OFAC Vendor Screening and Supplier Sanctions Checks
Type a vendor or supplier name below and get a risk rating against the OFAC SDN and consolidated lists in seconds. Create an account to save a PDF for the vendor file, upload your vendor master as a CSV and have every supplier rescreened when a list changes.
What OFAC vendor screening is and who has to do it
OFAC vendor screening is a check of every supplier, contractor and payee against the U.S. sanctions lists before you sign with them or pay them. U.S. companies may not send funds to a person or company on the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, and a vendor payment is a transfer of funds. The rule covers every U.S. business in every industry, and civil liability is strict, so a payment to a listed supplier is a violation even when nobody in accounts payable knew.
A complete vendor check has three parts. You screen each new vendor at onboarding, you screen the vendor master you already have, and you rescreen that file whenever OFAC changes a list. Most companies that get into trouble did the first part once and skipped the other two.
The maximum civil penalty under IEEPA is $377,700 per violation or twice the value of the transaction, whichever is greater. A Growth plan that screens 50,000 vendors and keeps watching them costs $249 a month on yearly billing.
What accounts payable should screen in the vendor master
A vendor record holds more than one name. These are the fields that carry sanctions risk.
Legal name and DBA
Screen the name on the W-9 or W-8 and any trade name on the invoice. Legal suffixes such as LLC, GmbH or JSC are stripped before matching, so they do not hide a hit.
Owners and signers
A company owned 50 percent or more by blocked persons is blocked too, even if its own name is clean. Collect the owners of higher risk vendors and screen each one.
Remit-to and payee names
When the invoice says one company and the bank details say another, screen both. Factoring companies and payment agents belong in the check.
Country of the vendor and its bank
Add the country to each record. It sharpens the score and flags suppliers tied to comprehensively sanctioned jurisdictions such as Iran, Cuba and North Korea.
One time and inactive vendors
One time payees skip most onboarding controls, and dormant vendors come back to life. Include both when you export the file.
The same file again after each update
OFAC adds names whenever an action is ready. A supplier that was clear at onboarding can be listed a year later while your purchase orders are still open.
How to run an OFAC check on your vendors
From an ERP or accounting export to a screened vendor master in one sitting.
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01
Export the vendor list
Pull vendor name, country and vendor ID from QuickBooks, NetSuite, SAP, Sage or whatever holds your vendor master, and save it as a CSV.
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02
Upload the CSV
Map your columns once. A file can hold up to 100,000 rows, and each row is scored against every list on your plan.
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03
Work the Review queue
Most vendors come back Clear. Each Review or Likely match opens a case with the listed entry, the matched alias and the reason for the score.
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04
Clear or hold, with a reason
Compare country, address and identifiers. Clear a namesake with a short written reason, or hold the vendor and its open invoices for compliance review.
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05
Leave monitoring on
Saved vendors are rescreened against new entries after every list update. You get an alert by email or webhook only when something changes for one of them.
What a vendor file looks like after screening
Four fictional suppliers from one CSV, showing how country and trade names move the rating.
Rows in your vendor CSV
- Harlow Packaging Supply LLC, United States, V-1042
- Cedar Ridge Staffing Inc, United States, V-1187
- Orient Star Shipping Co, no country given, V-2210
- Example Petrochem Trading FZE, United Arab Emirates, V-2304
Rating per vendor
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Harlow Packaging Supply LLC
No candidate above your threshold
22/100 Clear -
Cedar Ridge Staffing Inc
No candidate above your threshold
31/100 Clear -
Orient Star Shipping Co
Close to a listed shipping company, no country to rule it out
82/100 Review -
Example Petrochem Trading FZE
Alias match after suffix removal, country fits
94/100 Likely match
Example data for illustration. The companies are fictional. Real results show the listed entry, the matched alias, the sanctions program and the list version date.
Put the check where vendors enter and where money leaves
There are two control points in procure to pay. The first is vendor onboarding, when someone in procurement or AP creates the vendor record. A check there keeps a listed supplier out of the system. The second is the payment run, because bank details and payee names change after onboarding and a vendor can be listed in between.
For a handful of new vendors a month, type each name into the console above and save the PDF with the W-9. For a full vendor master, use batch sanctions screening and leave ongoing sanctions monitoring on. Teams that release wires and ACH files every day can add payment screening, which checks the originator, beneficiary, banks and free text of each payment before release.
- Vendor setup form: screen before the record is approved
- Payment run: screen payees that are new or changed since the last run
- After each list update: automatic rescreen of every saved vendor
Three ways to screen vendors against OFAC
What each approach gives a team with a few hundred to a few thousand active vendors.
| What you need | Treasury search by hand | Spreadsheet and SDN download | OfacScanner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free, plus staff time | From $49 a month, or $24 billed yearly |
| Screen a whole vendor master | One name at a time | Lookup formulas, exact text only | CSV upload, up to 100,000 rows (Growth) |
| Aliases and spelling variants | Slider for name score | Missed unless typed the same way | Fuzzy score with aliases and transliteration |
| Rescreen after list updates | Start over by hand | Download the list again and rerun | Automatic for every saved vendor (Growth) |
| Record of each check | Screenshot you take yourself | Whatever the sheet keeps | PDF certificate with list version and time |
| Review of possible matches | Your own notes | A comment column | Cases with reviewer, decision and reason |
| Best for | A one time check with no audit need | Nobody, exact matching misses real hits | AP and procurement teams that must show proof |
The Treasury tool is the official source and costs nothing. The comparison with the Treasury search covers where it is enough. Plan limits are on the pricing page.
Who asks to see your vendor screening records
Few companies start vendor screening because of OFAC itself. They start because someone asks for proof. A lender adds a sanctions covenant to the credit agreement. A large customer sends a supplier code of conduct with a sanctions clause. An auditor tests vendor onboarding controls, or a buyer runs due diligence before an acquisition.
In each case the question is the same: show that these vendors were screened, when, and against which list. A dated certificate per vendor answers it in minutes.
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Banks and lenders
Credit agreements and treasury onboarding often include a representation that you do not deal with sanctioned parties.
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Customers and primes
Government contractors and large enterprises push sanctions clauses down to their own suppliers.
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Auditors and acquirers
Vendor master controls are a standard test, and sanctions exposure is a standard diligence question.
What to keep in each vendor file
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The PDF certificate for the vendor and for each owner you screened
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The date of the check and the list version, both printed on the certificate
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The written reason for every Review result you cleared
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The name of the person who ran the check and who approved the vendor
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A note when a payment was held, and how it was resolved
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The date of the latest rescreen for vendors you still pay
Screening supports the decision, it does not make it
OfacScanner tells you how close a vendor name is to a listed entry and why. It screens the names you enter and does not research who owns a supplier. Whether to onboard, pay or hold is your decision, ideally with your compliance lead or counsel. If a match is real, stop the payment, follow the blocking and reporting rules, and get legal advice before you do anything else with the funds.
OFAC vendor screening questions
Another question? Write to [email protected].
Do you need to run OFAC checks on vendors?
How often should vendors be screened against OFAC?
How do I check if a vendor is on the OFAC list?
Can I screen my whole vendor list at once?
What happens if a vendor is on the SDN list?
Is the free Treasury search enough for vendor screening?
Keep exploring
Screen your vendor master before the next payment run
Check a supplier now, then create your account to upload the full list and keep a PDF for every vendor.
Results support your compliance decisions, and the final decision stays with your team. OfacScanner is not affiliated with OFAC or the U.S. Department of the Treasury.