So you’ve got your US LLC, your EIN, and your Mercury account is approved. That’s the hard part done. But most guides stop right there, at the approval email. They never explain what comes next.
- How do you actually receive client payments?
- How do you move money to Sri Lanka without losing too much to fees?
- How do you keep your account from getting flagged, and stay compliant with the IRD back home?
This guide picks up where the Mercury Business Bank Account application process ends. We’ll walk through setting up your dashboard, receiving and moving money, using your cards, and staying compliant, everything you need to run your Mercury account well as a Sri Lankan LLC owner.
Log In and Set Up Your Dashboard
Once your Mercury account is approved, log in at mercury.com, and you’ll land on your dashboard. This is where you manage everything, including money in, money out, cards, and invoices.
By default, Mercury gives you one checking account and one savings account. For most Sri Lankan LLC owners, that’s not enough to stay organized. Client payments, taxes, and day to day spending all mixing in one account makes it hard to know what’s actually yours to spend.
Go to the Accounts tab and click Add Account to create more. A simple setup that works well:
- Operating: where client payments land first
- Taxes: move a percentage over every time you get paid
- Profit: what you actually keep
You can name each account by its purpose, so it’s clear at a glance where money should go.
If you’re running the LLC with a partner, or have a bookkeeper or VA who needs access, use Mercury’s roles and permissions to control what they can see and do. You can limit someone to view only, or let them send payments without giving them full account control.
How to Receive Money Into Your Mercury Account
There are a few ways money can land in your Mercury account, and most Sri Lankan founders end up using more than one.
1. Wire and ACH details
Every Mercury account comes with its own account and routing numbers. Go to your Accounts tab, select an account, and click Account Details to find them. Share these with clients who pay by wire or ACH. Domestic ACH and USD wires into Mercury are free.
2. Invoicing
Mercury lets you create and send invoices directly from your dashboard. Go to Invoicing, click Create Invoice, and add your client’s details, line items, and payment terms. You can add your logo and choose your own colors so it looks like a proper business invoice, not a generic template. Clients can pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, wire, or ACH, and you choose which account the money lands in.
3. Connected platforms
If you work through Upwork, Fiverr, or similar platforms, you can usually set Mercury as your payout destination the same way you would any US bank account. If you use Stripe or PayPal to bill clients directly, connect those to Mercury so payouts land automatically instead of sitting in a separate account.
4. Non USD payments
If a client pays you in a currency other than USD, Mercury converts it for you, and this is where the 1 percent conversion fee applies. If you deal with a lot of non USD clients, it’s worth reading the fees section further down before you decide how to route those payments.
Once money starts coming in, the next question is how to get it out to Sri Lanka, which is what we’ll cover next.
How to Move Money From Mercury to Sri Lanka
Once money is sitting in your Mercury account, you have two main ways to get it into your hands in Sri Lanka.
Option 1: Direct international wire
Go to Move Money and select Send. Choose international wire, then enter your Sri Lankan bank’s SWIFT code and your account details. Some banks also ask for an IBAN, so have that ready if yours issues one.
During the transfer, you’ll be asked to choose between SHA and OUR. SHA means the receiving bank can deduct its own fee from the amount that lands in your account. OUR means you pay that fee upfront from Mercury, and your bank receives the full amount. OUR is usually the better choice if you want to know exactly how much will land on the other end.
Since this is a non USD wire once it reaches Sri Lanka, Mercury’s 1 percent conversion fee applies. Sri Lankan banks may also apply their own incoming wire charges, so check with your bank beforehand.
Option 2: Route through Wise
Many Sri Lankan founders send money from Mercury to a Wise account first, then from Wise to their Sri Lankan bank. Wise often gives a better exchange rate than converting directly through Mercury, especially on larger amounts. To do this, add your Wise USD account details as the recipient on a Mercury wire, then complete the LKR conversion and payout from inside Wise.
How Long Will it Take?
A direct wire to Sri Lanka usually takes one to three business days. Routing through Wise adds a short extra step but can still land within a similar window, depending on when you initiate each leg of the transfer.
What Your Bank Will Ask?
When a large USD wire lands in Sri Lanka, your bank may ask for the source of funds, an invoice, or a simple explanation of the payment. Keep basic documentation on hand so this doesn’t slow things down.
Mercury’s Fees You’ll Actually Pay
Mercury is genuinely free for most of what you’ll use day to day, but a few charges do apply once your business is actually moving money.
What’s Free?
- Domestic ACH transfers
- Domestic USD wire transfers
- Incoming USD wires, including from international clients
- Outgoing USD wires
- Physical and virtual debit cards
- Monthly account maintenance
For a Sri Lankan LLC owner mostly billing US clients in USD, this covers almost everything.
The 1 Percent Conversion Fee
The one cost you can’t avoid is the 1 percent fee Mercury charges whenever it converts a non USD payment, or when you send money in a currency other than USD.
