# Manage W-9 Tax Compliance for Participants in Advocate

W-9 Compliance is an optional feature in Advocate that helps your brand and your participants remain compliant with US tax law. It tracks which participants have submitted a W-9 form and ensures that rewards exceeding $2,000 USD in a calendar year are properly handled.

To read more about W-9 Advocate compliance visit [W-9 Compliance Explained for Advocate](https://help.impact.com/brand/what-would-you-like-to-learn-about/advocate-program/advocate-program-settings/w-9-compliance-explained-for-advocate).

This article explains how to view, update, and bulk-manage W-9 tax compliance statuses for your participants.

#### How to check a participant’s W-9 tax compliance status

Follow this process to check whether a W-9 form was marked as collected for a specific participant.

1. From the left navigation menu, go to ![](https://impact-1.gitbook.io/docs/emvxfLrwrlacc4y3y02Y/~gitbook/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F4048883401-files.gitbook.io%2F%7E%2Ffiles%2Fv0%2Fb%2Fgitbook-x-prod.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fspaces%252FwMLlMoFBtKJa8ptd3zaw%252Fuploads%252Fgit-blob-230534471fef5f40808e921e41ee44e4a06ded03%252Fe6cb9548999afdc1ed3ce4942e4cb5b45b5cecbd323267aac2a7cd1915fccc09.svg%3Falt%3Dmedia\&width=300\&dpr=3\&quality=100\&sign=71dd50ef\&sv=2) **\[Engage] → Participants**.
2. Search for and select the name of the participant.
3. On the participant’s profile, select the **Payouts and Tax** tab.
4. Within this tab, you’ll see:

   * The participant’s W-9 form status (Collected / Not Collected).

   <div data-with-frame="true"><figure><img src="https://4048883401-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FwMLlMoFBtKJa8ptd3zaw%2Fuploads%2FpX3xThZ1hGs9yThRCwZp%2F2C6859C5-2FF8-4C87-9706-6F01A1E42A49.jpeg?alt=media&#x26;token=6b39b27c-f4c0-447a-a684-e36c85ce456e" alt="" width="375"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

   * A breakdown of rewards earned per calendar year.

{% hint style="success" %}
**Note**: If you want to see the W-9 status for multiple participants at once, you can run a program report using the report type US W-9 Tax Report.
{% endhint %}

#### Update an individual participant's W-9 status

{% hint style="warning" %}
This feature is only available with specific impact.com editions or add-ons. [Contact us](https://app.impact.com/secure/advertiser/support/customer-support-portal-flow.ihtml) to upgrade your account and get access!
{% endhint %}

<details>

<summary>Mark a W-9 form as collected</summary>

Select **Mark as collected** when a participant submits their W-9. Doing so removes the $2,000 USD reward limit and releases any pending rewards.

1. From the left navigation menu, select ![](https://impact-1.gitbook.io/docs/emvxfLrwrlacc4y3y02Y/~gitbook/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F4048883401-files.gitbook.io%2F%7E%2Ffiles%2Fv0%2Fb%2Fgitbook-x-prod.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fspaces%252FwMLlMoFBtKJa8ptd3zaw%252Fuploads%252Fgit-blob-230534471fef5f40808e921e41ee44e4a06ded03%252Fe6cb9548999afdc1ed3ce4942e4cb5b45b5cecbd323267aac2a7cd1915fccc09.svg%3Falt%3Dmedia\&width=300\&dpr=3\&quality=100\&sign=71dd50ef\&sv=2) **\[Engage] → Participants**.
2. Search for and select the **name** of the participant whose tax compliance status you want to modify.
3. On the participant's profile, select the **Payouts and Tax** tab.
4. Select **Mark as collected**.

