Form W-9 (officially, the "Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification") is used in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

system by a third party who must file an information return with the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

(IRS).Internal Revenue Code § 31.3406(h)-3 It requests the name, address, and taxpayer identification information of a taxpayer (in the form of a

Social Security Number In the United States, a Social Security number (SSN) is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents under section 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act, codified as . The number is issued to ...

or Employer Identification Number). The form is never actually sent to the IRS; it is maintained by the individual who files the information return for verification purposes. The information on the Form W-9 and the payment made are reported on a

Form 1099 Form 1099 is one of several IRS tax forms (see the variants section) used in the United States to prepare and file an ''information return'' to report various types of income other than wages, salaries, and tips (for which Form W-2 is used inste ...

Use cases

Business–contractor arrangement

Form W-9 is most commonly used in a business–contractor arrangement. Businesses can use Form W-9 to request information from contractors they hire. When a business pays a contractor in excess of $600 during a tax year, the business is required to file

Form 1099-MISC In the United States, Form 1099-MISC is a variant of Form 1099 used to report miscellaneous income. One notable use of Form 1099-MISC was to report amounts paid by a business (including nonprofits) to a non-corporate US resident independent contrac ...

, a variant of

. To fill out Form 1099-MISC, the business may need to request information (such as address and Tax Identification Number) from the contractor, for which Form W-9 is used. The business does not send Form W-9 to the IRS.

Avoiding backup withholding

Another purpose of Form W-9 is to help the payee avoid

backup withholding In American tax administration, backup withholding is a specified percentage (24% for tax years 2018-2025 but previously 28%) withheld by the payers to be paid to the IRS on most kinds of transactions reported on variants of Form 1099. Backup wit ...

. The payer must collect

withholding taxes Tax withholding, also known as tax retention, Pay-as-You-Go, Pay-as-You-Earn, Tax deduction at source or a ''Prélèvement à la source'', is income tax paid to the government by the payer of the income rather than by the recipient of the income ...

on certain reportable payments for the IRS. However, if the payee certifies on the W-9 they are not subject to backup withholding they generally receive the full payment due them from the payer. This is similar to the withholding exemptions certifications found on

Form W-4 Form W-4 (otherwise known as the "Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate") is an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax form completed by an employee in the United States to indicate his or her tax situation ( exemptions, status, etc.) to the em ...

for employees.

Financial institution–customer arrangement

Financial institutions sometimes send Form W-9 to a customer to request information. However, it is not necessarily required for the customer to fill out the form if the institution already has the requested information from when the customer opened an account.

Employer–employee arrangement

In an employer–employee arrangement, Form W-9 and Form 1099 should not be used. Instead, the corresponding

(to provide information) and

Form W-2 Form W-2 (officially, the "Wage and Tax Statement") is an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax form used in the United States to report wages paid to employees and the taxes withheld from them. Employers must complete a Form W-2 for each employee ...

(to report amount paid) should be filed instead. However an employer may still send Form W-9 to have the information on record that the payee doesn't need to be sent Form 1099.

Filing method

Form W-9 can be completed on paper or electronically. For electronic filing, there are several requirements. Namely, a requester who establishes an electronic filing system must ensure that the electronic system provides the same information as on a paper Form W-9, that a hard copy can be supplied to the IRS on demand, that "the information received is the information sent and ��all occasions of user access that result in the submission re documented, that the person accessing the system and providing the information is the individual identified on the form, and that an electronic signature is used.

Deadline

Some certified public accountants consider it best practice to ensure the completion of Form W-9 by payees before issuing any payments. There may also be a $50 penalty for each instance in which Form W-9 is not filled out.

External links

Fillable PDF version of IRS W-9 Form

References

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