Do I list my W-9 as a partnership when working with roommate for YouTube projects?
So my roommate and I started creating video content for a YouTube channel back in February. The company that hired us has been paying us through PayPal for all our work. Here's where things get complicated - I got banned from PayPal (literally no idea why, their customer service is useless). So we've been handling payments like this: 1) Company sends our entire payment to my roommate's PayPal 2) She transfers it to her bank account 3) Then she gives me my half via Zelle, cash, or writing me a check Everything was working fine until today when the company threw us a curveball. They want us to file a single W-9 form together. We just assumed we'd be filing as individual contractors, but now I'm confused about how to properly list ourselves on the W-9. Should we put ourselves down as a partnership? Neither of us has any experience with this kind of tax situation and we don't have any formal business structure set up between us.
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Quinn Herbert
This is actually a pretty important tax decision! Based on what you've described, it sounds like you and your roommate are operating as an informal partnership, even though you might not have officially established one. When two or more people work together to earn income without forming a specific business entity (like an LLC or corporation), the IRS typically considers this a partnership by default. On a W-9, you would check the "Partnership" box and provide an EIN (Employer Identification Number) rather than either of your SSNs. You'll need to apply for an EIN with the IRS (you can do this online for free), and you'll likely need to file a partnership tax return (Form 1065) next tax season. The partnership doesn't pay taxes directly - instead, it issues K-1 forms to each of you showing your share of income, which you'll report on your individual returns.
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Salim Nasir
•Does this mean they'll have to create a formal partnership agreement or can they just file the W9 as partners without all that legal paperwork? Also, if they get an EIN does that mean they're officially a "business" with all those extra requirements?
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Quinn Herbert
•You don't need a formal written partnership agreement to be considered a partnership for tax purposes - though having one is definitely a good idea to avoid misunderstandings between you and your roommate. Getting an EIN doesn't automatically create all the legal requirements of a formal business. However, you will need to file a partnership tax return (Form 1065) annually and issue K-1 forms. You might want to consider opening a separate business bank account to keep your YouTube income separate from personal finances - this makes tracking income and expenses much easier come tax time.
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Hazel Garcia
I ran into a similar situation last year with my cousin when we were doing social media content together. I tried figuring it all out myself and wasted HOURS getting nowhere. Finally used https://taxr.ai to analyze our payment structure and they helped me understand exactly how to file our W-9 and what tax forms we needed later. The tool showed us that in our case, filing as a partnership was actually better tax-wise than filing separately. Plus they explained exactly how to split income/expenses properly on our tax returns. Saved us from making some pretty big mistakes that would've cost us when filing season came around.
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Laila Fury
•How does this service actually work? Do you have to upload all your financial documents or what? Seems iffy to share all that info with some random website.
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Geoff Richards
•Did they help with getting the EIN too? My brother and I are thinking about starting a podcast and might end up in the same situation as OP.
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Hazel Garcia
•You don't upload all your financial documents - you just explain your situation like the OP did here, and the AI analyzes it and tells you what forms you need and how to fill them out. It's actually really secure since it's not storing your docs or anything, just analyzing your text explanation. They didn't directly get the EIN for us, but they provided step-by-step instructions on how to apply for one on the IRS website. Super easy process once you know what you're doing - took maybe 15 minutes tops.
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Laila Fury
Just wanted to update that I tried out https://taxr.ai after asking about it and wow, it was actually super helpful! I was skeptical about sharing my situation but it turns out you just describe your circumstances (like the original post here) and it gives you specific guidance. The tool confirmed I should file as a partnership and explained exactly how the income would flow through to my personal return. It even pointed out some deductions I hadn't considered for our video equipment and software subscriptions. Saved me from having to pay a consultation fee with a CPA just to get basic questions answered.
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Simon White
I went through something similar with my business partner last year. Beyond just figuring out the W-9 situation, when it came time to actually do our taxes, we spent WEEKS trying to get someone at the IRS on the phone to answer our questions about partnership filing requirements. It was absolutely maddening! After being on hold for literally hours, I found https://claimyr.com and used their service to get an IRS agent to call ME back instead. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. Within about 2 hours, I had an actual IRS agent on the phone who walked me through exactly what forms we needed to file and how to handle our unique payment situation.
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Hugo Kass
•Wait, you can actually get someone from the IRS to call you?? How much does that cost? Sounds too good to be true.
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Nasira Ibanez
•No way this actually works. I've tried calling the IRS like 10 times about a partnership issue and never got through. How could some random service magically get the IRS to call you back when they don't even answer their own phones?
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Simon White
•There is a small fee for the service, but considering I had already wasted hours of my life on hold and getting disconnected, it was absolutely worth it to me. Think of it as paying someone to wait on hold for you. The service actually does work - they use some kind of technology that holds your place in the IRS phone queue and then connects you when an agent is available. I was skeptical too, but I had an IRS agent calling me back within about 2 hours. They answered all my partnership tax questions and even helped resolve an issue with our EIN application. Was way more helpful than anything I found online.
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Nasira Ibanez
Ok I have to eat my words here. After being super skeptical about Claimyr I decided to try it because I was desperate about my partnership tax situation. I honestly can't believe it actually worked. I spent THREE DAYS trying to get through to the IRS myself with no luck. Used the Claimyr service yesterday afternoon and got a call back from an actual IRS agent this morning. She was super helpful and walked me through exactly how to handle the partnership filing for my side business. Not gonna lie, I felt pretty stupid for wasting so many hours trying to do it myself. If you're in a similar situation as OP with partnership questions, definitely worth getting actual answers from the IRS instead of guessing.
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Khalil Urso
One thing to consider - if you're operating as a partnership, make sure to keep VERY detailed records of how much money comes in and how it's split between you two. My friend and I did YouTube stuff together and it became a huge mess at tax time because we didn't document everything properly. Also, don't forget about self-employment taxes! Each of you will need to pay these on your portion of the partnership income (currently 15.3% on net earnings). You might want to make quarterly estimated tax payments to avoid a big bill and potential penalties at tax time.
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Shelby Bauman
•How do we handle the expenses for equipment and software? We've been sharing the costs pretty informally. Do we need to track every single purchase?
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Khalil Urso
•You absolutely need to track every single purchase related to your YouTube work. Keep all receipts (digital or physical) and note which partner paid for what. The partnership should track all these expenses, even if they came from personal funds. For equipment and software, these are legitimate business expenses that can offset your income. Just make sure you're only deducting the business portion (if you also use things personally). You'll need to decide if certain equipment should be depreciated over time rather than expensed immediately - this depends on cost and expected useful life.
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Myles Regis
Has anyone mentioned the option of just filing separately? Like couldn't the roommate just report all the income on their Schedule C and then just give the other person "gifts" that wouldn't be taxable? Seems easier than all this partnership stuff.
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Brian Downey
•That's actually tax fraud and could get both of them in serious trouble. The IRS isn't stupid - they know people try these "creative" approaches. What you're describing is trying to avoid paying self-employment taxes and income taxes by mischaracterizing business income as gifts. The company clearly views them as a single business entity, which is why they're asking for one W-9. The proper way to handle this is exactly what the top comments suggest - file as a partnership, get an EIN, and each partner reports their share of income on their personal returns.
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