Pay Creators Without a VAT Number: How Gigapay Onboards Any Entity Type

More than half of marketers now work primarily with nano- and micro-influencers, split evenly at 27% each, according to Aspire's State of Influencer Marketing 2026. 

Those are the creators with the highest engagement in the market and the lowest likelihood of holding a registered company or a VAT number. The people brands most want to work with are the ones their own onboarding process is built to reject.

Gigapay removes that barrier by onboarding creators as individuals, sole traders, or companies across 65+ countries, with no VAT number and no registered business required. As Merchant of Record, Gigapay becomes the single registered vendor in the creator's place, so a brand can pay a private individual in Lyon the same way it pays an incorporated studio in Stockholm.

This article explains how Gigapay onboards any entity type step by step, why paying a creator without a VAT number stays compliant, and what it takes to get a first payout out the door.

Key Takeaways

• Gigapay onboards creators as individuals, sole traders, or companies, with no VAT number required.
• A brand sends only a name, email, and amount, and Gigapay invites and verifies each creator.
• Individuals provide ID only, while sole traders and companies add a TIN and business details.
• As Merchant of Record, Gigapay self-bills, files DAC7, KSK, and KU14 reports, and carries the liability.
• Boozt tripled its nano- and micro-influencer collaborations after the VAT registration barrier was removed.

Why a Missing VAT Number Blocks Your Best Creator Collaborations

A marketing team finds the right creator for a campaign, with the engagement rate they wanted and an audience that matches the brief, and the creator says yes. Then Procurement asks for a company registration number and a VAT ID, the creator has neither, and the collaboration quietly dies in an onboarding queue.

This happens because most brand vendor systems were designed for suppliers, not individuals. A supplier has a registered entity, a VAT number, and an accounts team that issues invoices. A nano creator filming from their kitchen has none of that, and the finance controls that protect the business end up blocking the exact creators marketing is trying to reach.

The cost is strategic rather than administrative. The nano and micro tier holds the highest engagement in the market, and it is also the tier least likely to be incorporated. When the VAT number becomes a hard requirement, a brand cuts itself off from most of the creator pool it could be working with.

Gigapay solves this at the structural level. Instead of asking the creator to become a registered business, Gigapay becomes the registered vendor on the brand's books and handles the creator relationship behind it.

The Three Entity Types Gigapay Onboards

Any entity type is not a slogan at Gigapay. Creators do not need to have a registered business or VAT number to be paid, and they can onboard as an individual, sole trader, or company, depending on their status and local requirements.

• Individual: a creator who works as a private person, with no company behind them.
• Sole Trader: a self-employed creator operating a registered sole trader business.
• Company: an incorporated creator, studio, or agency-managed entity with its own VAT registration.

A creator picks the form that fits their situation, Gigapay validates the relevant details, and the brand sees one vendor regardless of which form the creator chose. A creator who later registers a business can change their entity type without starting over, and Gigapay re-verifies the new status.

How Gigapay Onboards Any Entity Type, Step by Step

Onboarding has two sides, and they are deliberately unbalanced. The brand does almost nothing, while the creator goes through a guided flow that adapts to their country and entity type.

The brand's part is short. A brand uploads a spreadsheet with the creator's name, email, and payout amount, and that is the only input the team ever needs to provide. Gigapay then emails the creator an invitation to onboard, so the brand never collects identification, tax forms, or bank details itself. 

From the creator's side, the flow runs as a guided onboarding that changes based on their country and the entity type they select.

1. The creator enters the invitation code from their email and verifies their address. Swedish users can verify with BankID.
2. They confirm whether the account is for themselves or for an agency, then select their country of residence, which sets how tax compliance is handled.
3. They add their personal details, contact information, and a physical residential address.
4. They select their entity type: individual, sole trader, or company.
5. They complete the information required for that type, and Gigapay verifies it.

The information each entity type provides is where the three paths actually differ.

For sole traders and companies, the TIN, and the VAT number in the company case, must be valid for cross-border transactions. Gigapay validates these details against third-party databases, and depending on the country, the creator may need to upload verification documents, with the compliance team reviewing the account within three to five business days and reaching out only if something is missing. 

This is the point where the missing VAT number stops mattering. An individual never submits an invoice, because Gigapay self-bills and generates the payment documentation on their behalf. Only sole traders and companies submit invoices for their payouts, so the individual creator with no business is paid without ever issuing one. 

Agencies follow a slightly different path. An agency completes a manual onboarding before getting access to the regular flow, and because of its relationship with the brand and the creators, it can onboard only as a company or a sole trader, then manage payouts to multiple creators from one account.

The brand sees one verified vendor at the end of all of this, no matter how many creators went through the flow or which entity type each one chose. Once a creator is verified, payouts reach their local account and the funds land instantly.

Why Paying Creators Without a VAT Number Is Compliant

Removing the VAT requirement is not a shortcut around tax rules. It works because Gigapay takes on the parts of compliance that the missing VAT number would otherwise leave exposed.

