This is for property owners. The page is Settings, then Tax details.
Why we ask
We pay you money, so the law requires us to report what we paid and to ask you for your taxpayer identification number before we do. This is the same thing a Form W-9 asks, and the form in Parken Lot is an acceptable substitute for one.
What the form asks for
- Your name, as it appears on your tax return.
- Your tax classification — individual, LLC, corporation or partnership.
- Your TIN — your EIN, or your Social Security number if you own in your own name.
- A street address. Not a PO box, because we have to be able to post you a tax statement.
It is four fields and a tick. You do not have to sign anything: for this kind of payment the number may be given in writing without being certified under penalty of perjury.
What happens without it
Your money is held, not sent short. Occupant payments keep arriving and keep being recorded against your property — it is yours the whole time — but it cannot be paid out until we have the number. That is deliberate: without it the law would require us to withhold 24% and send you the rest, and holding the money until you answer is better than sending you three quarters of it.
The IRS can also charge you a $50 penalty under section 6723 for not furnishing the number.
Being asked more than once
If we do not have a number, you are written to on a schedule the regulations set — once when the account is opened, which is the form you filled in to sign up, and then once a year. One letter per person, naming every account it covers, even if you hold several properties under different companies.
Each company is reported separately, so each needs its own number, even where that is the same number.
Where it is kept
The number is stored encrypted and is never shown back in full — only the last four digits, so you can tell it is the right one. It is also sent to our payment provider, who needs it to pay you out above certain amounts; that is named in the form.