How to Collect W-9 and W-8BEN Forms Before the February 1, 2027 1099 Deadline: 5 Bill Pay Tools Compared
Slash, BILL, Melio, Ramp and Tipalti all let you request a W-9 when you onboard a vendor. Slash, Ramp and Tipalti can also collect a W-8 from a foreign vendor. You’ll draw on those forms when you file 1099s for payments made in 2026. Form 1099-NEC is due to both the IRS and the contractor by Monday, February 1, 2027. The usual deadline, January 31, falls on a Sunday, and the IRS moves a weekend due date to the next business day.
The reporting threshold is also higher this year. For payments made in 2026, most payment types on a 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC are reportable once you pay one payee $2,000 in the year, up from $600, according to IRS Publication 1099. Slash, a business banking platform¹ with built-in Bill Pay, collects the W-9 or W-8 through vendor invites, in the same request that collects the vendor’s bank details.
The platforms below differ in four areas: W-8 support, IRS TIN matching, whether they file 1099s for you, and which pricing plan includes each feature.
Key Takeaways
- A 1099-NEC for 2026 payments is due to the IRS and the contractor by February 1, 2027, and most payment types are reported from $2,000 paid to one payee, up from $600.
- A US vendor gives you a W-9, a foreign individual gives you a W-8BEN and a foreign entity gives you a W-8BEN-E. You keep the form on file rather than sending it to the IRS.
- Slash's vendor invite asks for a W-9 or W-8 alongside the vendor's bank details, and Slash Pro sends same-day ACH and domestic wires for $0 on a $25 monthly plan.
- BILL files 1099s for $2.99 a form and Ramp for $0.65 a form, while Melio and Tipalti file through an integration with Tax1099.
- When a vendor won't give you a taxpayer identification number, IRS rules call for backup withholding at 24% on reportable payments.
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What Should a Bill Pay Tool Do With Vendor Tax Forms?
Collecting tax forms starts when you set up a vendor, not when 1099 season arrives. If you request the W-9 alongside the vendor’s bank details, the form can be on file before the first payment goes out. If you wait until January, you may end up chasing a contractor who finished the work months ago. The IRS calls the W-9 the first step once you’ve determined someone is an independent contractor, and its instructions tell a foreign individual to give you the W-8BEN before the payment is made.
The guidance in this article reflects the IRS’s published rules. For anything specific to your business, check with your accountant or the IRS instructions. Compare each platform on the five criteria below.
- The form arrives with the payment details. One request covers the bank account and the tax form, so the vendor answers both at once.
- US and foreign vendors go through the same flow. A W-9 for a US person, and a W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E for a foreign one.
- Payments leave the account that holds the money. Per-payment fees add up over a year of contractor payouts.
- Payments reach the ledger. Your 1099 totals come from payment history. Payments made by card are reported on Form 1099-K by the payment settlement entity rather than on your 1099-NEC, so the payment method matters as much as the amount.
- The tool checks TINs and has a filing route. Some tools match the name and TIN against IRS records and file the 1099s, and others hand the data to the software that does.
1. Slash: A W-9 or W-8 Requested in the Same Invite as the Vendor's Bank Details
Slash collects the W-9 or W-8 when you first add a vendor, before any payment goes out. When you add a recipient, you can send an invite instead of typing the vendor's details yourself, and the vendor fills in a secure page connected to your Slash account. With tax details turned on, the vendor is prompted to upload a W-8 or W-9 document.
When you send the invite, you mark the recipient as a business or an individual. Slash reads the uploaded PDF or image and prefills the fields it recognizes. The vendor then reviews the details and completes any remaining required fields before submitting.
What Slash Does When You Set Up a Vendor
- Email notification on submission. Slash emails you when the vendor submits their details.
- Payment destinations you control. The vendor sees only the options you accept: US bank accounts, international bank accounts or stablecoin wallets.⁴
- A first payment attached to the invite. The vendor accepts the payment while entering their bank details, and doesn’t need a Slash account to receive it.
