How can I expedite changing an EIN for a client's online store?

[smilingdog]

I need the EIN changed for a client and support is saying it will take MONTHS. My client initially contacted support and was under the impression that they were sending her information the next day. It's been a week, so I just contacted them and they told me it would be months and they can't give me a date. Nor could they contact the accounting dept to have this expedited, even though they realize she can't sell until it's changed. 

Help!

The old company closed, so she can't take orders until the new EIN is associated with the account. 

[Kimi · Accepted solution]

Hi, @smilingdog.

Thanks for bringing this situation to our attention. I appreciate how important this is for you and your client, and we want to help sort this out so that you can get back to focusing on your store as soon as possible.

I'd like to assure you that our team intends to support merchants and reply with any updates on support tickets as quickly as we can. At times, this may take a bit longer than expected to ensure that proper steps are being taken, in order to best address the situation for our merchants.

If your client's ticket has been sent to the Merchant Tax Support Team, then the ticket is within the right queue and is in line to be reviewed. The team is currently working through a large number of requests and their wait times are longer than normal, but rest assured that they will get to your client's ticket as soon as possible.

I'd like to gather more context however, in regards to your client's situation. Do they have a Shopify store that is currently open, and with an active Shopify Payments account?

If the store's Shopify Payments account is active, then the store is able to continue selling and accepting orders. This is because once our Merchant Tax Support Team updates the EIN number on file for the store's Shopify Payments account, it will be backdated to January 1 of the current year.

[smilingdog]

Hi @Kimi. Thank you so much for getting back to me! For the record, I need to make sure we're clear about what you're telling me:

The previous business was closed December 31st, 2021 and my client doesn't want any future orders to be associated with the previous business (and previous EIN). Are you telling me that any orders placed after January 1st, 2022 will retroactively be associated with the new EIN once the Merchant Tax Support Team changes the EIN associated with the account?

Yes, the client does have a Shopify store that is currently open with an active Shopify Payments account. It has been put on pause temporarily while we waited to hear back from the Merchant Tax Support Team with forms for her to fill out. My client was originally given the impression it would only be a day or two, so we waited. About a week later (today) support told me it would take months. 

I appreciate you help looking into this matter.

—Greg

[Kimi]

@smilingdog

Generally speaking, this would usually be the case for stores with an active Shopify Payments account.

In saying this, it would be best if you reach out to our Support Team, so that our team would be able to access account-specific information and provide guidance that is best suited to your situation. As we cannot authenticate stores within the Community Forums, you'll need to visit our Help Centre here in order to create a support request with our internal Support Team. From there, they'll be able to look into your account and clarify any further questions you may have in regards to your situation.

[smilingdog]

Hey @Kimi I'm confused. We've already contacted support 3 times. Each time we get a little more information. First two times we were told we would get documents from Merchant Tax Support Team to change the EIN. Today I was told it would be months before that even happens.

I was also told that there is no direct dialog/contact between Customer Support (the ones helping me) and the Merchant Tax Support Team. So, again, I'm confused how Customer Support is going to be able to tell me what the Merchant Tax Support Team is going to do (or not do) with regards to retroactively applying my client's new EIN to all orders going back to Jan 1st, 2022. The 3 times we've contacted support so far, no one has mentioned this  ... but I guess I'll give it a 4th try and see what they say? That's what you're suggesting?

I appreciate your help, but I just feel like we're getting the runaround here.

[Kimi]

@smilingdog

Thanks for sharing your experience, Greg. I can understand where you’re coming from, and I appreciate you sharing your concerns in having to get in contact with our Support Team once more. I apologise if our team weren’t able to clarify and provide you with all of the information you needed the first time that you were in touch with us.

To clarify, the reason why you will need to get in touch with our Support Team is because our Community Forums team aren’t able to authenticate stores from our end. This authentication is needed in order to locate your client’s store, and to then confirm the necessary information we need to fully answer your questions. Because we cannot access stores and tickets on the Community Forums, we can help merchants as much as we can by providing general information. But to confirm account-specific queries, our Support Advisors are best suited to further help you as they will be able to authenticate you and securely access your client’s store from their end.

If your client also already has a ticket opened that has been escalated to our Merchant Tax Support team, they can also reply to that ticket with any additional questions. If they're unsure which ticket is the one that was escalated, they can contact Support again to confirm which ticket number to reply to.

[smilingdog]

Thank you @Kimi !

I was able to get confirmation from the tax department through support about retroactively applying the new EIN. I appreciate your time with this matter. All of the support staff has been great, but this has probably been one of the worst experiences I've had with Shopify support (having to contact them 4 times and post in the forums). But, in the end we finally got the help that we needed, and that was due to your guidance.

Hope you have a great day!

[Kimi]

@smilingdog

Thanks for your update, I'm glad that we were able to guide you in the end. Thank you also for your patience throughout all of this, we really appreciate it.

All the best!

[smilingdog]

I'm going to have to create a new account for her, transfer all the products, transfer the domain, and lose all the customer data and analytics. And, the infuriating part is that I only need one simple number changed.