What Is a W-9 Form? Who Files It and How to Fill It Out

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Form W-9, officially the Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification, is a one-page IRS form that a U.S. person fills out and gives to a business or financial institution that will pay them. It supplies your legal name, federal tax classification, mailing address and taxpayer identification number (TIN). You also certify, under penalty of perjury, that the number is correct and whether you are subject to backup withholding. The requester uses that information to prepare information returns such as Form 1099. You do not file a W-9 with the IRS; you give it to the person who asked for it, and they keep it in their records.

Most people meet the W-9 when they start freelancing, sign on as an independent contractor, open a bank or brokerage account, or win a prize.

What Form W-9 does

Federal law requires many payers to report certain payments to the IRS on information returns. A business that pays an unincorporated contractor for services, a bank that pays interest, a broker that processes stock sales and a company that awards a cash prize all have reporting duties. To file those returns, the payer needs the recipient’s correct name and TIN. Form W-9 is the standard way to request that information and to get the recipient’s certification that it is accurate.

For most individuals, the TIN is a Social Security number (SSN). Some individuals use an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), and businesses other than sole proprietorships generally use an employer identification number (EIN).

The certification is what separates a W-9 from a simple information request. By signing Part II, you confirm under penalty of perjury the statements covered below. A payer that holds a properly completed W-9 has a documented basis for reporting your payments under that name and number and for not withholding.

The W-9 itself creates no tax. It records who you are for reporting purposes. When the payer later issues a 1099, the IRS matches that 1099 against your return. If you report the income, the match closes. If the name and TIN on the 1099 do not match IRS records, the payer can receive a notice and may be required to start backup withholding.

Who uses a W-9 and who uses something else

The form is only for U.S. persons. For federal tax purposes, that includes:

• U.S. citizens and resident aliens (including green card holders and people who meet the substantial presence test)
• Partnerships, corporations, companies and associations created or organized in the United States or under U.S. law
• Estates that are not foreign estates
• Domestic trusts

Nonresident aliens and foreign entities do not complete a W-9. They generally provide the appropriate Form W-8 (for example, W-8BEN for foreign individuals). A nonresident alien claiming a treaty exemption on compensation for personal services may use Form 8233.

Common uses of Form W-9

The most frequent reason for a W-9 request is that the requester expects to file a Form 1099 or another information return for payments to you. Typical situations include:

• Contract and freelance work. A client that pays you as an independent contractor, rather than as an employee, needs your W-9 to issue Form 1099-NEC for nonemployee compensation.
• Rents, royalties and other miscellaneous payments. These are generally reported on Form 1099-MISC.
• Bank and brokerage accounts. Banks report interest on Form 1099-INT. Brokers report dividends on Form 1099-DIV and sales proceeds on Form 1099-B. Account-opening paperwork often includes a W-9 or a substitute W-9 built into the application.
• Real estate transactions. The settlement agent reports the seller’s proceeds on Form 1099-S.
• Prizes, awards and contest winnings. A prize’s value can be taxable income, so sponsors often collect a W-9 before paying out.
• Mortgage interest, student loan interest and canceled debt. Lenders report mortgage interest you paid on Form 1098, student loan interest on Form 1098-E and discharged debt on Form 1099-C. They may request a W-9 to make sure their records hold your correct TIN.

Reporting thresholds

Many 1099 forms are only required once payments reach a minimum amount in a calendar year. For years the threshold for nonemployee compensation and most miscellaneous payments on Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC was $600. Under the 2025 federal tax legislation, that threshold rises to $2,000 for payments made after December 31, 2025, with inflation adjustments in later years. Other forms have their own thresholds (interest reporting on 1099-INT, for example, generally starts at $10).

Two points follow from this. First, a payer may ask for your W-9 before you have earned anything, because it cannot know in advance whether you will cross the threshold, and collecting the form up front is how it avoids backup withholding problems later. Second, income below a reporting threshold is still taxable. Not receiving a 1099 does not mean you leave the income off your Form 1040.

How to fill out Form W-9

Download the current revision from the IRS website. It is a fillable PDF, so you can type your entries, print the form, sign it and deliver it. The requester may also send you its own copy or a substitute form that asks for the same information. The latest revision of Form W-9 was issued in March 2024 and added a new line 3b; the IRS publishes separate instructions alongside it that include the exempt payee codes and a classification table.

Line 1: Name

Enter your name as it appears on your income tax return. This line must match the name associated with the TIN you enter in Part I.

• Individuals and sole proprietors: your individual name. If your name changed (for example, after marriage) and you have not updated it with the Social Security Administration, the instructions direct you to use the name on your Social Security card along with your new last name where appropriate.
• Single-member LLCs and other disregarded entities: the owner’s name goes here, not the LLC’s name.
• Corporations, partnerships and other entities: the entity’s legal name as shown on its tax return.

Line 2: Business name or disregarded entity name

Fill this in only if it differs from line 1. A sole proprietor who operates under a trade name (“doing business as” name) enters that name here. The owner of a single-member LLC enters the LLC’s name here, while line 1 carries the owner’s name.

