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Accounts Payable

Automate Vendor W-9 Collection and Invoice Data Entry with BILL AI

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What the source describes

BILL's accountant resource article explains how BILL AI extracts invoice details such as vendor name, invoice number, dates, amount, terms and PO number into bills, leaving fields blank when data is not recognized. It also describes duplicate invoice warnings, automatic splitting of multi-invoice documents, a Reminders report that flags potentially missing bills, and a W-9 Agent that emails vendors to collect and enter W-9s.

Result or outcome

According to the source, the BILL W-9 Agent can autonomously email clients' vendors to collect and enter W-9s, eliminating over 80% of the manual steps involved, and BILL AI makes about 5 million predictions daily.

How to run it

  1. Route client invoices into BILL so BILL AI can extract vendor name, invoice number, dates, amount, terms and PO number into draft bills.
  2. Fill any fields BILL AI left blank, act on duplicate invoice warnings, and confirm multi-invoice documents were split into the right individual bills.
  3. Run the Reminders report to spot bills that look missing based on the client's history, and chase those vendors before due dates pass.
  4. Use the W-9 Agent to email vendors for W-9s, then confirm the collected forms were entered on the correct vendor records.
  5. Export the vendor list with totals paid and W-9 status, remove tax ID numbers, and paste the prompt below into your AI tool to flag gaps.

Try it yourself

Copyable prompt

You are helping me prepare for 1099 season for [client business name]. I am pasting our vendor list exported from [accounting software] with columns for vendor name, total paid this year, entity type and W-9 status. 1) Flag every vendor paid over [threshold amount] whose W-9 status is missing or expired. 2) Exclude vendors marked as corporations unless they are attorneys or medical providers. 3) For each flagged vendor, draft a short, friendly request asking them to complete a W-9 through [secure upload link], explaining why we need it and the deadline of [date]. 4) Return a table of flagged vendors with the reason they were flagged. Do not include tax ID numbers in your output. Vendor list: [paste data]

Replace the [bracketed] placeholders. Remove client names, account numbers, and personal data before pasting into any AI tool.

What to review

Check each extracted bill against the original invoice, especially amount, due date and PO number, before approving payment. Confirm every W-9 the agent collected matches the legal vendor name on file. The 1099 threshold and the exclusions in the prompt are assumptions to confirm with a tax professional, not rules the AI can decide for you.

Related free download: 50 AI Prompts for Bookkeepers (Prompt pack (PDF))

Source: BILL Accountant Resource Center (vendor article)

Not professional advice. This is general information, not accounting, tax, legal or financial advice. Check AI output yourself and consult a licensed professional for your situation. See our Terms of Use.

This entry summarizes a public source. Features, plans, and availability change, so confirm details with the vendor. Tool names are trademarks of their respective owners.

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