Frequently Asked Questions
What is Trolley?
Why am I getting emails from Trolley?
Can I just send you my bank information in an email and you do it for me?
I already gave the Pulitzer Center my bank information a long time ago and Pulitzer Center has sent me wire transfers. Why do I have to set up Trolley now?
I’m having technical issues with the Trolley website, how do I contact their customer service?
You are receiving emails from Trolley because the finance team at the Pulitzer Center created an account for you in Trolley.
We have created an account because a payment was scheduled to you or to an organization for which your email address was in our system as the contact person for payments. If you believe this is a mistake, please let us know by emailing payments@pulitzercenter.org and/or the Pulitzer Center staff member who is your standard point of contact.
The Pulitzer Center has been using Trolley for some time, but we are now making Trolley our primary payment method and moving away from other methods. Additionally, we find that many of our payees frequently move locations and change bank accounts. Trolley ensures that we have the most up-to-date information for you, in a location that you can access, edit, and verify yourself.
No, we cannot enter it on your behalf.
Your entry of the information serves as your authorization to pay to the account you enter and is your act of confirming your tax information is correct. We can provide assistance to you if you are experiencing errors or issues that are not covered in the Set Up Guide or this FAQ, but we require that you enter your own information into Trolley.
Trolley does not have a customer service department to speak with or assist payment recipients. If you are experiencing technical issues and cannot find the answers in our Set Up Guide or this FAQ, please let us know by emailing payments@pulitzercenter.org and/or the Pulitzer Center staff person who is your standard point of contact. We will relay your issues to Trolley and ensure that a solution is found.
Accessing Trolley
How do I find my password to sign in to Trolley?
I deleted the emails with the links, what’s the url to go straight to Trolley?
How do I change the email address on my Trolley account?
I can’t access the email account that the Trolley invitation was sent to, what do I do now?
I am not receiving the invitation emails and/or the verification code emails. What now?
Trolley does not use passwords. Each time you want to access the payment portal, you will be asked to enter your email address. Trolley will send a verification code to that email address. The verification code serves as a temporary one-time password so you can access your account.
At this time, you cannot change your own email address in Trolley, but we can do this for you. Please contact us by emailing payments@pulitzercenter.org and/or the Pulitzer Center staff person who is your standard point of contact, and we will make the change.
Please contact us by emailing payments@pulitzercenter.org and/or the Pulitzer Center staff person who is your standard point of contact, and we will change the email address on your Trolley account to one you can access.
Check your spam folder. If you do not find the emails there, please contact us by emailing payments@pulitzercenter.org and/or the Pulitzer Center staff person who is your standard point of contact. We can confirm if there is a typo or other error in the email address we have for you, or if we had an out-of-date address in our records.
Bank accounts
It says my payment failed due to an “invalid account.” What does that mean?
My bank account is in USD but that currency is not an option for me on the Payout Method set up. How do I get USD?
I put in the wrong bank account information and I need to change it. How do I do that?
I have a new bank account and I want all of my future payments to go to the new account. What should I do?
My bank account is in a different country than where I live, and Trolley won’t let me enter my bank information. What should I do?
There may be a typo or other error in the account number that you entered, or it may be that the name on your Trolley profile does not match the name on the bank account that you set up as your Payout Method.
Please log into Trolley and check the bank information on your Payout Method carefully.
If everything appears to be correct, please contact your bank and confirm that you have the correct information in case your bank has updated or changed your numbers.
If your bank confirms the information that you entered is correct, please send us the confirmed information in a document from your bank by emailing payments@pulitzercenter.org. We will contact Trolley to work through the issue while keeping you updated.
You need to chose the currency you wish to be paid in when you set up your Payout Method.
Trolley assumes your bank is in the currency of the country where it is located and may not have alternative currencies available to be chosen by default. To request an additional currency, please contact us at payments@pulitzercenter.org. We will request that Trolley activate USD or another needed currency on your account.
If your bank is located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Peru, USD should already be enabled on your account. This typically takes 2-3 business days. We will inform you when the currency has been activated and is available for you to chose.
If you requested an alternate currency before setting up your Payout Method, see Step 2 of the Set Up Guide.
