How to fill out and sign Form W-9 as a PDF

To fill in a W-9 on your computer or phone, download the official form from the IRS, open it in Fill & Sign PDF, type into the boxes, add your signature and the date, and download the result. Then send it to the person or business that asked for it, not to the IRS. The tool is free, needs no account, and fills the form in your browser, so the file is not uploaded.

This guide shows how to complete the PDF. It is not tax advice. If you are unsure which box or number applies to you, read the official instructions or ask a tax professional.

Get the current form

Download Form W-9 from the IRS page About Form W-9. The current revision is Rev. March 2024, printed in the top-left corner, and the IRS page lists no newer developments. The form itself carries six pages: page 1 is the part you fill in, and pages 2 to 6 are instructions for you as the person giving the form. There is also a separate Instructions for the Requester of Form W-9 for the business collecting it.

A W-9 gives your correct taxpayer identification number (TIN) to someone who must file an information return about you, such as a 1099 for freelance pay. The top right of the form says it plainly: give it to the requester and do not send it to the IRS.

Fill in the W-9 step by step

Save the official fw9.pdf to your device.
Open Fill & Sign PDF and select Choose a PDF, or drop the file into the file area.
Type into the highlighted boxes on page 1. Start with line 1, your name or your entity’s name, and line 2 if you have a business name that differs.
Tick one box on line 3a for your federal tax classification. If you tick the LLC box, type the single letter for the classification into the small box next to it.
Fill in line 4 exemption codes only if they apply to you, then lines 5 and 6 for your address.
In Part I, type your social security number or employer identification number. Each part of the number has its own small box, and the digits spread across the squares.
Select ✍ Signature, draw or type your signature, select Use signature, then tap the page next to “Signature of U.S. person.” Select ＋ Date and tap beside “Date” to add today’s date.
Tick Flatten after filling if you want the answers locked into the page.
Select Create filled PDF →, then Download result ↓. Open the download and check every line before you send it.

Drag ✥ to move the signature or date, and use − and + to change their size. On a phone, use the Zoom menu to make page 1 large enough to tap the small boxes accurately.

Things that work differently in a browser

The IRS builds its fillable forms for Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader. They contain a second, Adobe-only copy of the form (called XFA) and some built-in scripts. PDFReadyGo fills the standard form fields, which every PDF app can read, and leaves the Adobe-only layer out of the downloaded copy. In our tests, every answer was still in place when the downloaded W-9 was opened again. A few practical differences:

Boxes have no labels on screen. The W-9 does not include text descriptions for its fields, so use the printed line numbers on the page to find the right box.
No automatic checks. The tool does not run the form’s scripts, so it will not warn you about a missing entry. Read the form once more before downloading.
The line 3a boxes are separate. You can tick more than one by accident. Make sure only one is ticked.
Latin characters only. The built-in font covers letters used in English and most Western European languages, numbers and common punctuation.

About the signature

The signature you add is a picture of your handwriting or typed name placed on the page. It is not a certificate-based digital signature, and PDFReadyGo does not verify who signed. The IRS lets requesters set up their own systems for receiving W-9s electronically, with their own signature rules, which are described in the requester instructions. So whether a W-9 signed this way is accepted is up to the person who asked for it. If they want a handwritten signature, print the filled form, sign it in ink, and scan it.

Lock, combine or shrink the finished form

Lock it. If you did not tick Flatten after filling, run the download through Flatten PDF. In our test the flattened W-9 had no editable fields left, and every typed entry was still visible.
Send it with other papers. Use Merge PDF to put the W-9 into one file with other onboarding documents. Flatten first, so the answers stay visible in every PDF app. Our flattened W-9 (149.8 KB) and W-4 (237.2 KB) merged into one 11-page file of 143.3 KB.
Fit an upload limit. A filled W-9 is about 150 KB, which fits most portals. If a portal asks for something smaller, Compress PDF has a Target size mode. That mode saves pages as images, so keep your full copy as well.

Keep it private

A W-9 holds your name, address and SSN or EIN, which is exactly what identity thieves want. Filling it in PDFReadyGo keeps the file on your device. Sending it is a separate step: use a secure upload portal if the requester has one, and ask before emailing it. The IRS Publication 5027 covers identity theft.

What if it does not work?

“This PDF is encrypted”: the copy you have is password-protected or restricted. Download a fresh copy from irs.gov.
A box looks empty in the download: open the file in a different PDF app. If the value is still missing, fill it again and tick Flatten after filling.
The requester sent their own version: some businesses send a pre-filled or custom W-9. Follow their instructions, and make sure it matches the current IRS revision.