If you generally solicit your offering, the SEC requires you to take reasonable steps to verify every investor is accredited — a self-certification checkbox will not do. Here is what that means, the methods that satisfy it, and how to verify your whole investor list without ever touching their financials.
Regulation D Rule 506(c) lets you publicly advertise a private offering — but in exchange, you must take reasonable steps to verify that every purchaser is an accredited investor. This is a higher bar than Rule 506(b), where an investor can simply self-certify. Under 506(c), the responsibility to verify sits with you, the issuer.
The good news: the SEC gives a non-exclusive list of methods that are deemed to satisfy the requirement, so you do not have to invent your own process or make a judgment call on each investor.
Rule 506(c)(2)(ii) lists methods that satisfy the verification requirement. In practice, issuers rely on one of these.
Written confirmation from a licensed CPA, attorney, registered broker-dealer, or SEC-registered investment adviser who has verified the investor within the prior three months. The professional reviews the financials so you never have to. This is what AccreditedNow provides.
Reviewing the investor's IRS forms for the two most recent years, plus a written representation that they reasonably expect to reach the required income level in the current year.
Reviewing recent asset statements and a liabilities check (such as a credit report), each dated within the last three months, plus a written representation that all liabilities have been disclosed.
Issuers may also rely on the rule's principles-based standard, or on prior status for investors who bought into an earlier Rule 506(b) round. When you accept a professional letter, keep a copy in your records as evidence of the reasonable steps taken.
Collecting tax returns and bank statements from your investors yourself is slow, awkward, and puts their most sensitive financials in your inbox. The professional-letter method removes all of that.
Each investor uploads documents directly to the assigned CPA. You receive the signed letter and a verified status — never their tax returns or balances. Less liability for you, more privacy for them.
Every letter names the licensed CPA who signed it and carries a public certificate ID your counsel can verify. It is independent, third-party verification — not a self-certification checkbox.
Buy verification seats in bulk so investors verify at no cost to them. Per-seat pricing drops at higher volumes, and everything is published on the sponsors page.
From buying seats to a verified investor list — usually within a day per investor.
Choose a pack sized to your raise. Seats are prepaid and drawn down as investors verify.
Send investors your co-branded verification link. They upload documents straight to the CPA.
A licensed CPA reviews and issues a signed letter — typically within 24 hours of complete documents.
Your private dashboard shows every investor as invited, in review, or verified — with a certificate your counsel can check.
CPA-signed letters, investors verify free on your prepaid seats, and a dashboard that shows exactly who is verified — built for Rule 506(c) raises.
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