Carrier W-9 and Payment Setup: What to Collect
CarrierLeads Research Team
We build and operate CarrierLeads, the tool that ingests FMCSA authority records every week, verifies them against live federal sources, and runs cold email sequences for dispatchers, brokers and factors.
Reviewed and updated September 22, 2026
Payment setup is where onboarding mistakes turn into money mistakes. A W-9 with the wrong entity name, or a payment sent to the carrier when their factor owns the invoice, creates a mess that takes weeks to unwind.
Three documents, collected in the right order, prevent nearly all of it.
The W-9
Collect the W-9 before the first payment, not at year end. What matters is that the name on line 1 is the legal entity, the EIN matches that entity, and the tax classification is filled in.
If the carrier writes their DBA on line 1 and their personal SSN below it, send it back. That mismatch surfaces again at 1099 time.
Voided check or bank letter
A voided check establishes the account for settlement. A bank letter on letterhead works when the carrier has no paper checks. Treat either as sensitive — it belongs in a private vault, not an inbox.
Notice of assignment — the one people miss
If the carrier factors their invoices, the factoring company owns the receivable. A notice of assignment tells you where payment must go. Paying the carrier directly after receiving a notice of assignment can leave you liable to the factor for the same invoice a second time.
Always ask whether the carrier factors, and always ask for the notice if they do. When they change factors, you need the release from the old one too.
- Ask at onboarding: do you factor, and with whom
- File the notice of assignment with the carrier's record
- On a factor change, collect the release letter before redirecting payment
How we source this
Primary federal sources
Authority, insurance and safety facts come from FMCSA registration data, the Licensing & Insurance system, and the QCMobile API — not resold list files.
Refreshed weekly
Our ingest re-pulls new and re-filed authorities every week, then re-checks status before a record is ever shown or emailed.
Written from operating experience
Sequence structure, timing and copy guidance reflect the outreach we run inside the product from members' own mailboxes, under CAN-SPAM and TCPA constraints.
Verify any single carrier yourself with our free USDOT authority lookup, which queries the federal record live.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need a W-9 from every carrier?
- Collect one from every carrier you pay. It establishes the legal entity and EIN and is what your 1099 reporting depends on.
- What is a notice of assignment?
- A letter from a factoring company stating that the carrier's invoices have been assigned to them and that payment must be sent to the factor, not the carrier.
- What happens if I pay a carrier instead of their factor?
- The factor can require you to pay the invoice again, because the receivable was legally theirs. Always honor a notice of assignment on file.
- Is a voided check required?
- A voided check or a bank letter is standard for establishing settlement details. Store either privately — it contains routing and account numbers.