- Bills paid on the rail you choose. Bill Pay turns an uploaded or forwarded invoice into a draft bill, routes it through your approvals and pays it by same-day ACH, wire, FedNow, card, USDC or USDT.
- Payments synced to your ledger.Two-way sync with QuickBooks Online, Xero, Sage Intacct and NetSuite imports your vendor list and pushes categorized payments back, ready for the software that files your 1099s.
"Now with Slash and their AI features, it parses through everything before I even see the bill, tells me exactly how much I owe, how much I have to pay, and by what time," said David Brillembourg, who founded Dune Ventures, in Dune's customer story.
What It Costs
Slash publishes both plans on its pricing page. Free is $0 a month with up to 1.5% cashback on the Slash Card. Pro is $25 a month with up to 2% cashback and $0 same-day ACH, domestic wires and outgoing FedNow and RTP payments. International wires cost $25 on both plans.
To send your first invite, open the Payables menu, choose Recipients, click + New Recipient and select the invite option at the top right of the form.
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2. BILL: A W-9 Agent on Every Plan and 1099 E-Filing at $2.99 a Form
BILL's W-9 Agent emails a new vendor for a W-9, follows up when something is wrong, and checks the name and TIN against IRS records. BILL's help center says the agent can approve a high-confidence form on its own and sends the rest to you. The agent is included on every BILL Accounts Payable plan, which cost $49, $65 and $89 per user a month for Essentials, Team and Corporate.
Filing happens in BILL's Tax Compliance tab, and it is open only to customers on BILL Accounts Payable. BILL charges $2.99 per 1099 e-filed with the IRS, $1.49 per direct state filing and $1.99 per form mailed to a vendor. Its 1099 page adds a volume rebate from 201 forms, for forms filed through January 31, 2027.
The per-user price grows with the team. Essentials connects to accounting software through CSV import and export, and two-way sync with QuickBooks Online and Xero starts on Team. A standard ACH payment costs $0.59, and same-day Pay Faster ACH costs $11.99.
3. Melio: W-9 Requests and IRS Checks From the $25 Core Plan
Melio keeps tax forms in a W-9 & 1099 tab, where each vendor shows as Verified, Not Verified or Pending vendor. A request goes out by email with a link to an online form, or you upload a W-9 you already have, and Melio checks the details against IRS records. W-9 requests come with Core, Boost and Unlimited, so a business on the free Go plan upgrades first.
Core costs $25 a month plus $10 for each additional user, or $20 a month and $8 a user when billed annually. It includes 20 free ACH payments a month, with $0.50 for each one after that. Boost is $55 and Unlimited $80.
Filing runs through Tax1099. Verified vendors sync from Melio to Tax1099, and you e-file there at its standard fees. A vendor whose W-9 is pending or unverified stays out of the sync, even when you paid them past the threshold, so clear those statuses before you start.
4. Ramp: 1099 Filing at $0.65 a Form, With $25,000 in a Linked Bank to Apply
Ramp lets you request tax details from a vendor by email or upload a W-9 or W-8, which Ramp parses into the vendor profile. 1099 filing on Ramp runs inside Bill Pay. It verifies each vendor's legal name and TIN against IRS records, files 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC forms with the IRS for $0.65 each, and mails a copy for $1.85.
Ramp's pricing page puts tax management on Free and W-8 uploads on Plus, which costs $15 per user a month plus a platform fee based on team size. Before any of it, Ramp checks the applicant, and a business needs at least $25,000 in cash in a US business bank account linked to its application.
Ramp's help center says missing tax details do not block or delay bill payments, and a failed TIN check lets you file once you acknowledge a warning. Requests expire after 30 days, so a vendor who misses the window needs a second one.
5. Tipalti: W-9, W-8BEN and W-8BEN-E in a Guided Wizard, AP Plans From $99 a Month
Tipalti's supplier onboarding runs a tax form wizard that chooses the form from the payee's country and business structure. It supports the W-9, W-8BEN, W-8BEN-E, W-8EXP, W-8IMY, W-8ECI and Form 8233, and its help center says it checks that a W-8BEN filer's addresses are outside the US. TIN validation is switched on by a request to Tipalti support.
