Tenant Ask Landlord to Supply A W-9

[John Vo]

I received one of the strangest request today. My tenant called me and asked me to supplied a W-9 to her so she can give it to the charity that is going to help her out with her rent. As this is a head scratcher, I looked up on the internet for some possible reasons why a church would request a W-9 from someone's landlord that they're giving out monetary aid to and I gather that it's an IRS rule that anything over $600, they have to give a 1099-MISC form to the person they give the money to. In order to give someone a 1099-MiSC form they need that person to fill out a W-9. My thinking is, why in the world would I give my personal info to anyone that I didn't make a request for aid to. Shouldn't the church ask the tenant to supply them with a W-9 form instead of me? Thoughts? 

[Cara Lonsdale]

I would think that the TENANT is the one that needs to supply the W-9 to the charity because they are the ones that should need to show the receipt of the income in order to in turn pay you an expense.  You already claim the income on your taxes.

However, my guess is that their thinking is that they are going to pay you directly instead of the Tenant (because why would someone trying to help a person pay their rent give the money to them and risk them spending it on something other than rent).

I would ask for the charity's contact info, and contact them to see what they require from you.  My guess is that, after some discussion, it will become clear that the charity needs the Tenant to complete the W-9, not you.  Since you have no relation to the charity, and they are not the ones on the lease, their connection is to the tenant.