I just received an $85 reimbursement check in the mail from Yamaha USA today, to reimburse me for the shipping expense I paid to my local FedEX shipper (a few weeks ago) to have my Tyros shipped back to Yamaha USA for warranty (USB replacement part) repair. Yamaha offered to reimburse me for inbound shipping (to Yamaha) of my Tyros if I supplied them with the receipt (of which I did) so I really appreciate Yamaha for coming thru and reimbursing me the full $85 shipping amount, but here's the odd thing:

Also included in the letter with the reimbursement check was a'form letter' & an IRS W-9 form. Here's what the Yamaha form letter stated:


Dear Vendor:

Re: Form 1099 Tax Filing Requirements

The Internal Revenue Service requires us to obtain certain information from you to meet IRS Form 1099 filing requirements. Pursuant to Section 6109 of the IRS code, we are requesting that you furnish us your taxpayer id number.

Effective January 1, 1993, we are required to withold 31% from payments subject to 1099 reporting if the payee has not provided the taxpayer ID number to us.

For your convenience, we have attached Form W-9 and a return envelope. Please complete and sign the form and return to us as soon as possible.

Sincerely,


Director of Corporate Taxes
Yamaha Corp of America

It's clear (at least to me), that from the way the letter reads, that the letter was only intended for 'vendors' of Yamaha, of which I'm not whatsoever. Since I'm NOT a vendor of Yamaha, I suspect that the W-9 taxpayer ID/social security number request form was merely sent to me in error, and that I can just ignore it, right? I don't think I should have to provide Yamaha with my confidential Tax ID/social security number just for a reimbursement check, do you?

Since I've already successfully cashed the check, should I have to also make a 'toll call' to Yamaha USA to clear up this matter as well?

Advice & opinions appreciated.

Scott