At year end Tipalti prepares 1099 and 1042-S reports, and e-filing runs through its Tax1099 integration, paid as you go.
Accounts Payable starts at $99 a month with unlimited users, plus transaction pricing per invoice and per payment, and Mass Payments starts at $249. The full price comes as a quote from Tipalti's sales team.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Provider figures reflect publicly published information as of October 2026 and are subject to change.
How to Choose a Bill Pay Tool for 1099 Season
- Ask for the form with the bank details. Request the W-9 or W-8 when you collect the vendor's account, so the form is on file before the first payment instead of chased in January.
- Sort foreign vendors on day one. A US person gives a W-9, a foreign individual a W-8BEN and a foreign entity a W-8BEN-E. A W-8BEN generally stays in effect through the last day of the third calendar year after the one it was signed in, so one signed in 2026 runs through December 31, 2029. For payments to foreign persons, Publication 1099 points you to the separate Instructions for Form 1042-S.
- Price a year of payouts. Paying 40 contractors once a month is 480 payments. On BILL Essentials with one user, that is $588 in plan fees plus $283.20 in standard ACH fees at $0.59 each, or $871.20 for the year. On Slash Pro the same 480 payments go by same-day ACH at $0 each, so the year costs the $300 plan fee.
- Check TINs before you file. BILL, Melio and Ramp check TINs against IRS records, and Tipalti does once its support team turns the feature on. With Slash, run names and TINs through your filing service or the IRS TIN Matching service, which takes an application and is open to payers that file information returns.
- Know what happens when a vendor won't give a TIN. You withhold 24% on reportable payments until the TIN arrives. For nonemployee compensation this applies even while the payee waits for a TIN they have applied for, and a payer who doesn't withhold can become liable for the amount.
Conclusion
A clean 1099 in February comes from a W-9 or W-8 collected when the vendor was set up. BILL's and Melio's tax pages describe W-9 collection, Ramp puts W-8 uploads on its Plus plan and asks for $25,000 in a linked account to apply, and Tipalti charges per invoice and per payment on top of a plan that starts at $99 a month.
Slash collects the W-9 or W-8 in the same invite as the vendor's bank details, pays the vendor from the account that holds the money, and syncs each payment to QuickBooks Online, Xero, Sage Intacct or NetSuite for the filing.
Talk to the Slash team about setting up vendor invites before 1099 season.
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FAQs
1. Does a Slash vendor invite collect a W-8 from a foreign vendor?
Yes. With tax details turned on, the vendor uploads a W-9 or W-8 document as a PDF or image, and Slash prefills what it recognizes for the vendor to review. IRS rules decide which W-8 the vendor completes, the W-8BEN for an individual and the W-8BEN-E for an entity.
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2. Does Slash file 1099s?
Slash's own 1099 guide leaves the filing to your accounting platform, so the forms go out from that software or a filing service. Slash collects the W-9 or W-8 and records the payments, and two-way sync carries each payment to QuickBooks Online, Xero, Sage Intacct or NetSuite.
Understanding 1099 Forms for Contractors: A Comprehensive Overview
3. When are 1099s for 2026 payments due?
February 1, 2027, for 1099-NEC copies to the IRS and to contractors, and for most recipient copies of Form 1099-MISC. The IRS copy of a 1099-MISC is due March 1, 2027 on paper, because February 28 falls on a Sunday, or March 31 if you file electronically. A business filing 10 or more information returns of any type has to e-file, and for tax year 2026 IRIS is the only IRS system that accepts e-filed information returns.
4. Does a vendor need a Slash account to answer an invite?
No. The vendor opens a secure link from the invite email and enters their details on a page connected to your Slash account. Slash's September product recap says the vendor needs no Slash account of their own to enter details and accept a queued payment.
5. How do I see which vendors still owe a tax form in Slash?
Open Recipients. Pending requests show there, and an invite still listed as incomplete opens to a vendor profile showing which contact, bank, tax or payment details are missing. You can copy the request link from the same page or cancel a request you no longer need.
