How to sign a W-9 online

What a W-9 is

Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification, is how a business gets your correct taxpayer ID: your Social Security number, ITIN or EIN. The business needs it to report what it paid you on an information return, such as a Form 1099-NEC for contract work. You give the W-9 to the business that asked for it. The form itself says not to send it to the IRS. The current version is dated March 2024.

Does a W-9 need a signature?

Not always. The form's own instructions set out when you have to sign the certification:

• Payments for services, rent and most other business payments: you must give your correct taxpayer ID, but you don't have to sign unless the IRS has told you that you previously gave an incorrect one.
• Real estate transactions: you must sign.
• Interest, dividend, broker and barter exchange accounts opened after 1983: you must sign, or backup withholding applies.

Plenty of businesses ask for a signed W-9 even when it's optional, so expect to sign one.

What the IRS requires for electronic W-9s

The IRS's instructions for requesters say a business may let payees submit W-9s electronically. Generally, the electronic system must:

• Make sure the information received is the information sent, and document every time someone accesses the system to submit.
• Make reasonably certain the person submitting the form is the person named on it.
• Provide the same information as the paper Form W-9.
• Be able to supply a hard copy if the IRS asks for one.
• End with an electronic signature by the payee that authenticates and verifies the submission, made under penalties of perjury, with the same perjury statement as the paper form.

Signing a W-9 someone sent you

1. 1

   Open the form

   If you got a signing link, open it and agree to sign electronically. If you got a plain PDF, use iPhone Markup, Preview on a Mac, Acrobat Reader on Android or a Windows PC.

2. 2

   Fill in lines 1 to 7

   Line 1 is your name. A sole proprietor puts their own name there and the business name on line 2. Check one federal tax classification box on line 3a. Lines 3b and 4 apply only in some cases, so read the form's instructions. Lines 5 and 6 are your address.

3. 3

   Enter your taxpayer ID

   In Part I, enter your SSN or EIN. It must match the name on line 1, or backup withholding can apply.

4. 4

   Sign and date Part II

   Your signature certifies, under penalties of perjury, that the number is correct and the other statements are true. If the IRS has told you that you're subject to backup withholding, cross out item 2 first.

5. 5

   Send it back

   Return it to the business that asked for it, never to the IRS, and keep a copy.

A W-9 carries your Social Security number or EIN, so think before you email it. The IRS urges taxpayers to protect their SSN and to watch for phishing. Confirm the request really came from the business you work with, and use a secure link or portal when one is offered.

Collect W-9s with SignMaster

1. 1

   Upload the IRS form as a template

   Get the current W-9 from irs.gov/FormW9 and save it as a template. Using the IRS form itself keeps the same information and perjury statement as the paper version.

2. 2

   Place the payee's fields

   Add text fields for name, business name, address and taxpayer ID, checkboxes for the tax classification, and signature and date signed fields.

3. 3

   Require an emailed code

   In Message & settings, set the payee's access to Emailed code. They must enter a one-time code sent to their email before they see the form.

4. 4

   Send it

   The payee opens a link on any phone or computer, with no account. They agree to sign electronically before they sign.

5. 5

   Keep the record

   The signed PDF comes with a certificate of completion: the payee's email, IP address and device, when they viewed, consented and signed, and a SHA-256 fingerprint of the original file. Print it whenever you need a hard copy.

Each send is an envelope: SignMaster's word for one or more documents going to one or more signers. The free plan includes 3 envelopes a month. For a list of contractors, paid plans can bulk send one W-9 template to everyone at once.