<div data-with-frame="true"><figure><img src="https://4048883401-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FwMLlMoFBtKJa8ptd3zaw%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-968e9718b51d97f8931e199b62cac25043a95e6c%2F4c8075b4d35ebd6fa5ee9127a445caf70d1771564efdea6cb2932e145caf66ea.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

5. Select **Confirm**.

</details>

<details>

<summary>Mark a W-9 form as not collected</summary>

By default, participants are assumed not to have provided a W-9 form. If you previously marked a W-9 form as collected and want to change the status, use this option to revert the status manually.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note**: Changing a status to *Not Collected* does not retroactively place rewards into pending.
{% endhint %}

1. From the left navigation menu, select ![](https://impact-1.gitbook.io/docs/emvxfLrwrlacc4y3y02Y/~gitbook/image?url=https%3A%2F%2F4048883401-files.gitbook.io%2F%7E%2Ffiles%2Fv0%2Fb%2Fgitbook-x-prod.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fspaces%252FwMLlMoFBtKJa8ptd3zaw%252Fuploads%252Fgit-blob-230534471fef5f40808e921e41ee44e4a06ded03%252Fe6cb9548999afdc1ed3ce4942e4cb5b45b5cecbd323267aac2a7cd1915fccc09.svg%3Falt%3Dmedia\&width=300\&dpr=3\&quality=100\&sign=71dd50ef\&sv=2) **\[Engage] → Participants**.
2. Search for and select the **name** of the participant whose tax compliance status you want to modify.
3. On the participant's profile, select the **Payouts and Tax** tab.
4. Select **Mark as not collected**.

<div data-with-frame="true"><figure><img src="https://4048883401-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FwMLlMoFBtKJa8ptd3zaw%2Fuploads%2FJDOccBMNhYDLqT6bDE7l%2F06A1977F-E691-41B2-8E50-714683B5A12E.jpeg?alt=media&#x26;token=4c1de0b7-4b4a-4828-8610-362c56cf7f0f" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

5. Select **Confirm**.

</details>

#### Bulk update W-9 statuses

{% hint style="warning" %}
This feature is only available with specific impact.com editions or add-ons. [Contact us](https://app.impact.com/secure/advertiser/support/customer-support-portal-flow.ihtml) to upgrade your account and get access!
{% endhint %}

You can use a bulk user import to mark W-9 forms as *Collected* for multiple participants at once. This action:

* Exempts participants from the $2,000 USD annual reward limit for current and future tax years.
* Automatically releases any rewards that were placed in a pending state due to a missing W-9.

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Warning:** The bulk import option cannot be used to mark W-9s as **Not Collected**—that must be done individually via the participant profile.
{% endhint %}

1. Download the [.csv sample file](https://res.cloudinary.com/product-enablement/raw/upload/v1750350546/CSVs/User_data_-_W9_-_User_data_-_W9.csv) or use the following .csv data to create a sample file:

   ```programlisting
   accountId,id,firstName,lastName,email,referable,referralCode,paymentProviderId,locale,referredBy.code,referredBy.isConverted,imageUrl,customFields.province,customFields.postal
   5ac26c53ead2245a935343d2,5ac26c53ead2245a935343d3,Sara,Reyes,j9lqxclgm4qdu84cphyh@example.com,,B0DK58Z3HEF03NJ14TVB,,ar_QA,6PKBDHB79W434XG788MM,false,,QC,P1X 4N3
   5ac26c53ead2245a935343d4,5ac26c53ead2245a935343d5,Dominic,Blake,sxh96ct7caztbbqjsdyb@example.com,,E1THJUBSHVGANSC9OCEM,,,4AXZAV7FSA9S4FZKTCGT,true,,MB,S9C 4S9
   5ac26c53ead2245a935343d6,5ac26c53ead2245a935343d7,Dora,Dunn,u5071o1fw6d0uhj12r8f@example.com,,NE8ZZSJNECOLFQ76TWBX,,,7NSJJWLWNYA3SS8YPEGZ,false,,AB,B4R 4V8
   5ac26c53ead2245a935343d8,5ac26c53ead2245a935343d9,Francis,Walters,4i8jalsp0q5n8z2bui6g@example.com,,KEHV3PG3P6CWQ4VBT03Y,,th,3LBNN1M0UGNN6EGONUFW,false,,SK,J0X 4A8
   ```
2. For each participant whose W-9 you’ve collected:
   * Add a column labeled: `dateUSTaxFormSubitted`.
   * Enter the Unix timestamp (epoch time) representing the date the W-9 was received.
   * Use an online converter to generate this from a standard date (e.g., epochconverter.com).
3. **Save** the file.
4. Follow the [bulk import instructions](https://help.impact.com/brand/what-would-you-like-to-learn-about/advocate-program/manage-advocate-participants/import-advocate-participants-in-bulk) to upload your file.