How to Get Your Payment From the Walmart Spark Driver Settlement

To get your Walmart Spark Driver settlement payment, you don’t have to do anything. There is no claim form. The Federal Trade Commission is distributing the $79 million driver portion of a $100 million judgment directly to eligible Spark drivers using records Walmart already has, and Walmart has also begun issuing some payments through its own systems.¹ Your job is to make sure the contact and payment information on your Spark account is current so the money can reach you.

Who Qualifies for a Payment

Drivers who completed deliveries through the Spark Driver app between January 1, 2021, and February 26, 2026, may be eligible.² The case was brought by the FTC together with 11 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, and Wisconsin.¹

Individual payment amounts have not been published. The FTC has not released a per-driver formula, but drivers who completed more deliveries or lost more in withheld tips and reduced base pay during the covered period would draw a larger share of the $79 million pool.

How the Payment Reaches You

The FTC sends refund payments by check, prepaid debit card, PayPal, or Zelle.³ Which method you get depends on what contact information the FTC or Walmart has for you. Walmart has also issued some payments directly through its own driver systems.¹

To make sure yours doesn’t get lost, log into your Spark Driver app and check that three things are accurate:

Your mailing address, since checks and prepaid debit cards go to the address on file.
Your email address, since PayPal and Zelle payments are often tied to the email linked to your account.
Your phone number, which some digital payment platforms use to verify the recipient.

If you drove for Spark during the eligible period but have since deactivated your account or moved, watch for a notice from the FTC. Those notices typically arrive by mail or email rather than through the Spark app.

Why There’s No Claim Form

In a typical class action, a settlement administrator posts a website and you have to fill out a claim form by a deadline. This settlement works differently because it was brought as a federal enforcement action by the FTC and 11 states, not as a private class action filed by drivers.

The FTC generally does not require workers or consumers to file claims. It obtains records directly from the company, including contact information and payment histories, and uses them to send refunds automatically.³ If the agency cannot locate a driver or lacks enough information to issue payment, it may later open a claims process. Any such process would be announced on the FTC’s refunds page at ftc.gov/refunds.

Watch Out for Scams

High-profile settlements attract scammers. The FTC will never ask you to pay money upfront to receive a refund, request your full bank login credentials, or contact you through social media. If someone tells you to fill out a “Walmart Spark settlement claim form” on an unfamiliar website, that is likely a phishing attempt. The FTC runs its own refund programs and will direct you to ftc.gov/refunds if any action is needed on your end.³

One boundary worth flagging: this Spark Driver settlement is separate from the Walmart Weighted Groceries class action, which involved different claims and did require a claim form. That case’s filing deadline passed in June 2024 and is no longer accepting claims.

Will the Payment Be Taxed?

Settlement payments that replace lost wages or earnings are generally treated as taxable income by the IRS.⁴ The Spark Driver settlement compensates drivers for base pay, tips, and incentive pay they should have received, so the payments will likely be reported as income. If your payment exceeds $600, expect a 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC for the tax year you receive the money.

If you filed Schedule C for your Spark earnings as an independent contractor, the settlement payment fills in income you earned but weren’t fully paid, and you should report it accordingly. Talk to a tax professional if the payment is substantial. How the settlement is characterized — lost wages versus penalty or punitive damages — can affect whether self-employment tax applies.

What the Payment Is Compensating You For

The FTC and 11 states sued Walmart over deceptive pay practices, not over how drivers were classified. The complaint said Walmart showed drivers tip amounts on delivery offers without disclosing the tips weren’t preauthorized, so drivers lost those tips when customer payments failed. It said Walmart quietly reduced base pay and tips when it removed orders from batched multi-stop deliveries, and that drivers often learned only after the fact. It said Walmart advertised bonuses with buried conditions that made them nearly impossible to collect, and sometimes didn’t pay even when drivers met every condition. And despite promising drivers “100% of tips,” Walmart repeatedly failed to pass tips along.¹

Of the $100 million judgment, $79 million goes to drivers, $11 million goes to the 11 participating states for enforcement costs, and $10 million goes to the FTC to reimburse misled customers.¹ If you are a current Spark driver and see a gap between what a delivery offer promises and what actually lands in your earnings, you can report it at reportfraud.ftc.gov.

1
Federal Trade Commission. Walmart Agrees to $100 Million Judgment to Settle FTC, States’ Charges Over Deceptive Earnings Claims Related to the Company’s Spark Driver Delivery Service
2
al.com. Walmart Settlement: $100 Million Judgment Related to Delivery Service, Feds Say – Section: Will Drivers Be Eligible for Payments?
3
Federal Trade Commission. Refund Programs: Frequently Asked Questions
4
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Implications of Settlements and Judgments