What are Tax forms and why is my client asking for it?
W8-BEN Form:
A Form W-8 is completed by non-resident aliens (NRA) who do work and/or make income in the U.S. or foreign business entities who make income in the U.S. These tax forms are only used by foreign persons certifying their foreign status.
There are several versions of the W-8 form. It certifies foreign status, regarding tax withholding on income. The purpose of the Form W-8 is to establish the identity and status of your Recipient/Vendor as a non-U.S. person.
Click here to access the W8-BEN form.
W-9 Form:
Anyone who does work for a company but was not the actual employee of that company is required to fill out Form W-9 for every company for which they performed the non-employee work. The W-9 is referred to as the Federal Information Reporting Form. The W-9 is used in the United States when working as a freelancer or as an independent contractor.
Click here to access the the W9 form.
Is it mandatory?
If payments are managed through Upfluence, then a W-9, or a W8-BEN for non-U.S. individuals, must be submitted in order for your payments to be processed. Both a bank account or PayPal email and a W-9, or W-8, will be required in order for any payments submitted to you to be processed.
We understand that there may be concerns about providing some information, such as a Social Security Number (SSN), however, we can assure that all information provided on the tax form is kept confidential.
The IRS only requires payments of over $600 to have a W9 submitted. Do we still need to submit this for payments below $600?
It's part of our process and is required on our hand. Our billing team will keep this on file. If you continue partnering with brands, it's very likely that you'll have a payment above 600 soon so the time spent to fill it in is not lost.
Guides
W8-BEN Guide
The below guide will assist you in filling out the W8-BEN form, allowing us to process your payment more quickly
1. Use the following link to download a W8-BEN form: https://s3.amazonaws.com/upfluence-common/compliance/fw8ben_1.pdf
2. The following sections must be filled out in order for us to accept the form and submit payment:
Name of individual who is the beneficial owner
Country of citizenship
Permanent residence address
Date of birth
Signature of beneficial owner (must be a signature and not printed name)
Print name of signer
Date
If the above fields are not completed, we cannot accept the form and process payment The required fields to fill-out are highlighted below:
W-9 Guide
W9 Guide The below guide will assist you in filling out the W9 form, allowing us to process your payment more quickly.
1. Use the following link to download a W9 form:
2. The following sections must be filled out in order for us to accept the form and submit payment:
Name
Business name (if different from above)
Federal Tax Classification
Address
Social security number or employee identification number
Signature (must be a signature and not printed name)
Date
If the above fields are not completed, we cannot accept the form and process payment The required fields to fill-out are highlighted below:
If you have any additional questions, feel free to reach out to us at support@upfluence.com or through the chat!