X.3.A Agency Vendor Registration

SECTION OVERVIEW AND POLICIES

All vendors providing goods or services to New York State must be registered in the Statewide Vendor File.

This Subsection provides the agency with guidance on how to:

use the Vendor Add Portal in the Statewide Financial System (SFS) to directly register individuals or entities in the Statewide Vendor File
add a significant number of vendors at one time
resolve various issues which may be encountered during the registration process, including issues involving duplicate Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN) or an invalid Name and TIN combination.

Online Vendor Add Portal

SECTION OVERVIEW AND POLICIES

New York State agencies can directly enter information in the Statewide Financial System (SFS) Vendor Add Portal to register vendors in the Statewide Vendor File. The Office of the State Comptroller requires agencies to obtain all necessary information for any individual or entity not already registered as a New York State Vendor using the New York State Substitute Form W-9.

Obtaining the Substitute W-9 also allows New York State to support State requests for the IRS to waive potential imposed penalties due to 1099 reporting errors, as required by the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) section 301.6724-1. Please see Section 10 - Record Retention for Vendor Records of this Chapter for more information on retaining the Substitute W-9 Form.

Process and Transaction Preparation:

Agency staff should search the Statewide Vendor File to determine if the individual or entity they want to do business with is already a registered New York State vendor. Agencies should use the SFS applications to access the SFS “Vendor Inquiry\Lookup” report and search the Statewide Vendor File by the individual’s or entity’s Tax Identification Number (TIN). For additional instruction on this topic, visit the job aids published to SFS Coach. SFS Coach is accessible from the SFS home page after logging in with your SFS user ID and password.

If the individual or entity has an assigned New York State Vendor ID, the agency staff must notify the vendor of its existing New York State Vendor ID and use this ID when proceeding to do business with the vendor.

If the individual or entity is not yet registered as a New York State Vendor, agency staff should follow the instructions below:

Collect the following required information using the New York State Substitute Form W-9:

Legal Business Name	The individual or organization name as it appears on legal documents (e.g., social security card, charter, Federal tax documentation, etc.)
Business Name/Disregarded Entity Name	Doing Business As (DBA) Name or any other name entity is known by. Required, if different from Legal Business Name
Entity Type	Individual sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, etc.
Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)	Nine digit federal identification number
Taxpayer Identification Type	Employer Identification Number (EIN), Social Security Number (SSN), etc.
Remit-to Address	Mailing address for payments, 1099s, if applicable, and official correspondence
Ordering Address	Mailing address for purchase orders
Ordering Email Address*	E-mail address where purchase orders will be electronically sent
Primary Vendor Contact Name	A person who makes the legal and financial decisions at the business
Primary Vendor Contact Email Address	E-mail address for the Primary Vendor Contact
Primary Vendor Contact Phone Number	Direct phone number for the Primary Vendor Contact Required, when the vendor has a phone number
Backup Witholding Certification	Indicates the vendor’s exception status from backup withholding

*Note: Purchase orders from online agencies will be sent via email by default.

Agencies should enter vendor information into the SFS using the following standards:

Vendor Name

Always use CAPS for the legal entity name
Never include prefix titles for individuals such as Dr., Mr., Ms., etc.
Do not use any punctuation except “&” and hyphens (-)
Include a space before and after
Use a space after each initial. Example JOHN J SMITH and J J SMITH
If legal name of entity contains initials, enter the initials with no spaces or punctuation. Example: IBM INC
Only use numeric characters for legal names that begin with numbers. Example: 3M
Only use “A” or “THE” if it is part of the entity’s legal name.
Only use the following list of acceptable abbreviations when the following words are not the first word of the vendor name:

ASSOCIATION	ASSN
CITY UNIVERSITY OF NY	CUNY
COMPANY	CO
CORPORATION	CORP
DEPARTMENT	DEPT
DIVISION	DIV
INCORPORATED	INC
INSTITUTE	INST
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY	LLC
LIMITED LIABILITY PARTNERSHIP	LLP
NEW YORK CITY	NYC
NEW YORK STATE	NYS
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK	SUNY
TREASURER	TRES
UNITED STATES	US
UNIVERSITY	UNIV

Vendor Address

Vendor Address Standard street abbreviations should be used. Additional abbreviations can be found at the United States Postal Service website.

