Transfer ownership of your Square account
About transferring your Square account
You can transfer your Square account to a new person within your organisation or accept a transfer to become the new owner of an existing Square account for individuals and sole traders. Transferring an account will change all the personal information associated with an account, such as the owner’s name, email address, phone number and date of birth.
Review account ownership transfer eligibility
| Scenario | Eligibility | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Square account for Sole Trader/Individual without ABN | Eligible | Follow the account transfer steps. |
| Square account for Sole Trader/Individual with ABN | Ineligible | Create a new Square account. |
| Square account for other business types | Eligible | Follow the account transfer steps. |
| Square Loans: You have an active loan or a pending application | Ineligible | If you have an active loan, you can transfer your account 10 days after the loan is fully paid off. If you have a pending application, you may cancel it. Manage this in the Loans section of your Square Dashboard. |
| Hardware Financing: You have an active hardware financing plan | Ineligible | You can transfer your account once the financing balance is fully paid. |
| Account on hold or deactivated: Your Square account is on hold or deactivated or payments disabled | Ineligible | You must resolve the issue with Square Support before initiating a transfer. |
| Negative Balance: Your account has a negative balance | Ineligible | You must resolve the negative balance before initiating a transfer. |
| Sale of Business | Ineligible | Square does not support transferring accounts with ABNs during a business sale. You must create a new Square account for the new owner. |
| Original owner/designate is not willing or able to transfer the account | Ineligible | The original owner must verify their identity. Otherwise, a new Square account must be created. |
Review account ownership transfer ineligibility
If your Square account is not eligible to transfer ownership – or if you’re the new business owner – and the original account holder is no longer associated with the business or organisation, we recommend the following:
Contact the previous account holder and request they deactivate the current Square account.
Review the transfer checklist
Once you’ve confirmed your eligibility and before beginning an account transfer, make sure you have:
Presence of existing owner: The existing owner of the account must be able to log in to their Square account, verify their identity and be willing to transfer ownership.
Cancelled subscriptions: If you’re subscribed to Square products such as Square Online or Square app integrations, ensure you have completely cancelled this prior to transferring accounts as subscriptions do not migrate.
Government-issued photo ID: You may be asked to complete a quick selfie verification during the transfer. Have a valid, non-expired government photo ID ready (e.g. driver’s licence, passport) and ensure your device has a working camera.
Square Loans: By proceeding with this transfer of account ownership, any Square Loan offers will be disabled for 30 days.
Start a Square account transfer
If you are the existing Square account owner:
Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Settings > Account & Settings.
Select My business > About > Transfer business.
Answer the eligibility questions, then click Continue.
Confirm This is NOT a Sale of Business.
Fill out the form to verify your identity, including your legal name and date of birth.
Enter the new account owner’s email address. Square will send an identity verification form to the new owner.
Tick the box for Transfer of Account Agreement, then click Agree & continue.
Read the Transfer of Account Agreement and click OK.
Check your email inbox for the automated Transfer Account Confirmation email.
Click 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:
Open the Transfer Account Verification email sent to the email attached to the Square account and click Verify Identity.
Fill out the identity verification form. Note: Your personal information will only be used to confirm your identity and will not be used to perform a credit check.
If we can’t verify your identity with the information you provide, you’ll be guided to selfie verification. Have your photo ID ready and follow the on-screen steps.Check the box for Transfer of Account Agreement and click Agree & Continue. If the identity verification is successful, then the ownership transfer is complete.
You will then receive an email to reset your Square account password. Open the email and click Reset Password.
Enter your new password, and select your language and time zone preferences.
Click Save Changes.
Failed identity verification
If we can’t confirm identity using the details you enter, you’ll be guided into the verification flow similar to Square’s onboarding experience. The documents you upload are used only to confirm identity and protect your account. Your images and data are encrypted and handled according to Square’s security standards. This helps keep account transfers secure and lets you complete the process independently.
If you close the window during this verification, return to your email or Dashboard to resume the transfer within the original 24-hour window.