Managing an AWS account

You can use the AWS Billing and Cost Management console to change the following account settings:

• Contact and alternate contact information

• Currency that you pay your bills in

• AWS Regions that you can create resources in

• Tax registration numbers

To sign in to the Account page

Choose one of the following options:

• Sign in to the Account page in the Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home?#/account.

• Sign in to the AWS Management Console, and on the top right-corner, choose your account name, and then choose Account.

Notes:

• Only the AWS account root user can edit some sections on the Account page. If you don't see the Edit option, switch to the root user.

• For AWS accounts with a billing address in India, see Managing an account in India.

Contents

• Editing your account name, AWS account root user password, and AWS account root user email address
• Editing contact information
• Adding or updating alternate contacts
  • Examples for alternate contacts
• Adding or editing security challenge questions
• Enabling and disabling AWS Regions
• Activating IAM access to the AWS Billing and Cost Management console
• Manage account contract information
• Updating and deleting tax registration numbers
• Turning on tax setting inheritance
• Managing your US tax exemptions
• Closing your AWS account

Editing your account name, AWS account root user password, and AWS account root user email address

You can use the Account page to edit your account name, AWS account root user password, or email address. Email in this case refers to the root user email address. This is the email address that you use to sign in to your account.

Note

To perform the following procedure, you must sign in as the root user. The root user doesn't need additional AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) permissions. You can't complete this procedure with an IAM role.

To edit your account name, AWS account root user password, or AWS account root user email address

1. Sign in to the Account page in the Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home?#/account as the root user.

2. On the Account page, next to Account settings, choose Edit.

3. Enter your updated information and then choose Update.

Editing contact information

You can change the contact information associated with your account, including your mailing address, telephone number, and website address.

To edit your contact information

1. Sign in to the Account page in the Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home?#/account.

2. Under Contact information, choose Edit.

3. Enter your updated information and then choose Update.

Notes

• Your phone number must include the country code and can only contain the following characters: 0-9, +, – (hyphen). For example, [phone].

• You can add an email address for billing in the Alternate contacts section to have AWS send a copy of billing-related emails to that email address. For example, AWS sends your Billing contact address an email message when your monthly bill is ready.

Adding or updating alternate contacts

Alternate contacts allows AWS to contact another person about issues with your account, even if you're unavailable. The alternate contact doesn't have to be a specific person. You could instead add an email distribution list if you have a team that manages billing, operations and security related issues.

To add or update alternate contacts

1. Sign in to the Account page in the Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home?#/account.

2. Under Alternate contacts, choose Edit.

3. Enter your updated information and choose Update.

Examples for alternate contacts

AWS will reach out to each contact type in the following scenarios:

• Billing – When your monthly invoice is available, or your payment method needs to be updated. If you enabled Receive PDF Invoice By Email in your Billing preferences, your alternate billing contact also receives the PDF invoices. Notifications can be from AWS Support, or other AWS service teams.

• Operations – When your service is, or will be, temporarily unavailable in one of more AWS Regions. Your contacts will also receive any notification related to operations. Notifications can be from AWS Support, or other AWS service teams

• Security – When you have notifications from the AWS Security, AWS Trust and Safety, or AWS service teams. These notifications might include security issues or potential abusive or fraudulent activities on your AWS account. Notifications can be from AWS Support, or other AWS service teams concerning security related topics associated with your AWS account usage. Don't include sensitive information in the subject line or full name fields since this might be used in email communications to you.

Adding or editing security challenge questions

You can add another layer of authentication by adding security challenge questions and their answers to your AWS account. When you contact AWS Support, AWS uses this information to help authenticate you as the owner of your account.

To add or edit security challenge questions

1. Sign in to the Account page in the Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home?#/account.

2. Under Security challenge questions, choose Edit.

3. Change the values in any of the available fields. You can select any of the provided questions, and then enter the appropriate answer.

4. Enter your updated information and choose Update.

Enabling and disabling AWS Regions

Before this feature was available, AWS originally enabled all new Regions by default, which allowed your users to create resources in any Region. Now when AWS adds a Region, the new Region is disabled by default. You can enable a Region so that your users can create resources in that new Region.

Note the following about enabling and disabling Regions:

You can use IAM permissions to control access to Regions

IAM includes permissions that you can use to control which users can enable, disable, and list Regions.

For more information, see the following topics:

• AWS Billing actions

• AWS: Allows enabling and disabling AWS Regions in the IAM User Guide

• Managing AWS Regions in the Amazon Web Services General Reference

Enabling a Region is free

There's no charge to enable a Region. You're only charged for resources that you create in the Region.

Disabling a Region removes access to resources in that Region

If you disable a Region that still includes AWS resources, such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances, you can't access the resources in that Region. For example, you can't use the AWS Management Console or any programmatic method to view or change the configuration of any EC2 instances in that Region.