ALLEY	ALY	LANE	LANE
APARTMENT	APT	PARKWAY	PARKWAY
AVENUE	AVE	PLACE	PL
BOULEVARD	BLVD	PLAZA	PLZ
BRIDGE	BRG	ROAD	RD
CENTER	CTR	ROUTE	RTE
CIRCLE	CIR	SQUARE	SQ
DRIVE	DR	SUITE	STE
EXPRESSWAY	EXPY	STREET	ST
EXTENSION	EXT	TERRACE	TER
HIGHWAY	HWY	TURNPIKE	TPKE
ISLAND	IS	VILLAGE	VLG
JUNCTION	JCT

Use the “SFS Financials” application to access the Online Vendor Add Portal by navigating to “Maintain Vendor Information” -> “Vendor Add Request.” Enter the required information into the displayed vendor add request form:

Vendor Information
Vendor Name 1	Enter the legal business name of the vendor you are requesting to add to the Statewide Vendor File. The VMU will use this name to validate the vendor’s TIN with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for federal reporting purposes. Do not enter a DBA name. If a DBA is used, the vendor will not pass the IRS TIN match and will not be registered on the Statewide Vendor File.
Vendor Name 2	If the legal business name exceeds 40 characters, enter up to the last word able to fully be entered in the Vendor Name 1 field and remaining part of the vendor name in the Vendor Name 2 field. Example: The vendor’s name is: NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF THE STATE COMPTROLLER Enter the following: Vendor Name 1- NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF THE STATE Vendor Name 2 - COMPTROLLER Do not enter a DBA name in this field. It is the VMU's policy that Vendor Name 1 and Vendor Name 2 are used to reflect the legal business name of the entity.
Address Line 1	Enter the vendor’s remit-to address. USPS postal abbreviations for Street, Road, Lane (ST, RD, LN) ect. should always be used. Do not use periods, commas, and apostrophes. Only ampersand (&) and hyphens (-) are acceptable. Foreign Vendors cannot be added through this portal. Refer to Section 3.B. – Foreign Vendor Add of this Chapter for information on how to register a Foreign Vendor. A Lock box (PO BOX) is considered an acceptable remit-to address. oIf a vendor provides a DBA name, the DBA name may be entered into Address Line 1.When entering DBA information, enter only the abbreviation "DBA" with no periods or slashes. Do not spell out the words "Doing Business As." If there are multiple DBA names listed, it is up to the vendor to register in the online Vendor Portal (eSupplier) to add additional addresses containing the additional DBA names in Address Line 1. Address Line 4 will not be printed on checks sent to the vendor. Agencies are encourage to consolidate the vendor’s address into Address line 1, 2 and 3.
Address Line 2
Address Line 3
Address Line 4
City	Enter the city listed for the remit to address.
County	This is not a required field.
State	If you are unsure of the state abbreviation, click on the magnifying glass to select the appropriate state abbreviation.
Postal Code	The five-digit zip code is required. The zip plus four is accepted.
Classification	Select the classification which reflects the type of business relationship the vendor will have with the State. See Section 4.A.1 – Vendor Classifications of this Chapter for more information. Please note that only vendors which are open for ordering based on classification will be eligible to be issued purchase orders.
Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)	This number must be a nine-digit number.
Withholding Class	Withholding Class is used for federal reporting purposes. At the time of payment, amounts are reported under different withholding classes depending on the type of goods or services the vendor provided. All registered vendors on the Statewide Vendor File must have a withholding class assigned before a voucher can be paid under any class. The VMU has defaulted this field to “07” non-employee compensation. This means payments made to these individuals are not State employees. Vendors are liable for self-employment taxes. If the Agency knows a withholding class for the vendor should be something other than “07” when adding the vendor request, click on the magnifying glass to select the appropriate withholding class. For example, a vendor who will only receive rent payments should be given an “01” withholding class. At the time of payment to the vendor, agencies will have the ability to change the withholding class based on the payment made for accurate federal reporting. See Chapter XII.5.K – Processing Payments Subject to Federal Reporting of this Guide for more information about withholding classes.
Vendor Primary Contact Information
Contact Name	Enter the name of vendor’s Primary Contact from the Substitute Form W-9. A valid contact must be a person; do not use customer service, sales, accounts receivable, etc. This person should be an executive of the organization and is able to make legal and financial decision on behalf of the vendor.
Contact Email ID	Enter the email address for the vendor’s Primary Contact.
Contact Phone	Enter the phone number of the vendor’s Primary Contact. If you cannot obtain a phone number, please leave this field blank.
Vendor PO Information – This information is required if the vendor is Open for Ordering (‘Will this Supplier receive Purchase Orders’ option = ‘Y’ (yes)) based on the selected Classification.
Address Line 1	Enter the vendor’s ordering address where purchase orders should be sent in the event the email for purchase orders fails. USPS postal abbreviations for Street, Road, Lane (ST, RD, LN) ect. should always be used. Do not use periods, commas, and apostrophes. Only ampersand (&) and hyphens (-) are acceptable. Foreign Vendors cannot be added through this portal. Refer to Section 3.B – Foreign Vendor Add of this Chapter for information on how to register a Foreign Vendor.o A Lock box (PO BOX) is considered an acceptable ordering address. If a vendor provides a DBA name, the DBA name may be entered into Address Line 1. When entering DBA information, enter only the abbreviation "DBA" with no periods or slashes. Do not spell out the words "Doing Business As."
Address Line 2
Address Line 3
Address Line 4
City	Enter the city listed for the ordering address.
County	This is not a required field.
State	If you are unsure of the state abbreviation, click on the magnifying glass to select the appropriate state abbreviation.
Postal Code	The five-digit zip code is required. The zip plus four is accepted.
Ordering Email Address	The email address where purchases orders will be electronically sent. Please note that purchase orders will be sent via email by default.
Requesting Agency Information
Requesting Agency	If you are unsure of your agency’s abbreviation in the SFS, click on the magnifying glass to select the appropriate agency.
Agency Contact Name	The name of the individual at the agency submitting the Vendor Add Request.
Agency Email	The email address of the individual at the agency submitting the Vendor Add Request. This is the email address the SFS will use to notify the Requesting Agency Contact once the vendor has passed the IRS TIN match verification.

