Payout & wiring disclosure

⚠️ DRAFT — Reviewed by counsel: [pending]. Effective date: [YYYY-MM-DD — set on publish]. Do not rely on this as legal advice.

This notice explains what payout / wiring information LeadAdvisors collects from independent contractors, why we collect it, how it is stored, and how disbursement works.

1. When we collect

We capture the outline of your payout method during the application stage at /careers/apply (currency, country, and which type of wire details we will need). We collect the actual account-level wiring details at the offer / engagement stage in the secured /candidate/profile/payout flow. Final wiring is locked in only after the engagement is signed.

2. What we collect

For all payouts:

• Payout method — wise or bank_transfer (the schema shipped today; future processors may be added).
• Payout country (ISO-2 code) and payout currency (ISO-4217 code).
• Recipient type — individual or business.
• Account holder name (must match the contractor's legal name or the registered business name).

By currency, we collect the wiring fields appropriate for the destination:

We may also collect a free-text "notes" field for unusual cases. We do not collect:

• Card numbers.
• Online-banking passwords or one-time codes.
• More than is necessary to send the payment.

3. Why we need it

• To pay you for net payable hours under your engagement.
• To verify you are the same person we engaged (account-holder name match).
• To meet anti-money-laundering and tax record-keeping rules where they apply to us or our payout processor.

4. How it is stored

Payout details are persisted in the applicant_payout_profiles table inside the LeadAdvisors database (Neon Postgres) when DATABASE_URL is configured, and otherwise in process memory for local development. The schema is in src/lib/applicant-payouts.ts and scripts/migrations/000_FULL_SCHEMA_V2.sql.

Encryption posture (factual statement of the current build):

• In transit — all traffic to and from the LeadAdvisors Portal is TLS-encrypted (HTTPS-only). The hosted Postgres connection between Vercel and Neon is also TLS-encrypted.
• At rest — Neon encrypts database storage at rest at the platform level. The portal does not today add a separate application-level encryption layer (for example, column-level KMS encryption) on top of bank-detail columns.
• Access — only roles with canManagePayrollData (currently the super-admin allowlist + designated top admins per src/lib/permissions.ts) can query payout data through the admin tools. Recruiters cannot.

[Anthony to confirm: whether to add application-level encryption on payout columns before going to broader production. Recommended once the contractor count grows past pilot.]

5. Who processes the actual payment

LeadAdvisors initiates the payment to the account you provide. The actual cross-border or in-country transfer is performed by [Anthony to confirm: payout processor — likely Wise for international, Payoneer or direct bank for some flows]. That processor receives:

• Account holder, account / IBAN / SWIFT / CLABE, currency, amount, and our reference ID.
• Such other identifiers as the processor requires (for example, Wise asks for a recipient address for some corridors).

The processor's privacy notice and terms apply to its handling of the payment leg.

6. Currency policy on the compensation summary

• Philippines-based contractors: compensation summary is calculated and paid in PHP.
• Mexico-based contractors: compensation summary is calculated in USD (per the program rate); payout is in MXN via the payout processor at the day's exchange rate.
• US-based contractors: compensation summary is calculated and paid in USD.

The compensation summary clearly labels both the calculation currency and the payout currency where they differ.

7. Tax — your responsibility

You are an independent contractor. You are responsible for all taxes, withholdings, and government contributions on the compensation paid to you under your engagement, in your country of tax residence. Specifically:

• United States: you are responsible for federal, state, and local income tax and self-employment tax. LeadAdvisors will issue a Form 1099-NEC for any calendar year in which compensation paid to you reaches the IRS threshold, provided you have submitted a Form W-9.
• Foreign contractors paid by US payor: you may be asked to complete Form W-8BEN (individuals) or W-8BEN-E (entities) so we can document foreign status.
• Philippines: you are responsible for income tax and any VAT or percentage tax that applies to your services. You file your own BIR returns (typically Forms 1701/1701A and applicable schedules). LeadAdvisors does not act as your withholding agent unless required by law.
• Mexico: you are responsible for ISR and IVA on your services as applicable. We may require you to invoice via CFDI ("factura") through the SAT regime appropriate for your activity.
• Other countries: you are responsible for taxes per your local law. Tell us before disbursement if local law requires LeadAdvisors to withhold.

LeadAdvisors does not provide tax advice. Please consult a tax professional.

8. Changes to your details

You can update your payout details in /candidate/profile/payout (offer stage onward) or by writing to [Anthony to confirm: HR or payout contact]. Changes that affect a payout already in flight may be processed in the next billing period to avoid duplicate or failed transfers.

We will not change your payout details based solely on an emailed request without verifying you are the requester (anti-fraud step).

9. Disputes

If a payout looks wrong, raise a "Pay & hours" ticket at /staff/hr within 14 days of the compensation summary publish date, or write to [Anthony to confirm: HR or payout contact]. We aim to resolve disputes within 10 business days.

10. Retention

Payout details are retained for the duration of your engagement plus the period required by financial-record retention rules. On termination you may request deletion of the wiring detail; we may keep the high-level transaction record (date, currency, amount, reference) for the retention window required by law.

11. Contact

legal@leadadvisors.net