Okay to accept referral bonus on an H1-B?

[notabot]

I recently referred a friend of mine to buy a home in our community. The builder is offering referral bonus (via a W-9 form - basically I have to fill up the form and send it back). The amount is not that big, but surely significant. Am I okay to accept it? I'll obviously be paying tax on it in next years filing.

My reading of this (related) article is that this income of mine is not going to take away anyone's job, and hence is not an unlawful earning (speaking from being on H1B perspective). I couldn't find much else on the web. Any thoughts, comments or suggestions appreciated!

[LeaveMessageH1B]

Technically No

[whiskeyjack]

Take the money bro, accept payment for once is not an employment.

[notabot]

On 3/24/2023 at 6:52 AM, LeaveMessageH1B said:

Technically No

Curious to know what's the technicality here.

[LeaveMessageH1B]

On 3/27/2023 at 2:29 PM, notabot said:

Curious to know what's the technicality here.

W-9 ! 

No one is wiser then tax ppl in US. Any query/audit/inquiry with IRS is not nice to have while you're in US on temporary work visa status and even afterwards. 

look up here, not so hard to find on google [non-government link removed]

 

[notabot]

Quote

No one is wiser then tax ppl in US. Any query/audit/inquiry with IRS is not nice to have while you're in US on temporary work visa status and even afterwards. 

The link you added got removed looks like and yes I've "googled" quite a bit but there's no clear answer.

FYI, uscis and irs are two separate entities. You can be on a non-immigrant visa (like H1B) yet be a resident for tax purposes.