When someone is invited to visit Washington University and will require a payment for service or reimbursement, it is important to establish whether they are a U.S. citizen or if they are in the U.S. on a visa. This is designed to keep WU compliant, and more importantly, to protect the visa status of our guests.
The Tax Department has issued a series of guidelines and forms to facilitate processing of payments and reimbursements to guests. Contact Faculty Support or Olin’s Accounting Department for a copy. You may also use the sample email at the link below when inviting guests and attach the FIIR form link to the email. The Guest Information form can be used to collect travel information.
- Sample Email to Guests: Click Here
- Guest Information Form: Click Here
Guests who are new to Washington University or who have not been paid by WU in the last 18 months need to submit a copy of their W-9 Form (or W-8BEN-E for foreign entities) with the first submission of reimbursement. Their legal name, address, Federal Tax ID number, and email address are required to establish the guest in Workday. The University’s preferred method of payment is EFT. To establish this method of payment, the guest must complete and sign the EFT agreement. Each form can be accessed and completed using the secure DocuSign links below. If a guest uses these links to complete the forms, you do not need to email them or submit them to Freshdesk, but you can verify with Accounting that we have received them.
To establish payee in Workday:
DocuSign W-9 – individuals (companies are welcome to email their W-9)
DocuSign W-8BEN – for foreign individuals
DocuSign W-8BEN-E – for foreign entities
DocuSign Foreign Individual Information Request (FIIR)
To establish electronic payments:
DocuSign EFT – to establish domestic electronic payment
DocuSign Wire Transfer Form – to establish foreign electronic payment
The electronic documents above will route automatically to Olin Accounting. Please submit a ticket into the ticketing portal with the supporting documentation so we can process your payment request.
Consultant Payments and Speaker Fees
Note that taxable payments made to foreign nationals are generally subject to 30% withholding at the time of payment. If the department would like a payee to receive a net amount after tax withholding, contact the Tax Department for the gross up amount.