Do i have to provide w9 forms if i form a company whos sole purpose is to higher freelancers to do work for OTHER businesses? Or do those businesses that provide the work have to provide it

[unjust21]

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[Critter-3]

You need to provide a W-9 to  anyone who pays you  and then you in turn will get a W-9 from those you pay.   The W-9 is information only ... the paying company uses that info to issue a form 1099-nec (used to be 1099-misc) next January.    And if you have subs of your own that you pay then before you give them a single penny you need to have them fill in a W-9 so you have the info needed yourself next January.  Nothing worse than paying someone and later have to track them down and beg for that info. 

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf

[Opus 17]

If you don't want to use your personal SSN, you can get an EIN (federal tax number) for the business for free from the IRS web site in about 15 minutes.

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/apply-for-an-employer-identification-n...

But you do have to provide a tax number to anyone who pays you, and you have to collect a tax number from anyone that you pay. 

[Carl]

Do i have to provide w9 forms if i form a company whos sole purpose is to higher freelancers to do work for OTHER businesses?

No. But if you don't then "YOU PERSONALLY" will have an increased potential for serious legal issues at tax filing time.  If your company will be paying "ANYBODY" for "ANYTHING" then they are either a W-2 employee of your company, or a subcontractor hired by your company.  You can't do the legally required tax reporting without the employee's or contractor's SSN or EIN. You should require all prospects to provide you with a completed W-9 before you hire them, and before you pay one single penny to anyone or any other business/organization.

Since you can get the W-9 form for absolutely free yourself "right now" at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf and print as many copies as you need, this should not be an issue.

In order for a business to claim wages paid to an employee or contractor, that business must have either the SSN or EIN of the person or entity paid in order for the business to claim and deduct it as a business expense.

(Things are different if the employee/business is not a U.S. Citizen or legal alien, and physically resides outside of the United States.)