What you'll learn in this article:
- How can I help my applicant troubleshoot setting up payments?
- What happens if the tenant does not receive the payments setup email? How do I request payments from my renters?
- How do I set up payments with my renters?
- Can my renter pay weekly? Bimonthly?
- How do you protect my personal information?
- What if my bank isn’t supported?
- Can my renter pay by credit card?
- Can I set a due date when I request a payment for something besides rent?
- Can more than one tenant pay rent online?
- How do I know if my tenant has set up payments?
- What if my tenant’s bank isn’t supported?
- Can I request one-time payments for costs other than rent, such as utilities?
- Can I set up payments as a business?
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I'm setting up payments for the first time. How do I set up my tax information?
How can I help my applicant troubleshoot setting up payments?
Below are common scenarios that your renters may run into and how to troubleshoot setting up payments:
Your renter can’t find the email inviting them to set up payments.
Double-check the email that was entered for them to ensure there were no typos. If the email was spelled correctly, the email may have ended up in your renter’s spam or junk folders, so they should check there.
You can also resend the payment invitation email from your Zillow Rental Manager listing. In the Manage tenants section of your listing, click to manage your renter’s terms. Under the Upcoming section of Payment activity, click Resend invite. This will send an email to your renter with a link to set up their account. If you don’t see a Resend invite button, please see the paragraph below.
Your renter opened the invite to set up payments, and needs to complete the setup process.
If the upcoming payment shows the date that the invite was opened, you will no longer have the option to resend the invitation. Instead, you can advise your renter to go straight to their payment dashboard to complete the payment setup process. When they visit their payment dashboard, our system will remember where they left off and prompt them to complete the next step. This article has instructions on how to access the renter payment dashboard.
Your renter is having trouble verifying their bank account using micro-deposits.
Micro-deposits are two small payments that Zillow will send to your renter’s bank to verify that they input the correct banking information. After your renter enters their banking information, it will take 1-2 days for their bank to receive the micro-deposits. Zillow will send these micro-deposits directly to your renter’s bank account within that time, so they will need to check your bank statement to locate the transactions.
The payments will be two separate amounts less than $1 from ZG - Rent Payments.
After your renter has located both micro-deposits, they will need to input the amounts in the verification boxes within their payment dashboard and then click Verify my account. For more information on renter payments, visit this page.
Your renter only sees their last payment plan.
If your renter does not see the option to set up their new payment plan and instead sees old payment requests this means the previous payment plan is overlapping the new payment plan.
To resolve this issue, your tenant needs to contact their previous landlord and request their payment plan be cancelled with an end date prior to your new payment plans start date.
What happens if the tenant does not receive the payments setup email? How do I request payments from my renters?
If your tenant has not yet opened the email invite, you can resend the payment setup email to your tenant from your payment dashboard.
To access your payment dashboard, go to the Payments tab on your listing in Zillow Rental Manager, and click View all payments to manage your renter's terms. This will take you to the page shown below.
Under Payment activity, locate the upcoming payment and click Resend Invitation. This sends your tenant another email invitation.
If your tenant has already opened the invite and started setting up their account, the Resend Invitation button will no longer appear. Instead, it will say the date that your tenant opened the invite. If this is the case, your tenant can visit their payment dashboard to complete their payment setup. They can use this link Zillow payment dashboard.
How do I set up payments with my renters?
When you complete the process to set up online rent collection from Zillow Rental Manager, we’ll send an email invitation to the renter to complete the process.
For more information on this, you can refer to the article: Where can my renter go to make their rent payment?
Can my renter pay weekly? Bimonthly?
No. Our service is currently set up to process one rent payment per month. Renters may make payments one at a time, or set up recurring monthly payments for the duration of the rent term. The rent amount and due date are set by the landlord during the initial setup.
How do you protect my personal information?
We take the security of our users’ information seriously. We intentionally limit the amount of sensitive data we store, and we use multiple layers of security to keep your data safe. Additionally, we continually review and update our practices to stay on top of evolving threats.
Zillow does not store your bank account information. For more details on the types of information that Zillow stores, please see our Privacy Policy. For more information about how our third party payment processors store and use your financial information, please see our Rental User Terms.
What if my bank isn’t supported?
If our system doesn’t show your bank when you attempt to connect it automatically, you can manually enter your banking information. You will need to provide your account number and your bank’s routing info. We will then make two micro-deposits into your account. You will need to confirm the deposit amounts into the verification page in your payment dashboard to verify your account setup.
