SDSU Research Foundation requires that foreign companies selling non-tangible goods or services complete IRS Form W-8BEN-E and requires that foreign persons complete the IRS form W-8BEN. These forms determine if the foreign entity or person is subject to the default 30 percent federal withholding on payments or if either is eligible for any reduced withholdings related to an applicable treaty. The Form W-8BEN-E contains 30 parts and although very few entities will need to complete all parts, sections 1, 2, 4 and 6 must be completed and the form dated and signed by a beneficial owner or authorized individual. The Form W8-BEN contains 3 parts. a Part 1, sections 1,2, 3 and 8 must be completed, along with Part 3, which requires a signature and date. These forms are required to be uploaded in PaymentWorks by the vendor.

The form is valid for three (3) years from the date signed by the beneficial owner or authorized individual. At the end of three years, a new updated W-8BEN-E is required before further disbursements to the foreign entity can be processed. To ensure accounts payable gets a valid and current form, accounts payable vendor coordinator runs an Etrieve report to identify foreign vendors with expired W-8BEN and W8BEN-E every January. Vendors are inactivated in Banner if documentation has expired.

After the completed W-8BEN-E and W-8BEN is received, the foreign vendor’s name is entered into an online restricted party screening software program called Descartes Visual Compliance. The advanced search engine of Descartes Visual Compliance gives instantaneous and up-to-date results of denied and restricted parties from a large variety of US governmental agencies. If the search results in no matching records found, the foreign vendor can be paid. If the search finds a match further investigation is required to determine if the match is a false positive. If it is determined the vendor is not a match to the visual compliance reporting, the foreign vendor can be paid. Any foreign vendor that is a true match cannot be paid. Accounts payable will notify the compliance officer and accounts payable will not enter the vendor in Banner or inactivate the vendor record in Banner if there is a true match of the foreign vendor to the visual compliance reporting.

Since June 19, 2023, PaymentWorks provides continuous screening and updates for every vendor onboarded. Accounts payable follows the same onboarding procedures as noted above with Descartes Visual Compliance.

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