Form W-9: Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification

You fill out Form W-9 when someone who pays you asks for it. That requester is a person or entity required to file an information return with the IRS, and they must get your correct taxpayer identification number to report the amount paid to you. Use the form only if you are a U.S. person. For federal tax purposes that means a U.S. citizen or resident alien, a partnership, corporation, company or association created or organized in the United States, an estate other than a foreign estate, or a domestic trust.

• Foreign persons and foreign entities give the requester a completed Form W-8 or Form 8233 instead.
• For a disregarded entity with a U.S. owner, the U.S. owner provides the form, not the entity.
• For a grantor trust with a U.S. grantor or other U.S. owner, that owner generally provides the form.
• For a U.S. trust that is not a grantor trust, the trust provides the form, not its beneficiaries.

Form W-9 has no due date because you do not file it with the IRS. You fill it out and hand it back when a requester asks for your TIN. If you do not return the form with a TIN, backup withholding may apply to your payments. You must furnish a new Form W-9 if the name or TIN for the account changes, for example if the grantor of a grantor trust dies. You must also give updated information to anyone you told you were an exempt payee, once that is no longer true and you expect reportable payments from them.

• No TIN yet? Apply for one, write 'Applied For' in the TIN space, then sign, date and give the form to the requester.
• For interest and dividend payments and certain payments on readily tradable instruments, you generally have 60 days to get a TIN and give it to the requester before backup withholding starts.
• The 60-day rule does not cover other payments, such as nonemployee compensation. Those are subject to backup withholding until you provide your TIN.

Give the form to the requester. Do not send it to the IRS. The requester keeps it and uses the name, address and TIN on it to file information returns with the IRS and to furnish your copy. If a requester hands you a form other than Form W-9 to ask for your TIN, and that form is substantially similar to Form W-9, you must use their version. Some requesters set up a system to accept Forms W-9 electronically, including by fax.

• An electronic system has to provide the same information as the paper Form W-9.
• For a form that must be signed, the last step is your electronic signature under penalties of perjury.

Print or type. Line 1 is your name and an entry is required, so do not leave it blank. The name should match the name on your tax return. A sole proprietor puts their individual name on line 1 and the business, trade or DBA name on line 2. A disregarded entity puts its owner's name on line 1 and its own name on line 2. Line 3a takes one box for your federal tax classification. Lines 5 and 6 are the address where the requester will mail your information returns. Part I is your TIN and Part II is your signature.

• For individuals the TIN is generally your social security number. A resident alien who has no SSN and cannot get one enters an ITIN in the social security number space.
• A sole proprietor with an EIN may enter either the SSN or the EIN. The IRS encourages you to use your SSN.
• A single-member LLC that is disregarded enters the owner's SSN, or EIN if the owner has one. An LLC classified as a corporation or partnership enters the entity's EIN.
• The TIN must match the name on line 1 to avoid backup withholding.
• If the address on line 5 differs from the one the requester already has, enter 'NEW' at the top.

Line 3a was reworded to explain how a disregarded entity handles that line. An LLC that is a disregarded entity checks the box for the tax classification of its owner. Any other LLC checks the 'LLC' box and enters C, S or P. Line 3b is new. A flow-through entity completes it to show that it has direct or indirect foreign partners, owners or beneficiaries when it gives Form W-9 to another flow-through entity in which it holds an ownership interest. A partnership with indirect foreign partners may be required to complete Schedules K-2 and K-3 (Form 1065).

Backup withholding means the person paying you must withhold 24% of certain payments and pay it to the IRS. Payments that can be subject to it include interest, tax-exempt interest, dividends, broker and barter exchange transactions, rents, royalties, nonemployee pay, settlements of payment card and third-party network transactions, and certain payments from fishing boat operators. Real estate transactions are not subject to backup withholding. You will not be subject to it if you give the requester your correct TIN, make the proper certifications, and report all your taxable interest and dividends on your tax return.

• You do not furnish your TIN to the requester.
• You do not certify your TIN when required.
• The IRS tells the requester that you furnished an incorrect TIN.
• The IRS tells you that you are subject to backup withholding because you did not report all your interest and dividends.
• You do not certify that you are not subject to backup withholding, for reportable interest and dividend accounts opened after 1983.