How to Change Legal Entity

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Legal entity is a company or organization that has legal rights and responsibilities, for example the right to make contracts and the responsibility to pay debts[1]. Amazon requires that sellers input their legal entities in their seller central account for tax purposes. Whatever legal entity shown in the seller central will be taxed by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) through Amazon.

Some sellers put their name as their legal entity in the beginning of their Amazon seller enrollment. Maybe because they don’t own an LLC or starting out small. Once they receive their own LLC or if their business becomes bigger (Corporation), then they needed to update their legal entity for tax reassignment.

Who is this for?

To troubleshooting team (TS) members who are assisting sellers changing their legal entities.
To sellers that wanted to change their legal entity.

Description:

This Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will help you know how to update the legal entity and what to do IF a seller can’t update the legal entity.

REMEMBER:

A seller can only update the legal entity through the main account access and not through user permissions.

How to Change Legal Entity/Legal Business Name?

Go to Settings and click Account Info.
Under Business Information, click Legal Entity.
Enter your Legal Business Name and click Update.[2]

What if the Seller can’t Update the Legal Entity?

The validation process can take up to eight weeks from the time Amazon receives your information, either electronically or via mail, if you checked the box that states "I have received my EIN/SSN within 60 Days" while taking the tax interview.[3]

If the seller wanted to update the legal entity within the review process or if the review process is way passed the review process and remained uneditable, first, call seller support and see if they can help, if not, the seller can send the following template to the seller executive relations (jeff@amazon.com).

Subject: [Seller Central Name] Legal Business Name Update

“Dear Seller Executive Relations,

We are [Seller Central Name] -- Merchant Token ID: [Enter Token ID]

Our Legal Business Name needs to be changed from the owner's name ([Current Legal Name]) & SSN to the new company name ([New Legal Name]) and Employer Identification Number (EIN).

We updated our tax information during the second week of February and submitted our W-9, EIN, and Business Account Application forms. We mailed them too. Nevertheless, the legal business name remains the same. [Please include the actions that were taken by the seller]

We have called Seller Support twice now but gave us the same response of retaking the tax information interview but there's no option to do that, rather it's asking us to wait.

[Add a screenshot of the Tax Information Interview]

Please look into this issue and update our legal business name under legal entity to [New Legal Name]

Here are the case IDs:

Case ID: 100…

Case ID: 102…

Warm Regards,

NOTE:

Please add supporting documents that show the new legal business name/legal entity. It might be under a W-9, Business Account Application, and 575 G Notice from IRS.