Paying an independent contractor from the United States is not enough on its own: you also need to know whether that payment must be reported, on which slip, and have the contractor's correct tax form in hand exactly when you need it. That tracking too often ends up in a spreadsheet nobody keeps current. This application keeps that register and prepares the US reporting slip that applies to each contractor.
Who the application is for
For businesses based in the United States that pay independent contractors or service providers, and that need to work out each year which payments trigger a reporting obligation specific to the US tax authority. This application is built around that US rule: it is not meant for payments made from another country.
What the application does
- Keeps a register of reportable payments, each one tied to a vendor, a form box and a period.
- Collects the vendor's tax form, stores their tax ID and the status they declare, and makes the document show up as missing again as soon as it expires.
- Accumulates amounts per form box and flags when that total reaches the threshold specific to that box, never stating on its own that a slip is due.
- Freezes, when the slip is prepared, the vendor's name, address and tax ID, so that a later change to their record never alters what was declared.
- Keeps out of the reportable register anything settled by card or through a payment platform, marking it out of scope with a reason rather than silently.
- Links, in its full edition, vendor payments actually settled — not invoices — to the reportable register.
- Prepares, in its full edition, the batch file for the name-and-tax-ID matching check, then reads back the response file with its date and provenance.
Day to day
- Request the tax form from each vendor before the first payment, and file it on their record as soon as it is received.
- Record each payment with its box and period; a payment settled by card gets marked separately, out of scope.
- Watch the total per box: a flag appears when it reaches the threshold specific to that box.
- At the end of the period, freeze each vendor's identity snapshot, then print their slip, marked as not being the official form.
- In the full edition, produce the batch filing file, deposit it yourself on the intended portal, then read back the response file to learn each match's verdict.
What the application does not do
- It does not transmit anything to the US tax authority: it produces files, and you deposit them.
- It never says whether a payment should be withheld or a relationship with a vendor ended: it notes that a tax ID does not match, without drawing a conclusion on your behalf.
- It does not sort a correction into an official category: that classification could not be verified at the source.
- It has not been tested through a real filing with the US tax authority: have your accountant check a first batch before relying on it.
- US tax rules can change: it does not replace the advice of your accountant or of the US tax authority.
Free and full editions
The free edition already keeps the register of reportable payments, collects the tax form, accumulates amounts per box with its threshold, freezes the identity snapshot and prints the slip and its summary, marked as not official. The full edition installs on top without losing anything, and adds automatic linking to vendor payments, the batch filing for the matching check, an export aligned with the filing template and corrected returns.
Getting started
Request the tax form from each vendor before any first payment, and check with your accountant the cases specific to your activity that change the applicable box or threshold. Also prepare each vendor's payment method, so that card payments are correctly marked out of scope.
Going further
To find out whether this application suits your business and how to activate it, compare the plans or write to us.