LLC: Required documents and information

The registration process on Relay will vary slightly depending on your business entity type. This article guides you through everything that is required to apply for a Relay account as an LLC (Limited Liability Company). You'll find information on which documents and information to have ready in order to open an account.

When you're ready to get started, you can sign up on our website to begin enjoying no-fee business banking with Relay!

Sections in this article

• Beneficial Owner details
  • Who qualifies as a Beneficial Owner?
• Business Details
• Government-issued photo ID requirements
• Accepted document formats
• Multiple ownership
• International applicants with U.S. entities
• Frequently Asked Questions

Beneficial Owner details

All business owners will be required to provide the following details when registering with Relay:

• Photo of government-issued ID¹
• Social Security Number (SSN) [U.S. citizens] or Passport Number [non-U.S. citizens]
• Personal address of Beneficial Owner²
• Position/title of Beneficial Owner³
• Personal mobile phone number (for two-factor authentication)
• Email address

¹ For non-U.S. citizens and/or residents, Relay requires a photo of a passport for the government-issued ID requirement.

² This address must be a physical address; we are not able to accept PO boxes, virtual mailboxes, or Pack & Ship location addresses at this time. An address verification document may be requested for additional verification (accepted document types listed here).

³ If one or more Beneficial Owners are not U.S. residents, then all owners will be required to provide additional information. This includes:

• • What source of income initially helped get their business up and running
  • Whether their business is new or established 
  • Annual personal income
  • All countries in which the business operates in

Who qualifies as a Beneficial Owner?

• Any individual, if any, who owns, directly or indirectly, 25 percent or more of the equity interests of the legal entity (e.g., each natural person that owns 25 percent or more of the shares of a corporation).
• An individual with significant responsibility for managing the legal entity, if your business is owned by a holding company (e.g., a CEO, CFO, COO, Managing Member, General Partner, President, Vice President, or Treasurer).
• All Beneficial Owners must be over the age of 18 at the time of registration. We are unable to offer our services to businesses that are owned, wholly or partially, by minors.

Business Details

If your business is an LLC, you will be required to provide the following documents and information when registering with Relay:

• Employer Identification Number (EIN)⁴
• U.S. business address and phone number⁵
• Legal entity name⁶
• Industry
• Description of business operations
• State and year of incorporation

⁴ An Employer Identification Number (EIN) verification letter (CP-575 or 147c) may be requested for verification purposes.

⁵ This address must be a physical address; we are not able to accept PO boxes, virtual mailboxes, or Pack & Ship location addresses at this time. An address verification document may be requested for additional verification (accepted document types listed here). 

⁶ Additional documentation such as Articles of Organization, Company Bylaws, Certificates of Formation etc. may be requested for additional verification.

Government-issued photo ID requirements

During the identity verification step of the registration process, the provided ID can be a U.S. driver’s license or a passport (U.S. and non-U.S. citizens). Passports are required for non-U.S. citizens. Expired or temporary IDs cannot be accepted.

The image of the provided ID must be of the original document. Scanned copies are not permitted. The image file must be PNG, JPG, or JPEG, must be a colour image with no blur or flash, with the ID aligned horizontally. The four edges and corners of the ID must be clearly visible.

Please note: national ID cards cannot be used in place of a passport for non-U.S. citizens. 

Accepted document formats

File types for other legal documents must be PNG, JPG, JPEG or PDF.

Legal documents include:

• EIN Verification Letters
• Certificate of Incorporation
• Articles of Organization
• Company Bylaws
• Operating Agreements

Multiple ownership

If more than one person has 25% or greater ownership of the company, they must be invited to Relay during registration. Please have all owner emails on hand when signing up. Once all owners have registered, the account will be ready to use!

International applicants with U.S. entities

Relay accepts U.S. entities with owners holding non-U.S. citizenship as well as being based outside of the U.S. Relay requires the entity to have an operating presence in the U.S. 

Please note: during registration, non-U.S. residents will be required to provide additional information including:

• What source of income initially helped get their business up and running
• Whether their business is new or established  
• Annual personal income 
• All countries in which the business operates in

This information is required for compliance purposes and is a part of the terms and conditions set by our partner bank, Thread Bank.

We do not provide bank accounts for residents of U.S.-sanctioned countries and a few others. This list can be found in this article: Prohibited countries.

Frequently Asked Questions