Expert: Richard Stolp - 1/14/2012

Question
A tenant of my residential rental property has just requested a W-9 from me.  I file this rental income on schedule E each year.  A tenant has never asked this from me before. Do I need to supply this?  I am very uncomfortable giving my tenants my social security number.

What do I do?

Thanks, Gabe

Answer
Gabe,
You are right to feel uncomfortable in giving anyone your social security number. I can't imagine why your tenant needs your personal information. If you provided a service to another company (like being a consultant# that company would need your ID number so they could send you a 1099 on that income. Your tenant may be trying to write off their rent in some way - what comes to mind - when you write off your child's daycare - you need the tax ID number of the person who owns the daycare to write it off.

So, you have no obligation to supply your social security number to a tenant. If you were feeling inquisitive you could ask them why they think they need it, but you have no obligation to give it to them.
RS

You probably know this: The W9 form is one used to request your tax ID number. If you were a business you could have a special number different than your social security number like: 12-3322212). But your tax ID number can also be your social security number. Tax ID numbers are needed by businesses so they can write off business expenses - like a consultant. If your tenant was attempting to write off their rent as a business expense then the rent is just one part of many expenses tied to a business and there is no requirement to have an ID number. Just like you don't need the ID number of every restaurant you declare as a business lunch. There are only a few places on the tax form where you can use an ID number to write off an expense - daycare is one and home mortgage (for the interest write-off) is another.