About Ivy League Writers - Are writers required to fill in W9 forms?

I found this company as I was surfing online and as I was going through the main page, I noticed that they actually submit 1099 forms to the IRS and require their writers to fill in W9 forms too.

I sent them this letter:

Greetings,

I was referred to your company by my daughter, who previously worked for you. I have actually been in the business field for the last 10+ years, and I have been doing insurance sales for the last 5. Due to major changes in the Insurance Industry, I am seeking a career change. Recently I have been getting back into writing, taking some courses, relearning the essentials, getting reacquainted with some literature, and trying to get into the field. I have attached my resume and two essays, one written in MLA and one in APA format. I do not know what the standard rate is to charge per page, however, I am certainly willing to negotiate.

I am interested in joining your staff. I am also a nationally published writer and a two-time winner of the NY University Prized Writing championship. I have done professional writing for a decade. I am a B.A. graduate of the University of Alabama, with a major focus in Sociology and a minor focus in Political Science. I wrote, starred, directed and edited two big novels with my three co-collaborators.

My skills include African-American Studies, Women's Studies, papers from a feminist perspective, Sociology, Political Science, Economics (especially Marxist economics, the sociology of economics and critical economics), Philosophy, History, Literature, Humanities, English, etc. I am capable of handling the following fields of your desired fields: Medicine, Nursing and related fields; Business and economics; Law; Psychology; Humanities; Social sciences; Women's studies; Ethnic studies; and Anthropology.

Attached is my resume, my nationally published short story, my two award-winning essays, and other essays I feel show off my skills.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to hearing back from you. I am passionate about my writing career and look forward to working with you!

Sincerely,

A+ Writing Expert

I have never encountered an academic writing site that asks for W9 forms. Content writing like Textbroker? Yes. Academic writing? No.
Is this a trend in the industry?

Does the IRS actually accept 1099s and W9 forms from such companies?

It may depend how they pay their writers. If they pay using bank transfer or check, I think they are required to have W9 from contractors. And/or if they pay over $600 during a tax year. But the safest for them is to require W9 from all of their contractors because the job is fluid and when the contractor isn't interested working with a company any more, getting the form may be difficult or impossible.

Yes, the IRS accepts 1099s and W9 from all companies (in reality, it's always better for a company to have a W9 than not, even if it's not technically required). But it depends on how these workers are treated; if they are treated as independent contractors, the company issues W9; otherwise W2. It is important for a company based in the US elsewhere to determine the status of their workers. The form itself doesn't determine anything; a company may only issue W9 form and their workers may still be classified as regular W2 employees if the company treats them as regular employees. It is crucial to familiarize with the law and consult with a licensed business accountant or the IRS itself (I believe they have a form that can be filled out by US companies and they will help you out determine the legal employment status of your workers).

Btw - the writer's country location or nationality alone aren't the deciding factors; even if a writer is based outside of the US, the company MAY be required to collect 30% of their wages. It depends whether the US and the other country have a mutual tax agreement. It's not as simple as some business owners may think, so again, consult with appropriate organizations to learn more.

All legitimate US-based companies should always obtain a completed W9 from each writer before the writer is officially contracted and/or given an order. And yes, for writers outside the US, the company is still responsible for reporting what was paid to each writer. How it is reported, however, varies. A good answer (for US writers) is: ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3884694-deductions-for-independent-contractor-outside-the-us

The OP posted this two years ago and never posted anything else on this forum after that. I suspect the only real purpose of that post was to advertise his services, hoping students might contact him through PMs. If you think about it, there was no other reason for posting the entire contents of that supposed letter. If the OP really just wanted an answer to his questions, there really was no need for anything in between the very first and the very last two lines of his post.

What I know is that the writers who work for the academic writing companies are tasked to pay their taxes in their home countries. They are to fill out the tax forms when they pay their yearly taxes. The writing companies themselves have nothing to do with paying for any government collections as their writers are not covered by the tax laws of the company's home country. I agree that this may have just been a creative way of advertising the OP's skills. I think it actually backfired on him as he never followed up on the discussion, even if he was receiving relevant comments from the other users here.

It is important that the freelancers that are still in business, or those who are thinking of entering the business at this point in time, understand that taxes are not something they can escape from paying. Each of us has a duty to pay our share of income taxes, regardless of the country the writer is located in. It isn't only the W9 forms that need to be addressed by the writers, but whatever income tax forms they have to complete as citizens of their respective countries. That is the main requirement for any person, not just a writer, who is generating and income.