Frozen Account Due to Unverified Tax Information

[#1]

I formed an LLC in the state of MS and obtained an EIN number for this LLC. I correctly updated the tax information on Etsy. However, my shop was being frozen due to unverified tax information. It has been over two weeks and Etsy has been completely responsive to address the issue. I was not even recognized that I have been having this issue on my account. When I wanted to update the tax information with my SSN, I could not do it. I have been asked to update my tax info, but I cannot make any changes there. Etsy is not addressing the issue at all. Any ideas what to do at this point!

[EntirelyHandmade]

My shop is up and running again.  BUT:  my star seller batch is gone.  LOL  I was on the phone with Etsy when that the store went active and made Etsy aware of that.  Supposedly that is not supposed to happen.  I guess we'll see.  Thanks goodness we are only a week away from February.

[EntirelyHandmade]

Got my star seller icon back.  Looks like everything is back to normal....

[DAALLC]

My IRS letter had sole member also but no do not include the words sole mbr.  Just your business name on top followed by your real name, Trish O'connor.  I know this exact stuff can be tricky.  I got my info from my IRS letter with EIN on it, thats what I copied(the top line which has my business name) and then just my name.  Good luck

[EpiclesisConsulting]

@DAALLC 

It seems to have gone through okay, and I got my confirmation email from Etsy. Most importantly, so far my shop is still open.

Here's hoping it really was as easy as that!

Trish O'Connor
Owner, Epiclesis Consulting LLC

[EpiclesisConsulting]

Oh, by the way, I put my business name and my own name all in caps, just as it is on the IRS form. I also made sure I typed my address exactly as it was on the form, including all caps and abbreviating "Lane" as "LN". I'm not sure if that was all necessary, but I thought it couldn't hurt.

Trish O'Connor
Owner, Epiclesis Consulting LLC

[GrammiesHats]

I finally got mine back yesterday.  I followed Trish's lead and changed my address to all caps.  I don't know if that did it but I never did get any notification from Etsy that it was turned on.  I've check multiple time a day for 15 days. 

I had to renew 6 items.  I checked stats and it said "you haven't had any sales in ?? days but we can turn that around"  DOH -- how could I get any sales?

[GrammiesHats]

I spoke too quick.  I got an email 3 minutes ago....I'M FROZEN AGAIN !

[flowerseveryday]

My account seems frozen as well and I am extremely disappointed with the service from Etsy at the moment

[MissieRabdau]

I have been dealing with this situation for two weeks.  My Etsy account was frozen as well.  I formed an LLC and obtained a tax identification number within minutes of getting my Articles of Organization approved by the State of Georgia.  I reached out to Etsy support and finally got through to a number.  The woman was very nice and documented the conversation.  She told me she was turning the matter over to the legal department and that I would be getting an email confirming our conversation.  All of this was done as she promised.  She told me I should be hearing something from legal within a few days.  This was five days ago.  I have heard nothing.  My shop is still frozen.  I have updated all of the information as sent from the IRS and the Secretary of State for the State of Georgia.  I received several emails from Etsy, not related to the phone call above, that says my current EIN is invalid and to please update.  Is anyone having a similar issue?  I am very distraught over this situation, as I am losing customers and money daily.  Trying to make use of my time, I applied to Amazon for a business account and was approved immediately.  Go figure...all of my information I gave them was approved.  I would appreciate any feedback any of you have.  Disappointed here in Georgia. 

[JasminesTreasuresLLC]

I was frozen last night with no notice. I went in and updated my info and it just keeps saying, thanks for updating. We are verifying your information check back in an hour. So obnoxious!! Mine is not a single owner LLC, my daughter's name is on it too. Not sure what I need to do for that. It wanted a file number as well as the EIN. We had to look that up but have it on their now. Hope this doesn't take weeks like it has for some of you.

[JasminesTreasuresLLC]

So I am back open again. It took 2 days. I am an LLC and not sole owner. I entered my name in the regular way, not all caps. I entered my EIN where it asked and the file # where it asked then just the last 4 of my SS# where it asked. It took several tries to get it to accept the info, then 2 days for Etsy to process it. It is very frustrating that there was no notice given ahead - I could have updated the info without them freezing my shop for 2 days. I had to mail shipments without using Etsy labels  which cost me more, and who know how many sales were lost. They really need to learn to communicate with shop owners better. They give us all kinds of notices for everything else, but not something like this? And there is no way to contact them to see what's going on. Not good. Hope all of you are up and running again.

[YensidCastaways]

So I got my shop open!

I read through lots of this same issues and share your concerns and frustrations.

----   I went to Manage Shop - Finances - Legal Tax Info and I retyped all the info on that form. 

----   Then I updated one of my listed items.

My shop was open and ready to go.

I went to Incognito and looked at my shop and it's up. I have started getting people favoriting stuff again.

I hope this helps someone else having this issue.

[EquinoxByVICTORIA]

Same on my store absolutely same happens right now to me can’t get it open even after updating everything need help. Called Etsy . They said to try again so I did no success

[RushCreekVintage]

@CosmicPeaks I didn't find a phone number.. but I went to the Etsy Help Center and worked my way through that. There is a button I clicked that said 'Do You Still Need Help?' and I was able to enter my cell phone for a call back. That's how I was able to talk with CS. Hope it helps.

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us?segment=selling

[JacqsCraftyCorner]

**SHOP IS BACK UP AND RUNNING**

Just want to post our Story here:

Shop was frozen due to Tax Info like stated above. All 360 listings were deactivated by Etsy. Requested Etsy Support Phone Call thru the 'Listings Deactivated' selection in Support section. Was transferred on the telephone to their Finance department. Was walked through a step by step process outlined below with a member of support staff from Etsy's Finance Department.

