Support becomes the route in a few situations Shopify names, and some requirements stay fixed whoever you ask:

The attempts limit has its own page: what you can do after you hit the limit.

A rejected application follows Shopify's reapplying page, not the upload page.

Find Your Next Step

The reasons table above answers by reason. These four questions add what it can't — your country, your business type and whether you're the person who can act — and return a short plan.

Verification Fix Checklist

Steps one and two apply to every route the quiz gives. Steps three to six are for a document or detail that wasn't verified (step three decides whether you edit or re-photograph), and step seven applies only when the attempts error appears.

The Bottom Line

Shopify writes the reason down on the upload page, so the work is making two records agree, not guessing.

Frequently Asked Questions