TikTok Business Center is a centralized management hub that lets businesses, teams, and agencies organize ad accounts, assets, team members, and payment settings in one place. It is not the same as TikTok Ads Manager, and the two operate differently when it comes to ad credit eligibility.
Before setting up a Business Center, there is one critical thing to understand: ad accounts created through Business Center are excluded from TikTok’s new advertiser credit program for self-serve SMB accounts. If your goal is to access new advertiser promotional credits, you should create your ad account directly through TikTok Ads Manager rather than through Business Center.
That said, Business Center does support its own ad credit mechanisms. Ad credits can be issued to a Business Center and then manually allocated to owned ad accounts. This guide covers how to set up Business Center, how payment and credit management works within it, and when Business Center is the right choice for your situation.
When to Use Business Center vs Ads Manager Directly
Understanding which path to take before you create any account will save you from eligibility issues later.
Use TikTok Ads Manager directly if:
- You are a single business advertising your own products or services
- You want to qualify for TikTok’s new advertiser promotional credit program
- You do not need to manage multiple ad accounts or share access with a team
Use TikTok Business Center if:
- You are an agency managing advertising for multiple clients
- You need to manage multiple ad accounts under one organization
- You want to grant and revoke team member access without sharing login credentials
- You are managing shared assets like pixels, audiences, catalogs, or TikTok accounts across campaigns
Step 1: Create Your Business Center Account
Go to business.tiktok.com and click Get started. You can also access the signup flow from getstarted.tiktok.com.
Sign in with your TikTok for Business account credentials or create a new login if you don’t have one yet. You will then be prompted to set up your Business Center profile with:
- Business Center name
- Business type (advertiser or agency)
- Country or region
- Industry
Choose your business type accurately. If you select “advertiser,” Business Center is configured for managing your own business’s advertising. If you select “agency,” it is configured for managing advertising on behalf of clients. The setup flows differ slightly between the two.
Step 2: Verify Your Business
After your Business Center is created, business verification is required before you can create or manage ad accounts. Verification confirms that your business is legally registered.
To verify your business through Business Center:
- Log in to Business Center
- Click Verification in the left-hand menu
- Confirm the current status shows “Unverified” and click Verify now
- Select your account type and enter your business name, industry, and company website (optional)
- Upload an acceptable verification document and your certificate number Note: The information entered must match the uploaded document exactly. Mismatches cause rejection.
- Click Submit
Verification review takes up to two business days. Your status will show as “Pending” during review and will update to “Verified” or “Unverified” once complete.
For a complete list of accepted documents by country, refer to Acceptable documents for business verification.
Optional step: after your company information is verified, you can also verify your legal representative’s identity. This requires uploading a government-issued ID (Passport, Driver’s license, or National ID). This step is mandatory if you plan to create an Organization Account in Business Center.
Step 3: Set Up Payment Management
Once your Business Center is verified, you need to configure payment settings before ad accounts can run campaigns and accumulate spend.
To add a payment method in Business Center:
- Log in to Business Center
- Click Finance in the left-hand menu
- Click Payment management
- If you have been upgraded to Payment Portfolio, click Manage under Payment methods
- If not upgraded, click Settings next to your Available balance
- Click the three dots and select Add a payment method
- Enter your payment details
- Click Submit
To manage payments in Business Center, you must hold one of the following roles: Admin, Admin with financial manager role, or Standard with financial manager role.
Business Center supports manual payment, automatic payment, and monthly invoicing (monthly invoicing requires a minimum of six months of account activity and is not available to new accounts).
Step 4: Create or Connect Ad Accounts
With payment set up, you can now create ad accounts within your Business Center or connect existing ones.
To create a new ad account as an advertiser:
- Log in to Business Center
- Click Accounts in the left-hand menu
- Go to the Advertiser accounts tab under All accounts
- Click Add advertiser account
- Select Create New and click Next
- Fill in the ad account name, timezone, and contact information
- Click Confirm
To create a new ad account as an agency (for a client):
Follow the same steps above, but in Step 6, you will need to provide your client’s company information, a new ad account name, and billing details. Use the search function to find the exact business name as it exists in TikTok’s system. If the client has had a previous ad account approved through Business Center, you can reuse their verified legal entity certificate to skip the re-verification step for new accounts.
