■ StartBusiness24 Guide — EIN

How to Get an EIN Number for Free — Never Pay for One

An EIN (Employer Identification Number) is issued by the IRS, and the IRS charges nothing for it — zero, ever. If a website asks you to pay for an EIN application, you are not on the IRS website. Here is the free path, the traps around it, and the two situations that send people searching next.

Why this guide exists: the FTC already warned the paid sites

In April 2025, the FTC sent warning letters to paid-EIN websites for impersonating the IRS — conduct that carries penalties of up to $53,088 per violation. Sites are still charging $50 to $319 to "file" a form the IRS gives away. They survive on one trick: looking official. The real application lives on irs.gov and costs $0.

The free path, step by step

• 1. Form your company first. The EIN application asks for the legal name and structure of an entity that exists. Form the LLC or C-Corp before you apply — an EIN issued to the wrong name or the wrong entity is a headache you do not need.
• 2. Go to the IRS — and only the IRS. The official application is the IRS online EIN assistant. If the address bar does not say irs.gov, close the tab.
• 3. Finish in one sitting. The IRS tool times out after about 15 minutes of inactivity, and a half-finished session cannot be resumed — you start over. Have your formation details in front of you before you click.
• 4. Respect the tool's hours. The online assistant is not open around the clock; its operating hours are posted on the IRS page. Plan to apply while it is open, not at midnight.
• 5. Save the confirmation. When the IRS issues the number online, it shows a confirmation letter (the CP 575) on screen. Download it, print it, store it — the IRS never reprints a CP 575. (Lost yours anyway? Skip to the recovery section below.)

This guide never asks for your Social Security number or any sensitive data — and neither should any guide. The only place your SSN belongs is inside the IRS application itself.

No SSN? How to get an EIN without one

The IRS online tool requires an SSN or ITIN, so non-residents and foreign owners cannot use it. Your route is the paper one: Form SS-4, submitted by fax or mail.

• Write "Foreign" on line 7b. Where the form asks for the responsible party's SSN/ITIN, foreign applicants write "Foreign" instead of a number.
• Fax is the fast lane. A faxed SS-4 typically comes back in about 4 business days; a mailed one takes roughly 4 weeks. Keep your fax confirmation page.
• One more duty, if it applies to you. A foreign-owned single-member U.S. LLC generally has a yearly Form 5472 + pro-forma Form 1120 filing — the penalty for missing it starts at $25,000 a year. The Academy lesson on non-resident compliance walks it; learn it before your first tax season, not after.

Lost your EIN? The recovery ladder

Banks and lenders ask for proof of an EIN at the worst moments. Work the ladder top to bottom — most people find it on step one.

• 1. Look where it already lives. A prior tax return, your business bank account application, state licenses and permits, or the CP 575 confirmation you saved at formation.
• 2. Call the IRS Business & Specialty Tax Line: 800-829-4933. Ask for a Letter 147C — the IRS's EIN verification letter. That is the official replacement document, because the original CP 575 is issued once and is never reprinted.
• 3. Give the letter to the bank. A Letter 147C is what lenders actually accept as proof. File it with your corporate records this time.