Submit an IRS form
To comply with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules governing information reporting and tax with holding on income received, Smartcat is required by law to obtain IRS forms from its users.
Each year we send out notifications to those who need to provide us with an IRS form. If this applies to you, you will receive our request at the email address specified in your profile.
We will ask you to fill in the form if you received payments reaching (or over) a total of $600 from Smartcat Platform Inc. during a calendar year.
As a multinational company, Smartcat makes some payments from the US and some from the Netherlands, but this request relates to vendors who receive payments from our US legal entity.
Note that if you are a non-U.S. resident or citizen, we need to have the respective tax form (W8-BEN or W-8BEN-E) as evidence that you are not subject to any deductions.
How to submit an IRS form if you haven’t provided one to Smartcat before
Follow these steps when you receive our request to submit a form:
1. Sign in to your Smartcat account with the email address we sent our request to.
2. Click My payouts, go to the Tax forms tab , and then click Set status and fill in the tax form button.
3. Set your status.
Your form type will depend on whether you are a resident of the US or a resident of any other country.
Choose whether you are an individual or a company if you are not a US resident.
4. Click Fill in Form when the button becomes active. It will also display the type of form you are about to fill in.
5. Fill in the information about yourself or your company depending on who was the beneficiary of the payments from Smartcat Platform Inc. Check the infotips in the form to make sure you understand what information is required.
6. Click Send Form. Your form should be in your account and available for downloading.
How to check an IRS form if you already provided one to Smartcat in the past
Follow these steps when you receive our request and have already submitted a form with us:
1. Sign in to your Smartcat account with the email address we sent our request to.
2. Go to My payouts and click on the Tax forms tab. You will find your previously submitted form there.
Download a copy and make sure that all the information is correct and up to date.
3. If your form doesn’t require any changes, no other action is necessary. If you want to make changes, go on as described below.
4. If your residential status has not changed, click Fill in form opposite your current form.
If your current residential status is different from the one previously provided, click
Change residential or business status at the bottom of the page
Your form type will depend on whether you are a resident of the US or a resident of any other country.
Choose whether you are an individual or a company if you are not a US resident.
5. Click Fill in Form when the button becomes active. It will also display the type of form you are about to fill in.
6. Fill in the information about yourself or your company depending on who was the beneficiary of the payments from Smartcat Platform Inc. Check the infotips in the form to make sure you understand what information is required.
7. Click Send form. Your form should be in your account and available for downloading.
How to get a 1099 form from Smartcat
Smartcat will provide you with the 1099 form if you meet requirements below:
you are a US citizen or resident
you received $600 or more from Smartcat Platform Inc. in a given calendar year
you submitted a W-9 form
Note that it can take one month or more, after a given calendar year, for the form to be processed and available in your account.
You will find your 1099 form in your Smartcat account: My payouts -> Tax forms - > Year-end forms -> Download.
Smartcat will file your 1099 form with the IRS as well by the required due date.
FAQ
I'm not the US citizen / legal entity. Why do I have to still fill in the form?
Note that if you are a non-U.S. resident or citizen, we need to have the respective tax form (W8-BEN from individuals or W-8BEN-E from legal entities) as evidence that you are not subject to any deductions.
I already have an IRS form and don’t want to fill in another one in Smartcat. Can I just attach my own form?
Even if you have prepared a form outside of Smartcat, you still need to fill in and submit a form in your Smartcat account. We are obliged to receive the details via the online form to ensure data security and that it is processed correctly.
If I want to make changes to a form that I have already submitted, a new form with a new submission date is created instead. Is that correct?
Yes, if you submit a form and then decide to change it, a new form with a new date will be created.
Do I have to submit a form for Smartcat Platform Inc. if I worked on a project for another client?
We work under a subcontracting scheme which means that freelancers provide translation and related services to Smartcat and Smartcat provides translation and related services to the Client who assigns Service Tasks to freelancers. Smartcat pays the freelancers for such Service Tasks. For more information, please see the agreement you entered upon registration - https://www.smartcat.com/supplier-agreement/.
You do not need to provide the form to the client you worked with but to Smartcat instead.
I didn’t work with Smartcat during a calendar year but still received a request to fill in the form. Why?
Only the date of payment is taken into account to determine whether you need to submit a form. This means that you may have worked with Smartcat before the relevant calendar year but received the payment within this calendar year. We still have to request a form in these cases.
I haven’t received a request from you but still want to submit a form. Can I do this? There is no tab for this in my account.
You are not obliged to provide the form if you don’t meet the requirements and there is no request from Smartcat. We will keep the track of your payments from Smartcat Platform Inc. As soon as the form is required, we will notify you and add the Tax form tab to your Smartcat account.
I’m sending you sensitive information about myself. How can I be sure that my data is safe?
We process all forms on the Platform via our provider Nextforms. All data is transferred via an encrypted connection and encrypted to ensure that it is stored safely. Our provider performs quarterly security reviews using the OWASP Top 10 principles.
W-9 form submission tips
Read all infotips in the form to make sure you understand what information is required.
If you get a message about an invalid address, this means that the system was not able to identify your full address. Please manually enter your full address and fill in all address fields.
If your address is not recognized correctly, click Manually enter full address and enter the correct information.
W-8BEN form submission tips
Read all infotips in the form to make sure you understand what information is required.
Tax ID type:
You must provide an official tax ID given to you by your country.
You may only choose Not legally required if there is no tax identification number system in your country.
W-8BEN-E form submission tips
Read all infotips in the form to make sure you understand what information is required.
Tax ID type:
You must provide the tax ID (U.S. taxpayer identification number or GIIN or Foreign tax ID number) given to your company by your country.
You may only choose Not legally required if there is no tax identification number system in your country.
Filling in Chapter 4 status is compulsory. Common statuses are «Active NFFE» or «Passive NFFE» NFFE- Non-Financial Foreign Entities.
If you choose Active NFFE, you should also check the “I certify that” box in the relevant section.
If you choose Passive NFFE, you should also check the “I certify that the entity identified in Part I is a foreign entity that is not a financial institution” box in the relevant section.
If you choose Passive NFFE, you should also check the “I further certify that the entity identified in
Part I has no substantial U.S. owners” box or “I further certify that the entity identified in Part I has provided the name, address, and TIN of each substantial U.S. owner” box in the relevant section.