Does a W-9 have to be signed? Not always

The five signature rules in the W-9 instructions

The instructions for Part II sort every W-9 into one of five groups. Group 1: interest, dividend and barter exchange accounts opened before 1984, and broker accounts considered active during 1983 — give your correct TIN, no signature needed. Group 2: interest, dividend, broker and barter exchange accounts opened after 1983, and broker accounts considered inactive during 1983 — you must sign, or backup withholding applies.

Group 3: real estate transactions — you must sign, and you may cross out item 2 of the certification. Group 4: “other payments”, which the instructions define as payments in the course of the requester's business for rents, royalties, goods (other than bills for merchandise), medical and health care services, services by a non-employee, payment card and third-party network transactions, certain payments to fishing boat crews, and gross proceeds paid to attorneys. Here you must give your correct TIN, but you only have to sign if you've been notified that you previously gave an incorrect one.

Group 5: mortgage interest you pay, acquisition or abandonment of secured property, cancellation of debt, 529 and ABLE accounts, IRA, Coverdell ESA, Archer MSA and HSA contributions or distributions, and pension distributions — correct TIN required, no signature.

What “told your number was wrong” means

When a payer files 1099s, the IRS checks each name and number against its records. If they don't match, the IRS sends the payer a notice, and the payer may then have to send you a “B” notice asking for your correct TIN; IRS Publication 1281 contains the two versions. Once you've received one, a W-9 for ordinary payments like fees or rents must be signed.

A notice can come from a mismatch rather than a typo: a business name on line 1 with an SSN in Part I, a married name the Social Security Administration doesn't know yet, or an LLC's EIN where the owner's number belonged.

Why requesters ask you to sign anyway

The Part II instructions say it directly: you may be asked to sign even when your payment falls in a group that doesn't require it. There are practical reasons. Signing is how you establish to the payer that you're a U.S. person; without a certification of U.S. status, payers dealing with foreign-payee withholding rules may have to presume the recipient is foreign. The requester instructions add that withholding agents may require signed W-9s from U.S. exempt recipients to overcome that presumption.

If the payer asks for a signature, giving one costs you nothing and saves a round of emails before your first payment.

What happens if you leave it unsigned

For payments in groups 1, 4 and 5, and with no wrong-TIN notice, the duty the IRS puts on you is to give the correct name and number, and an unsigned form does that. For group 2 accounts, a missing certification means backup withholding at 24%. For group 3, the certification is required.

Keep in mind that the requester instructions describe a valid W-9 as one signed and dated under penalties of perjury. A requester that wants a complete W-9 on file is therefore entitled to send an unsigned one back. Signing and dating it is the quickest way through.

Where to sign and date

At the bottom of page 1, in the row marked “Sign Here”: your signature on the line labelled “Signature of U.S. person”, the date to the right of it. Cross out item 2 of the certification first if the IRS has told you you're currently subject to backup withholding for underreported interest or dividends. If you don't have a TIN yet, write “Applied For” in Part I and still sign and date the form.

Sources

• IRS — Form W-9 (Rev. March 2024): Part II signature requirements
• IRS — Instructions for the Requester of Form W-9: notices from the IRS
• IRS — Publication 1281, Backup Withholding for Missing and Incorrect Name/TIN(s)
• IRS — Backup withholding