- Short answer
- Canada: individuals and sole proprietors need a Canadian home address; no page we read states a residence rule for a corporation's representative.
- Business address
- Physical, Canadian, as shown in the government registry; no exception for US addresses
- Individual or sole proprietor
- Home address in Canada
- Corporation's representative
- Beneficial owner (owns 25%+) or executive with decision-making power; residence country not named
- Payout bank
- Checking account at a bank in Canada; for USD payouts, a USD account at a Canadian or US bank
What has to be in Canada for Shopify Payments?
Canada's payments terms say you must be a business located in your Designated Country (here, Canada), and the sentence you confirm when you register names two kinds of merchant:
By registering for a Shopify Payments Account, you are confirming that you are either a legal resident of your Designated Country or you are duly established and, if necessary, registered or licensed as a business entity authorized to conduct business in your Designated Country.
Shopify Payments requires a valid, physical, Canadian business address, as shown in your government registry. Exceptions aren't given to businesses with US addresses.
Who has to live in Canada?
As an individual or sole proprietor, you give a "Residential address in Canada", matching the documents that prove it.
A corporation's account representative is an executive with decision-making power or a beneficial owner — anyone owning 25% or more of the company, directly or through a holding company.
The representative's "Residential address" field names no country, and no sentence we found in the Canadian requirements, account setup and eligibility pages or the Canadian payments terms, read October 6, 2026, requires the representative, a beneficial owner or a director to live in Canada, or allows the representative to live abroad — ask Shopify Support before you rely on either.
Separately, Canadian corporate law, not Shopify, requires at least 25% of a federal corporation's directors, and at least one if it has fewer than four, to be resident Canadians — a share of the board, not the ownership threshold above (Canada Business Corporations Act, s.105(3), subject to subsection (3.1)); we did not check provincial laws.
Which bank account do payouts need?
Payouts need a checking account with a bank in Canada; with USD as payout currency, a USD account at a Canadian or United States financial institution also works. If your business can't meet the address or bank requirement, see what a non-resident founder can do instead.
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