A single-member LLC is the most familiar disregarded entity: for federal income tax purposes, it is not treated as separate from its owner unless it elects corporate treatment.

Line 3a: Federal tax classification

Check exactly one box:

• Individual/sole proprietor (this box also covers single-member LLCs owned by an individual and disregarded for tax purposes)
• C corporation
• S corporation
• Partnership
• Trust/estate
• Limited liability company, with a letter for its tax classification: C for C corporation, S for S corporation or P for partnership
• Other, with a written description

The LLC box trips people up. An LLC that has elected to be taxed as an S corporation checks the LLC box and enters “S.” A single-member LLC that has not made any election and is disregarded does not use the LLC box; it checks the box for its owner’s classification. So a disregarded LLC owned by an individual checks “Individual/sole proprietor,” and one owned by a corporation checks that corporation’s box.

Line 3b: Foreign partners, owners or beneficiaries

This checkbox was added in the March 2024 revision. It applies only to a partnership, trust or estate that checked the matching box on line 3a, that has any foreign partners, owners or beneficiaries, and that is giving the form to an upstream partnership, trust or estate in which it holds an ownership interest. The box helps the upstream entity meet its own reporting duties. Individuals and most small businesses leave it blank. A partnership in this position should also read the instructions on foreign partners, and partners receiving their share of income will see it on Schedule K-1.

Line 4: Exemptions

There are two boxes here, and most individuals and freelancers leave both blank.

1. Exempt payee code. Certain payees are exempt from backup withholding and enter a code from 1 to 13 listed in the instructions. Examples include tax-exempt organizations, government bodies and, for many payment types, corporations. A corporation receiving interest or dividends, for instance, enters code 5. The exemption depends on the type of payment, so a corporation that is exempt for interest may not be exempt for every other payment; the instructions include a chart for this.
2. Exemption from FATCA reporting code. This relates to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and applies to certain payees with accounts maintained outside the United States. Codes run from A to M. If you are giving the W-9 for a U.S. account or for contract work, this box does not apply to you.

Lines 5 and 6: Address

Enter your street address (or P.O. box) on line 5 and your city, state and ZIP code on line 6. Use the address on your tax return. A sole proprietor who rents an office but files from home should enter the home address, so that 1099s line up with the return. The requester may mail your 1099 and other tax documents there, so use an address where you reliably receive mail.

To the right of lines 5 and 6 is an optional box for the requester’s name and address. Filling it in leaves you with a record on your own copy of who received your TIN, which is useful if you hand out W-9s to many clients.

Line 7: Account numbers

Line 7 is optional. It exists for account or reference numbers the requester uses to identify you, such as a vendor ID or an account number. If a client tells you that you are supplier #45 in its system, that number goes here. If nobody gives you a number, leave it blank.

Part I: Taxpayer identification number

Enter your TIN in the SSN box or the EIN box, not both.

• Individuals and sole proprietors generally enter their SSN. A sole proprietor who has an EIN may enter either, but the IRS encourages the SSN, since income will be reported on your individual return under that number.
• Resident aliens without an SSN who are not eligible for one enter their ITIN.
• Single-member LLCs that are disregarded enter the owner’s SSN or EIN, not an EIN issued to the LLC (that EIN is typically used for employment taxes and excise taxes, not for this purpose).
• Corporations, partnerships, multi-member LLCs and other entities enter their EIN.

The name on line 1 and the number in Part I must go together. Pairing a business name with your personal SSN, or the LLC’s name with the owner’s SSN, is a common source of TIN mismatch notices. The instructions include a “What Name and Number To Give the Requester” chart for each type of account and payee.

If you do not have a TIN yet, apply for one (an EIN can be requested online through the IRS) and write “Applied For” in the TIN space. Sign and date the form and give it to the requester. You then generally need to provide the number within 60 days; for interest, dividends and certain other payments, the payer may withhold during that window, and for other payments it can withhold until it receives your TIN. Getting the number quickly limits how much is withheld.

Part II: Certification

By signing, you certify under penalty of perjury that:

1. The number shown is your correct TIN, or you are waiting for one to be issued.
2. You are not subject to backup withholding because you are exempt, or you have not been notified by the IRS that you are subject to it due to failing to report all interest or dividends, or the IRS has notified you that you are no longer subject to it.
3. You are a U.S. citizen or other U.S. person (as defined in the instructions).
4. Any FATCA code you entered showing you are exempt from FATCA reporting is correct.

Item 1 rules out using anyone else’s number or an invented one; doing so is a false certification under penalty of perjury.

Item 2 describes the default position for most people. Unless the IRS has told you otherwise, you are not subject to backup withholding. If you have received an IRS notice saying you are currently subject to backup withholding for underreporting interest or dividends, you must cross out item 2 before signing. For real estate transactions, item 2 does not apply, and you may cross it out.

Signing, returning and updating the form

Do you have to sign?

