# Authenticate using Account ID and License Key

Source: https://developer.avalara.com/products/avalara-1099-and-w9/integration-guides/1099-and-w-9/kny2997001535374/

Guide: 1099 & W-9

# Authenticate using Account ID and License Key

Learn how to activate your Avalara account and generate credentials if you don't have access to the Avalara Portal.

If your organization already uses other Avalara products, such as AvaTax or CertCapture, and has access to the signed-in area of the [Tax Compliance Software - Avalara](http://avalara.com/) website, you can generate the bearer token required to authenticate to the Avalara 1099 & W-9 API using your Account ID and license key.

Note

If you already have a license key for integrating with other Avalara products, you can keep using it. However, if you generate a new license key through this process, it will automatically reset any key you created before.

**Step 1: Sign in and generate a license key**

1.  Sign in to [Tax Compliance Software - Avalara](http://avalara.com/).
2.  Go to Settings > License and API keys.
3.  Select Generate new key.
4.  Note your Account ID in the Account menu.

**Step 2: Request a bearer token**

Make a `POST` request to the Avalara Identity service using the `client_credentials` grant type:

```
curl -X POST 'https://identity.avalara.com/connect/token' \
   --header 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
   --data-urlencode 'grant_type=client_credentials' \
   --data-urlencode 'client_id={{accountId}}' \
   --data-urlencode 'client_secret={{licenseKey}}'
```

This command sends a POST request to the Avalara Identity service with the required headers and data to authenticate and retrieve an access token. Replace `{{accountId}}` and `{{licenseKey}}` with your actual credentials.

Use the resulting bearer token to authenticate your API requests to the Avalara 1099 APIs.