Setting up business entities for markets

A business entity is the legal entity that processes payments for orders in a market. If your business has different legal entities in different countries or regions, then you can assign specific business entities to specific markets so that payments are processed through the correct entity.

By default, all orders in your store are processed through your primary Shopify Payments account, which is associated with your store's home country. If you have multiple Shopify Payments accounts for different legal entities in different countries, then you can assign each entity to the appropriate market.

For example, your business has a legal entity in the United States and another in the United Kingdom. You can assign the US entity to your North America market, so that US customers' payments are processed by the US entity, and assign the UK entity to your Europe market, so that European customers' payments are processed by the UK entity.

This is important for businesses that need to comply with local payment regulations, simplify tax reporting, or manage payouts in different currencies through local bank accounts.

Considerations

Before you set up business entities to use with Markets, review the following considerations:

• Business entities are relevant only for stores using Shopify Payments with multiple accounts.
• Changing the business entity for a market affects only new orders. Existing orders continue to be associated with the business entity that was active when the order was placed.
• If you don't add a business entity customization to a market, then orders in that market are processed through your default Shopify Payments account.
• Some regions have regulations about which entity can process payments for customers in that region. Verify with a legal or finance expert that your business entity assignments comply with local requirements.

Business entity inheritance

Submarkets inherit the business entity customization of their parent market by default. If you add a business entity customization to a submarket, then it overrides the parent market's setting.

If a submarket has multiple parent markets with different business entities, then they're prioritized in order of creation. The oldest business entity is used.

Add a business entity customization to a market

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Markets.

2. Click the market that you want to customize.

3. Click next to Business entity.

4. Select the business entity that you want to use for this market.

5. Click Done.

6. Click Save.

Payouts with multiple business entities

When you use multiple business entities, payouts for each entity are deposited into the bank account associated with that entity's Shopify Payments account. Each entity can have its own payout currency and schedule.

For example:

• Orders processed through your US entity are paid out in USD to your US bank account.
• Orders processed through your UK entity are paid out in GBP to your UK bank account.