W-9 for Church

[Jiggers]

A Church has received a request for a W-9 because they will be receiving capital credit refunds from their local telephone company. There is no Exempt Code or anything to indicate that this is a church.
How do you fill one out. I am asking for my Church.

[Burke]

Entities who pay vendors, beneficiaries, etc will often ask for W-9's as a matter of course for their accountants. You can rarely talk them out of it, and frankly it is not up to the payor to determine the payee's tax status. Just send the EIN to the company and if the church gets a 1099 at the end of the year, so be it. Payors are required by the IRS to send 1099 forms if they qualify. The church (and IRC regulations) determine whether it is tax exempt income for the payee, based on the type of income it is and the payee's activities, when it files its tax return, if required. This same answer also applies to K-1's issued by partnerships, trusts and estates.