[10238]
August 28, 1998
TO: OPERATIONS MEMBERS No. 22-98
PENSION MEMBERS No. 55-98
PENSION OPERATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE No. 39-98
TAX MEMBERS No. 28-98
TRANSFER AGENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE No. 53-98
RE: IRS WILL ALLOW ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF FORMS W-9
______________________________________________________________________________
In Announcement 98-27, the Service stated that it will allow payers to establish a system to
electronically receive Forms W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification. Any
such system must ensure that the information electronically received by the payer is the information sent
by the payee. The system must document all occasions of user access that result in an electronic
submission. The design and operation of the electronic system, including access procedures, also must
make it reasonably certain that the person accessing the system and electronically submitting a Form W-
9 is the person identified in the form.
An electronically submitted Form W-9 must provide the payer with exactly the same
information as a paper Form W-9 and, where signatures are required, must be signed under penalty of
perjury with an “electronic signature.” An electronic signature may be in any form that identifies the
payee submitting the electronic form and “authenticates and verifies” the submission. The electronic
signature must be the final entry in the submission. Upon request by the Service, a payer must provide a
hard copy of an electronic Form W-9 and a statement that, to the best of the payer’s knowledge, the
electronic Form W-9 was submitted by the named payee.
Although not explicitly mentioned in the announcement, the IRS staff attorney who drafted the
announcement has indicated informally that, so long as the above described requirements are satisfied, a
facsimile copy of a Form W-9 should be treated as a permissible
“electronic submission” and a personal identification number (“PIN”) should be treated as a permissible
“electronic signature.”
Deanna J. Flores
Assistant Counsel
Attachment
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