Save the completed request form. When the request is saved:
1. The system assigns the request a Staging Table Vendor ID. This is not the NYS Vendor ID. The Staging Table Vendor ID is used to track the request through the validation steps of the vendor add process.
2. The VMU will run the IRS TIN match process. This process verifies the legal name matches the TIN provided for Federal reporting purposes.
The individual/entity will be assigned a New York State Vendor ID once the vendor passes TIN matching.** The New York State Vendor ID will be available for use the next business day.

** SFS sends the requesting agency contact an email notification when each vendor passes IRS TIN matching. However, agencies will not receive an email for vendors that did not pass TIN matching. Agencies are able to monitor the approval of their requested vendors and can obtain the assigned New York State Vendor ID by using the following SFS reports:

New Added Vendors – Agencies can query the Statewide Vendor File using a date parameter to view all vendors added to the Statewide Vendor File over a set period.

Vendor Inquiry\Lookup – Agencies can search this report by TIN, Vendor Name or other vendor information in the search criteria to obtain the assigned New York State Vendor ID.

Vendor/IRS TIN Mismatch – Agencies can query by Requesting Agency the vendors that did not pass the IRS TIN match validation within the past 5 days and were not added as approved New York State Vendors. Refer to Section 3.A - Resolving Vendor Registration Issues of this Chapter for additional information.

For additional instruction on this topic, visit job aid "Vendor Add and report applications" published to SFS Coach. SFS Coach is accessible from the SFS home page after logging in with your SFS user ID and password.

Vendor Request Mass Add

SECTION OVERVIEW AND POLICIES

Agencies that wish to load multiple vendors to the Statewide Vendor File (SFS) at the same time should send a request to the Office of the State Comptroller’s Vendor Management Unit (VMU) to do a Vendor Request Mass Add. The VMU will provide agencies with the encrypted Vendor Request Add Excel worksheet to populate with the required information obtained from the New York State Substitute Form W-9.

Agencies should submit the encrypted file to VMU. VMU will then add the individuals or entities to the staging table within the SFS for validation.