Example Math:
On a $1,000 client payment in EUR or GBP, that’s $10. On a $5,000 payment, it’s $50. It’s not huge on a single transaction. But if you regularly bill clients in other currencies, it adds up over a year.
When Wise Works Out Cheaper
If a large share of your income comes in non USD currencies, converting through Wise instead of Mercury usually saves you money, since Wise tends to offer a rate closer to the real mid market rate rather than a fixed 1 percent markup.
Our Suggestion: Keep USD payments inside Mercury, and route non USD payments through Wise before they touch your Mercury account.
Do They Offer Paid Plans?
Yes. Mercury also offers Plus and Pro plans (starting at $35 and $350 a month) with extra invoicing and expense tools. Most Sri Lankan founders running a lean setup won’t need either. The free plan covers what a typical single member LLC or small agency uses.
[Source: https://mercury.com/pricing]
Things You Need to Know When Using Your Mercury Debit and IO Cards
Mercury gives you more than one card option, and knowing how each works helps you avoid unnecessary fees and keep spending organized as your business grows.
1. Ordering a physical card to Sri Lanka
When your account is approved, Mercury lets you order a physical Visa debit card and ship it to your address in Sri Lanka. Go to the Cards tab, click Create Card, and choose physical. It usually takes a couple of weeks to arrive by international mail. Use it for local purchases, ATM withdrawals, or any expense where a card is easier than a wire.
2. Creating virtual cards for subscriptions and ad spend
Virtual cards are available instantly, no waiting required. You can create up to 50 of them, so it makes sense to use a separate card for each recurring cost, one for Meta or Google ads, one for software subscriptions, one for hosting. If a card gets compromised or a subscription needs to be cancelled, you just kill that one card instead of touching your main account.
3. Applying for the Mercury IO credit card without an SSN
Getting a normal US credit card as a non resident is almost impossible since it usually requires an SSN and a US credit history. The Mercury IO card skips both. Approval is based on your Mercury account balance instead of a personal credit score, which makes it accessible to Sri Lankan founders. Apply from your dashboard once your account has some transaction history and balance behind it.
4. Setting spend limits per card or per team member
Every card, physical or virtual, can have its own spend limit. If you hire a contractor or have a team member handling ad spend, issue them a card with a fixed limit instead of giving them access to the full account. You can adjust or freeze any card at any time from the Cards tab, which keeps control in your hands even as your team grows.
Tips to Keep Your Account in Good Standing
Mercury can freeze or close an account without much warning if something about your activity looks off. These tips keep you clear of that.
- Match your activity to what you declared. Stick to the business description you gave when you applied. If you said you offer SEO services and suddenly start receiving payments for e-commerce sales, expect a review. Update Mercury if your business genuinely changes direction.
- Avoid sudden large transactions early on. Don’t let a $50 monthly average jump to a $20,000 wire out of nowhere. Ramp up gradually, and if a big payment is coming, it helps to have an invoice or contract ready to explain it.
- Keep documentation for every large payment. Save invoices, contracts, and client correspondence for anything unusual or high value. If Mercury asks for source of funds, you want to send proof in minutes, not scramble to find it.
- Respond fast if Mercury asks questions. If you get a request for more information, answer within a day or two. Give exactly what’s asked for, plus any context that clarifies the transaction. Slow or vague replies are what turn a routine check into a frozen account.
- Don’t use a VPN on your account. Log in from Sri Lanka using your normal connection. A mismatched IP address is one of the fastest ways to trigger a security flag, even on an account that’s been open for years.
- Separate personal and business spending. Run every business expense through your Mercury account and keep personal spending out of it. Mixed activity makes your transaction history harder to explain if Mercury ever asks.
Do I Have to Report Mercury Income to Sri Lankan Tax Authorities
Yes. Any income that flows from your Mercury account to you personally counts as foreign income under Sri Lankan tax law, and it needs to be declared to the Inland Revenue Department, regardless of whether the money stays in Mercury, moves through Wise, or lands directly in your Sri Lankan bank account.
This applies even if your US LLC pays little or no US tax. The IRD looks at what you, as a Sri Lankan tax resident, actually receive, not what your LLC reports to the IRS. The two systems are separate, and clearing one doesn’t clear the other.
What Counts as Reportable?
Money transferred from your business account into your personal accounts, whether as a single transfer, a salary, or profit withdrawals, is treated as income once it reaches you.
Records Worth Keeping?
- Bank statements showing transfers from Mercury or Wise into your local accounts
- Invoices or contracts tied to each payment
- A simple log of what came in and when, separate from your business bookkeeping
Why This Matters?
Missing this isn’t a small mistake. Underreporting foreign income can lead to penalties, and it gets harder to explain the longer it goes unreported. Since your Mercury account activity may also be shared between US and Sri Lankan authorities under FATCA, treating this as optional is a real risk, not just a technicality.
