W9 Forms - What takes so long? | Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy

W9 Forms – What takes so long?

June 13, 2019

Any employee, contractor, vendor or other entity being issued a check from the State of Illinois is required to submit a W-9 form. A W-9 form is submitted to Procurement who then files the W-9 form with the State of IL Comptroller’s office. The Comptroller’s office goes through a ‘Certification’ process whereby they match the information provided on the W9 form with the information listed in the IRS database. Any information that does not match exactly as the record with the IRS database (ie: name, social security number, business status, etc) will cause the W9 form to be rejected by the State and returned to IMSA for further documentation /review. When information does not match the certification process can take weeks to resolve depending upon how long it takes the vendor to provide correct documentation.  Documents that match the IRS database are typically certified within 4 days.