Form W-9

Form W-9, the Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification, is the IRS form a US person gives a US payer to certify their legal name, Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and tax classification. It is the single most important onboarding form for US-based independent contractors and vendors because it lets the payer issue an information return (typically Form 1099-NEC or Form 1099-MISC) and avoid mandatory 24% backup withholding. The current revision is dated March 2024, per the IRS About Form W-9 page.

How Form W-9 Works

When a US business pays a US contractor or vendor for services, the payer is required to file an annual information return reporting those payments to the IRS. To do that accurately, the payer needs the contractor’s legal name and TIN (SSN, EIN, or ITIN). Form W-9 is the standardized way to collect this information.

The form has a small number of fields:

• Line 1. Name (as shown on the recipient’s tax return).
• Line 2. Business name or disregarded entity name, if different.
• Line 3. Federal tax classification (individual or sole proprietor, C corporation, S corporation, partnership, trust or estate, LLC with subclass, or other).
• Line 4. Exemption codes for backup withholding and FATCA reporting, where applicable.
• Lines 5 and 6. Address.
• Part I. TIN (SSN or EIN).
• Part II. Certification under penalties of perjury that (1) the TIN is correct, (2) the payee is not subject to backup withholding, (3) the payee is a US person, and (4) any FATCA code is correct.

A signed W-9 is a payer’s safe harbor. Once the payer has it on file and there is no IRS notice to the contrary, the payer may pay the contractor gross with no withholding and rely on the information for the year-end 1099. See the Instructions for the Requester of Form W-9 for the requester-side rules.

Who Needs It

Any US person paid for services or paid certain other reportable amounts by a US business should provide a W-9. Typical use cases:

• US-based independent contractors and freelancers paid $600 or more for services
• US-based attorneys (no minimum threshold for legal-services 1099-NEC reporting where the attorney is sued in a settlement)
• US-based vendors providing rents, prizes, royalties or other amounts reportable on 1099-MISC
• US-resident aliens with an SSN or ITIN performing services in the US

Non-US individuals use Form W-8BEN and non-US entities use Form W-8BEN-E. A US LLC owned by a non-US individual still files W-9 if the LLC has a US EIN and is treated as a US person for federal tax purposes.

Filing Deadlines

Form W-9 is not filed with the IRS, so there is no IRS deadline. What matters in practice is:

• Before first payment. The payer should obtain a completed W-9 before issuing the first payment. Once a payment is made without a W-9, the payer may be on the hook for backup withholding that was not collected.
• Within a reasonable time when requested. Backup withholding kicks in if the payee fails to provide a TIN. Most US payers withhold 24% on payments made after the date a W-9 was requested but not provided.
• Information return deadlines. Information collected on W-9 flows into Form 1099-NEC (due to recipient and IRS by January 31) and Form 1099-MISC (recipient by January 31, IRS by February 28 on paper or March 31 electronically), per the Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC.
• Refresh on change. A new W-9 is required whenever the payee’s name, classification or TIN changes.

Common Mistakes

• Accepting a partly completed W-9. A W-9 without a TIN, signature or correct tax classification is not a valid W-9 and does not stop backup withholding.
• Letting the payee skip line 3. The federal tax classification drives whether the payer must issue a 1099 at all. A US C corporation is generally exempt from 1099-NEC for services, but a single-member LLC owned by an individual is not.
• Confusing W-9 with W-8. A US payer cannot accept a W-9 from a foreign person, and cannot accept a W-8 from a US person. Misclassification at this step cascades into wrong 1099 or 1042-S filings.
• Not validating the TIN. US payers should run the TIN through the IRS TIN Matching program before relying on it. Mismatches trigger CP-2100 notices and 24% backup withholding.
• Filing the W-9 with the IRS. W-9 is kept by the requester. Sending it to the IRS is unnecessary and exposes the payee’s SSN.

Related Forms

• Form 1099-NEC: the year-end information return for nonemployee compensation, prepared using the W-9 data.
• Form 1099-MISC: the year-end information return for rents, prizes, attorney payments and other miscellaneous income.
• Form W-8BEN and Form W-8BEN-E: the foreign-person and foreign-entity equivalents of W-9.
• TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number): the umbrella term for SSN, EIN, ITIN, ATIN and PTIN, one of which must appear on every W-9.
• EIN (Employer Identification Number): the TIN used by most US businesses on Form W-9.

Omnivoo Contract Management collects Form W-9 at contractor onboarding, runs IRS TIN matching, and pulls the certified data straight into your 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC filings.