Process and Transaction Preparation:

Agencies staff should search the Statewide Vendor File to determine if the individual or entity they want to do business with is already a registered New York State vendor. Agencies should use the SFS applications to access the SFS “Vendor Inquiry\Lookup” report and search the Statewide Vendor File by Tax Identification Number (TIN) or name. For additional instruction on this topic, visit job aid containing more guidance on how to use this report application published to SFS Coach. SFS Coach is accessible from the SFS home page after logging in with your SFS user ID and password.
If the individual or entity has an assigned New York State Vendor ID, the agency staff must notify the vendor of its existing New York State Vendor ID and use this ID when proceeding to do business with the vendor.

If the individual or entity is not yet registered as a New York State Vendor, agencies should follow steps 1 and 2 from Section 3.A – Online Vendor Portal Add of this Chapter to collect the required information.

Email VMU at [email protected] to request the Vendor Request Add Excel worksheet and populate with the required information:

Vendor Information
Name 1	Enter the legal business name of the vendor you are requesting to add to the Statewide Vendor File. The VMU will use this name to validate the vendor’s TIN with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for federal reporting purposes. Do not enter a DBA name. If a DBA is used, the vendor will not pass the IRS TIN match and will not be registered on the Statewide Vendor File.
Name 2	If the legal business name exceeds 40 characters, enter up to the last word able to fully be entered in the Vendor Name 1 field and remaining part of the vendor name in the Vendor Name 2 field. Example: The vendor’s name is: NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF THE STATE COMPTROLLER Enter the following: Vendor Name 1- NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF THE STATE Vendor Name 2 - COMPTROLLER Do not enter a DBA name in this field. It is the VMU's policy that Vendor Name 1 and Vendor Name 2 are used to reflect the legal business name of the entity.
Contact Name	Enter the name of vendor’s Primary Contact from the Substitute Form W-9. A valid contact must be a person; do not use customer service, sales, accounts receivable, etc. This person should be an executive of the organization and is able to make legal and financial decision on behalf of the vendor.
Supplier Email ID	Enter the email for the vendor’s Primary Contact.
Withholding Class	Withholding Class is used for federal reporting purposes. At the time of payment, amounts are reported under different withholding classes depending on the type of goods or services the vendor provided. All registered vendors on the Statewide Vendor File must have a withholding class assigned before a voucher can be paid under any class. The VMU has defaulted this field to “07” non-employee compensation. This means payments made to these individuals are not State employees. Vendors are liable for self-employment taxes. If the Agency knows a withholding class for the vendor should be something other than “07”, designate the appropriate withholding class in this field. For example, a vendor who will only receive rent payments should be given an 01 withholding class.; At the time of payment to the vendor, agencies will have the ability to change the withholding class based on the payment made for accurate federal reporting. See Chapter XII, Section 5.K – Processing Payments Subject to Federal Reporting of this Guide for more information about withholding classes.
Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)	This number must be a nine-digit number.
Address Line 1	Enter the vendor’s remit-to address. USPS postal abbreviations for Street, Road, Lane (ST, RD, LN) etc. should always be used. Do not use periods, commas, and apostrophes. Only ampersand (&) and hyphens (-) are acceptable. Foreign Vendors cannot be added through this method. Refer to Section 3.A – Foreign Vendor Add of this Chapter for information on how to register a Foreign Vendor. A Lock box (PO BOX) is considered an acceptable remit-to address. If a vendor provides a DBA name, the DBA name may be entered into Address Line 1. When entering DBA information, enter only the abbreviation "DBA" with no periods or slashes. Do not spell out the words "Doing Business As." If there are multiple DBA names listed, it is up to the vendor to register in the online Vendor Portal (eSupplier) to add additional addresses containing the additional DBA names in Address Line 1. Address Line 4 will not be printed on checks sent to the vendor. Agencies are encourage to consolidate the vendor’s address into Address line 1, 2 and 3.
Address Line 2
Address Line 3
Address Line 4
City	Enter the city listed for the remit to address.
County	This is not a required field.
State	Enter the State listed for the remit to address.
Postal Code	The five-digit zip code is required. The zip plus four is accepted.
Telephone	Enter the phone number of the vendor’s Primary Contact. If you cannot obtain a phone number, please leave this field blank.
Requesting Agency	Agency requesting the vendor be added.
Agency Contact	The name of the individual at the agency submitting the Vendor Add Request.
Agency Contact Email	The email address of the individual at the agency submitting the Vendor Add Request. This is the email address that the SFS will use to notify the requesting agency Contact once the vendor has passed the IRS TIN match verification.
Classification	Enter the classification which reflects the type of business relationship the vendor will have with the State. Values to be used are: Procurement Supplier = S Non-Procurement Srvc Provider = N Recipient = D Non-NYS Govt Entity = G NYS Muni-School Dist or BOCES = M NYS Muni-Non Sch Dist or BOCES = B NYS Agency or Authority = C See Section 4.A – Vendor Classifications of this Chapter for more information. Please note that only vendors which are marked as open for ordering will be eligible to be issued purchase orders.
Vendor PO Information – This information is required if the vendor is open for ordering (‘Will this Supplier receive Purchase Orders’ option = ‘Y’ (yes)) based on the selected Classification.
PO Address Line 1	Enter the vendor’s ordering address where purchase orders should be sent in the event the email for purchase orders fails. USPS postal abbreviations for Street, Road, Lane (ST, RD, LN) etc. should always be used. Do not use periods, commas, and apostrophes. Only ampersand (&) and hyphens (-) are acceptable. Foreign Vendors cannot be added through this portal. Refer to Section 3.B – Foreign Vendor Add of this Chapter for information on how to register a Foreign Vendor. A Lock box (PO BOX) is considered an acceptable ordering address. If a a vendor provides a DBA name, the DBA name may be entered into Address Line 1. When entering DBA information, enter only the abbreviation "DBA" with no periods or slashes. Do not spell out the words "Doing Business As."
PO Address Line 2
PO Address Line 3
PO Address Line 4
City	Enter the city listed for the ordering address.
State	Enter the state listed for the ordering address.
County - Other	This is not a required field.
Postal Code	The five-digit zip code is required. The zip plus four is accepted.
Vendor Email for POs	The email address where purchases orders will be electronically sent. Please note that purchase orders will be sent via email by default.

