Tipalti provider of the leading global payments management platform, has fully integrated the first-ever intelligent Form W-8 collection solution into its platform.  The solution helps U.S. companies automate the accounts payable (AP) process by both paying suppliers who are nonresidents, foreign alien or entities while ensuring W-8 tax form compliance. KPMG has reviewed and concluded that this new W-8 capability meets the standards as outlined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Ensuring tax compliance

To ensure compliance when working with overseas partners, businesses must adhere to complex filing and withholding requirements by the IRS. Traditionally, a manual process includes performing due diligence assessment on a supplier, determining what forms are required, collecting the proper information, and then calculating the required payee tax withholdings. Countless different Forms W-8 exist with many complex requirements and it can be overwhelming and time-consuming for payees to determine which form to use and how to complete them adequately.  This often causes payee Form W-8 completion errors, tax withholding errors, payment delays and waste to both the payer and payee.

The new Tipalti offering streamlines the entire Form W-8 collection process with a web-based assistant that aids the supplier with form selection from over eight different tax forms including Forms W-9, W-8BEN, W-8BEN-E, W-8EXP, W-8IMY, W-8ECI, W-4 and Form 8233.  The solution then validates form data including SSN and EIN numbers against the IRS database, collects the chosen tax form and other ID information digitally, calculates payee withholding requirements based on the income types of payments made, and then generates a summary of withholding instructions for the payer. These instructions are included in Tipalti’s Form 1099 and 1042-S preparation reports and are automatically deducted from the payment amount to assist with annual tax reporting. Additionally, because of Tipalti’s cloud-based platform, future changes to filing requirements by the U.S. government will be automatically updated without any technical intervention from payers.

Simplifying the process of managing and paying overseas suppliers

This enhanced W-8 capability comes fully integrated with Tipalti’s global supplier payment platform. The unified cloud-based system helps accounts payable organizations manage the entire supplier payment workflow, from payee onboarding through to tax and regulatory compliance, supplier payment remittance across the world, payee communications, through to Form 1099 / 1042-S tax preparation and payment reconciliation reporting.

“Today’s Form W-8 collection and withholding requirements are complicated and confusing, and make the already-difficult process of managing and paying overseas suppliers even more challenging,”  said Chen Amit, co-founder and CEO of Tipalti. “Our new W-8 capability dramatically simplifies the process of managing and paying overseas suppliers, while ensuring compliance with the constantly changing tax and regulatory requirements.”

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CTMfile take: As we said in February 2015, “Business process automation is what payment services are about, not just payments. This (Tipalti service) should be the model for all future payment services.” This new addition to Tipalti’s service continues the business process automation with streamlining of tax form selection, validation, tax withholding, and 1099/1042-S tax preparation reporting​.