Ask a vendor for a W-9 or a document

Ask one vendor

1. Open Expenses & bills, then Vendors, and select the vendor's name.
2. Select the Documents tab.
3. In the Paperwork card, select Ask for a W-9. For anything else, select Ask for a document and choose it under What do you need?
4. If the vendor has no email, enter one. It is saved to the vendor.
5. Enter a Message of up to 500 characters if you want one. It is shown in the email as plain text.
6. Select Send request.

The vendor gets an email with a private link. They need no account or password. The link works for 30 days and for one answer.

What the vendor does

For a W-9, the vendor's page asks for their name, tax classification, address and tax ID, shows the certification, and asks them to tick two boxes and type their name to sign. Upload a signed W-9 instead lets them send a file. For any other document the page has one upload. Files must be PDF, JPG or PNG, up to 10 MB.

The page shows your business name and nothing else about your business. After sending, the vendor gets a copy by email that shows only the last four digits of the tax ID, and the link stops working.

Follow a request

The Paperwork card shows when you asked, when the vendor first opened the link, and the next reminder date.

• With Remind them every 7 days until it is done ticked, QixCount emails up to 3 reminders, 7 days apart. Reminders stop when the vendor answers or you cancel.
• Send again now emails a new link. The earlier links stop working. A vendor is emailed about one kind of document at most once in 10 minutes; sooner than that, the page says how long to wait.
• Cancel request ends the request. The link stops working.
• After 30 days the card says the link expired. Select Send a new link.
• If the email could not be delivered, the card says so. Select Fix the email, save the right address on the vendor, then select Send again.

When the vendor answers

A completed W-9 is saved as a PDF under the vendor's documents as the W-9, signed that day. A W-9 already there moves to History. An uploaded file is added with its type.

From a completed W-9, QixCount fills the vendor's legal company name, address, and tax ID and type where those are empty. Where an answer differs from what you have, nothing changes. The Documents tab shows what is on file and what is on the W-9. Choose to use the W-9 value, or select Keep mine. A tax ID that another vendor already has is never filled in for you.

The tax classification and exempt payee code stay on the signed PDF.

Ask several vendors

1. Open Expenses & bills, then Vendors.
2. In the note that says how many vendors you track for 1099 have no W-9 and have not been asked, select Ask all. The list shows active vendors tracked for 1099 with no current W-9 and no request waiting. The note appears only when there is at least one. With more than 200 such vendors, the button offers to ask the first 200 and the list shows the first 200 by name. Ask the rest afterwards.
3. Untick anyone you do not want to ask. For a vendor with no email, enter one under Add their email.
4. Select the send button.

Vendors with no email are not asked, and the result names them.

A business can send 200 request emails in 24 hours. Past that, a request is not sent and the page says why; the result of Ask all names each vendor that was not asked. Reminders of a request already sent do not count toward the 200. The 10-minute wait and the limit also apply to the request sent with an expiry reminder and to the request sent when you add a vendor.

Ask when you add a vendor

On the New vendor page, turn on Email them a W-9 request when I save. The request is sent when the vendor has an email and is not waiting for approval. The saved message says whether it was sent.

This guide explains how QixCount works. It isn't tax, legal or accounting advice.

Next, keep documents on a vendor.