Form W-9
From Wikicpa
Form W-9 is a tax form used by the United States Internal Revenue Service.
The form is used by employers to obtain taxpayer identification information (usually in the form of a Social security number or taxpayer identification number). The employee then signs the form swearing under penalty of perjury that the information is correct. The form is never actually sent to the IRS, but is maintained by the employer for verification purposes.
Contents |
IRS Notices
The IRS will send you a notice if the payee's name and TIN on the information return you filed do not match the IRS's records. You may have to send a “B” notice to the payee to solicit another TIN. Pub. 1281 contains copies of the two types of “B” notices.
Substitute Form W-9
You may develop and use your own Form W-9 (a substitute Form W-9) if its content is substantially similar to the official IRS Form W-9 and it satisfies certain certification requirements.
You may incorporate a substitute Form W-9 into other business forms you customarily use, such as account signature cards. However, the certifications on the substitute Form W-9 must clearly state (as shown on the official Form W-9) that under penalties of perjury:
- The payee's TIN is correct,
- The payee is not subject to backup withholding due to failure to report interest and dividend income, and
- The payee is a U.S. person.
You may not:
- Use a substitute Form W-9 that requires the payee, by signing, to agree to provisions unrelated to the required certifications, or
- Imply that a payee may be subject to backup withholding unless the payee agrees to provisions on the substitute form that are unrelated to the required certifications.
A substitute Form W-9 that contains a separate signature line just for the certifications satisfies the requirement that the certifications be clearly stated.
If a single signature line is used for the required certifications and other provisions, the certifications must be highlighted, boxed, printed in bold-face type, or presented in some other manner that causes the language to stand out from all other information contained on the substitute form. Additionally, the following statement must be presented to stand out in the same manner as described above and must appear immediately above the single signature line:
“The Internal Revenue Service does not require your consent to any provision of this document other than the certifications required to avoid backup withholding.”
If you use a substitute form, you are encouraged (but not required) to provide Form W-9 instructions to the payee. However, if the IRS has notified the payee that backup withholding applies, then you must instruct the payee to strike out the language in the certification that relates to underreporting. This instruction can be given orally or in writing. See item 2 of the Certification on Form W-9. For more information, see Revenue Procedure 83-89,1983-2, C.B. 613; amplified by Revenue Procedure 96-26 which is on page 22 of I.R.B. 1996-8 at irs.gov
Partnerships
Partnerships subject to withholding under section 1446 may require signed Forms W-9 from its U.S. partners to overcome any presumptions of foreign status and to avoid withholding on the partner's allocable share of the partnership's effectively connected taxable income. For more information, see Regulations section 1.1446-1(c). The final regulations are published as Treasury Decision 9200 on page 1158 of Internal Revenue Bulletin 2005-23 and are available at irs.gov