The Agency must submit the encrypted Excel worksheet to the VMU via email at [email protected]. The VMU saves the mass vendor request, and runs the manual process to upload the requested vendors to the SFS.
The VMU will perform a Quality Assurance (QA) Test to ensure all required data fields are submitted. If required information is missing, the VMU will send an email to the requesting agency noting that required data is missing and the request cannot be processed.
- Foreign vendors cannot be added using the mass upload worksheet. Refer to Section 3.B - Foreign Vendor Add of this Chapter for guidance.
The system assigns the request a Staging Table Vendor ID. This is not the NYS Vendor ID. The Staging Table Vendor ID is used to track the request through the validation steps of the vendor add process.
- All failed vendor requests will be emailed back to the requesting agency with the error message, explaining why the vendor was not loaded to the Vendor Staging Table.
The VMU will run the IRS TIN match process. This process verifies the legal name matches the TIN provided for federal reporting purposes.
The individual/entity will be assigned a New York State Vendor ID once the vendor passes TIN matching.** The New York State Vendor ID will be available for use the next business day.** SFS sends the requesting agency contact an email notification when each vendor passes IRS TIN matching. However, agencies will not receive an email for vendors that did not pass TIN matching. Agencies are able to monitor the approval of their requested vendors and can obtain the assigned New York State Vendor ID by using the following SFS reports:

New Added Vendors – Agencies can query the Statewide Vendor File using a date parameter to view all vendors added to the Statewide Vendor File over a set period.

Vendor Inquiry\Lookup – Agencies can search this report by TIN, vendor name or other vendor information in the search criteria to obtain the assigned New York State Vendor ID.

Vendor/IRS TIN Mismatch – Agencies can query by requesting agency the vendors that did not pass the IRS TIN match validation within the past 5 days and were not added as approved New York State Vendors. Refer to Section 3.A - Resolving Vendor Registration Errors of this Chapter for additional information.

For additional instruction on this topic, visit job aid containing more guidance on how to use the Vendor Add and report applications published to SFS Coach. SFS Coach is accessible from the SFS home page after logging in with your SFS user ID and password.

Resolving Vendor Registration Issues

SECTION OVERVIEW AND POLICIES

During the registration process, an agency may encounter various issues that prevent the vendor’s registration in the Statewide Vendor File. Issues may include:

the vendor previously exists on the staging table and/or the Statewide Vendor File (Section 3.A - Vendor Exists on Staging Table of this Chapter)
a duplicate Taxpayer Identification Number exists (Section 3.A - Vendor Exists on the Statewide Vendor File of this Chapter)
a valid duplicate Taxpayer Identification Number exists (Section 3.A - Valid Duplicate TIN in the Statewide Vendor File of this Chapter)
an invalid Name/Taxpayer Identification Number exists (Section 3.A - Invalid TIN/Name Match of this Chapter)

The Vendor Management Unit will work with the agencies to resolve issues that may arise as described in the GFO sections referenced above.

