Do I need to send a new W-9 every year?

No. A W-9 stays valid until something on it changes — your name, address, tax classification or tax ID. Clients sometimes ask annually out of habit.

Should I use my SSN or an EIN on a W-9?

An EIN if you have one. It is free to obtain from the IRS and keeps your Social Security number off a document that circulates through a client's accounting system.

Can I type into the official IRS W-9 PDF?

The version on the IRS site has fillable fields. The copy a client forwards you often does not, because it has been printed or flattened somewhere along the way.

How to Fill Out a W-9 on Your iPhone

A W-9 is the form freelancers get asked for most, it always arrives as a flat PDF, and it contains a tax ID. What each box wants and how to return it safely.

2 min read

If you do any freelance work in the US, the W-9 is the form you will be asked for most often. A client needs it before they can pay you, it always arrives as a flat PDF, and it wants your taxpayer identification number — which makes how you handle it worth thinking about for a minute.

What the form is actually for

A W-9 is not filed with the IRS by you. You give it to the person paying you, and they use it to issue a 1099 at the end of the year and to know whether to withhold. That is the whole job. It means the form is a piece of correspondence between you and a client, not a submission to a government body.

The boxes that trip people up

Line 1 is your name as it appears on your tax return. For a sole proprietor that is your own name, not your business name.
Line 2 is the business or trade name, if you have one. Leave it blank if you do not.
Line 3 is the tax classification. Sole proprietor and single-member LLC are different boxes, and single-member LLCs are the most commonly mis-ticked item on the form.
Line 5 and 6 are the address the 1099 will be posted to. Use one that will still reach you in January.
Part I takes either your SSN or your EIN — not both. If you have an EIN, using it keeps your SSN off a document that will sit in someone's accounts inbox.
Part II is the signature and date.

Filling it on a phone

The W-9 you are sent is almost always flat, so tapping a box does nothing. You need to place text on the page rather than type into it. Keep one text size throughout, sit each entry on the printed line rather than floating above it, and do the signature last so you can check the rest first.

Returning it without leaving your tax ID lying around

A completed W-9 contains everything needed to impersonate you for tax purposes, so it deserves more care than the average form.

Fill and sign it on the device, not through a web upload service you have never heard of.
Send it to a named person at the client, not to a generic inbox, and never over a public channel.
Get an EIN if you freelance regularly. It is free from the IRS and replaces your SSN on every W-9 you ever send.
Delete the completed copy from shared folders once the client confirms receipt. Keep your own copy somewhere private.

None of that is unique to phones — it is equally true of a desktop — but people are more likely to route a document through a random free converter when they are away from their computer, and that is the moment to not.

Questions

Do I need to send a new W-9 every year?: No. A W-9 stays valid until something on it changes — your name, address, tax classification or tax ID. Clients sometimes ask annually out of habit.
Should I use my SSN or an EIN on a W-9?: An EIN if you have one. It is free to obtain from the IRS and keeps your Social Security number off a document that circulates through a client's accounting system.
Can I type into the official IRS W-9 PDF?: The version on the IRS site has fillable fields. The copy a client forwards you often does not, because it has been printed or flattened somewhere along the way.