In the Helper, the people and businesses you file forms for are called Recipients. They include 1099 recipients, W-2 employees, and borrowers. Every recipient you add appears in your Recipient Directory and is linked to at least one issuer.
Quick version: Go to Recipients, click Add New Recipient, choose the issuer, enter the recipient’s TIN and contact details, and click Save.
Have a lot of recipients to add? Click Import Recipient to bring them in from a spreadsheet instead. See Upload Payer, Recipient & Form Data in an Excel Template.
Before you start: Every recipient must be linked to an issuer. If you haven’t added one yet, see How to Add or Edit an Issuer Manually.
Add a recipient or employee
Go to Recipients. You’ll land on the Recipient Directory.
Click Add New Recipient. A panel opens on the right.
Under Which issuer is this recipient associated with?, choose the issuer. You can link more issuers after saving (see below).
Choose the TIN Type: EIN (selected by default), SSN, or ITIN. Then enter the 9-digit TIN.
Enter the name:
EIN: Enter the business name in First Name / Business Name. Last Name stays grayed out.
SSN or ITIN: Enter the First Name / Business Name (first name) and Last Name.
Click + Add name line 2 if you need a second name line.
Enter the Address. Click + Add line 2 for a suite or apartment number.
Enter the City, State/terr/mil code, and ZIP. Country is set to United States by default. If you change it, ZIP becomes Postal code.
Enter a Phone number with the area code. Add an Email address if you have one.
Leave Exempt from Sales Tax set to No unless it applies to this recipient.
Click Save.
You’ll see a Recipient added message, and the new recipient appears in your Recipient Directory.
If Helper finds a matching recipient
If a recipient with the same TIN already exists, Helper asks before creating a duplicate:
Link existing recipient? Click Link to connect the existing recipient to this issuer.
Restore inactive recipient? The match was marked inactive. Click Restore and link to bring it back and connect it to this issuer.
Link a recipient to more than one issuer
The same person can receive forms from several issuers, and you don’t need to create them twice. After saving, go to Recipients, check the box next to the recipient, and click Link to issuer. The Linked issuers column shows how many issuers each recipient is connected to.
Which fields are required?
Required fields are marked with an asterisk (*):
TIN Type and TIN
First Name / Business Name
Last Name (only when the TIN Type is SSN)
Address, City, State/terr/mil code, ZIP, and Country
Phone (+ area code)
Email address, name line 2, and address line 2 are optional.
Is there a character limit?
Yes. Helper uses the IRS and SSA limits:
Field | Limit |
Business Name (EIN) | 57 |
First Name (SSN or ITIN) | 15 |
Last Name | 20 |
Address and City | 22 each |
If a name or address is too long, abbreviate it (for example, “St” for “Street”).
What’s next?
Add another: Click Add New Recipient again.
Change a recipient: See Need to manually edit a Recipient? No worries.
Create a form: See Adding, editing or deleting a 1099 or Adding, editing or deleting a W-2.
Your recipient is saved and ready for forms.