Form W-9: Fill & Download for Free

If you are not a U.S. taxpayer, you cannot legally complete Form W-9. Doing so would amount to perjury and could expose you to criminal prosecution.The above is clipped directly from Form W-9. By signing Form W-9, you are certifying, under penalty of perjury, that the taxpayer ID provided is correct, that you are not subject to backup withholding, that you are a U.S. citizen or other U.S. person, and that any FATCA exemption codes provided on the form are accurate.If you are neither a U.S. citizen nor an “other U.S. person” (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code of the United States), you cannot sign this form without committing perjury.If someone is asking you to provide them with Form W-9, but you are not a U.S. taxpayer because you are neither a U.S. citizen nor any other class of individual that qualifies as a U.S. person for tax purposes, you need to inform them that you are not a U.S. taxpayer by providing them with the version of Form W-8 which is appropriate to your circumstances. In most cases, for individuals, this will be Form W-8BEN, but it’s possible that a different form is appropriate in your particular circumstances.Consult an attorney familiar with U.S. tax law for advice specific to your circumstances.

I don’t understand this question. The word “activity” does not appear in the W-9 instructions, and appears in Form W-9 itself only in the context of advice to taxpayers regarding protecting their identity. The phrase “United States Activity” does not, to me, seem to have any relevance to the circumstances in which Form W-9 is required to be requested.If you have been asked to provide Form W-9 by another party, it’s because that party has concluded that it needs to have your taxpayer identification number because it has, or expects to, engage in a reportable transaction with you for which it needs your taxpayer identification. They are required to ask you to provide your taxpayer identification information on Form W-9 (if you are a US resident for tax purposes) or one of the variations on Form W-8 (if you are not a US resident for tax purposes). The IRS will never ask you to provide them with Form W-9 directly.You are not necessarily required to provide them with Form W-9 when asked, but if you don’t they may be required to withhold additional taxes from any payments they would otherwise make to you, and may elect to withdraw from the transaction which they have concluded is reportable to the IRS. If you believe that the transaction that you are being asked to provide Form W-9 in connection with is not a reportable transaction, you need to discuss that with whoever is asking you to provide them with Form W-9. Businesses often ask for Form W-9 even from entities with whom they engage in wholly non-reportable transactions. You can refuse to provide the form (you’re never required to provide Form W-9 or one of the Form W-8 variants) but your refusal may have adverse effects on your relationship with that entity.If you are trying to determine if you need to request a party with whom you are doing business to provide you with Form W-9 (or a variant of Form W-8 as is appropriate), that’s a much more complex question, and one which you should address to your tax compliance advisor for advice specific to your situation.

You're confusing the purpose of a W-9 and other forms.Form W-9 is used by a withholding agent to request a taxpayer ID number from a US person (citizen or resident alien). The employer is required to file an information return (Form W-2 or 1099) with the IRS using taxpayer ID numbers, and Form W-9 is the official IRS form that the employer uses to obtain taxpayer ID numbers. Your signature is your certification that you've given the employer the correct taxpayer ID number - it protects both you and the employer in the event that there are issues with the reporting of your wages to the IRS.The employee never fills out a W-2. The employee fills out a W-4 form which defines the amount of tax that the employer will withhold from each paycheck. The employer is required to withhold taxes from all employees and to report the withholding on Form W-2 at the end of the year.