Square’s $7 Million Tax Settlement Gets San Francisco’s OK

Square Inc. will receive $7 million from San Francisco to settle a tax dispute that could have cost the company up to $66 million.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved settling the lawsuit that Square, a popular payment app for businesses including online platforms such as Etsy, filed last fall against its hometown over the classification of its business activities for tax purposes. San Francisco reclassified Square’s activities as financial services, rather than what the company said was information services, resulting in higher taxes and nearly double the amount of gross receipts subject to tax.

California ...