Charges continue if you disable a Region

If you disable a Region that still includes AWS resources, charges for those resources (if any) continue to accrue at the standard rate.

For example, if you disable a Region that contains Amazon EC2 instances, you still have to pay the charges for those instances even though the instances are inaccessible.

Disabling a Region isn't always immediately visible

If you disable a Region, the change takes time to become visible in all possible endpoints. Disabling a Region can take between a few seconds to minutes to take effect.

Existing Regions are enabled by default

The original Regions (the Regions that existed before we added the ability to enable and disable Regions) are all enabled by default and can't be disabled.

Enabling a Region takes a few minutes for most accounts

Enabling a Region generally takes effect in minutes. However, it can take longer for some accounts. If enabling a Region takes longer than nine hours, sign in to the AWS Support Center Console and create a case with AWS Support.

Follow either procedure to enable or disable a Region:

To enable or disable a Region

1. Sign in to the Account page in the Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home?#/account.

2. To enable a Region:

   1. Under AWS Regions, select the Region, and then choose Enable.

   2. In the dialog box, choose Enable Region.

3. To disable a Region:

   1. Under AWS Regions, select the Region, and then choose Disable.

   2. In the dialog box, for Disable RegionName, enter disable, and then choose Disable Region.

Activating IAM access to the AWS Billing and Cost Management console

By default, IAM roles within an AWS account can't access the Billing and Cost Management console. This is true even if the IAM user or role has IAM policies that grant access to specific Billing features. The root user can allow IAM users and roles access to Billing and Cost Management console by using the Activate IAM access setting.

For more information about this feature, see About IAM Access to the AWS Billing and Cost Management console.

To provide access to the Billing and Cost Management console

1. Sign in to the Account page in the Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home?#/account.

2. Under IAM user and role access to Billing information, choose Edit.

3. Select Activate IAM access.

4. Choose Update.

Manage account contract information

If this account is used to service public sector customers, enter the contract details in this section.

To manage the contract information

1. Sign in to the Account page in the Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/home?#/account.

2. Under Account Contract Information, choose Edit.

3. Enter your updated information and choose Update.

Updating and deleting tax registration numbers

Use the following steps to update or delete one or more tax registration numbers.

To update tax registration numbers

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Tax settings.

3. Under Tax registrations, select the numbers to edit.

4. For Manage tax registration, choose Edit.

5. Enter your updated information and choose Update.

You can remove one or more tax registration numbers.

To delete tax registration numbers

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Tax settings.

3. Under Tax Registrations, select the tax registration numbers to delete.

4. For Manage tax registration, choose Delete TRN.

5. In the Delete tax registration dialog box, choose Delete.

Turning on tax setting inheritance

You can use your tax registration information with your member accounts by turning on your Tax settings inheritance. After you activate it, your tax registration information is added to your other AWS Organizations accounts, saving you the effort of registering redundant information. Tax invoices are processed with the consistent tax information, and your usage from member accounts will consolidate to a single tax invoice.

Notes

• Tax inheritance settings are only available to accounts after a member account is added.

• If you turn off tax inheritance, the member accounts revert to the account's original TRN setting. If there was no TRN originally set for the account, no TRN will be assigned.

Tax registration information includes:

• Business legal name

• Tax address

• Tax registration number

• Special exemptions (does not apply for US sales tax exemptions)

To turn on tax setting inheritance

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Tax settings.

3. Under Tax registrations, select Enable tax settings inheritance.

4. In the dialog box, choose Enable.

Managing your US tax exemptions

If your state is eligible, you can manage your US tax exemptions on the Tax settings page. The documents you upload for the exemption are reviewed by AWS Support within 24 hours.

Note

You must have IAM permissions to view the Tax exemptions tab on the Tax settings page in the Billing and Cost Management console.

For an example IAM policy, see Allow IAM users to view US tax exemptions and create AWS Support cases.

To upload or add your US tax exemption

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the AWS Billing and Cost Management console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/billing/.

2. In the navigation pane, choose Tax settings.

3. Choose Tax exemptions.

4. Choose all of the accounts to add the tax exemption. Choose Manage tax exemption and select Add tax exemption.

   1. If you're logged in as a linked account, you can add tax exemptions to only the linked account.

   2. If you're logged in as a payer account, you can add tax exemptions to both payer and linked accounts.

5. Specify your exemption type and jurisdiction.

6. Upload certificate documents.

7. Review your information, and choose Submit.

Within 24 hours, AWS Support will notify you through a support case if they need additional information, or if any of your documents weren't valid.

Once the exemption is approved, you can view it under the Tax exemption tab with an Active validity period.

You will be notified through a support case contact if your exemption was rejected.

Closing your AWS account

For more information about closing your AWS account, see Close your account in the AWS Account Management Reference Guide.