Complete your W-9 tax form
Complete the W-9 (1099) form when Dots asks you to provide your U.S. tax information, and choose whether you're an individual or a business before you start. You'll be asked for this form when it appears as a step in a payout or hosted flow, or you can manage it from Settings under Manage 1099 tax form.
Choose your entity type
The form branches based on whether you're an individual or a business, and the fields you fill in depend on that choice.
Individual: Legal First Name, Legal Last Name, Social Security Number, Date of Birth, and your address (Line 1, Line 2, City, State, Zip Code).
Business: Business Structure, Employer Identification Number, Business Name, Date of Formation, and your address.
If you're a single-member LLC owned by a foreign person or entity, select the option that says the LLC is owned by a foreign person or entity. The form then directs you to Continue to W-8BEN-E (see Complete your W-8BEN tax form), because foreign-owned single member LLCs are required to complete Form W-8BEN-E instead of Form W-9.
Enter your details
Use your legal name and tax ID exactly as they appear on your IRS records, since Dots checks that the name and tax ID match.
U.S. ZIP codes must be five digits.
Dates use the format YYYY-MM-DD.
If a value is invalid, the form shows a message such as Invalid ZIP code or Invalid date format.
Certify and choose electronic delivery
Check the box labeled Click here to certify. before you can submit — the Submit button stays disabled until you do.
You also choose whether to receive your 1099 forms electronically. If you don't select electronic delivery, the form asks you to confirm with I am sure before continuing.
Submit and what happens next
Click Submit to send the form. While it's processing, the button reads Submitting....
After you submit, Dots verifies your name and tax ID against IRS records. This usually takes a few minutes but may rarely take over a day. You may see one of these states:
Tax ID verification pending — your form is still being checked.
Tax ID verification failed or a mismatch warning — the name and tax ID you provided don't match IRS records. Dots then shows: We are unable to verify that the name and tax ID you provided match.
If your verification fails, re-check that your legal name and tax ID are entered exactly as the IRS has them, then submit again. For reference, the form links to the IRS pages for 1099-NEC and 1099-K.