Vendor Exists on Staging Table

Process and Transaction Preparation

Agencies that enter a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) may receive an error message informing them the TIN already exists on the Vendor Staging Table.

This error message indicates either the same agency or another agency has attempted to add the same TIN to the Statewide Vendor File and the TIN and associated vendor has already been input to the staging table and is undergoing the TIN matching process. The agency should use the following reports to monitor the vendor add process and obtain the New York State Vendor ID number once it has been assigned:

New Added Vendors – Agencies can query the Statewide Financial System (SFS) using a date parameter to view all vendors added to the Statewide Vendor File over a set period.
Vendor Inquiry\Lookup – Agencies can use SFS to search by TIN, Vendor Name or other vendor information in the search criteria to obtain the assigned New York State Vendor ID.

For additional instruction on this topic, visit the job aids published to SFS Coach. SFS Coach is accessible from the SFS home page after logging in with your SFS user ID and password.

Vendor Exists on the Statewide Vendor File

Process and Transaction Preparation:

Agencies that enter a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) may receive an error message informing them the TIN already exists on the Statewide Vendor File and the Vendor ID assigned to the TIN.

The Agency should use the “Vendor Inquiry\Lookup” report in the Statewide Financial System (SFS) to ensure the TIN on the Statewide Vendor File is for the same vendor. For additional instruction on this topic, visit the job aids published to SFS Coach. SFS Coach is accessible from the SFS home page after logging in with your SFS user ID and password.

If the TIN and name already exist on the Statewide Vendor File, use the assigned New York State Vendor ID to do business with the vendor.

If the TIN is associated with a different name on the Statewide Vendor File, please refer to Section 3.A.3 - Valid Duplicate TIN of this Chapter to determine if a valid duplicate TIN exists.

Valid Duplicate TIN in the Statewide Vendor File

An agency that attempts to add a vendor to the Statewide Vendor File may receive a message that the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) already exists in the file for a vendor. If the vendor currently in the Statewide Vendor File has a different legal name, this could be a rare instance where there is a valid, duplicate TIN.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may have issued the same TIN as a Federal Employer Identification Number and a Social Security Number. Both numbers are valid with the IRS. This is known as a valid duplicate TIN.

Process and Transaction Preparation:

Agencies should do the following to resolve the issue:

Ensure the agency obtained the correct TIN and name from the vendor.
Contact the Vendor Management Unit (VMU) via email at [email protected] with the information for the vendor, including the duplicate TIN and the New York State Vendor ID for the vendor currently in the Statewide Vendor File.
The VMU will perform the necessary checks with the IRS to determine whether the vendor’s TIN or name is a valid duplicate and the entities are not related. The VMU will share the results of the validation with the agency.
If a valid duplicate exists, the agency will send the Substitute Form W-9 to the VMU via fax at (518) 473-9533 or email at [email protected] with “Duplicate Vendor Add Request” in the subject line.
The VMU will take the necessary steps to add the vendor to the Statewide Vendor File and inform the requesting agency of the assigned New York State Vendor ID.

Invalid TIN/Name Match

The Office of the State Comptroller requires all registered vendors to have a valid Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and legal business name. The Vendor Management Unit (VMU) validates a Vendor’s TIN and legal business name through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) TIN Matching program. The Statewide Financial System reports Name and TIN Match failures on the “Vendor/IRS TIN Mismatch” report.

Process and Transaction Preparation:

Each agency is responsible for reviewing the SFS “Vendor/IRS TIN Mismatch” report to determine the vendors that failed the IRS TIN match process and the reason for the failure. For additional instruction on this topic, visit the job aids published to SFS Coach. SFS Coach is accessible from the SFS home page after logging in with your SFS user ID and password.

