how to fill out form w 9
form w 9 is one of the most straightforward irs forms to complete but if tax forms make you nervous don t worry we ll walk you through the proper way to complete it all pages of form w 9 are available on the irs website in addition the form may include a specific set of instructions provided by the irs enter your name as shown on your tax return enter your business name or disregarded entity name if different from the name you entered for step 1 for example you might be a sole proprietor but for marketing purposes you don t use your personal name as your business name instead you are doing business as some other name you would enter that name here a common disregarded entity type is a single member limited liability company smllc 10 sole proprietorships and single owner s corporations are similar in that income passes through to the single owner shareholder but they re not generally thought of as disregarded entities 111213select which type of business entity you are for federal tax classification sole proprietorship partnership c corporation s corporation trust estate limited liability company or other check the appropriate box and only one classification should be selected if you re not sure what type of business entity you should select the irs has provided a summary table for guidance as part of the form w 9 s instructions 14with exemptions chances are you re going to leave these boxes blank here are a couple of exceptions provide your street address city state and zip code use the address that you will use on your tax return for example if you re a sole proprietor who rents office space but you file your tax return using your home address enter your home address on form w 9 so the irs won t have trouble matching your 1099s with your form 1040 in addition the w 9 may be a company s primary means of obtaining your personal information as this information may get logged into their accounting system when you get set up as a supplier in their records this address may be used to furnish your 1099 or mail you other important tax documents in this optional step you can provide the requester s name and address you might want to fill out this box to keep a record of to whom you provided your tax identification number in addition you have the option to list relevant account numbers at the end of this top section of the form w 9 this account number section may be used to uniquely identify someone based on a number within the client s system for example someone may request you to fill out a form w 9 if you are supplier 45 in their records they may ask you to make note of your supplier number on this line the irs calls the next section part i here you must provide your business s tax identification number which will either be your individual social security number if you re a sole proprietor or your employer identification number ein if you re another type of business now some sole proprietorships also have eins but the irs prefers that sole proprietors use their ssns on form w 9 again doing so will make it easier to match any 1099s you receive with your tax return which you will file under your ssn 