The instructions set different signature rules by payment type. Signing is required for interest, dividend and broker accounts opened after 1983, and in other situations. For real estate transactions you sign but may cross out item 2. For many other payments, such as contractor fees, the rules require a correct TIN but treat the signature as necessary mainly when you were previously notified that you gave an incorrect TIN. In practice, requesters routinely treat an unsigned W-9 as incomplete and will ask you to sign, so signing is the simplest path. Many payers accept an electronic signature through their own onboarding systems.

How to return a W-9

Send the completed form to whoever asked for it, not to the IRS. Because the form contains your name, address and SSN or EIN together, the delivery method matters:

• In person limits exposure, though it is rarely practical.
• A payer’s secure upload portal or onboarding system is common for larger companies.
• Mail is relatively secure for paper forms.
• Email is the riskiest option. If you must use it, password-protect or encrypt the file, send the password separately, and confirm the recipient’s address before sending.

Verify the request first

A legitimate W-9 request has an obvious reason behind it: you are about to be paid, you are opening an account, or you won something. Be wary of unsolicited requests, especially emails claiming to be from a bank or the IRS asking you to “update” your W-9 through a link. The IRS does not request W-9s from individuals by email. If a request seems off, contact the business through a phone number or address you already know.

When to give a new W-9

There is no annual filing cycle. A W-9 generally stays on file until something changes. Give the requester a new one if your name, TIN, address or tax classification changes, for example when a sole proprietor forms an LLC that elects S corporation status, or when you become subject to (or released from) backup withholding. Some payers periodically ask vendors to refresh their forms, and they may ask for one on the current revision.

Backup withholding and penalties

Backup withholding is a flat federal withholding the payer must take from reportable payments in certain situations. The rate is 24%, a rate that has applied since 2018. It can be triggered when:

• You do not give the payer a TIN.
• The IRS tells the payer your TIN is incorrect (the payer receives a “B notice” about a name and TIN mismatch).
• The IRS tells the payer to withhold because you underreported interest or dividends.
• You do not certify, when required, that you are not subject to backup withholding.

Withheld amounts are not lost. The payer reports them to the IRS, they show up on your 1099 as federal income tax withheld, and you claim them as a credit when you file your return. The real cost is cash flow: you receive less on each payment until the problem is fixed.

As a hypothetical example: if a client owes you a $5,000 invoice and you have not provided a TIN, the client withholds 24% of $5,000, which is $1,200, and pays you $3,800. The $1,200 is credited against your tax when you file, but you do not have use of it in the meantime.

Penalties for W-9 problems include:

• $50 for each failure to furnish a correct TIN to a requester, unless the failure was due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect.
• $500 for making a false statement with no reasonable basis that results in no backup withholding.
• Criminal penalties, including fines and/or imprisonment, for willfully falsifying certifications or affirmations.
• Civil and criminal penalties for a requester that discloses or uses TINs in violation of federal law.

Form W-9 vs. Form W-4 (and Form I-9)

Form W-9 goes from a payee to a payer outside an employment relationship: a contractor to a client, an account holder to a bank, a prizewinner to a sponsor. It identifies you for information reporting and does not set up regular withholding. The payer uses it to prepare 1099s and similar returns, and you handle your own taxes (often through estimated payments if you are self-employed).

Form W-4 goes from an employee to an employer. It asks for filing status, dependents, other income and deductions, and the employer uses it to calculate how much federal income tax to withhold from each paycheck. Wages are then reported on Form W-2. See how Form W-4 works for the line-by-line process.

Both forms ask for a name and TIN, but only the W-9 asks for tax classification and business details.

Form I-9 is not a tax form at all. Employers use it to verify an employee’s identity and authorization to work in the United States. New employees typically complete an I-9 and a W-4; contractors complete a W-9 and neither of the others. More detail is in what Form I-9 is and how it works.

Examples

These hypothetical examples show how the lines change with the situation.

Single-member LLC with a trade name

James owns Oak Street Consulting LLC, a single-member LLC that has made no tax election. He enters his own name on line 1 and “Oak Street Consulting LLC” on line 2. Because the LLC is disregarded and he is an individual, he checks “Individual/sole proprietor” on line 3a, not the LLC box. In Part I he enters his own SSN (or his own EIN if he has one as a sole proprietor), not an EIN issued to the LLC.

LLC taxed as an S corporation

Priya’s design firm is an LLC that elected S corporation treatment. The LLC’s legal name goes on line 1, line 2 stays blank unless the firm uses a different trade name, line 3a gets the LLC box with “S” entered, and Part I carries the LLC’s EIN. Many S corporations are exempt payees for some payment types, so she checks the instructions to see whether an exempt payee code applies to the payments in question.

FAQs

The Bottom Line

Freelancers, contractors, account holders and prizewinners will all be asked for a W-9, and filling it out correctly keeps payments flowing in full. Match the name on line 1 to the TIN in Part I, return the form securely to the requester rather than the IRS, and send a new one when your details change. Report all income on your return, including amounts that never appear on a 1099.