A tax advisor familiar with both US LLC and Sri Lankan tax rules is worth the cost here, since the two overlap in ways that are easy to get wrong on your own.
Read our full US LLC tax guide for Sri Lankans to understand how to handle both sides correctly.
Mercury Tools Worth Turning On
Beyond basic banking, Mercury has a few built in tools that are worth setting up early, even if you’re running a small operation.
1. Bookkeeping integrations
Connect Mercury to QuickBooks or Xero from your dashboard settings. Transactions sync automatically, so you’re not manually exporting statements every month. This matters more than it seems once tax season or an IRD filing comes around, since clean records make the whole process faster.
2. Mobile app
Download the Mercury app for iOS or Android to check balances, approve transfers, and move money between accounts from anywhere. Useful if you’re managing client payments or approving card spend while away from your laptop.
3. Mercury Treasury
If your balance grows past $250,000, Mercury Treasury lets you put idle cash to work instead of leaving it sitting in checking. Funds are invested through partners like J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley, and the money stays accessible while earning a return. Most Sri Lankan founders won’t need this in year one, but it’s worth knowing it exists as your business scales.
4. Perks and free credits
Mercury also gives approved businesses discounts on tools like AWS, Google Cloud, and Gusto. Check the Perks section in your dashboard. These aren’t essential, but if you’re already paying for hosting or team tools, it’s free money left on the table if you skip it.
Managing Mercury Is Just One Part of Running a Compliant US LLC
Keeping your Mercury account organized, tracking what needs to move to Sri Lanka, and staying IRD compliant is a lot to manage alongside actually running your business. If you’d rather not handle it all yourself, BR.lk can help.
Here’s what we take off your plate:
- Bookkeeping: We keep your Mercury transactions organized and your books ready for both US and Sri Lankan tax season, so nothing falls through the cracks.
- US LLC tax filing: Form 5472, Form 1120, and IRD reporting handled by a team that understands both systems.
- Stripe and payment setup: If you’re still routing payments manually, we help you connect Stripe, PayPal, and Mercury properly from day one.
- Ongoing compliance support: Annual reports, registered agent renewals, and EIN related paperwork, so your LLC stays in good standing year after year.
You already did the hard part getting your US LLC and Mercury account approved. Let us help you run it the right way from here.
Conclusion
Getting your Mercury account approved was the hard part. Running it well from Sri Lanka is a different skill, and now you have the full picture: how to set up your dashboard, receive payments, move money home without losing too much to fees, keep your cards working for you, stay off Mercury’s radar for the wrong reasons, and report your income correctly to the IRD.
None of this is complicated once you know the steps. It just takes setting things up right from the start, and staying consistent as your business grows. Do that, and your Mercury account becomes one less thing to worry about while you focus on the business itself.
Key Takeaways
- Set up separate accounts for operating, taxes, and profit instead of running everything through one Mercury account.
- Use roles and permissions to give a partner, bookkeeper, or VA limited access without handing over full control.
- Receive payments through wire, ACH, Mercury invoicing, or connected platforms like Stripe, PayPal, Upwork, and Fiverr.
- Non USD payments get converted automatically, and Mercury charges a 1 percent fee on that conversion.
- Moving money to Sri Lanka works either through a direct international wire or by routing through Wise for a better exchange rate.
- Choosing OUR over SHA on a wire ensures your Sri Lankan bank receives the full amount without deducted fees.
- Domestic ACH, USD wires, and debit cards are free, so the main recurring cost is the currency conversion fee on non USD income.
- Physical and virtual debit cards, along with the Mercury IO credit card, are available to Sri Lankan founders without an SSN.
- Any income that reaches you personally from Mercury counts as foreign income and must be reported to the Sri Lanka Inland Revenue Department.
- Matching your activity to your original application and responding quickly to Mercury’s requests keeps your account from getting flagged or frozen.
FAQs
Yes. Mercury doesn’t require a Social Security Number for non-residents. Identity is verified using your passport instead, and this applies to both the standard account and the Mercury IO credit card, which is based on your account balance rather than a US credit score.
Incoming USD wires are free, including from international clients. If the wire arrives in a currency other than USD, Mercury converts it automatically, and that’s when the 1 percent conversion fee applies, not a separate wire fee.
Yes. You can add a partner as a full account owner during setup or later through your dashboard. For anyone who needs access without ownership, like a bookkeeper or VA, use roles and permissions instead to control what they can see and do.
Mercury typically freezes an account when activity doesn’t match your original application. You’ll usually get a request for more information or documentation. Respond quickly and clearly, since slow or vague replies are what turn a temporary freeze into a full account closure.
No. Mercury is an online-only platform with no branches, so there’s no way to deposit physical cash. If your business regularly handles cash, you’ll need a separate solution alongside Mercury to get that money into your business accounts.
Mercury’s savings account earns a variable yield with no minimum balance required. Rates change over time, so check your dashboard or Mercury’s pricing page for the current rate rather than relying on a fixed number here.