Shop is set up as Sole Prop w/ a Business EIN. We ultimately had to go into the Shop 'Finances' TAB >>'LEGAL AND TAX INFORMATION' >> Then edit the Full Name back to the Personal name that matches exactly on what is submitted to IRS.  This includes any middle initial or middle name. Type it exactly as it appears on your social security card. Change the Taxpayer ID info to your personal SSN. Also, ***ONLY*** select 2022 towards the bottom. Do not select 2021!!** (no clue why) Submit this, and you should be prompted above in a Blue Banner that says 'Good News! Your tax information has been successfully updated!'

Go back into your shop and double check if your shop and your listings are back to normal and reactivated. Once you do so, you can then GO BACK into the FINANCES tab, and edit your name and taxpayer ID back into your business name and EIN, and your shop should still be unfrozen and good to go. 

What a wild morning. I hope this post finds you all well.

-jacqs

[Dexcy]

if youll do this, you will be taxed as individual, not as business

and if you'll change it back to business and ein, you'll be frozen again... just did it a few times and they freeze it immediately...

this is tyrannical practices... they think like we're all just "nothing" for them... and they can do whatever they want to us...
and it's not first time... like they force us pay for advertising...do free shipping... etc etc... and now this...

[SugarTaffySoap]

Reading the comments I don't know if this will help anyone but I have my full name and next to that on the same line I have "dba with my biz name.

[BridgeWoodLane]

If anyone else is reading this in the same problem, apparently you have to do it via the Chrome browser to make it work. 

Thank you for your response! After 2 hours, I'm back up and running!  

[Qiyaara]

has anyone gotten this issue resolved ? our shop is also facing the same issue. we only get automated responses from them.

its been two weeks since my shop has been frozen. Mine is LLC with partnership and all my information is correctly written still they havent recognized it.

[BridgeWoodLane]

Here is what they told me on the phone. And I just did it and it worked. Follow what I say to a T:

1) YOU MUST DO THIS ON GOOGLE CHROME! I was doing it on Safari and for some odd reason it was not working. 

2) Go to finances - legal and tax info. 

2) Use your social and make sure it is correct. 

3) Make sure your name EXACTLY as appears on your SS card.  

4) Submit info. 

5) If that doesn't work, go through the help center (don't know where I went to find request a call back - took me an hour to find it) and talk to someone. They refused to give me a call back number or email address if I had any further questions. 

I'm SO, SO, SO sorry this happened to you too. Let me know if this works for you. Cheering you on  

[BridgeWoodLane]

This just happened to me! I have been on this platform for 11 years. NOTHING HAS CHANGED. I have an EIN number. They have it. They have everything. I have NO IDEA why this happened to me. I'm beyond livid. 

[tidelinesalvage]

You stated, "go through the help center (don't know where I went to find request a call back - took me an hour to find it) and talk to someone."....I did the same thing, but was never able to talk to anyone...How did you do that?...All I want now is to, TALK TO SOMEONE

[DementedDesignsShop]

My shop was frozen three days ago.  I know Etsy sent out a notification to update tax information, though my tax information hasn't changed in the last 4 years, why would this be a problem now?

Here's what worked for my scenario:

I'm a sole member, of an LLC, with an EIN, if this applies to you?

I selected the, "Individual or sole proprietorship" option when editing my tax information under Finances > Legal and tax information

For the Full Name field in Etsy, I entered in ALL CAPS, the company name, ending with LLC, followed by a space, then my name, including middle initial (MY COMPANY NAME LLC YOUR I NAME)  This is how it appears on my IRS form SS-4, however, the company name and your name, are distributed over two lines on the form.  It's not clear in Etsy that both lines of information are required on one line.  I think this might be where some people are getting hung up?  I should mention, my IRS form SS-4 also included, "SOL MBR" next to my name.  I did not include this information in my submission.

I selected the 2022 option at the bottom, before submitting to Etsy and the shop opened immediately.  Let's see if it remains open...

I don't know if it played a part, as others have mentioned, I was using Google Chrome and removed all history before my submission this morning.  I should also mention, some people had concern over not having a middle initial.  I don't feel a middle initial is required, your information just needs to match what appears on the IRS form, the was issued, when obtaining your EIN number.  For those who mentioned the information on their IRS form, didn't match what the IRS had on file, this is a truly complicating factor.  

I really hope this helps someone and thanks to Everyone for sharing their experiences, good and bad.

[SimplyInvitingLLC]

I had this issue with my state last year, I had to write them and tell them I was a Single Pass LLC, S-Corp, so I wouldn't get taxed twice every year. S-Corps are are not treated the same as other LLCs, this may be a glitch in Etsy's system so could be why we're all getting suspended now. I went back in and selected Sole Proprietorship and put my SS# in and they accepted it. But since then I have had other weird glitches in my shop like a deactivated best seller and my Pattern site disabled and not ONE email from Etsy explaining why they did it so I have NO idea what is going on. I hope everyone affected gets it resolved soon! It's really frustrating.

[Dexcy]

Alright everyone listen up!!!

I found the solution to this problem!

The problem, at least in my case, was not in the EIN itself, but in the "Entity Number" that etsy requires as secondary ID that issued by your state

you need to use your states id business number as "entity number" from "STATE CORPORATION COMMISSION"and it will solve the problem...

in my case (Virginia) it's the same id number that is in the state's business entities database

also, just copy and paste your name and address exactly as in the irs ss-4 (where says that EIN number was assigned to your business)

Good Luck and hope it will help everyone who experiences the same issues!