The report lists all vendors not added to the Statewide Vendor File and the reason the vendor failed the IRS TIN Match process. Specifically, the:

IRS Response of “2” indicates the TIN/Social Security Number (SSN) has not been issued by the IRS or Social Security Administration (SSA).
IRS Response of “3” indicates the name/TIN combination of the vendor entered does not match IRS or SSA records.
Reasons for the name/TIN match failure may include:
- The agency entered the vendor’s “Doing Business As” (DBA) name instead of the vendor’s legal business name.
- The agency used abbreviations in the name.
- The TIN entered is incorrect for the entity. This could be the result of a typographical error in entering the data or entering the wrong information from the vendor’s Substitute Form W-9.
- The IRS did not update the TIN Matching database with a newly assigned TIN or a recently updated name. If an agency believes this is the situation for the TIN match failure, please contact the VMU at [email protected] for assistance.

The VMU will not add vendors to the Statewide Vendor File until agencies have resolved any issues with the TIN/Name combination and the vendor’s TIN/Name have passed the IRS validation process.

The agency should work with the vendor to resolve the reasons why the vendor failed the IRS TIN match process:

Verify with the vendors that the information provided on the W-9 is correct.
If the vendor verifies the information on the W-9 is correct, the vendor must contact the IRS at 1-800-829-0922 to obtain the Legal Name assigned to TIN on the W-9.
If the vendor is using a SSN and has not notified the SSA of a valid name change, the vendor should contact the SSA at 1-800-772-1213. It may take up to 10 days for the SSA and IRS files both reflect the correctly changed name.

Once the agency has obtained the correct information, the corrected vendor information can be re-submitted into the Online Vendor Add Portal to initiate a second vendor add attempt. (Note: the TIN match failures will remain on the Online Vendor Add Portal for five days once an IRS failed result is returned. If the failure was due to the use of an incorrect legal name, the agency will not be able to add the vendor until the five days have expired.)

Single Payment Vendor Add

Certain payments are made to vendors not managed in the Vendor File, such as customer refunds, recipients of certain benefits, or other identified groups of payees. In these instances, Business Units will process payments to these payees via Single Pay Voucher using a Single Payment Vendor ID established for this specific use. Refer to Section 5 of this chapter for more detail on Single Payment Vendor ID.

Process and Document Preparation:

Business Units must submit a request to the Vendor Management Unit (VMU), for a new Single Payment Vendor ID to use in the Statewide Financial System. Only the VMU can establish a Single Payment Vendor ID Number. Business Units should contact the VMU to request new IDs. Refer to Section 5 - Single Payment Vendor Identification Numbers for additional information related to Single Payment vendors.

If a Business Unit determines it has a need to request a Single Payment Vendor ID, it should:

Complete the New York State Single Payment Vendor ID Request form.
Submit the New York State Single Payment Vendor ID Request form to the VMU via fax at (518) 402-4212 or email at [email protected] with “Single Payment Vendor Request” in the subject line.

QUESTIONS

For questions about this process, see Chapter X, Section 5 concerning Single Payment Vendor Identification Numbers or contact VMU at (518) 486-4602 or email at [email protected].

Special Use Vendor ID Request

Special Use vendors are those vendors who Business Units cannot add through the regular vendor add process, such as debt service, advance account, payroll or eminent domain vendors. These vendors require unique entry and communication to the applicable Business Units to ensure appropriate payment processing. Refer to Section 5 for more detail on Special Use Vendor IDs.

Process and Document Preparation:

Business Units must submit a request to the Vendor Management Unit (VMU) for a new Special Use Vendor ID to use in the Statewide Financial System. Only the VMU can establish a Special Use Vendor ID Number. Business Units should contact the VMU to request new IDs. Refer to Chapter X, Section 6 - Special Use Vendor Identification Numbers for additional information related to Special Use Vendors.

If a Business Unit determines it has a need to request a Special Use Vendor ID, it should:

Complete the New York State Special Use Vendor ID Request form.
Submit the New York State Special Use Vendor ID Request form to the VMU via fax at (518) 402-4212 or email to [email protected] with “Special Use Vendor Request” in the subject line.

QUESTIONS

For questions about this process, see Section 6 - Special Use Vendor Identification Numbers of this Chapter or contact VMU at (518) 486-4602 or via email at [email protected].

Guide to Financial Operations

REV. 04/01/2017

X. Guide to Vendor/Customer Management

Guide to Financial Operations

X.3.A Agency Vendor Registration

X. Guide to Vendor/Customer Management
Guide to Financial Operations