Form W-9 for trusts and estates
Trusts are the one area where the right answer genuinely depends on facts a form cannot capture. Everything turns on whether the trust is a separate taxpayer or reports through somebody else.
Name, box, number, and what gets reported
- The key question
- Is the trust a separate taxpayer, or does it report under the grantor’s TIN?
- Irrevocable trust with its own EIN
- Trust name on Line 1, Trust/estate box, trust EIN
- Grantor trust reporting under the grantor
- Grantor’s name and SSN; the trust is disregarded
- Decedent’s estate
- Estate name on Line 1, Trust/estate box, estate EIN
- Line 3b
- May apply if there are foreign beneficiaries
- Tax return
- Form 1041, where the trust or estate files separately
A trust or estate may or may not be a taxpayer in its own right. When it is, it has an EIN, files Form 1041, and completes the W-9 in its own name, signed by the trustee in that capacity. When it is not, the form reports the person standing behind it. The common case there is a revocable living trust that reports under the grantor’s Social Security number: the trust holds legal title to the account, the grantor carries the tax liability, and for W-9 purposes the trust is close to invisible. Estates work differently again, since a decedent’s estate is always a new taxpayer with a new number. Before you fill in a single line, settle which of those three situations you are actually in, because every other entry on the form follows from that one determination.
Trust taxation depends on the trust instrument, on state law, and on elections made when the trust was created or when the grantor died. If you are a trustee and you are not certain which TIN the trust reports under, ask the attorney who drafted it or the accountant who files for it before you sign a perjury certification.
What to put on each line
13 covers a trust exempt under section 664 or described in section 4947: charitable remainder and split-interest trustsWhich name and TIN, by trust type
Nearly every trust W-9 question collapses into one name-and-number pairing, and the pairing follows from the trust’s tax status rather than from whatever the account statement happens to say. Find your row.
| Type | Line 1 | Line 3a | Part I |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revocable living trust, grantor alive, reporting under the grantor | The grantor’s name | The grantor’s classification, usually individual | The grantor’s SSN |
| Revocable trust that has obtained its own EIN and files Form 1041 | The trust name | Trust/estate | The trust EIN |
| Irrevocable trust | The trust name | Trust/estate | The trust EIN |
| Trust that became irrevocable on the grantor’s death | The trust name | Trust/estate | The new trust EIN |
| Decedent’s estate | The estate name, e.g., Estate of Ruth Delacroix | Trust/estate | The estate EIN |
| Charitable remainder trust | The trust name | Trust/estate | The trust EIN, with exempt payee code 13 |
| Bankruptcy estate of an individual | The individual’s name as debtor | Trust/estate | The estate EIN |
Page 5 of the Form W-9 instructions carries a table headed What Name and Number To Give the Requester, and it addresses grantor trusts, custodial accounts and estates by name. For an unusual arrangement, treat that table as the authority and this one as a shortcut. A UGMA or UTMA account is the one row people misread most often, because the child rather than the custodian is the taxpayer: minors and custodial accounts.
Grantor trusts and the disregarded analogy
A grantor trust is one where the person who created it retains enough control or benefit that the tax law treats the income as still theirs. The most familiar example is a revocable living trust used for estate planning: while the grantor is alive, the trust typically uses the grantor’s SSN and its income appears on the grantor’s Form 1040. For W-9 purposes that makes the trust behave much like a disregarded entity, in that the form reports the person, not the arrangement. Then the grantor dies. The trust usually becomes irrevocable at that moment, obtains its own EIN, and completes every W-9 after it in its own name, so each payer holding the old form needs a fresh one, and none of them will know to ask for it.
Payers holding a W-9 with a deceased grantor’s SSN will keep reporting to that number. The successor trustee needs to send a fresh W-9 with the trust’s new EIN to every bank, brokerage and payer. Missing one produces 1099s issued to a dead person’s SSN, which is exactly the kind of mismatch that generates notices. Recertification events
Estates: the executor’s W-9 checklist
An executor inherits a paperwork problem alongside everything else. Every payer who was sending money to the decedent has to be told, individually, that it is now sending money to an estate, and none of them will act on the news until a W-9 arrives. Work through it in this order.
Obtain an EIN for the estate
A decedent’s estate is a new taxpayer, so it needs its own EIN, which the executor can get free from the IRS in a single sitting. Stop using the decedent’s SSN for income the estate receives.
Identify every payer
Banks, brokerages, pension administrators, insurers, tenants, royalty payers. Each one needs a new W-9 in the estate name, and the ones you forget are the ones that generate notices two years later.
Complete the form as the estate
Line 1: Estate of [name]. Line 3a: Trust/estate. Part I: the estate EIN. Part II signed by the executor or personal representative, in that capacity.
Expect two sets of 1099s for the year of death
Income up to the date of death belongs on the decedent’s final Form 1040 under their SSN; income after that belongs on Form 1041 under the estate EIN. Payers cannot split the year correctly unless you tell them the date.
Mistakes to avoid
- Using the decedent’s SSN for income that arose after the date of death.
- Using the grantor’s SSN after the trust became irrevocable.
- Obtaining an EIN for a revocable trust that should report under the grantor, creating two numbers where one was required.
- Signing as trustee without stating the capacity. The signature belongs to you as trustee, on the trust’s behalf.
- Claiming exempt payee code 13 for an ordinary family trust. Code 13 is for section 664 and 4947 trusts.
- Guessing. Trust classification is a legal question with a perjury certification attached.
Frequently asked questions
My revocable living trust holds a brokerage account. Whose TIN?
Typically the grantor’s SSN while the grantor is alive, because such trusts are usually grantor trusts. Confirm with whoever prepares the returns; the trust instrument controls.
The trust has an EIN but has never filed a 1041. Which do we use?
That combination suggests the EIN was obtained unnecessarily, or that filings have been missed. Resolve it with an accountant before certifying anything, because signing the wrong TIN is a false certification.
Who signs for an estate?
The executor, administrator or personal representative, signing in that capacity. Letters testamentary or an equivalent appointment establish the authority if a payer asks.
Does a trust with a foreign beneficiary have to check Line 3b?
Only if it is giving the form to a partnership, trust or estate in which it holds an ownership interest. Giving a W-9 to a bank or an ordinary payer does not trigger Line 3b.
General information, not tax advice. This page explains a federal tax form in plain English. It is not legal, tax, or accounting advice, and W9Form.org is not affiliated with the IRS. Verify everything against the official Form W-9 page on IRS.gov and speak to a licensed professional about your own situation. How we source and review these pages.