diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 22d6301..68120ed 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ Full list of options in `config.json`:
 | compression                         | String  | No         | The type of compression to apply before uploading. Supported options are `none` (default) and `gzip`. For gzipped files, the file extension will automatically be changed to `.csv.gz` for all files. |
 | naming_convention                   | String  | No         | (Default: None) Custom naming convention of the s3 key. Replaces tokens `date`, `stream`, and `timestamp` with the appropriate values. <br><br>Supports "folders" in s3 keys e.g. `folder/folder2/{stream}/export_date={date}/{timestamp}.csv`. <br><br>Honors the `s3_key_prefix`,  if set, by prepending the "filename". E.g. naming_convention = `folder1/my_file.csv` and s3_key_prefix = `prefix_` results in `folder1/prefix_my_file.csv` |
 | temp_dir                            | String  |            | (Default: platform-dependent) Directory of temporary CSV files with RECORD messages. |
+| flatten                             | Boolean | No         | (Default: True) Flatten json data to columns. |
 
 ### To run tests:
 
diff --git a/target_s3_csv/__init__.py b/target_s3_csv/__init__.py
index 98fd24b..0f94c35 100644
--- a/target_s3_csv/__init__.py
+++ b/target_s3_csv/__init__.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ def persist_messages(messages, config, s3_client):
 
     delimiter = config.get('delimiter', ',')
     quotechar = config.get('quotechar', '"')
+    flatten   = config.get('flatten', True)
 
     # Use the system specific temp directory if no custom temp_dir provided
     temp_dir = os.path.expanduser(config.get('temp_dir', tempfile.gettempdir()))
@@ -89,7 +90,7 @@ def persist_messages(messages, config, s3_client):
 
             file_is_empty = (not os.path.isfile(filename)) or os.stat(filename).st_size == 0
 
-            flattened_record = utils.flatten_record(record_to_load)
+            flattened_record = utils.flatten_record(record_to_load) if flatten else record_to_load
 
             if o['stream'] not in headers and not file_is_empty:
                 with open(filename, 'r') as csvfile:
@@ -190,4 +191,5 @@ def main():
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    main()
\ No newline at end of file
+    main()
+