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How to fax a W-9 form from your phone

Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification, is the form a business asks you to complete before it pays you as a contractor, freelancer or vendor. Banks, brokerages and other payers may ask for one too. Some still ask you to fax it back, and you can do that from your phone in a few minutes. This guide from fax-from-phone.com covers getting the right form, filling it in on your phone, and faxing it with FaxToFax.com while keeping your taxpayer ID safe.

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Send it to the requester, not the IRS

The most common W-9 mistake is sending it to the IRS. A W-9 goes to the person or business that asked for it. They keep it on file and use the information for information returns, such as Form 1099. The IRS form instructions say this directly, so check them if you're unsure.

Ask the requester for their fax number and the name or department it should go to, such as accounts payable or vendor setup. If they sent you a pre-filled or older version of the form, it's fine to ask whether they accept the current revision from IRS.gov.

Fill in the form on your phone

Download the current Form W-9 from IRS.gov, or use the copy the requester sent you. The IRS version is a fillable PDF, so on many phones you can open it and type into the fields directly.

Open the PDF in a PDF viewer or editor that supports form fields.
Enter your name exactly as it appears on your tax return, and a business name if it's different.
Select your federal tax classification and fill in any exemption codes if they apply to you.
Enter your address and your taxpayer identification number: your Social Security number or your employer identification number, as the form instructs.
Sign and date the certification section as the requester accepts, then save the completed PDF.
If you can't type into the form, print it, fill it in by hand in dark ink and scan it with your phone.

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Fax the completed W-9

Open your browser, go to FaxToFax.com and sign in with your email and one-time code.
Start a new fax and attach your completed W-9 PDF.
Add a short cover page with your name, the requester's name, any vendor or invoice number, and a phone number. Leave your SSN or EIN off the cover page.
Enter the requester's fax number and confirm it.
Send and wait for the Delivered status.

Protect your taxpayer ID

A W-9 includes your SSN or EIN, your name and your address, which is everything an identity thief would want. Only send it to a requester you've verified. If you get an unexpected request for a W-9, especially one claiming to be from the IRS or a bank you don't use, contact the organization through a number you already know before you reply.

FaxToFax encrypts documents in transit with TLS 1.2 or higher and at rest. Your sent fax stays in your account, and you can use retention controls to purge old faxes automatically when you no longer need them. Delete any extra copies of the completed W-9 from your phone's downloads too.

Keep a record

Each delivered fax is saved with a time-stamped delivery receipt. That's useful if a client says they can't pay you until they have your W-9 on file. You can show the date you sent it and resend in seconds if needed. You can find similar guides for other tax and business forms on fax-from-phone.com.

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