An LP's guide to Carta Tax

It’s time for tax season—so here’s what to expect.

October ‘24 to December ‘24: Confirm tax information

Starting in October, Carta will review and collect your tax information needed to prepare K-1s. You will be asked to either confirm existing information or provide missing information and sign a W-9 or W-8.

What information will I need to provide?

The tax information needed for K-1s includes:

Legal name
Tax ID
Entity type
Disregarded entity information (if applicable)
Address
Foreign taxpayer information (if applicable)

You’ll also be asked to review a preview of your K-1 and sign a generated W-9 or W-8 (required by tax preparers).

Why does Carta collect this information?

If you’re invested in a fund that uses Carta as the tax provider, this tax information collection process is mandatory as it ensures that our tax team has the necessary and accurate information to prepare tax returns, including your K-1s. Collecting this information prior to tax season ensures your K-1s are delivered on time and without error.

If you’re invested in a fund that uses a third-party tax provider, your fund manager may request for you to go through the tax information collection process, though Carta does not require this. This will enable your fund manager to gather critical information for their tax preparer, so your K-1s can be prepared without delay.

How do I provide this information?

You can expect a task in your Carta account notifying you to begin the tax data process.

Improvements have been made since last tax season, including:

A dynamic questionnaire: Based on your taxpayer type, subsequent questions will change, ensuring you are only providing necessary and relevant information.
Enhanced guardrails: We’ve added additional checks to ensure the information you provide is in the correct format and compliant with tax regulations.
K-1 preview: We provide a preview of your partner information in a format similar to how it will be presented on your K-1 so you can review for accuracy.
W-9 or W-8 signature: You’ll be asked to sign a generated W-9 or W-8, required by the IRS to prepare K-1s.

When do I need to provide this information?

To ensure the delivery of timely returns, we recommend you provide this information by December 31st.

Why am I being asked to sign a W-9 or W-8?

A W-9 or W-8 provides necessary tax-related information about the investors in a fund, confirming their tax residency and identification. This information is essential for accurate tax reporting and compliance with IRS regulations.

If Carta is your fund’s tax preparer, your W-9 or W-8 will be used to ensure the tax information on that document matches the information on Carta, which will be used to prepare your K-1s.

If your fund is using a third party tax provider, your fund manager may request a signed W-9 or W-8, as this document is needed to prepare K-1s, regardless of the tax provider.

What if I’m not the authorized signatory?

If you are not the authorized signatory, you can upload a signed W-9 or W-8 by either downloading the document generated by Carta to sign and upload, or upload an existing W-9 or W-8.

If you’re not invested in a fund that uses Carta as their tax provider, this step can be skipped.

Do I need to fill this out for every investment?

Yes, you will need to confirm or provide tax information for all fund commitments on Carta.

Any information provided is saved, so as you move through your commitments, you will not be asked to enter information twice. Changes made will be reflected across your fund commitments, so that we retain one set of tax data to be used when preparing your K-1s across funds.

March ‘25 and beyond: Receive and download K-1s

How will I receive K-1s?

Once your fund manager is ready to share K-1s, you’ll be notified via email or in your Carta account.

Use the Fund documents tab to view estimated delivery dates of tax documents and download K-1s across your investments.

Need additional help?

If you have any questions or need assistance throughout tax season, please reach out to our support team at investorservices@carta.com.

How to update tax information for limited partners (LPs)