Missing a Valid Vendor Address? Five Free Resources for Finding Vendor Addresses

Maintaining accurate and up-to-date vendor addresses in your vendor master file is essential for financial operations.  If your vendor address information is out of date or missing your company may incur additional fines and penalties.  Here are five free resources that can help you locate valid vendor addresses and two best practices you can implement to avoid missing or inaccurate vendor addresses.  

Why Valid Vendor Addresses Are Critical

The most immediate and tangible cost of inaccurate or missing vendor address information is financial loss.

Delayed Check Payments

When vendor addresses are incorrect or incomplete, check payments can be delayed or misdirected. This can lead to late fees and/or interest charges. 

Duplicate Payments

Incorrect addresses can also result in duplicate payments. For instance, if a vendor is listed under multiple variations of their address, it can lead to confusion and errors in payment processing.

Returned Recipient Tax Forms

Missing or inaccurate vendor addresses can lead to returned tax forms which can subject your company to fines and penalties for non-compliance for not providing the vendor with tax forms in a timely manner.  Additionally, penalties can be assessed if corrections are delayed due to vendors late receipt of tax forms resulting in delayed communication about a valid error in reporting. 

Free Public Resources for Finding Vendor Addresses

Ideally, you will reach out to your vendor to submit the required documentation with their address and retain that information as part of your vendor support.  However, when you don’t have contact information for the vendor or they have not yet responded prior to deadlines for payments or tax reporting, additional due diligence may be required to obtain your vendor’s address as soon as possble.  

·       For Vendors That Have Federal Contracts >  SAM: The System for Award Management (SAM) is a comprehensive database that contains information about entities doing business with the federal government. By registering on SAM.gov, you can access a wealth of information for vendors who have registered with the system, including addresses. To use SAM.gov, simply create an account, log in and search for the vendor's name or DUNS number. The search results will provide the vendor’s registered address..

·       For Vendors That Are Publicly Traded >  EDGAR: The Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR) system is maintained by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). If your vendor is a publicly traded company, you can use the EDGAR database to find a registered address. Visit the EDGAR website and search for the vendor's name or ticker symbol. The search results will include various filings such as annual reports and registration statements, and these contain the vendor’s mailing or other addresses.

·       For All US Vendors >  State Business Entity Databases: Each U.S. state has a Secretary of State office that maintains records of businesses registered within the state. These records often include the registered address for the vendor.  To find a vendor's address through the Secretary of State, visit the website of the state where the vendor is registered and enter the vendor's name or registration number. Access IOFM’s State Business Entity Databases for links to state business entity search pages.

·       For Tax-Exempt Vendors >  IRS TEOS: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides a Tax-Exempt Organization Search (TEOS) tool that allows you to look up information about tax-exempt organizations.  To use the TEOS tool, visit the IRS website and enter the vendor's name or Employer Identification Number (EIN) in the search field. The search results will provide detailed information about the organization, including its address. 

·       For US and Non-US Vendors >  OpenCorporates:  An open database of companies and company information, results include not only their registered address, but also the States that they have registered in, for additional due diligence and validation. Search without registering on the site or register for free for more advanced search. 

Two Best Practices to Maintain Valid Vendor Addresses

Maintaining accurate vendor addresses can be a challenge after the initial onboarding.  Here are two best practices to maintain valid vendor addresses

Add A Vendor Setup Form

When onboarding vendors, it is standard practice to collect the vendor addresses, however, if you are only collecting the IRS Form W-9 or the applicable IRS W-8 Form, you are only collecting one address.   Use a Vendor Setup Form (can be combined with the IRS forms) and include an additional address.  This also helps to collect a physical address if the vendors tax or mailing address is a PO Box, a fraud prevention tactic.

Collect That Vendor Setup Form or IRS Form for Existing Vendor Updates

When vendors submit changes such as a change to their banking, that may be an indicator that there are other changes as well.  Many vendors submit a bank change to make sure their electronic payments are successful, but that change may have been triggered by a merger or acquisition that also changed their address. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, maintaining accurate vendor addresses is crucial for smooth business operations and compliance. By utilizing free public resources you can effectively verify and update vendor information. Additionally, implementing a Vendor Setup Form and regularly collecting updates from vendors can help ensure that you have the most current and accurate information.

Looking for missing IRS EINs?  Check out  Four Free Public Resources to Find Missing IRS TINs