Square Banking Q&A: Let's talk about how Square Savings can help you prepare for tax season💰

[Tom]

Hi Seller Community,

With the 2022 tax season in the rearview mirror for many of us, we're eager to catch your questions and get your feedback on how Square Savings can help you stay on top of taxes in the year ahead!

Whether you pay your business taxes monthly or quarterly, Square Savings offers automated saving, which helps to take the guesswork out of withholding amounts, and folders, which help to organize and keep money set aside for taxes.

We were grateful to have @jmonfort from the Square Banking team address your questions and share solutions for automating healthy habits with Square Savings on Wednesday, May 4th.

A few example questions:

• How do folders in Square Savings accounts work?
• What’s the benefit of setting up an account with Square Banking versus my existing bank account?
• If I could do "_______" with Square Savings, that would help me run my business much more smoothly.

Note: We can't share specific details on our product roadmaps, though this information will be helpful as we continue to make improvements.

Block, Inc. is not a bank. Banking Services provided by Square Financial Services, Inc. and Sutton Bank, Members FDIC.

[Gerrid]

I’m very interested. How does the savings work and how can I start ?

[jmonfort]

Hello! Square Savings is a high-yield business savings account that allows you to save with every sale and organize your money. The account has no minimums, no monthly fees, automated savings, and more—all from your Square Dashboard and Point of Sale. You can see how automated savings, folders, FAQ, and more work here – and when you’re ready to sign up you can do that here.

[Datatech11]

Is there currently a way for sales taxes to be automatically set aside to a savings account 🤔? And if not could there be? 

[jmonfort]

This feature is currently available. Once you open an account and set up a tax folder, you’ll be able to designate how much you want to save and it will automatically transfer a percentage of your sales into your savings. Whether that’s 1% or 20%—it’s all up to you. You’ll also be able to track your progress, adjust goals—and pause automated savings at any time. You can see how it works here.

[derailed]

Does the savings sync up with QuickBooks and is there a monthly charge for Square Savings?

[jmonfort]

Hello! In terms of Quickbooks, we don’t yet support Quickbook integration but we are looking into how we can improve the experience. Stay tuned!

​​In terms of fees, no! There are no monthly maintenance fees, sign-up fees, or fees associated with minimum balances, as there are no minimum balance requirements. There are also no overdraft fees or withdrawal limits fees that are associated with traditional business savings accounts.

[CheleR]

I have sent multiple emails regarding my question and have not received an answer other than my case has been closed.

I have had Square Savings for three months now, and I am not earning anywhere near the 0.5% interest advertised. Why am I earning less interest than I can get with my credit union? 

I'm about to close my Square Savings Account. This is very disappointing. I've been happy using Square credit card processing for over 10 years. I expected better customer service...

[Enies1220]

Can someone explain to me why I've been using Square for over two years now, paid all the fees, but STILL have not been offered a single bit of financial help. No PPP loan, no Square loan offer. Nothing! Did not even get an application for PPP loan. Been through pandemic just like other business, and Square has offered zero help. 

[jmonfort]

Hello, I’m sorry to hear that, it’s definitely been a difficult couple of years. While our PPP program is now over, info on how applications worked can be found here. Hopefully some good news is that the Loans team has added a new Eligibility Tool to the Loans Dashboard with tips on how to become eligible for a Square Loan.

[RevJimBeidle]

I deal with state and municipal agencies, so check-writing from my Square checking would be a significant benefit. Is that in the works?

[jmonfort]

Hi Jim, Stay tuned! Our Checking team is working on ways to send money to third parties via check.

[ShannonE]

Can we access the savings money with the same Square card that we use for our checking?

[jmonfort]

Hi Shannon, As a savings account, we do not have a way to instantly spend from our balance as a way to make it easy to keep these funds separate from spending cash. However, you have 24/7 access to manage your business savings. You can instantly transfer funds to your Square Checking in order to spend it on your Square Debit Card immediately—for free. You can make standard, cost-free ACH transfers to external bank accounts and expect funds to settle within 1-2 business days. Please note: ATM withdrawals are not enabled for Square Savings, however, you may use ATM withdrawals through Square Checking.

[bigfamilyteaco]

We have two businesses with separate accounts. We were able to open savings accounts for one of the businesses, which has been brilliant,  but the other says that we are ineligible at this time. The most frustrating part of the whole thing is that no one can or will give me a reason for not allowing us to open savings for the other business or when we would be eligible. Can you help?

[jmonfort]

Hello! Glad it's working out for the first location!

The most common reason for ineligibility is failure to verify information provided. We rely on third party data sources for help to verify personal and business information, such as the Internal Revenue System (IRS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA), and it seems we were able to verify one of your businesses but not the other. Our team is working to leverage other information for verification and expand eligibility.

Apologies for the inconvenience and thank you for your interest in Square Savings!

[DeborahMartinMT]

Can you add more than 1 external bank account to square savings? If so, how?

[jmonfort]

Hi Deborah, Yes, you can! From your Settings page, scroll down until you see a “External bank account” section. You can click the “Use another account” button to link another external account.

[Urbeau2ful2]

What does this mean and what’s with all the comments that they don’t even qualify!?

Note: We can't share specific details on our product roadmaps, though this information will be helpful as we continue to make improvements.

[Katlynraborn98]

Why can I not transfer less than the amount in my savings to my bank and y can i not transfer money from my bank to my savings 

[jmonfort]

Hello! From your Savings Dashboard, you can transfer money out of your Savings account by clicking “Transfer out”. From there, you can select the amount and destination for the funds. View our tutorial on transferring here. To transfer money into your Savings account from an external bank, you can find your Square Savings routing and account numbers on your Settings page.

[Feebee]

Can I arrange to have a certain percentage taken out of east transaction that I process and put into my savings account?