W-9 Form

Fills a substitute Form W-9 in your browser - your TIN is never uploaded, stored or sent anywhere.

100% free. Runs entirely in your browser - your files and data never leave your device and nothing is uploaded to any server.

Template, not legal advice. This produces a SUBSTITUTE Form W-9, not the official IRS PDF. The IRS allows substitutes that carry the certification language exactly as written, and most clients accept one - but banks and larger payers often insist on the official form, so ask before you send it. This is not tax advice. Your taxpayer identification number is typed into this page and rendered locally; it is never uploaded, and nothing about it is stored.

Start from an example

Fills every answer with a worked example you can edit. Pick the one closest to your business.

0 of 9 details filled
Who you are

The name on the first line must match your tax return exactly. A mismatch is the most common cause of an IRS notice to your client.

This must match your tax return exactly. A mismatch here is the single most common cause of a TIN notice from the IRS.
A single-member LLC that has not elected corporate treatment is "individual / sole proprietor", not LLC. That line trips up most people filling this in.
Your address
Taxpayer identification number

Typed here, rendered locally, never uploaded. Close the tab and it is gone.

Sole proprietors may give either. An EIN keeps your SSN off documents you send to clients, and it is free to get from the IRS.
Typed here, rendered into the document, and never sent anywhere. This page runs entirely in your browser - close the tab and it is gone.
Who asked for it
Exemptions
Most individuals and sole proprietors leave this blank. Corporations and certain entities have a code.
Applies to accounts held outside the United States. Usually blank.
Almost nobody has. If you have, the certification must be edited - item 2 has to be struck out, and the document below does that for you.

Nothing on this page is saved. This document collects a taxpayer identification number, so it is excluded from the remember-my-details option on purpose.

W-9 Form

7 sections · 576 words · updates as you type

W-9 Form

Last updated: 13 September 2026

Substitute Form W-9

Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification

Give this form to the person or business that requested it. Do not send it to the IRS.

Part I - Identification

Name (as shown on your income tax return): [Your legal name]

Federal tax classification: Individual / sole proprietor or single-member LLC

Address: [street address]

City, state, ZIP: [city, state, ZIP]

Part II - Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)

Social Security Number: [your TIN]

The TIN given must match the name on the first line, or the payer may be required to apply backup withholding at 24% to payments made to you. If you are a sole proprietor with both an SSN and an EIN, the IRS prefers your SSN, though either is accepted.

Part III - Certification

Under penalties of perjury, I certify that:

1. The number shown on this form is my correct taxpayer identification number (or I am waiting for a number to be issued to me); and

2. I am not subject to backup withholding because: (a) I am exempt from backup withholding, or (b) I have not been notified by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that I am subject to backup withholding as a result of a failure to report all interest or dividends, or (c) the IRS has notified me that I am no longer subject to backup withholding; and

3. I am a U.S. citizen or other U.S. person (defined in the instructions); and

4. The FATCA code(s) entered on this form (if any) indicating that I am exempt from FATCA reporting is correct.

Sign here

Signature of U.S. person: ______________________________________

Printed name: [Your legal name]

Date: 13 September 2026

A Form W-9 is not valid until it is signed. A digital signature is acceptable to most payers, but the signature must be yours - a typed name alone is not a signature.

Before you send this

1. Check the name on line one against your last tax return, character for character. A name and TIN that do not match is what triggers a CP2100 notice to your client and backup withholding on your payments.

2. Ask the requester whether they accept a substitute W-9. Most do. Banks, brokerages and large payroll departments frequently do not, and want the official IRS PDF instead.

3. Send it securely. This document contains your Social Security Number, and email is not secure. Use whatever encrypted portal the requester offers, or a password-protected file with the password sent separately.

4. Never send a W-9 to someone who contacted you out of the blue. A request for a W-9 is one of the most common phishing approaches in the US, because the form hands over everything needed to file a fraudulent return. Verify with a number you already had, not one in the email.

5. Consider getting an EIN. It is free, takes minutes on the IRS website, and lets a sole proprietor give clients an EIN instead of a Social Security Number on every W-9 they ever send.

