Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification is the document developed by Internal Revenue Service. You’ll most likely receive it if you work as self-employed individual. This guide is aimed to explain purpose of W-9 and make it clear who should complete it.
What is the purpose of a W-9 IRS form?
Internal Revenue Service issued the document to control how independent contractors, vendors and freelancers fulfill their federal tax obligations. Still, it doesn’t collect any information about payments to you. So, what is purpose of W-9? The paper just requests data like your name, TIN and address that will be used in other forms to report about all the payments that were made to you. Hence, the purpose of filling out a W-9 is to provide all this information to the requester who’ll issue one of 1099 forms.
Note that since IRS is behind the development of the paper, it doesn’t mean you should send it to the bureau. The inquiring party is the only recipient.
Who can get a request?
Filling the blank is required in such cases:
- you were payed at least $600 during the tax year;
- you’ve received financial income like interest;
- you’ve made direct sales of at least $5000;
- the document is required for a new bank account.
As for obtaining the blank, you can find it on our website. You’ll also be able to complete it electronically with e-signature.