What is a W-9 form?
Form W-9 is a one-page IRS form on which a U.S. person certifies their legal name and taxpayer identification number to a business that is going to pay them. It collects information. It does not calculate or withhold any tax.
What it is, who signs it, where it goes
- Full name of the form
- Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification
- Issued by
- Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury
- Current revision
- Rev. March 2024
- Completed by
- The payee, meaning the person or entity receiving money
- Given to
- The requester (the payer), who keeps it on file
- Filed with the IRS?
- No. Never
- Tax withheld by the form
- None, when it is completed correctly
- Length
- One page to sign, six pages of IRS instructions
What the form is for
When a business pays an employee, it already has everything it needs: a Form W-4, a payroll system, and withholding obligations. Pay somebody who is not an employee and none of that machinery exists. A freelancer, a vendor, a landlord, an account holder earning interest: the business has no personnel file on any of them, no withholding to compute, nothing on record but an invoice and a bank transfer. At the end of the year it may still have to file an information return telling the IRS how much it paid and to whom, and Form W-9 supplies the "to whom". You provide:
- your legal name, as the IRS has it on record (Line 1);
- your business or trade name, if you use one (Line 2);
- your federal tax classification: individual, corporation, partnership and so on (Line 3a);
- any exemption codes that apply to you (Line 4);
- the address your 1099 should go to (Lines 5 and 6);
- your taxpayer identification number, either an SSN or an EIN (Part I);
- a signature certifying all of it, plus that you are a U.S. person (Part II).
The payer files that name and number away, uses it to prepare a Form 1099 in January, and keeps the W-9 for at least four years in case the IRS ever asks how it got your number. Nothing else happens. No money moves because of the form, no return is filed on the strength of it, and no clock starts running. It sits in a vendor file being correct, and you hear about it again only when something on it stops being true, at which point you send a fresh one.
Part II is a declaration made under penalties of perjury. By signing you assert that the TIN is correct, that you are not currently subject to backup withholding, that you are a U.S. person, and that any FATCA code you entered is right. That signature lets the payer pay you gross instead of withholding 24%. The four certifications in detail.
What a W-9 is not
Most of the anxiety around this form comes from mistaking it for something else: a tax return, a contract, a filing the IRS is waiting on, a document that settles whether you are an employee. A W-9 does none of that work.
| People think it... | Actually |
|---|---|
| Makes you an independent contractor | It records a status that already exists. Worker classification is decided by the facts of the working relationship, not by which form you sign. If your client controls how, when and where you work, signing a W-9 does not convert you into a contractor. |
| Gets filed with the IRS | It never leaves the requester. The IRS does not want your copy and there is no address to send it to. Where it actually goes |
| Withholds tax | A completed W-9 withholds nothing. Only the absence of a valid one triggers 24% backup withholding. |
| Is an income tax return | It reports no amounts at all. There is no dollar figure anywhere on the form. |
| Expires each year | There is no expiration date. It stays valid until your information changes. Full answer |
| Is only for freelancers | Banks, brokerages, landlords, marketplaces, insurers and law firms all collect them. Who else files one |
| Must be the requester’s own version | A requester may use a substitute form, but the official IRS form is always acceptable. |
Who completes a W-9
You complete one if you are a U.S. person receiving a reportable payment. For the purposes of this form, a U.S. person means a U.S. citizen or resident alien, a partnership, corporation, company or association created or organized in the United States, a domestic estate, or a domestic trust. If none of those describes you, the W-9 is the wrong piece of paper: foreign individuals use Form W-8BEN and foreign entities use Form W-8BEN-E. Signing a W-9 when you are not a U.S. person is a false certification with a $500 civil penalty attached.
- Independent contractors and freelancers
The classic case. Paid per project or per hour, outside payroll.
- Sole proprietors and single-member LLCs
Line 1 takes the owner's own legal name, whatever the business is called.
- Corporations and partnerships
Entity name on Line 1, EIN in Part I, and a letter code for LLCs.
- Landlords and property owners
Rent of $2,000 or more paid in a trade or business is reportable.
- Nonprofits and tax-exempt organizations
Still asked for the form, and entitled to exempt payee code 1.
- Anyone opening a financial account
Banks and brokers need a certified TIN before paying interest or dividends.
When you will be asked for one
There is no statutory deadline on Form W-9 itself. In practice the request arrives at one of four moments, and you are always better off handing the form over at the first of them.
Before the first payment
Best practice, and what well-run accounts-payable teams do. A vendor is set up in the system only once a signed W-9 is on file. Nothing is withheld and nothing has to be corrected later.
When you open an account
Banks, credit unions, brokerages and crypto platforms collect a certified TIN before paying interest, dividends or proceeds. This is usually built into the account application rather than presented as a separate W-9.
In January, in a panic
The payer is preparing 1099s, realizes a TIN is missing, and emails every vendor at once. If this is when you are asked, respond quickly. The alternative is a 1099 filed without your TIN, then a notice, then a scramble to fix a return that has already gone in.
After the IRS sends a B notice
If the name and TIN on your 1099 did not match IRS records, the payer receives a CP2100 notice and must ask you for a corrected W-9. Ignoring this one leads directly to backup withholding. See TIN matching.
A legitimate request comes from a business that is actually paying you, or is about to. You are entitled to ask what payment it relates to and how the form will be stored. If somebody you have no payment relationship with asks for a W-9 by email, treat it as a phishing attempt. One signed W-9 hands over a full name, an address and a Social Security number in a single document. How to send one safely.
What happens after you send it
The payer validates the name and TIN
Careful payers run the pair through the IRS TIN Matching service before filing anything. A mismatch caught in March costs nothing; the same mismatch caught in February of the following year costs a corrected return and possibly penalties.
You get paid gross
With a valid, signed W-9 on file, no federal income tax comes out of your payments. You are responsible for your own income tax and self-employment tax, usually through quarterly estimated payments.
A 1099 arrives in January
If reportable payments for the year reached the threshold ($2,000 for nonemployee compensation paid after December 31, 2025) the payer sends you a Form 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC and files a copy with the IRS. More on the new threshold.
The form sits in a file
The payer retains it, generally for four years, and sends it nowhere. If your details change, it is on you to send a fresh one. When a W-9 goes stale.
Ready to fill one in?
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.