To create an IRS online account for your business, register through the IRS Business Tax Account (BTA) portal: verify your personal identity with ID.me, enter your Employer Identification Number and details from your most recent federal tax return, and activate the account with the one-time PIN the IRS mails to your business address.1Internal Revenue Service. Business Tax Account The account is free. Plan on roughly one to two weeks from start to finish, because the PIN travels by regular mail.
Check That Your Business Is Eligible
Not every entity can open a BTA yet. Eligibility follows the return you file with the IRS:
- Sole proprietors with an EIN who file Schedule C or Schedule F with Form 1040
- Partnerships filing Form 1065
- S corporations filing Form 1120-S
- C corporations filing Form 1120
- Tax-exempt organizations
LLCs don’t have their own category. Access depends on how the IRS classifies the LLC for tax purposes. An LLC that files as a partnership or as an S corporation can register the same way those entity types do, and single-member LLCs filing Form 1065 or Form 1120-S also qualify.1Internal Revenue Service. Business Tax Account
The gap: LLCs that file as sole proprietors on Schedule C or Schedule F. The IRS has not opened the BTA to that group. If your single-member LLC reports income on Schedule C, you’ll need to use phone or mail channels for now.
Individual partners in a partnership and shareholders in an S corporation can register for limited access using an SSN or ITIN, provided they’ve received a Schedule K-1 for a recent tax period. That access shows information tied to their share of the entity’s income, not full control of the account.1Internal Revenue Service. Business Tax Account
Confirm You’re the Right Person to Register
The person who registers becomes the business’s “Designated Official,” and the IRS sets specific requirements for who that can be:
- For S corporations and C corporations: an officer such as president, vice president, CEO, CFO, COO, secretary, or treasurer, who is also a current employee who received a W-2 from the entity for the most recent tax year and is authorized to legally bind the entity
- For partnerships: a general partner, or the managing partner of an LLC taxed as a partnership
- For tax-exempt organizations: an officer, board chairperson, or trustee
- For sole proprietors: the business owner
The W-2 requirement for corporations catches people out. An officer who takes only distributions and no salary won’t qualify. Someone on the payroll has to be the one to register.
Gather Your Information Before You Start
A mismatch between what you enter and what the IRS has on file will stop registration cold, so pull everything together first:
- Your EIN, matched to the legal business name and mailing address the IRS has on file
- Your most recent federal tax return. For corporations, Form 1120 or Form 1120-S, along with the mailing address from the most recent IRS records
- Your personal SSN or ITIN. For corporations, you must be a current officer who received a W-2 from the entity for the most recent tax-filing year
- A current mobile phone number and email address for multi-factor authentication
If the business recently moved, changed its legal name, or restructured, update those records with the IRS before trying to register. That one step prevents the most common dead end.
If you don’t yet have an EIN, apply online through the IRS first. The number is issued immediately after you submit the application, and it’s free.3Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number
Register Through ID.me and the BTA Portal
Verify Your Personal Identity
Registration starts with ID.me, the third-party identity service the IRS uses for its online portals.4Internal Revenue Service. New Identity Verification Process to Access Certain IRS Online Tools and Services If you already have an ID.me account from another agency or a previous IRS login, sign in with those credentials. Otherwise, you’ll create one by uploading a government-issued photo ID (a driver’s license or passport) and taking a biometric selfie to confirm you’re the person in the photo. If the automated selfie doesn’t work, ID.me offers a video call with a live agent as an alternative.
Enter Your Business Information
Once your personal identity is verified, go to the Business Tax Account portal and choose to register as a Designated Official. You’ll enter the EIN, entity name, and details from your most recent tax return. The IRS cross-references everything against its own records and your verified identity. For S corps and C corps, the system checks whether you received a W-2 from the entity for the most recent tax year. For partnerships, it verifies your status as a general or managing partner.1Internal Revenue Service. Business Tax Account
Activate With the Mailed PIN
After you submit your registration, the IRS mails a one-time activation PIN to the business mailing address on file. It arrives within five to ten business days.2Internal Revenue Service. Business Tax Account Now Available for Corporate Designated Officials Sign back into the portal, enter the PIN, and the Designated Official role is active. That out-of-band step confirms you physically have access to the business’s official address.
Add Users and Keep the Account Active
Once activated, you can grant access to other people in the organization as Designated Users. From the Business Tax Account, go to Profile, select Manage Access, then Add User. Enter the person’s name and SSN or ITIN, and choose exactly which tax forms, tax periods, and permissions they can access.5Internal Revenue Service. Manage Access in Business Tax Account The user then signs in with their own ID.me credentials and electronically accepts the access.
Designated Official status doesn’t last indefinitely. Revalidation is required every year. For all entities except partnerships, the window is six weeks starting June 15. For partnerships, it’s six weeks starting October 15. The BTA sends a notification during the window. Miss it, and you’ll go through the full registration process again, including waiting for another PIN in the mail.5Internal Revenue Service. Manage Access in Business Tax Account
What the Account Does, and What It Doesn’t
Once your BTA is active, you can view the business’s account balance and a breakdown by tax year, make federal tax deposits and balance-due payments through the portal, view and download business tax transcripts, read select IRS notices, manage user access, and accept or reject third-party transcript requests submitted through the Income Verification Express Service.1Internal Revenue Service. Business Tax Account
Know the limits before you register expecting more. The BTA does not let you file tax returns, amend returns, or submit most forms. It’s a viewing-and-payment tool. If you need to grant a CPA or enrolled agent power of attorney, that still requires Form 2848 through the traditional channels.6Internal Revenue Service. Submit Power of Attorney and Tax Information Authorizations Businesses with very large payment needs may still rely on the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, which handles same-day payments up to $1 million and has protocols for larger amounts.7Internal Revenue Service. Publication 509 (2026), Tax Calendars IRS customer service representatives also can’t see into your BTA; it’s a self-service tool, not a communication channel with the agency.