Cross-border referral agreement: the clauses to check before you sign

Why a cross-border partner needs a different checklist

Most referral and finder's fee templates that rank in search are written for two parties in the same US state. A partner in Toronto, Munich or Singapore introducing a US company faces questions those templates skip: which country's law applies, which currency the reward is paid in, which US tax form the payer needs, whether passing on a contact's details is regulated where you live, and whether your own professional body restricts the fee.

With SourceX, the agreement is the published program terms you accept when you register, plus any signed partner agreement. This checklist does not replace or summarize them; it tells you what to look for while you read. If you are new to the format, what a referral fee agreement is covers the basics.

This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm with your own counsel, tax adviser or professional body before acting.

The checklist

Work through each group with the terms open, and mark anything you cannot answer from the text itself.

Parties and eligibility

• Which legal entity are you contracting with, and where is it established? SourceX is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, with its legal address in Lewes, Delaware.
• Are you signing as an individual or through your firm, and does the agreement allow the choice you prefer?
• Is your country supported? Anyone can join the SourceX program from any supported country.
• Which companies count? SourceX introductions must be US companies, although the partner can be based anywhere.

Governing law, language and disputes

• Which law governs the agreement, and which courts or arbitration body hear disputes?
• Which language version controls if you rely on a translation?
• How are formal notices served on a party outside the US, and to which email or postal address?

Earning, attribution and payout

• What triggers payment? Under the SourceX program, rewards become payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee; a lead, meeting or signed agreement alone does not trigger payment.
• How is credit assigned? SourceX credits the first valid referrer whose introduction leads to a verified company application within the attribution window.
• What is the cap, and does it apply per company or overall? For SourceX it is $100,000 cumulative per referred company.
• What happens to rewards that are still pending when the agreement ends?

Currency and payment mechanics

• In which currency is the reward calculated, and in which is it paid?
• Who bears conversion costs and intermediary bank charges on an international transfer?
• Which payment methods are available in your country, and what details will the payer need from you?

Tax forms and withholding

• Which US form will the payer request: a W-8BEN for a non-US individual, a W-8BEN-E for a non-US firm, or a W-9 if you are a US person? The W-8BEN-E guide for advisory firms covers the entity form line by line.
• Does the agreement let the payer deduct tax where the law requires it, and how would you be told? Form 1042-S for international partners explains the statement used to report such payments.
• If you are a US person living abroad, have you checked how US reporting applies? The IRS instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC cover reporting of nonemployee pay, and the reporting threshold depends on the year of payment.
• Have you confirmed with your own adviser how the reward is taxed where you live?

Confidentiality and data protection

• What may you say about the program, the referred company and its progress, and to whom?
• Does your local data-protection law apply when you pass on a contact's name and work email, and has that person agreed to be introduced?
• Does the agreement keep you out of the data? Partners make introductions and give basic fit information only; they never export, upload or describe confidential records.

Conduct, conflicts and promotion

• Does anything in the arrangement sit uneasily with anti-bribery law where you live, such as any suggestion of passing value to an executive at the referred company?
• Do your professional rules restrict referral fees or require client disclosure? Licensed professionals should check their own rules; the page for international accounting firms covers that case in detail.
• If you will recommend the program publicly, are you ready to disclose the paid relationship? The FTC's Endorsement Guides FAQ says a material connection should be disclosed clearly and close to the recommendation, and the Guides themselves sit in 16 CFR Part 255.

Term, termination and changes

• How can either side end the agreement, and with what notice?
• Which obligations survive termination, such as confidentiality and rewards already earned?
• How will you be told about changes to the terms, and from when do they apply?

How to use the results

Red flags in any cross-border referral agreement

These are warning signs to watch for in any program, not descriptions of SourceX's terms:

• You are asked to collect, transfer or summarize the client's records.
• You are asked to keep your fee hidden from a client where your rules require disclosure.
• Income is promised whether or not a deal closes or the payer is paid.
• You must pay to join or buy leads.
• Attribution is undefined, so credit depends on someone's discretion.
• The payer can change the economics without notice.
• Nothing says who handles tax documentation for foreign partners.

How the SourceX program answers the core questions

A few answers are fixed program facts. Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 per referred company, and the reward becomes payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee. The reward is a share of SourceX's fee and is never deducted from what the company receives, and no reward is guaranteed.

Tiers and other economics beyond those points are set by the signed agreement and the published terms, so read those rather than relying on summaries, including this one. The referral earnings calculator shows how the published formula works.

Next step

Work through the checklist with the program terms open and list any open questions for your adviser. Once you are comfortable, register as a partner and make your first introduction of a US company with 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded).