What's Form W-9?

The W-9 instructions are not clear. I received my first one. I’m an LLC, but it’s just me. The form ask to classify myself as a D for disregarded entity or C for corporation. Where does LLC fall?

It depends on how many members (a.k.a. shareholders) there are in your LLC. If there’s just one member, you are probably a disregarded entity.

As a newly independent contractor I should expect documentation from my client of how much I was paid some time after the new year?

I am a new Independent contractor, and just completed a form W-9. I checked the box “Exempt from backup withholding.” Do I need to make quarterly tax payments? I don’t expect to earn more than $14,000 this year, $25,000 next year. Please advise. I don’t want to get hit with any penalties when we file our taxes next year (”married filing jointly”).

Thanks

I just received a w-9 to fill out in preparation for a short term contract. I’m a new independent contractor. However, the form I was given already has their company name and address info on it, as well as the employer identification number.

Did they give me the wrong form? I think I’m supposed to put my own name and address information on it, from what I’m reading on the form, not simply put my ssn on it with their name and address.

For Susan, it depends on how much taxes you will have to pay next year. If you owe too much, they will penalize you. If not, then you don’t need to make those quarterly payments. Of course, only the IRS will demand that you make a guess and then hit you with a fine if you guess wrong. So basically you have to guess how much 14k income for this year will add to your joint filing income and guess how much in taxes you’ll be hit.

If your husband is working a regular job, you may be able to just have him increase his withholding level.

Ryan, yes you will receive a 1099-MISC form to report how much money your client paid you. However, you will want to keep your own independent records of your income and business expenses for tax purposes. I have one client who is a contractor, and her client sent her triplicate 1099s, that is, they filed three 1099s all with the same income amounts. And now we have to fight it out with the IRS to prove she didn’t earn all that money. So if only to ensure accuracy, be sure to keep your own records.

Susan, making estimated payments is a good idea, or as Jim suggested, your husband could increase his tax withholding. It would be a good idea to get an idea of how much tax you’ll be responsible for paying, and then make estimated payments or adjust the withholding accordingly.

Jim, yeah it sounds like they gave you the wrong piece of paper. I have a copy of the W9 on my hard drive that has all my business information already typed in, so I just print it out, sign it, and give it to a client. So just download a blank copy of the form (here’s the link to the PDF file). And type in your own information. The nice thing about this PDF file, is you can save the copy to your hard drive with all the information you typed in, which makes it handy for saving this for future clients.

I have completed a W-9 for various modeling jobs and promotional jobs that I was hired for by agents. I have received payments from these organizations and the organizations are from various other states. My questions are these: They do not take out taxes on these payments, how do I know how much to take out and how often do I send it to the IRS? Also, Do I just adhere to the tax guidelines for my resident state when applying these taxes to my checks received? In addition, is there a chart or something I can use to equate what or how much tax to set aside from each pay check received? Please advise. Thanks!

I thought W9’s were only send to vendors who did labor work for us. Is this correct to only send a 1099 to vendors who did any type of labor work only?

Claire, a company can request W-9 forms from any vendors or contractors who provide services to the company.

Hi, I am a fresh grad with no idea about this income tax thing. I joined a website called Odesk.com where people hire you online. My problem is the site is asking me to submit a W9 form and I don’t know what it is for. I have never been employed and I don’t have any ideas what will happen if I pass that form. Will I be doing income tax returns when I submit that form? Will I be he one to compute my income tax? Sorry for being stupid but I really need help. Please reply at shivalrous@yahoo.com thanks

Shivalrous, hi and welcome. Your question is a reasonable one, not stupid at all.

Form W-9 is used by a company to request the name, address, and Social Security number for an independent contractor who will be providing services to the company. However, I think you deserve a fuller explanation than just what this particular form is used for. I wrote a new blog post to address some of the issues I think might be relevant for your situation in starting this job. I posted it over at “Starting a new job as an independent contractor“

I fix the computers for a company and they ask me to fill a w-9 from. I don’t want my boss to know about the job I did for them. When they are reporting it to the IRS do they tell them what kind of services they got for me or I just have to pay the tax for the payment?

Please advise

DANIEL: Your boss will not even know about the work you did for the other company. Just use your name and your social security number and your home address. The 1099-MISC will be sent directly to you and you can file it with your personal taxes. Hope this helps

I’ve been asked to fill out o W-9 form for my company to receive payment from another company we did business with. I thought a W-9 was to be used for individuals, not for one company to bill another one for services rendered. Why do they need this?

I’m an independent contractor and am filling out a Form W-9. I’m not sure whether I should check “exempt payee” or not? What is this box for? I’m assuming that because I’m an independent contractor the person I’m doing work for does not have to withhold taxes from payments to me. Does that make me an “exempt payee”? Should I check the box?

Mary, companies can be asked to fill out a W-9 form as well as individuals. The purpose of the form is to request the tax id number of the payee and to ascertain whether the payee is subject to backup withholding. The information is then used to prepare the 1099-MISC forms that are sent out annually to report various types of income.

Cristina, as an independent contractor, your payments will not be subject to tax withholding. unless the IRS has notified you that you are subject to mandatory backup withholding, you should check the exempt payee box.

I’m a therapist in private practice. I always use my SS# to file my taxes. At one time, a few years ago, I had one employee. So, I also have an EIN. I no longer have this employee. One of my current patients says her insurance company needs me to fill out a W-9 in order to reimburse her (she’s already paid me and I gave her a statement to that effect). Do I use my SS# or my EIN? I don’t want my patient to know my home address, which is asked for on the W-9. Help?

Lisa, I’m assuming that you’re a sole proprietor and report your earnings on a Schedule C. What I’d do is use your EIN number and the address of your practice for the W-9 form. On the Schedule C, you’ll also indicate your EIN, that way the IRS will be able to match up the 1099 reported under your EIN with your tax return.

In fact, using this EIN for your business makes a lot of sense in an era when we are concerned about identity theft and having our financial information floating around the universe. Having the EIN here protects your SSN from being circulated and provides an extra layer of identity protection.

I am a new broker/owner of a real estate company. I’ve been asked to provide another agency with a W9 form. I am working together with one of their agents, but this other company does not provide my funding. Why would I be asked to give them a W9? Is this something new? Should I be asking every Realtor that I do business with for a W9?

I have been working for contractors for 20 years and something new came up regarding a
W-9 form that I filled out and signed for my company. I work for a corporation, but a customer sent it back saying it has to be signed by an owner/principal of the company. I told her she was crazy!! Am I right that I can sign/”attest” as a US person that the TIN and information provided is true and correct?!?!?

Kathy K, technically you are not required to sign Form W-9 in this specific case. See the Instructions for Form W-9 (pdf) page 4, column 1, in the paragraph beginning with “4. Other payments.” As to who can sign on behalf of the corporation, this is usually spelled out in the corporate by-laws. In a medium or larger company, the CFO or Treasurer would surely delegate this authority to a staff accountant (or would have plenty of W-9s already signed and ready to be furnished).

We have a very small non profit, 501 C3 that has raised money for an awareness trailer. WE have had a great response and area businesses have contributed to this cause, however one is asking us to fill out a W-9 and the information I am reading on there does not fit what we are doing. Do you have any advise or can you explain this better? Thanks!

A company offered me a job. I will be considered a contractor. I will get paid a certain amount of money per month & also comission. I know I have to tell the IRS how much money i have made. Does the employer have to tell them also how much i made or is it completely up to me? What if i accidently told them more or less than i actually made?

William, on June 6 you gave a link to a PDF file for the W9 form and said it could be saved with all your company info. I have tried to save it after it was filled in, but can’t seem to save a completed one. We have been asked to email a completed W9, but it says that you cannot save or email a completed W9. What did I do wrong?

I am going to work for an online customer service company. I will have people work under me taking phone calls as well. The compnay said that if I entend to pay the people under me on my own then I need to have them fill out a W-9 form and put my tax ID number on their W-9. Does this mean that the only way their earnings get reported to the IRS is when I report them on my taxes and do I need to give them a 1099 at the end of the year? Also, how do I get a State tax ID number?

Meg, I guess I’ve been spoiled by the full version of Adobe Acrobat, which lets me save (or save-as) any PDF document I find. I’m not at my other computer right now, so I cannot try this using only Adobe Reader. So here’s what I suggest in the meantime. Fill out the W-9 form by typing in all your information. Then print out several copies (that way you’ll have some extras for later). You’ll then be able to scan, fax, mail, or hand deliver the completed form. Tonight at home I will see if I can get Adobe Reader to save a completed file.
Edited to add: I was able to successfully download a copy of the W-9 form from the IRS web site. Once you the form loads, simply save it to your computer. Then you can open it in Adobe Reader and fill it out with your name and other information. Adobe Reader then lets you “save as” and you can save it as another PDF. I did this, and when I re-opened the newly saved file, it had all my information saved in it as well. I have Adobe Reader version 8.1.2 installed. Hope this helps you out.

Rhonda, there’s a couple of things going on in this situation. First, it sounds like you are going to be working as an independent contractor with this company. Since you’ll have subcontractors working under you, you’ll want to be sure to have a contract with the company that spells out who is responsible for what. From a tax perspective, the company does not need W-9 forms from your subcontractors. Instead you should ask each of your subcontractors to provide you with a completed W-9 so you can provide them with tax statements at the end of the year. All the company needs is a W-9. The company will pay you, and you will pay your subcontractors. That means your income as reported to the IRS will include all payments made to you (even though you are turning around and paying your subcontractors).

Since you will be having subcontractors, and I imagine a significant inflow and outflow of money, I’d strongly suggest forming some sort of business entity. This will help provide some legal and tax benefits for your business. You may want to do this before your sign the contract, so that the contract can be executed between your company and the other company, and also so that your company’s name and tax id number can be put on the W-9.
As for obtaining a state tax id number, you’ll need to contact the employment or labor department in your state.
Finally, you may want to seek the advice of a tax accountant to help you set up your bookkeeping, discuss business options, and how to handle payments to your subcontractors.

I have a new corportation, we are just two persons, the company is a LLC. A mexican company asked me for an W-9, I dont know if a should check the box Exempt payee or not.

Should I?

Thanks

Mercy, yes you are an exempt payee unless the IRS has notified you that you are subject to mandatory backup withholding.

Hi,
We are a well established S-Corp company, we do automotive restorations and sandblasting. We did some sandblasting for a company and now they are asking us to fill out a W-9. They were given an invoice from our company. I’ve never had to fill one of these out before. Why am I having to fill this out for them?

I am going to work for an online customer service company. I will have people work under me taking phone calls as well. The compnay said that if I entend to pay the people under me on my own then I need to have them fill out a W-9 form and put my tax ID number on their W-9. Does this mean that the only way their earnings get reported to the IRS is when I report them on my taxes and do I need to give them a 1099 at the end of the year? Also, how do I get a State tax ID number?

Thank you for your help!

I’m not a citizen of United States but I have just SSN and J1 visa. I filled up the W9 Form for one employer. I must pay any taxes?

Russ, I am not familiar with all the details of the J-1 visa program. It’s my understanding that a holder of a J-1 visa is authorized to work only for the sponsoring organization.
Whether or not your income will be taxable depends on several factors. The basic answer is that income earned while working in the United States will be fully taxable in the United States, unless either a US law or a tax treaty provides otherwise. You can find more information in the US Tax Guide for Aliens from the Internal Revenue Service web site.

I just received a W-9 form and I’m a little confused on how to fill it out. I’m a college student and I was hired to assist a handicapped student on campus. I only had to fill out a small portion of the form, but at the end beside my signature it asked for TITLE and I would like to know what I am supposed to place in the section.

Darin, since you are filing the W-9 as an individual, you do not need to indicate your title. The title is only used when a company fills out the form, and the person signing the form would then need to indicate their position in the company.

I am a part-time, work from my home office graphic designer. So far, all of the services I have provided for various people have just been paid to me through PayPal. However, recently a client has hired me to do a large project, and they have requested that I fill out the W-9. It’s just me, I have no employees. I do not have a EIN… Do I just need to fill in my SSN? Are they one in the same (EIN and SSN) in my case? Thanks!

Marco, you’re right: in your case, use your SSN. If your design business continues to grow, you might want to think about incorporating your business. If you incorporate, you would then have a separate business name and tax id number. But you’ll want to talk to a tax pro about the pros & cons of incorporating first, as some business strategies can lower your taxes, but others can raise your taxes.

Thank you… I went ahead and got my EIN from the IRS. Is it better for me to use that or my SSN for the W-9 my client requested?

Marco, since you’ve obtained an EIN, go ahead and use that on the W-9 form. Then when you file your tax return, make sure to use the EIN where you report your business income and expenses (probably on the Schedule C, is what I’m guessing).

Great! Thank you so much for the very prompt responses! I appreciate it!!

Is it possible to sign the W9 on a computer with Adobe Reader? If yes, how so?

I’ve filled out a W-9s and W-4s before and I’m familiar with what that forms are used for, but I just started with a new agency and was requested to fill out both the W-9 and the W-4 at the time of hire. The contract I signed states I am an independant contractor and will be receiving paychecks from the agency’s main office, so I’m confused about why I would have to fill out and sign both these tax forms. How would this agency use both forms? Shouldn’t it be one or the other?

Lisa, the company should have given you only the W-9 to sign. I have no idea why they gave you a W-4 as well. I’ve never heard of someone doing that before. You might want to ask them why, because it sounds very confusing.

Hi, I’m Sean. I’m a doctor starting up a medical private practice and recently became a professional limited liability corporation after consulting my attorney. Since I’m just opening up shop, I do 2 other contract jobs on the side (doing the same thing I do in the business-medication management). So my question is: when I fill out the W-9 forms, do I put my business name? (which is my name plus MD and PLLC behind it) and do I check “other” and put “PLLC” in the 3rd line and do i check “exempt from backup wihholding” or not? and lastly, do I put my EIN instead of my SS#? I don’t know much about tax stuff..your input would be very much valued. And by the way, I had already filled out a W-9 for one of the contract jobs which I previously filled out as “sole propietor” (this was before I formed PLLC)..so should I update them with a new W-9? Thanks…

I am a general contractor and I use sub-contracted labor. I have a sub that issued an invalid tax identification number on their W-9 which I submitted to the IRS. I was notified of this by the IRS, but what he gave me matched what he put on the W-9. Can I continue to use him as a sub or does this become my responsibility at some point if he continues to use invalid tax identification numbers? Thanks.

Doctor Sean, you should probably be using your PLLC entity for all your contracting jobs as well. Indeed, indicate the name of your PLLC and its EIN on the W-9 form. You can also submit a new W-9 to the other client for whom you do contract work to update them with the name and EIN of your entity. PLLCs are exempt from backup withholding. The only exception would be if the IRS has notified the PLLC that it is required to have backup withholding (but this would be a rare situation for PLLCs since they are normally exempt from income tax at the entity level).

Heather, if the name and the SSN does not match with IRS or Social Security records, then you are required to ask the subcontractor to correct the situation. If the contractor doesn’t correct the information, then you will be required to withhold 30% of the subcontractor’s gross payments, and turn that 30% over to the IRS. See pages 13-16 of Publication 1281 [pdf] for what steps to take after you’ve been notified by the IRS that the name/SSN doesn’t match their records.

I’m selling some used equipment (about 30 years old) to a University. I’m not a business, the items are my personal posessions. They sent a w-9 form to me to fill out. I’m not concerned about the form itself, because I’m not subject to backup withholding. What concerns me is that the w-9 indicates to me that the buyer might be planning on sending erroneous information to IRS, indicating that the payment for the equipment is income. It isn’t income. Are they making a mistake?

Hi! My husband is filing a W9 Form. He is a resident alien, employee here in the U.S., and originally from the Philippines. Should he check the box “Exempt from Backup Withholding” or not? If he does or doesn’t not, what will happen…what does it mean?
Thank you.

helo, I am kind of Marco’s case. I actualy did some website which provides $, and I got certain amount of money so they need to see w-9 form. I am us-citizen, but the website isn’t my business at all. So anyway, on name and address, i put my name and my house address? Also on checkbox, do i mark on individual/sore proprietor? I understand I am individual but I am not sole proprietor. Like i said I dont run any business, just a student. I heard if I give requester w-9 form and my personal tax income from my parttime job might increase or something when I get check. Is that true? anyway plz help

Hi,

I am renting my first apartment in a building that was recently sold. I was sent a letter from the new management company with a copy of the W-9 form to fill out, saying it was necessary for separating the tenant security deposits into individual accounts to be managed by a third party. I thought this was strange based on the definition of the form, since I haven’t done any work for them and don’t own any part of the building. Is this a normal procedure?

Thanks

JP, your husband is probably exempt from backup withholding. The IRS notifies taxpayers if they are subject to backup withholding, so unless he’s been notified to that effect, then he’s exempt.

Mikey, it sounds like you are doing some side work as a freelancer. In other words, this will be income to you as if you were running a business as a sole proprietor. No taxes will be taken out of these payments, instead you’ll report this business income on a schedule C, along with any expenses related to this work, and then calculate your tax and self employment tax. If this freelance work is going to generate additional taxes, you might want to start paying some estimated taxes to avoid owing additional tax when you file your tax return.

Tiffany, that does sound strange, and I’ve never heard of landlords doing that before. The only reason I can think of, off the top of my head, is that some landlords pay interest on the security deposits, and interest income could be subject to backup withholding, and could be reported to the IRS if the amount of interest paid is over $10 for the year. My guess is that the landlord is gathering names/SSNs as a way to prepare for reporting the interest income, but you should ask them about it just to find out if they are really required to have this document. As it is, most lease tenants provide their name and SSN as part of the rental application, so I imagine they already have this information on file.

Debby, this is a bit odd. You might want to ask the university why they think they need the W-9 form. My guess is that the university is setting you up as a vendor in their accounting system, and that they require W-9 forms for all vendors. Even though you are not a typical vendor, this could be a matter of the university’s internal accounting policies. Now, all income is presumptively considered taxable income, so this might be considered other income or perhaps capital gains, depending on whether the equipment is meets the definition of a capital asset. I’m not saying this will be taxable income — that will be determined by the facts and circumstances of your case — I’m just trying to think through the possible scenarios for why the university is requesting this form. If the university does report this to the IRS, you’ll need to figure out how to report this on your tax return so that your return will match up with the IRS records.

Hi, I am a musician and I am trying to figure out what forms to do what with. Basically, I am a solo singer-songwriter with a band. When I get paid for a gig, I then pay my musicians. Up until now I reported earnings and expenses as a small business without having them fill out anything. But this year, some of our payments were through checks from organizations for larger amounts of money in my name only. I need to have some way to show that I did not pocket all of that. Do I have them fill out a W9 and a 1099? And then what do I do with those forms?

Thanks!

Does anyone know if employers are legally required to give a W-9 form to contractors before they do they’re work. Or is it ok to do it after the work has been done?

Matt, the client can ask the contractor to fill out Form W-9 after the contractor has been engaged to provide services. The W-9 should be required before the end of the year, however, so that the client can obtain the proper name and SSN for the 1099 forms.

I am asking this for a friend,she told me her landlord has passed out w9 forms for each tenant to fill out. Is this legal ? and why does your landlord need this information ?

June, this is similar to the question raised by Tiffany above (#54, with my response in #57). Basically, I don’t know why landlords are requesting this. The only reason I can think of off the top of my head is that some landlords are required to pay interest on the security deposit. And interest payments over $10 per year are required to be reported to the IRS using Form 1099-INT. Thus the landlord may need to verify the tenant’s name and SSN for their filing purposes. Your friend should ask the landlord why the Form W-9 is being sent out, and how the information will be used.

I recently began a new job: an internship at a brokerage firm. They had me fill out a W-9 form and my first paycheck was without taxes. I know I will have to pay it eventually, so my question is how can I know how much to set aside for tax, and when do I pay it? Please respond, I don’t want to start spending only to get in the mail a tax bill I can’t pay later on!

We have hired two consultants for work on a project in a foreign country. These are US based consultants. If we have only reimbursed their travel expenses (flight, hotel, etc) and not the actual consultation work, do these expenses need to be reported on a 1099?

I just recieved money in settlement case and I spent over $250000 and only recived this money in settlement nd it was a civil case where they decide to take a loss and gave me the 20000 in full settlement. It was civil trial case so do I have to pay taxes on this as liabilty is more than my assets

I am a teacher and I am mentoring two students. There is a generous foundation that provides money for me to take my mentees on trips, purchase school supplies for them, et cetera.

In the past, the foundation simply reimbursed me for the out of pocket expenses of the activities once I submitted receipts. This year they are giving me an $800 “honorarium”. They also sent me a W-9.

Here is my concern–that this money, which I plan to spend on the students, will be considered income. I pay very simple taxes, but I do get some tax credits for student loan interest. However, this phases out the more I make. Will this $800 “honorarium” possibly harm me financially?

Normally–I don’t itemize my deductions; I take the automatic deduction instead. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Can I deduct what I spend on the students from the $800 if I save my receipts?

I understand that they are giving teachers this money upfront because many were strapped for cash, and had a hard time funding activities. Any thoughts about this? Thank you!

I just received a W9 form to fill out. I have no clue why. I have a part time job in a rehab facility, not self employed. Never been self employed, ever. Why did I receive a W9 and for what? Thank you.

i am a landlord and my tenant is trying to get the government to pay his rent, he is currently getting disability from them. My tenant asked me to fill out a w-9 form. Why should I? What is that going to do?

My husband just started a painting business. He gets his jobs from a contractor in which he submits a W-9 to. My husband also has sub-contractors that work for him. What form does the sub-contractors fill out and give to my husband? i know they will recive a 1099 at the end of the year and so will my husband from the contractor he is working for…… but this is all a little confusing to me.

Thanks,

Jackie Dean, the brokerage firm you are working for is treating you as an independent contractor. That means you’ll be reporting this income as self-employment. The good thing about this: you’ll be able to deduct any job-related expenses directly from your income without needing to itemize like you would if you were an employee. The downside is you are responsible for paying your own income taxes and self-employment taxes (which replaces the Social Security and Medicare tax that would be deducted from your check if you were an employee). Now each person’s situation is different, but generally if the company can control how you work, and if you don’t have a lot of out of pocket expenses, you’ll end up paying more tax as an independent contractor. So you might want to ask them to treat you as an employee.

That being said, you should start estimating your taxes. Figure out what tax bracket you’ll be in for 2008, and then add 15.3% on top of that for the self-employment tax. That will provide a rough estimate of how much you should be setting aside for taxes.

A quick example. Let’s say you’re in the 25% federal tax bracket, plus 15.3% for self-employment, plus 9.3% for state taxes. That’s a combined tax bracket of 49.6%. So as a rough guide, try to set aside half of your pay for taxes. Of course, your actual tax bill will be lower than that because you’ll have some deductions or tax credits that you’ll claim, and some of your income will be taxed at lower tax brackets. But this is a sort of rough and ready tool I use in budgeting.

To get a more accurate picture of your tax situation, you’ll need to dig in and figure out your estimated tax. And the best way to do this is to create a sample tax return for this year to see how the numbers work out.

Jeff, yes, any reimbursements to your consultants are included on the 1099-MISC as non-employee compensation.

Mike, most legal settlements are taxable. The exceptions are for physical injury or sickness and for property damage. Whether your settlement is taxable depends on the nature of the underlying claims.

Legal fees are deductible only if the legal claim involved the production of income (for example, were related to keeping your job or defending a business contract) or if the fee was for tax related services. There’s more details about when legal fees are deductible on the IRS Web site.

Teacher, this honorarium will be reported to you as self-employment income. Any funds you spend on your students will then be an expense that will directly offset that income, and you will be taxed only on the net income left over. Take a look at the Schedule C or the shorter Schedule C-EZ to see how you will be reporting this on your return. The expenses will directly offset your income, and you won’t need to itemize.

RN, I don’t know why you received a W-9 to fill out. It doesn’t sound like you should have. Ask you employer why they sent that form to you.

Sue, the form will be used by HUD to report the rental payments to you and to the IRS. My only concern here is that you give the W-9 form directly to HUD, so as to protect your name and SSN from identity theft.

Tamara, here’s how it will work. Your submit submits a W-9 to the contractor he works for. He’ll then get a 1099-misc showing the total amount of money paid to him by the contractor. In turn, you should collect W-9 forms from your sub-contractors. And you should issue 1099-misc forms to them showing the total amount of money paid to them during the year.

MY wife and I just built a home in which we purchased the appliances for the home. The builder was then reimburing us from his draw from our construction loan for these items. He has now stated that we will need to complete a W-9 form for this payment. Why would we need to complete this form when the amount that we receive is part of our construction loan that will be paying for?

Hi,
I play video games on a website for money. The payouts are very small and I have never been able to cash out cause of losing, however they want me to fill out a W9 form and I have no idea what it is and I was just wondering will I have to pay money at tax time for my winnings? Thank you

Scott, this sounds very unusual to me. Usually, contractors obtain a W-9 from any of their subcontractors so that they have the subcontractor’s name and SSN so that 1099 forms can be generated to report their income. In your case, you are not receiving income from the contractor. You don’t need to fill out this form.

Katy, the W9 form is used to report payments of income for nonemployees, usually contractors and investors and the recipients of prizes and awards. You might fall under this prizes and awards category. But your prize money will be reported only if your total prizes for the whole year are $600 or more. If that’s the case, then the video game company will need to verify your name and SSN using Form W-9. If not, then you won’t need to fill out this form.

My question is we hired a contractor to build a garage for us in our backyard. Do we need him to fill out a W-9 form? By law if we present him with a W-9 form is he required to fill it out? He has walked off the job and we are no longer on speaking terms. If I mail one to him and request him to fill it out by law does he have to provide the information to us?

Lisa, if you are an individual, then no you are not required to ask the contractor to fill out the W-9 form. However, if you are a business, then you would be required to get the W-9 form before you send out a 1099 to report the contractor’s income to the IRS.

I am a US citizen, but I have lived in Australia for over 11 years, serving as a missionary with my husband. I’ve started doing some online marketing to earn some extra income, mostly through affiliate marketing. I am being asked to fill out W-9 forms for some of the companies that I’m earning commissions from. Because I have dual citizenship and live outside the US, is this the correct form? I just want to be sure, because one of the ‘biggies’ in the industry told me I didn’t have to fill out the form because I was living overseas and none of the ‘work’ was being done in the US. Do you have any knowledge on this one?
Thanks!

I am filling out a W-9 for my 17 year old who is a referee and will not make more than 400 in one year. Can I check of the exempt payee or leave it. Will we have to file his income as part of ours or does his income stay separate? At what amount will he be required to pay taxes?

Can you provide clarification on disregarded entities? I was under the assumption that all LLCs, partnerships, etc. unless they were granted corp status by the IRS were reportable. (Assuming they were providing services) Does marking “D” on the W9 indicate that they are not reportable? Or is this a completely separate issue?

I am a real estate broker. I have the agent’s SS# because I have a copy of the filled-in application (although it’s not signed) which was sent to the commission and a license was granted.

Do I need to send the Form W-9 since I already have the SS#?

Please inform. ~thanks.

Thanks for sharing this information! My question is this: In Feb of this year, I opened an online shop where I sell handmade items and have recently started consigning some things to various boutiques around the US. Only one has asked for a W-9. Will this change anything when tax time rolls around, or is it just for keeping track of people and income? I have an EIN, state tax withholding and a DBA. I’ve never filed a Sched C before. Thanks!

Angie, you are likely being required to fill out the W-9 form because you are working as an independent contractor for these affiliate companies. This is a standard practice. The form is used to send you a 1099-MISC form to report your earnings if the affiliate pays you $600 or more during the year. Living in Australia is not directly relevant here. The important thing is that you are a US citizen. Non-citizens fill out a different form (one of the various W-8 forms) for similar payments. You’ll report this income along with any associated business expenses on a Schedule C. Now, as a citizen living abroad, you are likely eligible for the foreign earned income exclusion, which allows you to earn up to $91,400 tax-free. The catch is this applies only to the income tax. You are still responsible for paying the Self-Employment Tax, which is 15.3 percent of your net income from these types of self-employment activities. So in terms of your tax situation, the important thing will be to keep track of your expenses so you can keep the self-employment tax as low as possible.

Olga, what a great question. The short answer is that your son probably does not have any tax liability. For the W-9 form your son should check that he is an exempt payee. Most taxpayers are exempt payees. People are only non-exempt if they have been notified that by the IRS that they are subject to mandatory backup withholding.

Now for a slightly longer answer. Your son’s income is his, and so would be reported on his own tax return. In this case, he would use a 1040 because your son has self-employment income from his referee-ing. This would go on a Schedule C. There he will report his gross income from being a referee, plus any associated expenses, and thus arrive at a net income. This net income would be subject to both the regular income tax and the self-employment tax (which covers Medicare and Social Security taxes).

Now, normally most self-employed persons need to file a return. However, there’s an exception for persons who have less than $400 in net self-employment income. In your son’s case, if he’s earning less than $400 from being a referee, then he does not have a filing requirement, according to the IRS in Publication 17. At that level of income, he would not have either a self-employment tax liability nor an income tax liability.

That being sad, it may be instructive for him to fill out a tax return (with your help, of course) just to see what the tax forms look like and to understand how the tax system works.

Heather, a disregarded entity simply means that an entity (such as a LLC) might be recognized as a separate legal entity at the state level, but does not have a separate legal (or tax) status for federal tax purposes. This usually occurs with single-member LLCs, which are treated as not separate from the member for federal tax purposes.

Marking “D” to indicate that the LLC is disregarded does not make the income non-reportable. Rather, it means the IRS will expect the income to be reported under the name/SSN of the member rather than under a separate business name/EIN for the LLC. Accordingly, the IRS instructs (on page 2 of the W-9 form) that a single member LLC report his or her name, followed by the name of the LLC. If your LLC has an EIN, report that in the taxpayer identification number section; otherwise use your SSN.

Samantha, good question! We request W-9 forms partly to verify the agent’s name and SSN, and partly to make sure that they aren’t subject to mandatory backup withholding. This certification that the agent isn’t subject to backup withholding protects the payor, and so it’s advisable to obtain a Form W-9 at least once. You may want to review IRS’s Instructions for the Requester of Form W-9 (pdf, 4 pages).

TheJuneBride, you are right that the W-9 is used more for keeping track of people. It shouldn’t effect how you’ll report your income. Basically, you will be reporting your income and associated business expenses on a Schedule C. So download that form and start to familiarize yourself with it. Even if you use software or an accountant, this is the part of the tax return where all your sales and supplies will show up. I provide a basic overview what independent contractors, freelancers, and other small business entrepreneurs should be considering in my article on tax tips for freelancers.

The basic thing to remember is that this income is subject to two different taxes. There’s the regular income tax. Plus there’s the self employment tax, which is pays for Social Security and Medicare. Both taxes are based on your net income from the business. So keeping track of your expenses is key to minimizing these taxes.

As a transportation broker I require my independant contractors (carriers) to fill out a w-9. In lieu of the w-9 could I just require their tax id number? Thanks!

I have a question. I am a freelance writer, and I was told to get an EIN so that, when I receive writing jobs through the Internet, I do not have to submit my SSN. I can use my EIN instead.

Here’s my question. For a couple of these positions, they are sending me a W-9 to fill out. Can I use my EIN in the SSN field on the W-9? Is this OK/legal to do? And will I need to indicate that it is in fact an EIN, or can I just place that number down in the SSN field on the W-9 with no problem.

Thanks!

i am a therapist who owns a PLLC. i have another therapist who works for me as an independent contractor. how does she complete the w-9? does she include her personal information or my company’s information (EIN, address). i have numerous insurance companies that want a w-9 form for her in order for her to get on their panels. also, do i have to complete a 1099 at the end of the year for her? thanks.

We have a small business (corporation) that sells items to the public and to other businesses in the re-modeling and construction industry. Basicly we are a store. We are not a contractor, sub-contractor, or freelance. Do we have to fill out a W-9 for the businesses that we sell product to? Have the rules changed? In the past we could advise a customer that we were a “corporation” and that a w-9 was not required. On the other side do we need to have W-9’s from businesses that we purchase product from?

My Mother passed away in May of this year, leaving behind a very small estate. She had a simple will, naming me as executor and my brother and I as the only heirs. While going through her stuff I discovered an insurance policy on my deceased father, that she knew nothing about. I contacted the insurance company and it seems there is a small settlement due to her estate. I have filled out all the forms and they have sent me a W-9 asking me to fill out and return with the Tax Identification Number for the estate. As far as I know there is no number on record. How do I get that number and whose name should go on the “Name” line?

I have been asked to fill out a W9 for a “scholarship” travel award to a professional organization meeting. Why would a “scholarship” as they are calling it require a W-9?

Elaine, scholarships are tax-free only if you are in a degree-seeking program at a college or university and if the funds are used to pay for tuition, fees, or books. It is likely that the scholarship you received does not meet these criteria, and so will be taxable income to you, hence why you’re receiving a W-9 form to fill out.

William Berry, you might need a separate tax id number (an EIN) for the estate. You may want to ask your attorney or tax advisor about this, as estates can be a confusing area to deal with. Generally, estates are named using the person’s full legal name followed by the word “Estate”.

This year I requested a W-9 form from everyone of my venders who provides a service for us. My questions is this…some of my venders ask that their checks be made payable to them (personal name) but their W-9 came back their name and DBA name. They provided both their ss# and EIN#. So when completing the 1099 Misc do I put their name on it or their DBA name on it? Also, I have several that came back with their personal name & SS#, their DBA name and EIN# and their invoice for the service and make checks payable to: was for another name? I’m confused and my auditors werent much help.

I work in tractor sales. I sold some Kubota equipment in 2008. I get paid from my employer for these sales, but out of the clear blue sky, I got a check from Kubota Tractor Corporation for a few hundred dollars. I am not an employee of Kubota, nor am I a contractor for Kubota, or am I self employed. Now they want W-9 information. Do I need to give them my personal information? I figured since I do not fit into any of those catagories, employee, contractor, self employed,this money was a gift.

Diana, I’d issue the 1099 in the name of the business and use the EIN. When both sets of information are provided (both personal name and business name, SSN and EIN) this usually indicates a single-member LLC. Issuing the 1099 in the name of the business won’t alter the tax treatment of the income … the business owner will still report this on his or her tax return.

KC, it sounds to me like Kubota is sending you a commission check for the sales you made. Technically, Kubota is not required to send you a 1099 unless they paid you $600 or more during the year. If your commission check was below this amount, it’s safe to ignore the W-9. If your commission check was $600 or more, then it will be a good idea to fill out the W9. That’s because without the W9 Kubota would be required to withhold taxes at a flat rate of 28%. Filling out this form will allow the company to skip the withholding requirement.

As for how you’ll report the income, I would say that all depends on your relationship with Kubota. 1099-reported income could go in one of several places on the tax return. Usually it’s reported on Schedule C or C-EZ for self-employment income.

Hi Wil, Thanks for answering all the questions in such prompt manner. I’m a DJ and I will be having my very first corporate job. Most of the time I am hire for small parties or private events. This is not my full time job and now the company that wants to hire me for their event wants me to fill-out one of this forms. I do not have a company name as i go by the DJ name only. Also they are asking me for liability insurance since I will be teaching a dance lesson as well. It really confuses me and how much should i expect uncle sam to take if they want me to fill out the form.

Oh yeah, i forgot to ask. Is there a cap for the amount of taxable money you have to report with W-9? the 600 cap confuse me. Does this mean I am exempt if I charge below 600 or simply that 600 guarantees you will be filling out a W-9.

Lando, basically the company will send you a 1099-Misc form to report your payment if your total payments for the year from that company is $600 or more. That income will be reported along with your other DJ income on your Schedule C. Liability insurance would be a tax-deductible business expense for you. You should check with a couple of insurance brokers to get quotes for a policy. My policy runs only about $500 a year, so it’s something I feel is fairly affordable.

Hello
I rent a duplex to a lady who uses it as a home business (accounting), as well as living in it. She wants me to fill out a w-9. I claim my rental income on a Schedule E and (I only have the one duplex.) Do I need to give her my SSN or should I refuse to fill it out? Will her filing generate a 1099-MISC from the IRS?

This is the first time a renter has ever requested my SSN

The instructions for requesters of Form W-9 from the IRS web site do not address the question of whether landlords need to fill out a W9. However, the instructions for Form 1099-MISC indicate that rents of $600 or more are reportable on Form 1099-MISC, unless those rents are paid to a real estate agent acting on behalf of the landlord. In that case, there should only be a 1099-misc from the agent to the landlord. So what I suspect is the tenant is acting on the safe side and will be reporting the business portion of her rent on a 1099-misc issued to you, and in that case the tenant will need your SSN or EIN to facilitate the sending out of the 1099. Now personally I have rarely seen 1099-misc forms for rental income, and usually only in the case where the landlord has hired a property management company to act as his agent. However considering what the IRS instructions say about rent, I suppose it’s not too surprising that this accountant wants to send you a 1099. If you’re leery about having your SSN floating around, you might consider setting up a single-member LLC with its own EIN number to collect the rental income; your tax accountant can give you more advice on whether you could utilize this as part of a larger tax strategy. Finally, the 1099-misc you will likely receive should only be for the business portion of the rent. You won’t know what the business portion is, but it should be less than the total rent. This should not impact your tax reporting at all, since all your rental income will continue to be reported on your Schedule E.

After 4 years I have been asked to fill out a W-9 form. It is my understanding that if you make under 600 per year the company does not have to file with the IRS. Why have I been asked to fill out a W-9 and is this now filed with the IRS?

Hello how do I leave a comment what is the url?

Hello again – please disregard the last question. To add to the first question – if you determine that I must submit the W-9 to the company, is this just kept for thier files? What happens to it? I made exactly 600 for the year.

I have the same question as Kathy, I am disabled and on SSD and SSI and brought in $600.00 last year. Do I have to file taxes now that my employer has asked me to fill out a W9. I have not filled taxes since I became disabled. Is the W9 just for record purposes?

I do some freelance graphic design, but not much. I’ve never been asked to fill out a W9 before and I just got one. For this particular company I did receive over $600, but included in that money was printing vendor charges for their products. The printing charges were normally the majority of the invoice prices. What I actually earned for the jobs wasn’t much. How do I deal with this? Is there a form I can fill out that shows that all of the money didn’t go to me? I do have all of the printing receipts and invoices. Thanks.

Hi, I’m a model and my agent just asked me to fill out a W9. However, I am underage and am wondering if I’m still authorized to fill out the form.

Thank you

Hello,

I am working as a contractor in 2009. In 2008 I was salary and working for a company and did not fill out a W-9 form. I am also being paid in US dollars to a US bank account but my residence is in Australia.

I am wondering if I need to pay Estimated Taxes if I was not a contractor for 2008, if not will I have to pay all my taxes come tax time next year, and if I have to pay anything if I live in a different country.

Thanks,
Mike

Mike, if you are a US citizen or resident alien, you will report and pay taxes on your worldwide income. However, the US tax code provides a generous tax exclusion of up to $91,400 if you work and live abroad under the foreign earned income exclusion. As an independent contractor, you will still be responsible for paying the self-employment tax of 15.3%, which covers the Social Security and Medicare taxes. That tax is not excluded by working abroad. As such, I would calculate your estimated taxes by taking 15.3% of your expected income as a contractor, plus regular tax on any amounts above the foreign income exclusion.

Hope this helps,

William

My roommate rented our house out for the 2009 Inauguration weekend. We rented it out for roughly $10,000 for 4 nights/5days to a corporation. This corporation requested that my roommate give me a copy of his W9. He is claiming that he is going to be taxed 28% on the money they gave us for the house rental. Is this true? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/20/AR2008112003595.html

My roommate rented our house out for the 2009 Inauguration weekend. We rented it out for roughly $10,000 for 4 nights/5days to a corporation. This corporation requested that my roommate give me a copy of his W9. He is claiming that he is going to be taxed 28% on the money they gave us for the house rental. Is this true? I know that Mayor Fenty has suspended property rules to allow residents to rent their house and the DC tax office has suspended its 14.5% tax on property rentals.

Hi, my father just received a W-9 request from Capital One with no explanation. He does not have an account or credit card with them. I can’t imagine what it could be related to unless they can use it to obtain financial information and use that for marketing purposes. How is his taxpayer ID useful to them, and is it legal to send out W-9’s for the purpose of future solicitation?

Do I need a w-9 from the same independent contractor every year beginning in January if they work for us year afer year?

John, this rental income might not be taxable income for you and your roommate. See this section of Publication 527 which states:

“Exception for minimal rental use. If you use the dwelling unit as a home and you rent it fewer than 15 days during the year, do not include any of the rent in your income and do not deduct any of the rental expenses.”

So if this is the only rental use of the property, you’ll be well below the 15 days of rental use threshold, and the income you receive will be tax-free.

As such, I would not worry about submitting the Form W-9, as this will not trigger any tax consequences.

Shine, Form W-9 is used mostly to request name and tax ID numbers for independent contractors. So unless your dad does some contract work for Capital One, I would ignore this request altogether.

Myra, generally no you don’t need to request a new W-9 every year. The contractor should give you an updated W-9 if their information changes, such as they changed their name or address or have incorporated their business.

Aivy, yes you can and should fill out Form W-9.

am, your client will report the full amount of money they paid to you. You’ll then fill out Schedule C to report your business income and expenses. On that schedule, you’ll show the full amount you received from this and other clients, plus all of your associated expenses such as the printing. For more tips, see my article on Freelancing and taxes.

Kathy, the W-9 is usually retained by the company as part of their records. The company may verify your name and tax ID number against the IRS’ records. If there is a mismatch, the company will ask you to provide them with a new W-9. The company will also use the information on the W-9 to issue a Form 1099-MISC to report how much income they paid to you for the year. You’ll get one copy of this 1099-misc, and the IRS will get a copy as well.

I received w-9’s from performers we have paid. In some cases, the check was payable to an individual, but the W-9 they filled out was for a company, corp, LLC. Does the name on payment need to match the name I put on the 1099? Also, what happens if I requested w-9’s, but never received them?

Denise, if you don’t receive the W9s, how will you know what their SSNs are? If you don’t get their W9s, then you’ll be required to issue a 1099 with no SSN, and you’ll also be required to withhold 28% of their payments as backup withholding. For the name issue, I would start issuing the checks using the name they indicate on the W9.

Hello, hopefully you could help me understand my W-9 tax question. I am native american, and my indian tribe, provides our family with financial help with our school tuition, and extra curriculiar activities such as sports, dance etc..I recently requested for finanicial help to attend a dance workshop. They did approve it, but requested the person giving the workshop fill out a w-9 form. And, as soon as that is done the would send the payment directly to the person providing the workshop. I feel a little uncomfortable asking for tax information and not sure how to even explain why my indian tribe needs this info to send me.

Lia, it sounds like the business that will be providing the financial help is going to report the money as income for the person giving the workshop. The workshop presenter will probably understand this. Basically, the information on the W9 form is used to fill out the 1099-misc form, which reports various types of payments. I would simply forward the information request to the presenter, and let the presenter contact the people providing the financial assistance if there’s any further questions.

I have requested a W-9 to be completed from a person my company rents a home from. They have refused to supply me with the completed W-9. How do I report the money paid to them without an EIN or SS #?

Please Answer #22 Melanie says: I have same question.
I am a new broker/owner of a real estate company. I’ve been asked to provide another agency with a W9 form. I am working together with one of their agents, but this other company does not provide my funding. Why would I be asked to give them a W9? Is this something new? Should I be asking every Realtor that I do business with for a W9?

Fill out the 1099-misc form using all the information you know about the person such as their name, address, and dollar amount paid to them. Going forward, you will need to withhold 28% of their payments as backup withholding and turn that money over to the IRS. The person will be able to recover this withholding when they file their tax return.

Debbie, the situation with the real estate broker is unclear to me. If you’re unclear why someone is asking for a W9 from you, then you should ask them why this form is necessary.

I worked as an employee from Jan 2008 – June 2008. Starting on Dec 1 2008, I’m working as an independent contractor and filled out a W9 form. I got paid in Jan 2009 for the work I did in Dec 2008 and it is more than $600. In what tax year will I pay taxes on my earnings that I recieved in Jan 2009 for work I did in Dec 2008? Should I receive a 1099 for the tax year 2008? I’m confused between the year the work was done and the year I got paid for that work. What if I don’t get paid for my Dec 2008 work until April 16, 2009?

I have requested a W9 from an organization we contracted with. They returned W9 checking ‘other’ box in class field. They have also checked the exempt payee box. Do they need to specify which ‘other’ they are claiming or is this satisfactorily completed?

If we received a security deposit back from our landlord during 2008 are we required to send a 1099 to them for their reporting purposes? What about for our taxing reporting purposes? Please advise.

My wife and I have a partnership that manufactures and purchase products for resale. We do not sell “services” of any kind. I have had requests from customers for a W-9. Am I required to provide a W-9 if all we are doing is selling items for end use or resale? Thank you for providing the means to ask this question.

I am a home stager and just received a request from a homeowner whom I staged their home when they were trying to sell it. They paid me over $600. Am I obligated to fill it out? If so, why do the homeowners need this information?

I’m a member of an LLc that sells equipment. We have a customer who paid a deposit on an item in 2008 and will take delivery in 2009, as well as pay the balance. We are billing for the goods, not services. Should we be required to fill out a W-9?

I fill out the w9 with my name at the top and the name of my “business”, will I get into a mess? I do not have a business license as I only do about $400 of business a year using that business name. The name is only for invoicing purposes, everybody deals directly with me (I fix cars in my free time for extra cash). Thanks for the site, it’s great!

Do we send a 1099 to all Vendors we either purchased items from or hired to do work for us? We have been getting the W9’s on some but not all, and we didn’t send 1099’s to all, only individual contractors.

We recently sold our business & are financing the buyers. They were unable to pay a tax bill and a late fee and agreed (in writing) to reimburse us if we would pay it on their behalf. We did. Now they refuse to reimburse us until we file a W-9 so they can issue a 1099 at 2009 year end. Can they withhold our reimbursement until we issue them a W-9?

Hello. My husband is a painting contractor in California and we just had a client/homeower request of W-9 form. I know the purpose of the w-9 is to create a 1099 to report income paid to us, but I’m just curious why a homeowner might request this form? I thought is was for when we were a sub on a job or if we were contracted by a company. Can you shed some light on this. Some background may be that he might be self-employed and he and his wife built a home this year and had work done on it. Also, our TIN is just our SSN# if we are sole proprieters right?

Thanks

I have a full time job as an employee and did some side work painting shipping containers for a company my friend works for.I did it about 4 times in 2008 and they never requested a W-9 form until january 30th they called for my social security number and adress. I wasnt at work then and recieved a msg. They also are past the due date right? I thought I was already suppose to get the 1099 by jan 31st. Or it had to be post marked by then? What penalties will they get for this? And can they get in trouble for waiting so long for requesting a W-9. I have never done any side work for a company. This was the first time and I am not a subcontractor, just a guy , a friend asked to paint some containers.

Hello!
My friend is a home improvement contractor. He was recently hired to do a repair where the homeowner is getting the money from the insurance company to do the repairs (an insurance claim, in other words). The insurance company has requested a W9 from my friend. Is that so they can report that he was paid this money and be sure he claims it on his taxes?

My husband and I just received (individually) substitute w-9 form request from our insurance company. Would anyone know why this might be? I’m still awaiting an answer fom my agent. Thanks.

My husband and I have full time jobs but got involved in a government funded program established to help couples relationships. We started working for them last week as a “host couple” helping out during classes, etc (one or two nights a week) and they asked all the “host couples” to fill out a W-9. What is this for and will they withhold taxes from our pay? We’ve been told by other couples that have worked there a while that they don’t withhold taxes? Will this be considered misc income when it comes time to file taxes or will it be considered a “self-employment” even though we are not a business nor are we contractors? Thanks for any information.

Hi

I am a foreign resident doing contractual work for some USA based entities. I have been asked to fill out Form W-9. Do I need to fill out this form? Do I need to fill out any other form? Am I liable to tax in the USA.

Hi i received a W-9 for winning a fantasy baseball prize of $1600. I just received also the 1099-MISC from the company today, so i was wondering if anyone could help me since i have a couple questions if so my email is phiflyers200345@yahoo.com. Would ask them here but since its different from most questions i will think it be to confusing.

I recieved a W9 from a company that I made a one time deal where I furnished them some parts. 50% of what I got the W9 for was my cost for the parts, how can I deduct the cost from my taxes?

Is there a date that 1099-misc forms must be mailed to recipient? I understand that W 2 forms must be mailed by 1-31, is that also true for 1099- misc. forms?

i hired someone that filled out a w-9 form (subcontractor). i gave out my w-2 forms to my regular employees (employess that filed w-4 initially) but this particular person filed a w-9 . Do i also give him a
w-2 form? Or don’t give him anything since he has his own company?
im confused? please help.

Sasha, since this was a subcontractor, you’ll report payments to him using Form 1099-MISC and report it as non-employee compensation.

Turned a sole proprietorship into an LLC 1/1/09. I know I didn’t really turn it into, but really created a 2nd entity. Now need to send out new w9. What should the letter say?

My sister has been cleaning a church for almost 2 years and today (2/24/09) she was told that she would have to fill out a W-9 and report her pay from last year, 2008. She has already filled her taxes for 2008 and is not sure what to do now about having to fill out this form. Since it was their neglect to supply her with this form or even notify her that she would have to fill it out, after 2 years, would she have to report those wages?

SherryR, simply send out your new W-9 to your clients and let them know that you’ve formed a separate business (your LLC) and that this new W9 can be used to update their records.

Haley, we always need to report all of our income, even if we don’t have a tax document to indicate the amount we made. So, yes, she may need to amend her tax return if she left this income off.

It’s a bit late for the church to be sending out 1099-MISC forms for last year. It sounds like they are catching up on their accounting.

I work for a government agency with senior volunteers. If a group is conducting a research study and gives the senior $25.00 is the research organization required to complete a W-9 with a list of names and Social Security numbers? Can the $25.00 be considered a volunteer recognition gift?
Thanks

hello. i am a nanny that has been served a 1099. i am just a girl, no company etc, and did not know what this would come to mean. i filled out a w9 at the beginning of work and did not know what that was either. does this mean i can not dispute the 1099, because i filled out the w9. i feel i should be a w2 household employee. any thoughts on the legality of this.

apologies my caps and question marks do not work…

I work for a Texas Corporation and I am being told that I have to fill out a W9 Form before someone will release payments to me. I should not receive a 1099 form at the end of the year from this customer. Why do I have to send them a W9 Form?

I work in a hospital accounting department. We pay physicians for various services they provide to the hospital monthly. How should a individual physician or medical group complete a W9? We require this information when we negotiate the contract with the phyisicians.

I am joining an affilate independent company as a publisher for them to put ads on my site however it states if you make over a certain amount in a year I have to fill out a W9 Form. problem: Im a Canadian. Do I still have to fill it out?

George H., instead of using Form W-9, you’ll use Form W-8BEN instead. This form is used by nonresidents to certify that they are exempt from mandatory withholding, or to certify that they are eligible for a reduced rate of withholding under the provision of a tax treaty. As long as your business has no presence in the USA, you will likely qualify not to be subject to tax reporting and withholding. You may want to speak briefly with a tax professional experienced with US-Canada taxation to make sure you are handling the US side of things properly.

I work for a Canadian company and we have number of US clients. When beginning a relationship (contract) with a client, we are asked for our Taxpayer ID and we provide the W8Ben. My question is: Why are we regularly asked for the form again the next year? Does the form expire somehow? Is there a legal reason to request year over year? We don’t mind resubmitting the form but we don’t know why we really need to. Thanks for your time!

I do affiliate marketing on the side, with networks such as Commission Junction, Amazon, Linkshare, and ClickBank. If I make less than $600 on some of these and more than $600 on the others, do I only report those affiliate earnings in which I received more than $600 for the year? Please help me. I’m confused!

We’ve asked a vendor for a W9. He is telling us we must pay a $25 “administrative fee” to get them to complete the W9. Is that legal?

It seems that no one has asked this question. In part II- Certification, what exactly is it asking me to sign or not sign? As a homeowner who pays mortgage interest, number 5, what does that mean to me?

I work for a third party administrator for health insurance and we have thousands of providers and agents that we pay. We’ve been given W-9 forms with incorrect information and have called them and told them the information doesn’t match with the IRS. They insist it is correct. What are our options for getting the correct information?

This page and many others on the internet claim that most taxpayers are exempt payees, but the W-9 form itself says, “Generally, individuals (including sole proprietors) are not exempt from backup withholding”, which appears to directly contradict this statement. This page here also provides a list of entities exempt from backup withholding: http://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw9/ar02.html#d0e267

I don’t see anything in that list about ordinary individual taxpayers…

So I’m afraid I’m going to have to be skeptical that most taxpayers are exempt payees unless I can find information directly from the IRS that indicates otherwise. Can you explain what would make me an exempt payee?

I’m am so confused. I provided work for a company and billed them $75.00. This is the one and only time that i will work for them. They are asking me to fill out a w-9 before they will pay me. Do i fill one out if all i will ever bill them is $75.00?

I am a licensed counselor who will be working for a group practice. I have no idea how to fill out the w-9 with the group EIN # & my information! Can you help?

We received a w-9 form to fill out from the hospital paying out wrongful death for my mother. I thought you didn’t have to pay taxes on wrongful death money. Anyone know what this is all about?

I send out W-9’s to various vendors to keep in our files and for 1099’s. Do they have an expiration date? Is it necessary to get these updated periodically?

I am new at doing W9 forms. Do I need to request these every year from my contractors and vendors?

I am renewing my lease and my landlord gave me a W9 to fill out. Is this normal? I’ve been searching the internet and read over the form carefully and I can’t understand the purpose, so I’d appreciate it if someone could tell me if this is normal and if I should fill it out. Thanks!!

If I am a corporation providing medical and health care services, I should not have to sign the W-9. However, if the vendor requests the form to be signed, who needs to sign it? Is it an officer of the corporation or can any employee sign it?

I own a property that I am renting out. The renter has lost her job and a church wants to pay her rent to me. They have asked me to fill out a W-9. Does this sound like proper procedure? Is there any risk in me filling out the form?

I am at a Hospital that receives requests for W-9 Forms from Insurance Carriers that have never done business with us in the past. Can I use our PO BOX (lockbox) address on the form? That is where our payments need to go.

My husband is going to work for a former employer but as a contractor. We opened a dba under our LLC (which hasn’t done any business yet) for his services for this. They need a W9, but I don’t know what name to provide them. We don’t have a separate EIN as it was technically my llc but the dba is his. We are both listed as managing members on the llc. Should we put his or my SSN there? If we treat this as a pass thru entity, can’t we just use his ssn? Thank you!

I reffered a friend to a car dealer, they bought a car, and i got a scratch card, won $200, now they won’t give it to me unless I fill out a W-9. Do I have to for as little as $200.

is there a minimum payment before a W9 is required? If you do a one time task for a company for say $400?

How long is a W9 good for after filling it out and signing it?

I received a W-9 this month and it is dated in 2008. Should I request a new W-9 that is dated 2009?

I live in a NYC Rent Stablized Apartment as a Tenant. We have new Broker/Owners/Managers.
They sent a W-9 Form by Certified mail to be filled out. Why? I have lived here since 1972.
I do no work for them. I am only a Tenant.

I have recieved a security intrest statement, annually since I have lived her via the four or five real estate brokers or managers that have managed the building since the owners death many, many years ago.
Why do I need to fill out this form? My info has not changed since 1972?

Hello,
I’m a Canadian sitizen. I’ve been hired for a short-term project in the States and the employer has asked me to fill out a W9 form. I have two questions:

- Should I put my Canadian Social Insurance Number when filling out the form?
- Will this information be transfered in some form to Canada Ravenue?

Thank you in advance,

Levani

Levani, instead of using Form W-9, you will use Form W-8BEN instead. See my article on US withholding for Canadian workers.

Once we received the W9 forms back from our Vendors and put in our system – how long do we have to keep those forms in our files?

Thanks

im trying to findout what this w-9 form is for cause i had to fill one out at six flags great america for winning 2 wii games in a wii game tournament and i didnt pay a thing i just won them for free so im wondering if thats gonna go on my taxes at the end of the yr?

Angie, your should keep the W-9 Forms in the contractor’s permanent file.

Steven, this W-9 form will be used by Six Flags to report the value of the prize to the IRS. You’ll get a 1099-MISC form in early 2010 showing the value of the prizes shown in box 3 of that form. You’ll then report that same amount on your Form 1040 line 21 as other income.

My bookkeeper wants us to get a W9 on every vendor to whom we make a payment for a product (generally not a service). We are a 501C3 and have volunteers doing all our work. Is this necessary?

How often should a mortgage loan servicer send out a W9 form? I thought it was annually, but I’ve never received on from my servicer. Thanks.

Mortgage service companies should not have to send out W-9 Forms. They already have your SSN from when you applied for the mortgage loan.

Karen, I think getting W-9 Forms for all your vendors is a bit over board. The purpose of Form W-9 is for you to gather the information necessary to properly complete Form 1099, if you do not already have that information. In your case, the most relevant 1099 form is 1099-MISC for the payments of non-employee services totaling $600 or more per contractor per year. The 1099 Form is used in other circumstances too, such as for medical payments or other types of payments. Your bookkeeper should first review the instructions for Form 1099-MISC, then identify which vendors are likely to need 1099s for this year, and obtain W-9s from them. If you don’t have any contractors, however, it’s highly unlikely you need to obtain any W-9s.

If a vendor checked the box on W9 “Exempt Payee” (individual/sole prorietor), should I send a 1099?

Trish, yes still send a 1099. Exempt just means that you should not withhold any taxes on the payments.

Ok. Now if the vendor checks “individual/sole proprietor” & doesn’t check “exempt payee”, I still send a 1099 right?

Trying to complete a W-9 for a sole member LLC which is a disregarded entity. We put the corporate parent/sole member’s name on line 1 and our name on line 2. Then use the parent’s EIN.
Question is what to enter for entity type: since Oct 2007 we have completed “LLC” and then “D”. Now faced with State of Illinois which insists must enter “Corporation” to match the EIN. IRS 800# was NO HELP.

I’m not sure what the problem with Illinois is… do they have their own form? Or are you submitting the W-9 to the state as a vendor? I would just fill out the W-9 form correctly, which it sounds like you did. Double check your LLC name / EIN.

Yes, Trish, you probably still need to issue a 1099. The threshold is $600 in payments during the year. Since they did not check the “exempt” box, you may need to deduct backup withholding from their payments.

We are submitting W9 as vendor. Illinois does not have their own form; they want the standard W9. IL agrees the corp parent’s name is on line 1 and operating company is on line 2 and that we should use parent’s EIN.
Problem is that IL insists that we check “Corporation” for entity type (rather than “LLC”) which seems to flatly contradict W9 instructions.
Never had a problem using the 10/2007 form with any other customer.

Are you registered as a corporation or as an LLC with the state of Illinois? You can check online at the State of Illinois Business Services Web site. I would print out any report you find on that site to show that you are in fact an LLC and not a Corporation.

I am sole proprietor that does siding work. I recently did some storm damage siding repairs on a home for a customer who paid me $9100.00 from his personal account. He received an insurance claim (partial amount),but paid me out of his personal account. He also has other damage to windows, landscaping, and his roof. I did not do work on these and will not be. He called me today and said his mortgage company cannot give him the remaining amount of the claim until I sign and turn in a w-9 to them. I know he did not have the other repairs done and mentioned doing them himself. I will be paying taxes on the amount I was paid and do not mind doing this. I do mind, however, if the mortgage company thinks I received the entire amount for claim. I did not do the other work and dont want to pay taxes on it. I also dont like giving a homeowner/customer my personal info like social security numbers when they seem less than honest. I’ve had insurance companies w-9 and 1099 me in the past, but only when they made the check jointly to me and the homeowner. They paid the homeowner , not me. Do I have to give a w-9 to them if the mortgage company is a third party and not the actual payer(to me) of money? Can I get in trouble for not providing it?

What address should be displayed on a W-9. Is it the actual PAY To address or the Corporate address?

I’m a tenant in a condo that was foreclosed. B of A offered to pay me moving expenses if I quit the premises in 30 days. I agreed but have been asked to complete a W9. I am a permanently disabled Veteran whose sole support is a low income disabled Veteran’s pension. Since a W9 is to report types of income, is this payment for expenses counted as income? Because if it is, I can’t take it, any income is deducted from my pension because I am paid this pension due to my inability to work. Anyone had any experience with a situation like mine?

Quick question:

I did some online promotional work for a clothing website. They basically have a commission system for every sale you get them. The money is not all that much, about 100$ a month. It is required to fill out a w-9 form before they pay me, but my question is that if I fill out this form is it necessary to file taxes? (I’m 18, have never had a job before, and have absolutely no idea how I would go about filing taxes).

If company A is acquired by company B, does company A’s TIN & tax classification change to assume & operate under company B’s TIN & tax classificiation as an entity or does it remain to operate under it’s own original TIN & tax classification?

I am a solo doc (LLC) not contracted with any insurance companies. Patients pay at the time of their visit, then may choose to submit to their health insurance carrier for out-of-network reimbursement rates. A major health insurer has ‘required’ that I complete a W-9 in order for the insured to get reimbursed to payment made to me directly from the patient. I am confused as I do not have any financial relationship with the health insurance company. Why, then, would the health insurance company ‘need’ me to complete a W-9?
Thank you for your time!

I have a simple question: Does an individual have to sign the form or can I just fill in the name of the company in the signature box? In the General Instructions it says under “Definition for a U.S. Person”: A partnership, corporation, company,….etc.
But it’s not clear if I can just fill in the name of the company. We are a LLC (Partnership).

The niught before the impending purchase of my existing home, the Buyer reneged at the very last moment, but did agree to forfeit his ‘good faith’ deposit money as per the P&S agreement. His realtor, however would not release the money to me unless a W-9 were filled out & returned. This does not make sense. This house was my prime residence. I am not, nor have ever been, in the business of selling houses. Could you please provide me with an explanation. Thanks.

I am the (new) treasurer for a PTA and have been asked to fill out a W-9 for a company that donates money to the PTA when one of their employees completes a certain number of volunteer hours. The PTA is not incorporated, so I am thinking I should check the “other” box in that section. Do I also check the box for “exempt payee”? The PTA is, of course, nonprofit. Thank you!

Does a student run business at a public high school run during a part of a class at school need to fill out a W-9 for the customers they provide their products to?

should you ask for a W-9 from all vendors?

I am a business owner in an LLC – we have a retail shop where we feature other people’s goods and services in a consignment arrangement. We ask for W-9 forms so that we can issue them a 1099 at the end of the year and document the total amount they have been paid. Most vendors fill this out with no issue but one does not want to fill out and sign the form.

Does this mean we are now required to withhold the 28% tax on their payments (income) or is the situation different because this is a consignment relationship? assume that we’ve met or have reason to believe we’ll meet the $600 threshhold.

thank you!

Michelle, your store will need to do backup withholding for this client until they provide you with a signed W-9.

Is a social security card required for w-9 as proof of the social security number given on form. the form says either drivers license or social security number. If the social security number is given does the business need proof of a social security card as well. Thank you.

William, I have received a request for a W-9 from a Financial entity who I bought non publicly traded securities through. The securites pay me directly. I have not and will not receive any interest, dividends or other forms of compensation from the Financial services company. Do they actually need a W-9 and if so, why?

Not sure why the financial institution is sending you a W-9 to fill out, Danny. Best bet is to ask them.

We are a non profit boosters organization raising funds to support school band activities. We received W-9 from a business donating percentage of sales to our organization. We are not 501(c)3 as yet. Is the W-9 required to receive the donation and are we exempt. Do we fill out as Other – Non profit?

I work for a local police department. We collect fees for reports given to insurance companies.

The person picking up the report asked for a W-9 form today. We referred him to the Municipal Office as we are not familiar with the form or rules.

Do we need to give this form to people with a receipt if they request? The instructions don’t seem to fit.

We are just charging for the report.

I was just given a W-9 by my landlord whom i rent an apartment from. Why would I be getting this to fill out as I am not a contractor for her. Any help is appreciated..

Thank You

Dave

I am a tax adviser in a UK law firm. We have no establishments, permanent or otherwise, anywhere apart from our UK offices. Our business is therefore wholly carried on in the UK, our income is wholly UK source income and there should be no question of any withholding of taxes in the US or anywhere else on payment of our invoices. Recently, however, some of our US clients have started to ask us to complete US tax forms to avoid withholding on payment of our invoices (which invoices are issued by and payable to a UK business in GBP for advice given wholly from our UK offices). Is it technically correct that we have to complete US tax forms (W8 BEN or W8 IMY) as our income is not US source so that there should be no US withholding at all? If it is correct that we need to complete these forms has something changed recently as we have not been asked for these forms before? And if this is correct, how can the US attempt to withhold taxes or require forms to be completed in respect of the mere payment of invoices for UK source income that is of no concern to the IRS? Still, I suppose the US has a history of acting extra-territorially on taxes.

I would be grateful for any responses. Thanks a lot.

I’m a student working for 8 dollars an hour and I filled out a W-9 form. About how much (%?) would be taken off due to tax deductions?

Hi –

I have a software company based in India. We work with clients across the globe – US, Europe, Asia, Australia etc. One of our US client has asked us to provide W-9 and Tax Payer ID details. Now we are not a company registered in US. Can you help us in understanding what we would need to do to get these details. Also are their any implications for doing it? As in would be be taxed in US if we go for W9 and Tax payer ID in US? Would that mean we get taxed in US as well as in India for these payments?

Thanks in advance for the help!

We have an unusual situation – we required a vendor who is an LLC to fill out a W-9 form and he got very upset. He provided a service to our local government and when we received his invoice, we sent him a W-9 to fill out. We require them for all new vendors. When he received the form, he called and refused to fill it out. Basically we said we could not process his invoice until we received the W-9 back. After he filled out the W-9 he sent us an invoice for his time to fill out the form. When I called to tell him we would not be paying his invoice, he got even more rude. He stated it was completely inappropriate for him to have to fill out the form. He said he called the IRS and they told him we should not have sent him the form. Do you have a suggestion on how to respond to this gentleman?

I’m part of a performance group at a college and we’ve done a lot of gigs paid and unpaid. Usually when we are paid they just give us a check or cash directly, but this time around, it’s a big company I guess, so to give us a check, they need us to fill out the w-9. What does that mean for us? As a student group we don’t do anything regarding taxes usually so I don’t understand why we have to fill out a w-9…?

Does the company requiring the W-9 have to have the independendt business/contractor complete a new W-9 annually?

Hi I was asked to fill out a W-9 by my employer and i have no idea why. I work for a retail company why would they ask me to fill out one. I am really confused about this.

A publisher gave me copyright permission to copy a portion of its book for my students. The publisher offered to reimburse me for the copycost but it is asking that I complete a W-9 so that it can pay me. Seems strange that it wants to report the reimbursement money to me as taxable income. Feels like I am getting hit twice! Is the W-9 necessary for such reimbursements?

I have an LLC with my husband, but I am listed as the LLC manager. Do I put my name or LLC name in the Name Field of the W-9? Do I put my EIN, or my SSN? … and what is tax classification: D=disregarded entity, C=corporaton, or a P=partnership? Thanks much for any help you can offer!

Signed – Confused!

I have a question please. I have a retail bussiness I sold a product to a company, they have asked for a W-9. When I asked why they needed a form dealing with withholding, she said it wasn’t about withholding just our tax id #. Do I have to fill out a W-9 to all my customer? This sound ridiculous.

I recently won a prize from a valid resource and the value is $400. They want me to fill out a W9 in order to get the money. I don’t understand how to fill out this form and wondered why they need it if the value is under $600.
Should I fill out as Exempt payee? should I sign and date the form where applicable? thanks

Hi, I’m a graphic designer and I have been doing contract work for a few companies. I finished school as an international student and am currently working in the united states with my (optional practical training) I have a social security and work permit but I’m not a resident, I’m on F1 visa. I recently got a w9 to fill out. I am familiar with what that is but does it exempt me, since I’m not a US Citizen? Any information would be greatly helpful! Thanks
Rodrigo.