Why is Etsy rejecting my Singapore FIN as a taxpayer ID for INFORM Act verification?

Hi! When Etsy keeps rejecting a Singapore FIN that should be accepted, it’s almost always because something else in the verification record doesn’t match what Etsy (and their verification provider) can validate—most commonly your legal name formatting, country/taxpayer address selection, or a FIN entry that doesn’t exactly match the expected pattern—and in that situation the real fix is usually a manual review via document upload/escalation, not more re-tries of the same FIN.

A few things to double-check (these are the ones that most often cause “valid ID but rejected”):

• Your shop legal name must match your ID exactly (Latin characters): same order, spacing, hyphens, middle names, etc. If your name on Etsy is “Firstname Lastname” but your passport/ID includes a middle name or different order, update Etsy to match the document you’ll upload.
• Taxpayer address/country must be Singapore: make sure your Legal and tax information and address are set to Singapore (and not accidentally showing a US address or US tax setup). A mismatch here can cause the TIN check to fail even if the number is fine.
• FIN format: enter it exactly as 1 letter + 7 digits + 1 letter, with no spaces, no dashes, and usually uppercase letters. Also make sure you’re not using an “O” where it’s a zero (or vice versa).
• Don’t keep re-submitting endlessly: repeated failed attempts can sometimes lock you into a harder-to-fix verification state.

If you’ve already checked all of that and it still fails, the fastest path is usually document-based verification + an explicit escalation:

1. Go to Shop Manager → Finances → Payment settings (or Legal and tax information) and look for the section that lets you upload verification documents (often shown as “Your documents” / ID upload).
2. Upload a clear, unedited image of a government-issued ID (passport is usually the smoothest), and if Etsy asks for it, any supporting proof they request. Make sure the photos are sharp, all corners visible, and your details are readable.
3. Reply back to Etsy Support and ask them to escalate to the payments/verification team for manual review because the system is rejecting a valid Singapore FIN. Helpful wording is: “Please escalate for manual verification; FIN is valid but failing automated validation. Name/address match confirmed; requesting manual override or back-end correction.” Include the exact error message and a screenshot of the rejection screen (with sensitive numbers partially obscured if you’re sharing images).

How long to restore payouts? If it goes through a standard review, it can be as quick as a few business days, but if your account is stuck in an automated loop or needs a back-end correction, it can take longer. Once Etsy marks you as verified, payouts typically resume on your normal payout schedule (they don’t always release instantly the same minute verification completes).

If you tell me the exact rejection wording you see (even just copy/paste it) and whether your legal name on Etsy matches your passport character-for-character, I can help you pinpoint which mismatch is most likely and what to change first.