Receiving a payment to Cornell for goods or services may require registering Cornell in another entity’s payment system. Ensuring that payments are properly directed and that your unit or the university is not exposed to adverse legal, tax, or financial consequences is extremely important.
Before Registering Cornell in an External Entity’s Payment System
Determine which department is responsible for processing the registration.
Other central offices are responsible for their activity. For other payments please be sure that your unit is authorized to engage in the activity generating the payment, and that the payment is being made to the university, not to an individual employee or student.
How to Register Your Department in an External Entity’s Payment System
If your department is responsible for processing the registration, complete the registration:
Before completing a registration, ask the entity to search their records for Cornell under the tax ID below in item 3.
- Use our legal corporate name, Cornell University, and the mailing address, telephone, contact, and email of your unit.
- Include your department’s name in the address line or other suitable location.
- Use the university’s tax id (sometimes call an EIN, TIN, or FEIN): 15-0532082. Do not use any other tax ID without approval from the University Tax Office.
- Use the university’s annual revenue, number of employees, or similar data from Cornell’s financial statements. The data should reflect the entire university, not your unit or campus.
- Include the university’s founding date of 1865 if required. Cornell is incorporated in the State of New York.
- State Cornell’s classification as a “Large Business” for Small Business or Minority- and Women-Owned Business Program reporting.
- Sign the form: The form should be signed by someone responsible for business affairs within your unit.
- Include on the form, if possible, “please do not change any other entries for Cornell University.” It is common for a vendor to have many entries for Cornell University under the same tax ID.
- Provide Cornell’s IRS Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification. Contact the University Tax Office if you need Cornell’s IRS Determination Letter, which documents of our 501(c)(3) tax exemption status. Most times, however, it is only required for gifts, which are managed by Advancement Services.
- Provide banking information if requested to establish an Automated Clearing House (ACH) or wire payment. Contact the Cash Management Office for this information and any required bank forms. Provide some indicator of your department name in the payment information so that Cash Management can identify the electronic transmission, and be sure to complete the Notification of Expected Transfer online form. If you believe a payment was sent, and you have yet to have it assigned to your unit, you may wish to review the Unidentified Receipts list.
Considerations and Cautions
If your department will deliver services to an external entity, a contract or standard business terms and conditions should be in place. University Counsel can help develop standard contracts for an activity not managed by a central office.
Finally, be sure that the payment represents genuine activity not an attempt, such as phishing, to obtain university or personal information such as bank accounts.
Do not:
- Process vendor registrations from governments that invoke tax obligations on the university without contacting the University Tax Office.
- Register foreign with a foreign entity without contacting Global Operations.
- Register for a Data Universal Number System (DUNS) number or in the System for Award Management (SAM) without contacting Sponsored Financial Services.
- Register an entity with the U.S., New York State, or New York City governments without contacting Sponsored Financial Services.
