Can I have a merchant account as an individual on an H-1B visa?

L

lifeislife

Registered Users (C)
I want to set up a merchant account, so that it is possible to accept credit card payments online. Being on an H-1B visa, is it legally ok to set up such an account?

Secondly, if the payments don't reflect in my bank account (this is possible for sure), ensuring that I personally don't 'earn' anything, is it legally safe to set up such a payment gateway?

Thanks in advance!
 
Generally speaking a H1B cannot do business activities other than his primary job , this includes accepting payments also.
 
CoolDesiDude said:
Generally speaking a H1B cannot do business activities other than his primary job , this includes accepting payments also.
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True, but I am not going to be accepting payments into any of my accounts. I am just setting up a merchant account. Is that going to be a problem?
 
JoeF said:
Why would you set up such an account if you are not planning to use it?
So, this looks as if you are running or plan to run a business. And that of course requires work authorization.
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A relative of mine runs a pretty big website, but they are not based in the USA. So for them to get a merchant account is quite difficult, what with all the Federal Tax ID and credit checks needed. So he was thinking that if I can get a merchant account, and use their bank account to collect credit card payments, it will work well for them - as long as I am legally clear to do such a thing.

So I basically set up a merchant account with a payment gateway. They start accepting credit card payments on their website and it gets deposited in their bank account.

I need to set up the merchant account ONLY to set up a payment gateway, not to accept payments into that account.

Does that make sense?
 
I am not sure about this but i think if you give your SSN or federal tax id that merchant account company may report the earning to the IRS ,so this means you will have tax liability
 
JoeF said:
Well, ok, but this is unauthorized working. You are setting something up for a third party, and that's work and not allowed without work authorization.
And the tax issues that CoolDesiDude talks about are also a big concern. It is your SSN or tax id, and you are the one responsible for any taxes on that account. That leads to an even stronger indication that this is unauthorized work.
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Cooldesidude, JoeF, good points. Thank you for clearing it for me. Will look for someone else (US Citizen friend) who can help my relative out.
 
Hi lifeislife,

I'm also looking for the same. My friend is evaluating the payment gateway's in India. Have you tried working with payment gateway's in India? Please let me know.

Thanks...
 
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