EIN Requirements

• Most businesses need an EIN. According to the IRS, if any of the following are true, your business must have an EIN: You have employees. You operate your business as a corporation or partnership. You file an Employment, Excise or Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms tax return. You withhold taxes on income, other than wages, paid to a nonresident alien. You have a Keogh plan.
  
  Your business also needs an EIN if you are involved with any of the following types of organizations: trusts (except certain grantor-owned revocable trusts, IRAs or Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Returns); estates; real estate mortgage investment conduits; nonprofit organizations; farmers' cooperatives; or plan administrators.
  
  

Considerations

• Your business may need an EIN to open a business bank account, even if the IRS does not require that you have an EIN.
  
  

Applying for an EIN

• You can apply for an EIN online at the IRS website, by calling the EIN Toll-Free Telephone Service, by fax or by mail. According to the IRS, the EIN application must include the name and Taxpayer Identification Number (SSN, ITIN or EIN) of the true principal officer, general partner, grantor, owner or trustor. This individual or entity is the responsible party who controls, manages or directs the business.
  
  

Filing Taxes

• According to the IRS, if you don't have your EIN when a tax return is due, write "Applied for" and the date you applied in the space given for the EIN. Do not use your social security number.
  
  

EIN Fact

• The EIN consists of two digits (the prefix), followed by a dash, followed by seven digits. Before 2001, the prefix indicated the geographical location of the business. In 2001, EIN assignment was centralized; the prefix now indicates the IRS location that assigned the EIN.