If you had already set up your Payout Method and need to change the currency, see How to Create a New Payout Method.
You need to delete the Payout Method and create a new one. You cannot edit an existing Payout Method.
Please log in to Trolley, delete your Payout Method, and create a new one.
See directions for this in the "How to set up a Payout Method with a bank account that is in a different country than where you live" section of the How To page. It will direct you to different steps in the Set Up Guide as well as to the "How to change your address after you've already set up a Payout Method", depending on how far long you are in the process and what you need to edit.
U.S. Tax Documents
I’m not a U.S. citizen and I don’t live in the U.S., so why do you need tax information from me?
I am not a U.S. citizen and I am confused about how to answer the tax questions. Can you help me?
I am not a U.S. citizen, and I don’t have a tax identification number. How do I complete the form?
I know that I shouldn’t have to pay any U.S. taxes, but it’s telling me that I may have 30% of my payment withheld if it is a prize or award. Does that mean I’m going to lose money from my grant or fellowship payment?
I’m not a U.S. citizen, but I was in the U.S. when I did the work that the Pulitzer Center is sending me a payment for. Do I have to pay taxes on it?
I want to be paid to my U.S. nonprofit, but the tax form won’t let me specify that the organization has nonprofit status. What should I do?
I live in the U.S., but I am not a citizen; I am here on a student visa. How do I fill out the tax information, and should I be paying taxes?
You can choose to upload an already completed W-9 to Trolley instead of answering the questions. This option is a link in the very first step of the Tax Form process.
Because the Pulitzer Center is based in the United States, it is a requirement of the U.S. government that we have these forms on file before we send any payments.
We cannot provide direct guidance on how to enter your information onto the tax forms.
We recommend that you search the internet for guidance about your particular situation and/or contact a finance professional in your country of residence who can assist you.
Leave it blank!
If you are filling out the W-8BEN form (because you are non-U.S.), it is fine to leave that field blank. Your form will be approved without it.
If you are filling out the W-9 form (for U.S. “persons”), your form will not be approved unless you have a tax identification number. (If you don’t have a tax identification number, you probably shouldn’t be filling out the W-9 and you would want to go back, check your answers, and see how you got directed to the wrong form.)
In the vast majority of cases, we would not expect to see payment recipients having taxes withheld from their payments. That being said, it depends on which country you are located in and their tax treaties with the U.S.
Grant and fellowship payments are processed by Pulitzer Center as payments for “services,” not awards or prizes.
If you are a non-U.S. citizen or organization, the tax form serves to document that fact and verify that you do not need to pay U.S. taxes.
Please consult with a tax professional in advance of filling out the tax form. Different student visas may have different requirements regarding which form to submit and if you are required to pay US taxes. Most universities have support centers that can provide advice to international students.
I’m not a U.S. citizen and I don’t live in the U.S., will my country withhold taxes on this payment?
Payment problems
When will my payment arrive in my bank account?
Trolley says my payment was supposed to arrive today but it's not in my account yet. What's wrong?
Trolley says my payment already arrived but it's not in my bank account.
Trolley says my payment already arrived, I've already asked my bank, and they cannot find it.
I got an error message from Trolley about the payment or my bank account, what do I do?
Pulitzer processes payments twice a month, or every two weeks.
Once the payment has been processed, it will show in your Trolley profile with an estimated date or arrival. The estimated date will reflect when the payment is expected to reach your bank, and it may take your bank additional time to place the funds into your own account.
The estimated date of arrival that you see in Trolley reflects when the payment is expected to reach your bank, and it may take your bank additional time to place the funds into your own account.
If it is more than one week past the estimated date shown in Trolley, please reach out to payments@pulitzercenter.org to check on your payment status.
Reach out to your bank and ask if it is being held for confirmation or any extra registration steps.
Email payments@pulitzercenter.org and we will request that Trolley trace the payment. It may take several business days to a week to receive the trace.
The most common reasons for payments to fail is that there was an error in your bank account number or that it was sent in the wrong currency. Check all of your information and if you do not see the error, check with your bank. Once you have found the error, you can set up a new Payout Method with the corrected bank information.