As Merchant of Record, Gigapay formally buys the creator's deliverable and resells it to the brand, which makes Gigapay the legal counterparty to the purchase. As the formal payer, Gigapay is the one that answers tax authority questions about payouts, acting as a shield for the brand's finance team. 

That is a different proposition from a payment processor that only moves money and leaves the brand holding the compliance questions.

Gigapay also captures the right data during onboarding and automates the tax reporting that applies to creator payments.

• DAC7: the EU reporting framework for platform and creator economy income.
• KSK (Künstlersozialkasse): Germany's levy on creative payments, which can apply even to international hires.
• KU14: Sweden's income reporting obligation.

Gigapay records each transaction, handles the necessary filings such as KU14 or DAC7, and provides the brand with a clean, auditable record for year-end. One distinction matters for finance and legal teams here. In its Merchant of Record capacity, Gigapay handles tax reporting rather than withholding, and each party stays responsible for its own tax obligations under local law. 

Gigapay is also ISO 27001 certified and GDPR compliant, so creator identity and payment data are handled to a documented security standard.

The Creators You Couldn't Pay Before

Once the VAT number stops being a gate, several kinds of programs that Finance used to block become routine.

Nano and micro creator programs are the clearest case. The long tail of small creators is where engagement concentrates, and it is also where registered businesses are rare. Paying these creators as individuals lets a brand run the high-engagement tier at volume instead of avoiding it.

Cross-border campaigns get simpler too. A creator in France, one in Germany, and one in Sweden each sit under different registration norms and reporting rules. Gigapay onboards all three under one process and reports in each jurisdiction, so expanding into a new market does not mean rebuilding the payment process from scratch.

UGC programs depend on large numbers of small creators producing content rather than a handful of professional accounts. These creators almost never have a company, and entity flexibility is what makes the format workable for a brand's finance team.

Agencies running rosters for several brand clients benefit in the same way. Every creator goes through one vendor relationship, whether a given creator is a private individual or an incorporated studio.

Case Study: How Boozt Worked With Nano- and Micro-Influencers at Last

Boozt, the Nordic fashion retailer, had wanted to work with nano- and micro-influencers for years and kept hitting the same wall. The creators it wanted were individuals without the company registration its payment process required.

After moving to Gigapay, Boozt could onboard and pay those creators directly. Christina Oliosi, Brand Activation Lead at Boozt, put it plainly: 

"We've been trying to find a way forward with nano- and micro-influencers for years and Gigapay really enabled this."

The result was a threefold increase in creator collaborations, achieved without expanding the team, something compliance-heavy onboarding had blocked for years. Removing the registration requirement changed what Boozt's team could do, because the creators had been ready all along.

Getting Started With Your First Payout

Onboarding a first creator without a VAT number does not require an engineering project. A brand can start from a spreadsheet on day one and add the API later.

The base plan runs on a fixed monthly fee plus a percentage on each payout, with no per-creator seat cost, so adding a hundred small creators does not multiply licensing fees. 

Engineering teams that want payouts embedded in their own product can integrate the API, with endpoints for projects, prepayments, registrations, and payouts, in two to five days. Either way, a brand can run its first payout the same day it signs.

Conclusion

More than half of the creators brands want to work with are individuals without a company, and the VAT requirement has been quietly removing them from the plan. 

Gigapay onboards creators as individuals, sole traders, or companies, verifies each one in three to five business days, carries the vendor registration in their place, and reports the right taxes in each market.

Book a demo to watch Gigapay onboard a creator without a VAT number and send the first payout the same day.

Read Next:

• Best Merchant of Record for Creator Payments in 2026
• What is Gigapay Earlypay and How Does it Work?
• How Much Are American Influencers Earning in 2026
  

FAQs:

1. Can you pay an influencer who does not have a VAT number?

Yes. You can pay an influencer without a VAT number through Gigapay, which onboards them as an individual and acts as the registered vendor on the brand's behalf. The creator provides identification and their country of residence, and never has to register a business to get paid.

2. Do creators need a registered business to get paid through Gigapay?

No. Creators do not need a registered business or a VAT number to get paid through Gigapay. An individual provides only valid ID and their country of residence, and Gigapay self-bills on their behalf, so no invoice or registration is required from the creator.

3. What does a creator have to provide to onboard with Gigapay?

A creator onboards through a guided flow that adapts to their entity type. Individuals provide identification and country of residence, sole traders add a legal business name, TIN, and business address, and companies add a TIN, VAT number, and registered address, all validated within three to five business days.

4. Is it compliant to pay creators without a VAT number?

Yes, paying creators without a VAT number is compliant when it runs through a Merchant of Record. Gigapay becomes the legal counterparty, answers tax authority questions, and automates reporting under DAC7, KSK, and KU14, while each party stays responsible for its own taxes.

5. Can a creator change entity type later?

Yes. A creator who registers a business after onboarding can change their entity type inside the platform, and Gigapay requests and verifies the information for the new status. The creator keeps the same account as their situation changes.