Who Is Required To Fill Out A W-9 Form?

Learn who should fill out a W-9 form and how Tax1099 can help you with the W-9 solicitation process.

When businesses onboard independent contractors or vendors for certain projects, the vendor is paid for the services they have provided. This is a business-contractor business arrangement. 

To establish a seamless business-vendor transaction and accelerate tax compliance, the business sends a Form W-9 to the vendor to request certain tax details.

Today, we will talk about Form W-9, and who is required to fill it out, and how to send the W-9 request. 

So, let’s get to it.

What Is Form W-9

IRS Form W-9 is an internal communication form issued by the IRS to enable businesses and contractors to establish and maintain a compliant business-contractor arrangement.

W-9 Form is a formal request sent to the independent contractor to obtain the following information. 

• Name of the vendor 
• Taxpayer Identification Number 
• Entity/Business name
• Federal tax classification
• Tax exemption codes (if any)
• Address 
• Certification

Businesses mail or send the W-9 forms to their vendors to obtain the vendor tax information, such as the taxpayer identification or its equivalent (social security number, ITIN, and more).

Self-employed individuals can furnish a social security number if they don’t have an Employer Identification Number in place.

This information is validated by the hiring business for tax and reporting purposes. The federal tax classification declared by the vendor allows the business to understand if the independent contractor is subject to backup withholdings.

When To Send Form W-9 To Vendor?

Typically, businesses send this around the onboarding process period to ensure that the vendor is validated per the official records before the profile is added to the vendor lists. 

When the furnished TIN and name information does not match the IRS records, the business, within its feasibility and reason, can contact the vendor to furnish the correct TIN/name combination.

If you proceed to report an incorrect TIN or name of the vendor, your returns could get rejected for incorrect TINs and your entity could be issued a B-notice from the IRS.  

Who Must Fill Out Form W-9

A self-employed individual, independent contractor, vendor, freelancer, or someone who is providing certain services to a business in exchange for non-employee compensation is required to fill out Form W-9. 

If you are an independent contractor and did not receive a W-9 from the hiring business, then you must contact the business to have them send the form to you.

Note: W-9 need not be filed with the IRS. It’s only for informational purposes. 

The independent contractor or their paid preparer or someone who has a fair understanding of how tax returns work can fill out the form to furnish the required tax information. 

How To Send Form W-9 To Vendor?

Traditional approaches require businesses to mail the physical W-9 form to the vendor’s address. The vendor will then fill out the form and mail it back to the hiring business.

However, due to Covid-19 restrictions and the ease of electronic form transmissions, the IRS is now recommending businesses to request Taxpayer Identification Number through electronic mediums.

This way both parties can save time and accelerate the W-9 solicitation process. If you have more than two vendors on your vendor list, then it is about time to automate your W-9 requests with Tax1099’s Bulk W-9 Solicitation solutions.

Send W-9 Requests Easily With Tax1099

Bulk W-9 Solutions from Tax1099 allow you to send W-9 email requests with signature-enabled forms. Import your vendor data to Tax1099 and send the requests.

Vendors can update the forms with the appropriate information and you can validate the provided information with our TIN Matching or TIN Lookup solutions to ensure reporting accuracy. 

Send W-9 requests, have your vendors update the forms within minutes, and validate the TINs in seconds. 

Our solutions are designed to accelerate your vendor onboarding process, reduce manual workload, and enable you to onboard verified vendors faster. 

Learn More About Tax1099 API  | Explore TIN Matching

Related Form W-9 Blog Posts:

• What’s The Purpose Of IRS Form W-9?
• What Is Form W-9: Request For Taxpayer Identification Number And Certification