Can my renter pay by credit card?
Yes we accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express.
Can I set a due date when I request a payment for something besides rent?
Not currently. When you request a one-time payment, your tenant can pay it at any time.
Can more than one tenant pay rent online?
Our payment platform supports one tenant per Zillow Rental Manager listing. This tenant is able to make one rent payment each month, in the full monthly rent amount set by the landlord.
If multiple tenants in the same unit want to contribute to the payment, they can designate one tenant as the primary tenant who will make the full monthly rent payment. Any payments made between tenants will need to be arranged offline.
If you have multiple units at the same address, you can create a listing in your Zillow Rental Manager account for each unit. If you do this, please designate each unit with a unit number or letter. Then, you can set up rent payments individually for each unit under the Payments tab.
How do I know if my tenant has set up payments?
If your tenant has completed the setup process, you will see Contact [tenant name] under the Primary tenant section. Additionally, you can check the status of your tenant's payment in the Upcoming, Completed and Past due sections of the payment dashboard.
What if my tenant’s bank isn’t supported?
If our system does not show your tenant’s bank for integrated login, they have the option to manually enter their banking or card information. They will need to provide their account number and their bank’s routing information. Please note that we do not accept savings accounts, prepaid debit cards, or government-issued debit cards.
Can I request one-time payments for costs other than rent, such as utilities?
Yes. If you need to collect a one-time payment for security deposit, pro-rated rent, late fees, pet fees, utilities, or other fees you can do so from the Payment Dashboard of your listing in Zillow Rental Manager. To request a one-time payment follow the directions below:
- Click Request payment
- Fill in the fields:
- What’s it for?
- Additional notes
- Amount
- Click Request a one-time payment
Note: You are only able to send a request for the security deposit once during each payment term and all other categories can be requested once per calendar month. Additionally, due dates cannot be implemented for one-time payments. Lastly, the 'other' fee can be used to request up to $300/month, late fees, utilities, and pet fees have a cap of $1000/month each. The prorated rent fee has a cap of $10,000/month.
Can I set up payments as a business?
When onboarding for rent payments, landlords have the option to report their rental income as either an Individual or a Business for tax purposes.
While you go through the payment onboarding process, you will see the option to Verify your tax information.
There you have the choice to be taxed as either An individual or A business.
Onboarding as an Individual
When you onboard as an individual, you will be required to fill out the following information in order to collect rent payments on the platform.
If you do not complete the onboarding process or do not submit all of the required information, your payouts will be paused until the information is submitted, leading to a delay in your payments.
Onboarding as a Business
When you onboard as a business, you have the option to set up as either a Single-member LLC or a Multi-member LLC, or a corporation.
When you onboard as a business, you will be required to submit your business information such as your Business name, Doing Business As (DBA) name (if applicable), and your Employer Identification Number (EIN). If you are verifying as a Multi-Member LLC, you will need to submit your business street address.
A requirement for business types is to submit the business owner's information. Information such as the Owner first and last name, Street address, Phone Number, Date of Birth, and Social Security Number is required to collect rent payments on the payment platform.
If you do not complete the onboarding process or do not submit all of the required information, your payouts will be paused until the information is submitted, leading to a delay in your payments.
I'm setting up payments for the first time. How do I set up my tax information?
When onboarding for rent payments, landlords are required to indicate whether they report their rental income as either an Individual or a Business for tax purposes. This ensures your 1099-K is issued correctly.
- While you go through the payment onboarding process, you will see the option to Verify your tax information.
- There you can indicate whether you are taxed as either An individual or A business.
Onboarding as an Individual
When you onboard as an individual, you will be required to fill out the following information in order to collect rent payments on the platform.
If you do not complete the onboarding process or do not submit all of the required information, your payouts will be paused until the information is submitted, leading to a delay in receipt of your payments.
Onboarding as a Business
When you onboard as a business, you will be asked to identify the type of business entity. The options are a Single-member LLC or a Multi-member LLC, or a corporation.
When you onboard as a business, you will be required to submit your business information such as your Business name, Doing Business As (DBA) name (if applicable), and your Employer Identification Number (EIN). If you are verifying as a Multi-Member LLC, you will need to submit your business street address.
All business types are required to submit the business owner's information. Information such as the Owner first and last name, Street address, Phone Number, Date of Birth, and Social Security Number is required to collect rent payments on the payment platform.
If you do not complete the onboarding process or do not submit all of the required information, your payouts will be paused until the information is submitted, leading to a delay in receipt of your payments.