Yearly update · 2026

What changed in 2026 for e-commerce companies

By the Atiko team · Last reviewed October 2026

Edition published in October 2026 and updated as rules change. Three themes dominate this year: payment providers and banks want to see a real operating presence, card networks have tightened their monitoring, and registries have raised their fees.

This page is general information and is not legal or tax advice. Rules and fees change; check the official source or a licensed professional before acting.

Payment providers want a real address, not a mailbox

Since 1 July 2025, Stripe requires a physical presence in the United States for US accounts that use its Issuing, Treasury or Opal products. Stripe states that it no longer accepts registered agent addresses, mailbox services or virtual address services as proof of that presence, and that existing accounts are screened and given 30 days to update a flagged address.

The published rule is limited to those products. Standard card processing is not covered by it. In practice, founders should still expect payment providers and banks to ask where the business actually operates and where its owner lives, and to compare those answers with the company's documents. A registered agent address remains what it has always been: the official address for state correspondence, not evidence of an operating location.

What to do: use your true operating and residential addresses in applications, keep proof of address ready, and never present a mailbox as an office.

Visa's monitoring threshold dropped to 1.5%

Visa's Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) replaced its earlier dispute and fraud programs on 1 June 2025. It combines fraud reports and disputes in one ratio, counted against settled card-not-present transactions. According to published summaries of Visa's program, the merchant threshold for the United States, Canada, the European Union, Asia-Pacific and Latin America is 1.5% from 1 April 2026, and applies above a monthly minimum number of fraud and dispute cases.

Processors act well before that level. A rising ratio is one of the most common reasons for a reserve or a payout pause. Confirm the current figures with your acquirer.

Companies House fees rose again

From 1 February 2026, digital incorporation of a UK company costs £100 and the digital confirmation statement costs £50, according to Companies House. Identity verification, mandatory for new directors and people with significant control since 18 November 2025, continues to roll out to existing companies at their next confirmation statement.

New York added its own ownership filing

The federal beneficial ownership report no longer applies to US-formed companies (see the 2025 edition). State rules can differ: New York's LLC Transparency Act took effect on 1 January 2026. Founders forming or registering an LLC in New York should check what it requires.

Hong Kong: the levy is back

The two-year waiver of the HK$150 levy on business registration certificates, which began on 1 April 2024, has ended. The annual business registration fee itself has been HK$2,200 since that date.

Other editions

• 2025 edition
• 2024 edition
• 2023 edition
• 2022 edition