To request access to an existing ad account:
If an advertiser already has a TikTok Ads Manager account and wants Business Center to manage it, a Business Center admin can request access:
- Go to Accounts, then Advertiser accounts
- Click Add advertiser account
- Click Request Access and enter the advertiser’s account ID
- Select the permission level needed (Admin, Operator, or Analyst)
- Submit the request
The account owner will receive an email asking them to approve access.
Step 5: Allocate Ad Credits to Ad Accounts
Business Center can hold ad credits at the Business Center level and distribute them to owned ad accounts. This is done manually, and the allocation is permanent once made.
To allocate ad credits from Business Center to an ad account:
- Log in to Business Center
- Click Finance, then Payment management
- Under the owned ad account you want to fund, click Add Balance
- Choose the credit amount you want to transfer
- Click Confirm
Key rules that apply to this process:
- Ad credits transferred from Business Center to a TikTok Ads Manager account cannot be withdrawn back to Business Center. The action is permanent and irreversible.
- Ad credits issued this way are not assignable to specific campaigns. They are consumed automatically before any available cash or credit line balance.
- TikTok does not support auto-allocation of ad credits. Each transfer must be done manually.
Step 6: Add Team Members and Assign Permissions
Once your Business Center is set up and ad accounts are created, you can invite team members and control what each person can access.
To invite a member:
- Click Users in the left-hand menu
- Click Add member and enter their email address
- Assign the appropriate role (Admin or Standard)
Admin members have full control over accounts and assets. Standard members can only access the accounts and assets they have been explicitly assigned to.
To assign a member to a specific ad account:
- In the Users tab, locate the member
- Click Grant access in the Action column
- Select the accounts and assets to assign
- Set the access level for each
Only Business Center admins can assign account and asset permissions to members.
Understanding Ad Credit Eligibility in Business Center
Because Business Center-created ad accounts are excluded from TikTok’s standard new advertiser credit program, credits in a Business Center context come through different channels:
- Credits issued by a TikTok sales representative to a managed account
- Credits from Business Center-level promotional programs for agencies or large advertisers
- Credits issued to the Business Center from TikTok and then allocated manually to ad accounts
If you are a smaller business looking for new advertiser credits, the standard path is to create your ad account directly at ads.tiktok.com, not through Business Center.
To check current credit availability in your Business Center, go to Finance, Payment Management. The balance overview shows your available cash balance, voucher (credit) balance, and any ad credits held at the Business Center level.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does creating an ad account through Business Center affect my new advertiser credit eligibility?
Yes. Ad accounts created through Business Center or an Agency are excluded from TikTok’s new advertiser promotional credit program for self-serve SMB accounts. If you want those credits, create your ad account directly through TikTok Ads Manager at ads.tiktok.com.
Can I move an existing Ads Manager ad account into Business Center later?
Ad account transfer into Business Center is available for certain customers. This process requires working with a TikTok representative. Not all accounts are eligible for self-serve transfer.
What roles are needed to manage payments in Business Center?
You need to be an Admin, an Admin with a financial manager role, or a Standard member with a financial manager role to view and manage payment methods and balances in Business Center.
Can I allocate ad credits from Business Center to multiple ad accounts?
Yes, but each allocation must be done separately and manually. TikTok does not support auto-allocation. Once credits are transferred from Business Center to an ad account, they cannot be returned to Business Center.
How do I check if my Business Center has available ad credits?
Go to Finance, Payment management in Business Center. The balance overview shows your available cash balance and voucher (credit) balance. Credits are listed under the voucher balance column.
How many ad accounts can I create in one Business Center?
There is a default limit on the number of ad accounts per Business Center, and the limit varies based on your Business Center type. Contact your TikTok account manager or TikTok Business Support if you need to increase this limit.
Source: About Business Center | How to Create Ad Accounts in Business Center | How to Manually Allocate Ad Credits from Business Center | About Payment Management in Business Center | New Advertiser Incentive Program