What happens next

The business that requested this keeps it on file - it is not sent to the IRS. They use it to issue you a Form 1099-NEC in January if they paid you $600 or more during the year, and to confirm whether backup withholding applies.

A W-9 does not expire. You only need to send a new one if your name, business structure, address or TIN changes, or if you become subject to backup withholding.

If you are not a US person, Form W-9 is the wrong form. Non-resident individuals use Form W-8BEN and foreign entities use Form W-8BEN-E.

Generated from a template. Not legal advice - read it before you publish or sign it.

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About this tool

W-9 Form Filler builds a w-9 form from your answers to a short questionnaire. It is for US freelancers and contractors whose client has asked for a W-9 before they can be paid, and the right moment is at the start of the engagement, before the first invoice rather than in January. The thing worth knowing before you start: the IRS permits a substitute Form W-9 - your own document - as long as it carries the certification language word for word. That is why the certification here is a fixed block with nothing interpolated into it, and why the page tells you to ask first: banks and larger payroll departments often insist on the official PDF. Nothing irrelevant is included. A clause that does not apply to you is omitted, not padded - a document describing something you do not do is a problem in its own right. Everything runs in your browser. What you type is never uploaded, never stored, and gone when you close the tab - which matters here more than on most tools, because these documents carry company details, client names and sometimes tax identifiers.

How to use this tool

  1. Answer the questionsName. Business name / disregarded entity name, if different. Federal tax classification. Nothing you type leaves the browser.
  2. Watch it assembleClauses appear and disappear as you answer, so the document matches what you actually do rather than a generic template.
  3. Copy or downloadCopy the text, or download as PDF, Word or plain text. The Word version is the one to edit.

Key features

  • Says plainly what it is and is not, above the preview rather than in a footer.
  • Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing uploaded, nothing stored, no account.
  • Free with no watermark, no email wall and no per-document limit.
  • Downloads as PDF, Word or plain text - the Word file is editable with no protection on it.
  • Built from your answers, so clauses you do not need are left out rather than padded.

Common uses

  • Giving a lawyer a draft to review rather than paying them to start from nothing.
  • Replacing a copied document that describes a different business.
  • Preparing what a client, an app store or a payment processor has asked to see.
  • US freelancers and contractors whose client has asked for a W-9 before they can be paid.
  • Getting something in place at the start of the engagement, before the first invoice rather than in January.

Tips for better results

  • Read it before you publish it. It is a draft built from standard clauses, and you are the only person who knows whether every line is true of you.
  • Ticking "LLC" as a single-member LLC that has not elected corporate treatment. The correct box is individual or sole proprietor, and getting it wrong is the most common error on the form.
  • Keep a copy of each version with its date. When someone asks what your terms said last March, the answer needs to be a file rather than a memory.
  • Download the Word version if you expect to edit it. The PDF is for publishing; the .docx is for changing.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Ticking "LLC" as a single-member LLC that has not elected corporate treatment. The correct box is individual or sole proprietor, and getting it wrong is the most common error on the form.
  • Leaving the placeholder text in. Anything in square brackets is a field you skipped, and readers spot them immediately.
  • Publishing it and never looking again. These go stale - you add a tool, change a processor, start selling somewhere new, and the document still describes last year.
  • Hiding it. A document nobody can find does not do its job - it belongs in the footer of every page.

Frequently asked questions

Answer the questions on the left. The document builds as you type, and you can copy it, or download it as PDF, Word or plain text when it looks right.

No. It assembles a draft from standard clauses, and every page says so above the preview. A name and TIN that do not match generates a CP2100 notice to your client and can trigger 24% backup withholding on everything they pay you afterwards.

Yes - free, no signup, no email required and no watermark. It runs in your browser, which is why it costs nothing to provide.

Ticking "LLC" as a single-member LLC that has not elected corporate treatment. The correct box is individual or sole proprietor, and getting it wrong is the most common error on the form.

Broadly, US freelancers and contractors whose client has asked for a W-9 before they can be paid. The best time to do it is at the start of the engagement, before the first invoice rather than in January.

Most people need 1099-NEC and Freelance Contract as well. They cover the gaps this one does not.

Yes. Download the Word version and change anything you like - it is a normal .docx with no protection on it.

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