A W-9 employee is not a commonly used term. However, a W-9 form is used by businesses to collect information from non-employees, such as freelancers or contractors, who earn $600 or more from the company. A W-9 worker, more commonly called a 1099 worker, is a self-employed person who works as an independent contractor with a business. The term comes from the tax forms used for these workers—the contractor fills out a W-9 to give their TIN to the business upon hiring, and the business files a 1099 form to record the contractor’s income at the end of each tax year. Unlike W-2 employees, 1099 workers are responsible for paying their own taxes and do not have income taxes withheld from their payments.