Onboarding Vendors While Staying Compliant In The Emerging Global Payments Landscape
Zenwork’s VP of Business Development, April Rae Mallord, provides insights into the global payments ecosystem and provides three key factors to success in the digital currency ecosystem.
Digital currency is the new dollar. It is now one of the most widely accepted and traded forms of currency in the world. In the middle of all of this excitement surrounding the digital currency, bad actors are going beyond phishing and using other sophisticated methods to exploit fintechs and neobanks. Unverified users in the digital payments ecosystem can also cost you fines and in some cases, possible prison time.
It’s now more important than ever in the global payments ecosystem to consider thorough data verification and regulatory compliance as key features during the onboarding process. Those who follow comprehensive compliance checks will remain one step ahead.
Start With Identification: Real and Verified From the Source
When onboarding vendors, businesses must verify the identity of the user. For many, this can be something as straightforward as collecting W8/W9’s during the onboarding process, thanks to Tipalti’s collection feature. Or, it could be something as intricate as verifying the TINs collected using Tax1099’s Real-Time TIN Matching feature, usually validated prior to form filings.
For others, it could mean going a step further with KYC/KYB, including verifying if the individuals are alive or listed on the sanction watch lists. This level of transparency serves as a checkpoint to confirm the payments you receive are not tied to money laundering or other criminal enterprises.
There are several SaaS companies that exist in this space. Compliancely, powered by Zenwork, provides users with real-time verification with over a dozen global KYC/KYB checks including the following:
- IRS TIN & Name Match
- OFAC Watch List
- Death Master File
- IRS Tax-Exempt Org. Search
- Address Validation
- SOS Business Entity Search
Other global checks are validated against sources from 30+ countries including Canada, India, China, UK, Ireland, and more. These verification checks are not from third-party search engines, but directly from the originating source, guaranteeing bonafide results every time.
Prioritize Faster and Effective Data Management
Instant global payments now require swift solutions for effective data management. This means collecting and importing data has to be faster to keep up with the demands of the global payments ecosystem. In addition to onboarding and verification, companies must use accounting and data management software that quickly and effectively creates invoices, collect payments, and organize these transactions for financial reports and other compliance needs. Tipalti boasts of touchless invoices, swift and secure payments within minutes, and streamlining your global operations with audit logs and other enterprise-grade financial controls. Harness the power of Tipalti to translate data into dynamic, editable forms which can be filed using Tax1099. Businesses can also go a step further and use our integration with Tipalti to generate the most common 1099 NEC and MISC forms.
Foresight: Be Aware of Penalties and Regulations
Businesses have to remain one step ahead of government regulations and prioritize performing compliance checks to prevent penalties and AML investigations that typically lead to stiff penalties and even arrests. The consequences for doing business with an excluded individual or entity could be a large fine, being placed on a watchlist, or even time in prison. These penalties vary across the globe, but in the United States, anyone caught in an unlawful transaction could be sentenced to prison for twenty years and/or a fine of $500,000 or more depending on the value of the property.
This would imply reputational losses, operational prohibitions, financial liabilities, adverse media coverage, felony charges, and other unpleasant scenarios you should consider avoiding to stay in business.
For More Information
If you want to know more about compliance and vendor onboarding, I’ll be one of two featured speakers from Zenwork for Tipalti Illuminate 2022 events from September 13-15th 2022. We are proud to be a Gold Sponsor participating in both virtual and in-person events throughout the conference.
On September 14, 2022, at 1:45 PM PDT, join me for our sponsored digital breakout session titled “Contractor, Vendor, & Digital Account Opening Compliance from Onboarding to Tax Filing,” where I will provide valuable information on staying compliant when working with independent contractors and vendors. She will cover all things vendor compliance, right from onboarding and verification to informational tax form filing to the IRS and states. I will also provide a brief demo of Tax1099, Zenwork’s robust IRS-authorized e-filing platform that helps different types of businesses streamline and automate onboarding and filing processes. Also, with more and more financial and gig services moving to the digital realm, you can learn how to mitigate risk with real-time identity verification platforms like Compliancely.
Earlier in the day, our Chief Strategy Officer, Jeff Cronin, will be a part of the panel discussion titled, “Emerging Trends in the Global Payments Landscape.” He will be joined by fellow panellists Cynthia Davis, Product Manager at Captiv8, and James Creech, Senior Vice President of Influencer Strategy at Brandwatch. The discussion will be moderated by Adam Parness of Adam Parness Music Consulting and the Former Global Head of Music Publishing at Spotify.
And our dedicated sales representatives will be in person at The Pearl in San Francisco on September 15th, ready to answer any questions related to Compliancely, Tax1099, and how Tax1099’s custom filing integration compliments Tipalti.
Accelerate your future, drive the momentum, and gain valuable strategies.
About April Rae Mallord
Vice President of Business Development – Enterprise, API, and Partnerships
April has over a decade of experience in client and partner-facing management roles where she provides a wealth of knowledge on data compliance, product development, partnership formation, and business technology integration. For the past 3 years at Zenwork, she has worked with payment processors, gig economy platforms, neobanks, accounting firms, and more to help them streamline vendor onboarding processes, user verification, and information tax reporting. She received her B.A. in Marketing and Computer Information Systems (CIS) in 2010 from Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles.
About Zenwork
Backed by Spectrum Equity, Zenwork, Inc. is a fast-growing digital tax compliance and regulatory reporting technology company, with 10+ years of experience in powering businesses with electronic tax filings and compliance checks. The company currently serves over 150,000 customers nationwide, including 30,000 CPA firms and enterprise customers. Zenwork has multiple compliance products under its umbrella, including Tax1099, Compliancely, EZ2290, and others.
Learn more about Zenwork at www.zenwork.com.
About Tipalti
Tipalti comes from the Hebrew expression for “We handled it.” Tipalti is the only company handling both Global Partner Payments and Accounts Payable workflows for high-velocity companies across the entire financial operations cycle: onboarding and managing global suppliers, instituting procurement controls, streamlining invoice processing and approvals, executing payments around the world, and reconciling payables data across a multi-subsidiary finance organization. Tipalti enables high-growth companies to scale quickly by making payables strategic with operational, compliance, and financial controls. Companies can efficiently and securely pay thousands of partners and suppliers in 196 countries within minutes. Thousands of companies, such as Amazon Twitch, GoDaddy, Roku, WordPress, and ZipRecruiter use Tipalti to reduce operational workload by 80% and accelerate the financial close by 25% while improving partner visibility and strengthening financial and spend controls. For more information, visit tipalti.com.
