What Does ‘Other U.S. Person’ Mean on Form W-9?

On Form W-9, “Other” is the seventh federal tax classification box on line 3a, and it’s where a domestic entity checks in when none of the six named categories — individual/sole proprietor, C corporation, S corporation, partnership, trust/estate, or LLC — actually describes it. The filers who belong on the “Other U.S. person” line on a W-9 are things like tax-exempt nonprofits, IRAs, federal and state government entities, and qualified settlement funds. You check the box and write a short description of what your entity is on the dotted line next to it.¹

Which Entities Belong on the “Other” Line

The box is a catch-all, but it isn’t a grab bag. It’s meant for legitimate U.S. taxpayers that don’t happen to be individuals, standard corporations, partnerships, or LLCs. The common filers are:

Tax-exempt organizations recognized under Section 501(a), including 501(c)(3) charities and 501(c)(6) trade associations.
Individual retirement accounts and custodial accounts under Section 403(b)(7) receiving payments in their own name.
The United States and any of its agencies or instrumentalities.
States, U.S. territories, the District of Columbia, and their political subdivisions.
Qualified settlement funds established to resolve legal claims.¹

What to Write on the Dotted Line

Checking the box isn’t enough on its own. The dotted line beside “Other” is where you tell the payer, and eventually the IRS, exactly what kind of entity is being paid. A short, accurate description does the work: “501(c)(3)” or “tax-exempt organization” for a recognized nonprofit, “IRA” for an individual retirement account, “Qualified Settlement Fund” for a settlement fund, and a plain description like “federal agency” or “state political subdivision” for governmental filers.¹ The description has to match the entity’s actual status; that’s what allows any exemption from backup withholding to work.

When You Should Not Check “Other”

If your entity has its own checkbox, use that one. This is where filers most often go wrong.

Trusts and Estates

A domestic trust or estate has a dedicated “Trust/estate” box on line 3a and should use it rather than “Other.” The IRS added that checkbox specifically so these filers wouldn’t fall into the catch-all.¹

Grantor trusts work differently again. When a grantor trust has a U.S. grantor or other U.S. owner, the W-9 is generally completed in the grantor’s name and TIN, not the trust’s. The trust itself isn’t the filer.²

LLCs and Disregarded Entities

Limited liability companies rarely belong on the “Other” line. A multi-member LLC taxed as a partnership, or an LLC that has elected corporate treatment, checks the “LLC” box and enters a letter code — C, S, or P — for how it’s taxed.¹

A single-member LLC that the IRS treats as a disregarded entity follows a different rule. It doesn’t check “LLC” or “Other.” It checks the box that matches its owner’s tax classification: “C corporation” (or “S corporation”) if a corporation owns it, “Trust/estate” if a trust owns it, and “Individual/sole proprietor or single-member LLC” if an individual owns it. The owner’s name goes on line 1 and the LLC’s name goes on line 2.¹ When an LLC ends up on the “Other” line, it’s usually a mistake.

Foreign Entities

“Other U.S. person” is only for domestic filers. Federal law defines a U.S. person to include U.S. citizens, resident aliens, domestic partnerships, domestic corporations, domestic estates, and domestic trusts where a U.S. court has primary oversight and one or more U.S. persons control all major decisions. A “domestic” entity is one created or organized under U.S. or state law.³

Foreign entities, including foreign governments and organizations owned by foreign states, are not U.S. persons and should not be filing Form W-9 at all. They use the W-8 family instead — W-8BEN-E for most foreign entities and W-8EXP for foreign governments and international organizations.

Exempt Payee and FATCA Codes

Filers who check “Other” often also need to fill in line 4. It has two code fields. The first is the exempt payee code, which tells the payer the entity is exempt from backup withholding. The most common codes for “Other” filers are:

Code 1: tax-exempt organizations under Section 501(a), IRAs, and certain custodial accounts.
Code 2: the United States or any of its agencies.
Code 3: a state, the District of Columbia, a U.S. territory, or their political subdivisions.

The FATCA exemption code follows a parallel structure — A for tax-exempt organizations, B for the federal government, C for state and local governments — and applies when a foreign financial institution maintains the account. Most domestic transactions don’t require a FATCA code, and many filers leave that field blank.¹

The exemption only works if the description on line 3a matches the entity’s actual status and the correct code is entered on line 4. A 501(c)(3) that writes “nonprofit” and code 1 is fine. A regular business claiming code 1 is not.

What Happens if You Classify the Entity Wrong

The immediate risk is backup withholding. When a payer doesn’t have a valid W-9 on file, or the name and TIN don’t match IRS records, they’re required to withhold 24 percent of your payments and send it to the IRS.⁴ That applies to interest, dividends, non-employee compensation, and other reportable income.

If your information doesn’t match IRS records, the payer will receive a CP2100 or CP2100A notice and then send you a “B” notice warning that backup withholding may start on future payments.⁵ The remedy is a corrected W-9. Until you send one, 24 percent of every payment keeps going to the IRS.

There are also direct penalties. Failing to furnish a correct TIN when a payer requests it can trigger a $50 penalty per failure, up to $100,000 per calendar year.⁶ Making a false statement on the form to reduce withholding — for example, claiming an exemption you know you don’t qualify for — carries a separate $500 civil penalty.⁷ The certification in Part II is signed under penalty of perjury, so deliberately false information can, in principle, reach criminal exposure as well.

The IRS revised Form W-9 in January 2026, but the “Other” classification works the same way it has for years.⁸ Download the current version from irs.gov rather than reusing an older copy.⁹

1
Internal Revenue Service. Form W-9 (Rev. March 2024)
2
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for the Requester of Form W-9
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7701 – Definitions
4
Internal Revenue Service. Backup Withholding
5
Internal Revenue Service. Backup Withholding “B” Program
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6723 – Failure To Comply With Other Information Reporting Requirements
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6682 – False Information With Respect to Withholding
8
Internal Revenue Service. Form W-9 (Rev. January 2026)
9
Internal Revenue Service. About Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification