Venmo business account: setup, fees and limits for makers

What a Venmo business account is

A Venmo business account is a business profile that sits inside your personal Venmo account. Venmo describes it as attached to your existing personal Venmo account, so there is no second account to open. With its own name and photos, it is a separate profile, so business and personal transactions stay apart. Each Venmo account can hold only one business profile.

Venmo built business profiles for individual sellers, sole proprietors and registered businesses. A maker who sells candles at weekend markets or prints through Instagram fits that description, with or without a registered company. One exception: nonprofits cannot use a standard business profile and use a charity profile instead.

How Venmo business works day to day: a customer finds the profile in the app or scans its QR code and pays. The seller fee is taken automatically out of the payment the customer sends, so the balance shows what you keep. Tap to Pay adds contactless cards and phone wallets: a business profile is required to use Tap to Pay, which works only in the United States, and customers paying with Tap to Pay do not need a Venmo account.

The profile is managed only in the Venmo app; on a computer you can download business statements and tax documents. Access is tied to one person: only the person who created it from their own Venmo account can log in.

How to set up a Venmo business profile

Venmo's rule is that a business profile requires a personal Venmo account alongside it. If you are new to Venmo, both profiles can be created in the same signup, in the app or on the web.

1. Start from the Me tab

   To start, open the Venmo app, go to the Me tab, tap the Personal button in the top left corner, then tap Create a business profile. On the web, sign in at venmo.com and select Create a business profile from the menu.

2. Choose a tax ID

   Venmo asks whether the business uses an SSN or an EIN. Give an EIN if you have one; otherwise you can sign up as a sole proprietor with your SSN or ITIN.

3. Add business details

   Enter the business name, username, a short description and a category, then add a profile picture and a background photo.

4. Publish the profile

   Tap Publish. After that, Venmo users can find and pay the business in the app right away. To switch between your personal and business profiles, tap your profile picture.

5. Verify your identity

   Select Identity Verification from the business profile's Settings menu in the Venmo app. Until you do, the profile has lower sending and transfer limits, shown in the limits table further down.

6. Set up checkout

   Tipping can be turned on in the business profile settings. To show your QR code, tap Charge at the bottom of the app, then QR Code. Print it for your market table so customers pay the business profile, not your personal one.

Venmo business transaction fees by payment type

Venmo business fees depend on how the customer pays: from another Venmo account, sent directly or by QR code, or with a contactless card or phone through Tap to Pay. The table lists each fee a business profile owner meets.

Venmo's pages disagree on the Tap to Pay rate. The fee schedule lists 2.29% + $0.09, the business profiles page lists 2.9% + $0.09, and a help center article lists 2.29% + $0.10. This page uses the fee schedule's rate. Check the rate shown in the app before you plan your market prices around Tap to Pay.

Venmo business fee calculator: work out the fee by hand

Example: a $30 mug, paid by a customer who scans your QR code at a market. No tip and no sales tax.

1. Pick the rate

   Use 1.9% + $0.10 for a direct or QR code payment, or 2.29% + $0.09 for Tap to Pay.

2. Work out the fee

   Multiply the payment by the percentage, then add the cents part. On the $30 mug, the seller fee is $0.67.

3. Subtract it from the payment

   What reaches your business balance is the payment minus the fee. Venmo's own example: $2 on a $100 payment.

Venmo business fees on one $30 sale

The same $30 sale taken three ways: paid to a Venmo business profile, paid with Venmo at an online PayPal checkout, and paid by card on a Square reader at a market.

Venmo business vs personal: why sales belong on a business profile

Taking sales on a personal Venmo account can look cheaper, because receiving a personal payment costs $0.00. Venmo's user agreement does not allow it: it says that personal accounts may not be used for business transactions, apart from payments Venmo authorizes such as those marked as for goods and services. Sellers can receive payment only through a business profile, or by asking the sender to mark the payment as for goods and services.

If a customer pays a personal account for goods without marking the payment as goods and services, the agreement warns that if Venmo reverses the payment, you could lose both the goods and the money. A friends payment also falls outside purchase protection, which covers certain qualifying payments made to a business profile or marked as for goods and services.

A personal account can accept a sale at 2.99%, but only if the buyer marks it as goods and services. A business profile treats every payment as a sale.

Purchase protection for business profile sellers

The Venmo Purchase Protection Program covers certain qualifying payments made to a business profile or marked as for goods and services. For a seller, it means you can keep the full purchase amount, less the fees Venmo charged, when a buyer files a claim the program covers and your sale meets its requirements. To check a single payment, open the transaction details page in the Venmo app.

Seller protection can apply in three cases: a buyer's claim that the item never arrived, a buyer's claim that they did not authorize the payment from their Venmo account, or a successful card chargeback or a reversal by the buyer's bank. Buyers have 180 days from the purchase to open a dispute, so keep records at least that long.

• The item must be a physical, tangible good that can be shipped.
• You must ship to the address the buyer provided. Venmo's advice is to avoid a shipping service the buyer arranges, so you can prove shipping and delivery.
• Keep your records: sellers must keep transaction documentation, and Venmo may ask for it during a claim.
• Tap to Pay payments are not covered by the Purchase Protection Program. For a problem with one of those sales, customers contact their own financial institution.
• When a payment is reversed or charged back and protection does not apply, you pay the full amount of the payment plus any fees, and Venmo can deduct it, plus fees, from the business profile balance.

Venmo business account limits

A business profile has its own limits, separate from the limits on your personal profile. Money coming in is not capped: Venmo sets no limit on the amount of money a business profile can receive. The limits cover money going out, and they rise once you complete identity verification.

The weekly limits are rolling weekly limits: each transaction counts for exactly one week from authorization. Venmo can also place a risk-based hold on money, lasting up to 180 days from the transaction date. Verify the business profile before a busy season, not during it.

Venmo business profiles and Form 1099-K

Venmo sends formal tax documents for business profiles that meet or exceed federal and state reporting thresholds. The federal rule for payment apps is that they must send a Form 1099-K when goods and services payments total over $20,000 in more than 200 transactions in a year. The IRS adds that a payment app may send a Form 1099-K even below the threshold.

The IRS states that all income from selling goods or services must be reported, whatever amount a 1099-K shows. State reporting rules can differ from the federal rule, so check your state's tax agency. This page is general information, not tax advice.

Where Nation fits

Questions about Venmo for business