During the application process, we may request an official document to verify your business. The document will be dependent on your business type and the state or county it operates.

Below, you’ll find a guide for the documents we accept and tips for getting them reviewed quickly.  

Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) 

During the application process, we will ask for your Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), which can be an Employer Identification Number (EIN), Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), or Social Security Number (SSN). Your TIN/EIN is found on your legal IRS documents when you registered your business with the IRS. Please see below for what you should provide:

Business Type	What number to provide
LLC, or Corporation	EIN
LP, LLP, or GP	EIN
Sole Proprietorship or Single Member LLC	EIN, SSN, or ITIN*

*ITIN should only be provided if you do not have an SSN or EIN number

In certain cases, we may also request that you provide a W-9 to meet our tax compliance obligations. In such cases, you should provide a downloaded or scanned high-quality PDF copy of your completed W-9. 

If submitting a copy of your completed W-9 please ensure it is completed correctly: 

• Line 1 must be the legal business name, unless you operate a sole proprietorship—then, Line 1 should be the owner’s name. If you use a DBA name for your sole proprietorship, you can include the DBA name on Line 2.
• Remember to sign and date the form. 

Non-Sole Proprietorships

If your business is a Corporation or LLC, you will be required to submit documents to validate your business. The name of the exact document you provide will depend on the state or county your business operates in and the business entity type. The documents can be known as the following¹:

Required Documentation for Business Verification

Corporation	LLC
Articles of Incorporation	Articles of Organization
Certificate of Formation	Certificate of Formation
Certificate of Incorporation	Certificate of Organization

If you are unsure of which document to submit, we recommend contacting your Secretary of State.

Sole Proprietorships

If you’re a Sole Proprietor and operate your business under a different name than your legal name, depending on where your business operates, you may be required to legally register your business name to obtain Doing Business As (DBA) documentation. 

We will use this documentation to validate your business. The name of the DBA document you provide will also depend on the state or county where your business operates. The most common names for DBA documents are:

• Assumed Name Certificate
• Fictitious Name Certificate
• Trade Name Certificate 

If you are unsure which document to submit, we recommend contacting the county in which you filed your DBA. 

Partnerships

If your business is a Limited Partnership (LP), Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), or General Partnership (GP) you will need to provide Partnership Agreement documentation. The agreement document may include but is not limited to the following information.

• The names of all the partners
• Information about the management structure of the partnership
• The partnership rights
• The ownership interests and profit shares of the partnership
• A valid signature from each partner

Of note, some states may require LLP’s partnership agreements to be filed through the Secretary of State. We recommend contacting your Secretary of State for further information.

Important: To ensure successful processing, provide a downloaded or scanned high-quality PDF copy of your document. We may not be able to process picture copies of the document.

Nonprofit Corporations

Generally, a nonprofit is not required to submit additional documentation when completing the application. If documentation is required, it will be the entity’s IRS Form 990. This document is submitted to the IRS to claim tax-exempt status. You can submit either the short or long form version of this document. Confirmation of filing with the SOS of the nonprofit corporation's state or county may also need to be verified.

Important: To ensure successful processing, provide a downloaded or scanned high-quality PDF copy of your document. We may not be able to process picture copies of the document.

Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)

For information on submitting your TIN, visit our article.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if I can’t provide any of the required documents?

If you’re unable to provide any of the required documents, we will not be able to verify your business and will be unable to open your account, or may take action on your account if you’re an active customer. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. 

How can I get my documents reviewed quickly?

1. Review the information above and upload your document as soon as possible. The sooner you sign in to your Bluevine dashboard and provide the requested document, the quicker our teams will be able to review it.
2. Upload the correct document. Ensure you upload one of the accepted documents explained above and it is completely filled out and signed as needed.
3. Upload a clear document. Ensure that your uploaded document is not blurry. We require downloaded or scanned documents as they are much easier to process than photos of documents. If the document is illegible or blurry, it will not be processed.

How do I know if my document has been accepted?
Our team will contact you via your email on file if your document has been approved and there will be no pending tasks on your dashboard.

1: This is not an exhaustive or definite list of all business verification documents. We recommend contacting your Secretary of State for further information.