Template from tincompliance.com. Use this when a cash customer refused to give a TIN on a transaction you reported (or should have reported) on Form 8300. The IRS Form 8300 manual says the only route to a waiver of the missing-TIN penalty is the solicitation safe harbor in 26 CFR 301.6724-1(e): an initial solicitation "at the time the transaction occurs" and one annual solicitation by December 31 of the transaction year (January 31 if the transaction was in December). "Only two solicitations are required... the initial solicitation and a follow-up solicitation at the end of the year"; with both made and no TIN obtained, "the business has satisfied its requirement to act in a reasonable manner... Therefore, the penalty is waived" (IRM 4.26.10.10.3.1(5)-(7), July 13, 2012). The annual solicitation must request the TIN and tell the person they are "subject to a $50 penalty imposed by the Internal Revenue Service under IRC 6723," and "The filer must maintain contemporaneous records showing that the solicitation was properly made" (IRM 4.26.10.10.3.1(9)-(10)). No second annual solicitation is required for Form 8300, and none is required if there were no reportable transactions with the person in the following year. File the Form 8300 on time regardless; do not hold it for the TIN. Delete the bracketed guidance and these notes before sending.
[Company legal name]
[Street address]
[City, State ZIP]
[Telephone]
[Date: on or before December 31, [year]; January 31, [year + 1] if the transaction was in December]
[Customer name as shown on Form 8300]
[Customer address as shown on Form 8300, last known address]
Re: Request for your taxpayer identification number; cash payment of $[amount] received on [date(s)]
Dear [Customer name]:
On [date], [Company legal name] received a cash payment of $[amount] from you for [description of transaction: e.g., purchase of a [year make model], invoice [number]; legal fees on matter [number]; deposit on contract [number]]. Federal law (Internal Revenue Code section 6050I) requires a business that receives more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction or in related transactions to report the payment to the Internal Revenue Service on Form 8300, and to include the payer's taxpayer identification number on that report. We asked for your taxpayer identification number at the time of the transaction and did not receive it. [Our records show the request was made on [date] by [name] [in person / by telephone / in writing].]
This letter is our formal request that you provide your taxpayer identification number. For an individual that is your Social Security number; for a business it is the employer identification number of the entity that made the payment. Please write it in the space below, sign, and return this letter to us at the address above by [date], or provide it by [alternative channel, e.g., the enclosed reply card or a call to [name] at [telephone]].
You are subject to a $50 penalty imposed by the Internal Revenue Service under IRC 6723 if you do not furnish your taxpayer identification number.
Keep this sentence. The manual requires the annual solicitation to tell the person they are "subject to a $50 penalty imposed by the Internal Revenue Service under IRC 6723" for not furnishing the TIN (IRM 4.26.10.10.3.1(9)). Without it the solicitation does not satisfy the safe harbor.
The Form 8300 reporting the payment has been (or will be) filed with the IRS on the date required, whether or not we receive your number. Providing it allows us to file a complete report and avoids the penalty described above. Separately, by January 31, [year + 1] you will receive from us a written statement of the total reportable cash we received from you during [year], as the law requires.
Thank you for your prompt attention. Please contact [name, title] at [telephone] with any questions.
Sincerely,
[Name]
[Title]
[Company legal name]
Reply
Name of payer (as it should appear on Form 8300): ____________________________________________
Taxpayer identification number: ______ - ____ - __________ [ ] Social Security number [ ] Employer identification number
If the payment was made on behalf of another person or business, that person's name, address and TIN: ____________________________________________
Signature: ____________________________ Date: ______________
If the customer told you the cash was paid on behalf of someone else, the manual says the form must identify both the agent and the principal or it is incomplete (IRM 4.26.10.7.1(3), Mar. 23, 2020).
Contemporaneous record of TIN solicitations: Form 8300
Complete this page as each event happens, not afterward. "The filer must maintain contemporaneous records showing that the solicitation was properly made" (IRM 4.26.10.10.3.1(10)). Both solicitations must be recorded for the waiver; miss one and "the penalty will apply to the year in which the filer failed to make the initial solicitation" (IRM 4.26.10.10.3.1(8)). Keep this record with your copy of the Form 8300 for the five-year retention period (IRM 4.26.10.7.1(7)). One page per customer; add rows for additional transactions in the year.
Item | Entry |
Customer name (Form 8300 Part I) | [Name] |
Customer address | [Address] |
ID verified before the transaction (type, number, issuer) | [e.g., driver's license, state, number; passport and country for a non-citizen] |
Transaction(s) and cash received | [Date, description, amount; list each related payment] |
Form 8300 filed | [Date filed; e-file acknowledgment number or postmark; "refused" written in Comments: yes/no] |
Reason no TIN on the form | [Refused / said none / did not respond] |
Solicitation log
Solicitation | Date | Method | Made by (name) | What was said or sent | Result |
Initial, at the transaction (required) | [date] | [in person / phone / mail / electronic / account application] | [name] | [e.g., asked for SSN or EIN before completing sale; customer declined] | [refused / promised / provided later on date] |
Annual, by Dec. 31 (Jan. 31 for a December transaction) with the IRC 6723 $50 warning (required) | [date] | [first-class mail to last known address / hand delivered] | [name] | [this letter; copy attached] | [no response / TIN received on date] |
Follow-up (optional; not required) | [date] | [method] | [name] | [summary] | [result] |
Wording for the Comments section of the Form 8300 when a TIN is refused
"Payer refused to provide TIN. Initial solicitation made [date] by [name] [in person]. Annual solicitation to be mailed by December 31, [year]." For a paper form, also write "refused" or "not provided" in the TIN box itself.
Why this matters on a paper form: the manual tells the Kansas City clerks that if the TIN box and the ID box are both blank the form is pulled and not filed, unless the Comments or an attached statement say the TIN was "refused," "denied," "not given," "not provided" or "unknown," in which case the ID fields are keyed "Other" and "Unknown" and the form goes into the FinCEN database (IRM 3.11.250.11.6.5, 3.11.250.11.6.6, Jan. 1, 2023). The examiner is also told that if a refusal is not indicated on the form, "examiner should inquire if an attempt was made" (IRM 4.26.10.7.1(3)).
Signed
Prepared by: [name, title] Date: [date] Reviewed by: [name, title] Date: [date]