You can get an Employer Identification Number from the IRS online for free in a single sitting: open the IRS’s EIN Assistant on irs.gov during its posted hours, answer the interview questions, and the system issues your nine-digit number immediately on approval.1Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number The IRS charges nothing, regardless of how you apply. Any site asking for a fee is not the IRS.
Who Can Use the Online Tool
The online application has three eligibility rules. Your entity must have a legal residence or principal place of business in the United States or a U.S. territory. The responsible party listed on the application must have a valid Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. And the IRS limits each responsible party to one EIN per day, so if you are setting up multiple entities, you will need to space the applications out.1Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number
If you are forming an LLC, partnership, corporation, or tax-exempt organization, register the entity with your state first. Applying for the EIN before the state formation is complete can delay your application.1Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number
Sole proprietors with no employees and no excise tax obligations do not strictly need an EIN and can use a Social Security number instead, though many apply anyway because banks often require one to open a business account.
What to Have Ready
The online interview mirrors IRS Form SS-4. Having the following in front of you keeps the session short:2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form SS-4 (Rev. December 2025)
- The entity’s legal name exactly as it appears on the charter, articles of organization, or Social Security card.
- A trade name or “doing business as” name, if different from the legal name.
- A mailing address for IRS correspondence, plus the physical street address if the two differ.
- Entity type (corporation, partnership, LLC, sole proprietor, trust, estate, and so on).
- The date the business started or was acquired, and the closing month of the accounting year.
- The responsible party’s full name and taxpayer ID number (SSN, ITIN, or existing EIN). The responsible party is the individual who owns, controls, or effectively manages the entity and its funds.3Internal Revenue Service. Responsible Parties and Nominees
- The reason for applying (starting a new business, hiring employees, changing organization type, and so on).
- The expected number of employees in the next 12 months, and a short description of the principal business activity.
You can authorize an accountant, attorney, or formation service to receive the EIN on your behalf by completing the Third Party Designee section. Their authority is narrow and ends once the EIN is issued, and the official EIN notice still goes to the entity, not the designee. One trap worth noting: if the designee’s address or phone number matches the entity’s, the IRS will reject the online submission and you will have to file by fax or mail instead.2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form SS-4 (Rev. December 2025)
When the Online Tool Is Available
The EIN Assistant runs on a schedule rather than around the clock. All times are Eastern:
- Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. the next day.
- Saturday, 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
- Sunday, 6:00 p.m. to midnight.
You must complete the application in one session; the system does not save your progress.
Submitting the Application
Start at irs.gov and search for “Apply for an Employer Identification Number online,” or go directly to the EIN Assistant page. Do not use an ad result or a third-party site that mirrors the IRS design.
The tool walks you through the Form SS-4 fields as an interview. Each screen asks a question or two and validates your entries before moving on. When you reach the end and submit, the system issues the EIN on screen immediately. Download and save the confirmation notice right then. The IRS will also mail an official CP 575 notice to the entity’s address.4Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number That paper notice is the only original proof of your EIN. The IRS will not issue a duplicate, so file it with your permanent business records.
You can start using the number right away for most purposes: opening a business bank account, applying for licenses, or filing a return.4Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number
If the Online Tool Returns an Error
The system occasionally shows a “Reference Number” error instead of an EIN. The errors come in two flavors.
Data mismatches mean the IRS found a conflict between what you entered and what it already has on file. The common triggers are a legal name too similar to an existing business, an SSN or ITIN that does not match the responsible party’s name on record, or a third-party designee whose contact information matches the entity’s. Check every field for typos and try again. If it still fails, submit Form SS-4 by fax or mail and let the IRS review it manually.
Technical errors are server-side problems. Wait 24 hours and try again. Hammering the tool with repeated attempts can itself cause errors, so patience helps more than persistence.
One block is not really an error: if the responsible party has already received an EIN that same day, the system refuses a second one. Come back tomorrow.
If You Cannot Apply Online
If you are outside the United States and its territories, or your responsible party does not have an SSN or ITIN, the online tool is not available to you. The alternatives:5Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form SS-4 (12/2025)
- Fax a completed Form SS-4 to 855-641-6935 if your principal place of business is in the 50 states or D.C. The IRS faxes the EIN back in about four business days.
- Mail Form SS-4 to Internal Revenue Service, Attn: EIN Operation, Cincinnati, OH 45999. Allow about four weeks, and build in four to five weeks of lead time if you have a deadline.
- International applicants can call 267-941-1099 (not toll-free), Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern. The caller must be authorized to answer SS-4 questions and receive the EIN, and the IRS may ask you to fax or mail the signed form within 24 hours. International fax and mail submissions go to Internal Revenue Service, Attn: EIN International Operation, Cincinnati, OH 45999.
If the responsible party is ineligible for an SSN or ITIN, enter “foreign” or “N/A” on Line 7b of Form SS-4. The line cannot be left blank.
Do Not Pay for an EIN
The IRS does not charge anything for an EIN, by any application method.1Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number Third-party sites built to look like IRS pages routinely charge $50 to $300 to “file” the application for you. The Federal Trade Commission has warned operators of these sites that their practices may violate federal law.6Federal Trade Commission. Don’t Pay to Get Your Employer Identification Number (EIN) Type irs.gov into your browser rather than following a search ad or an unfamiliar link.
If You Lose Your EIN Confirmation
If the CP 575 notice goes missing, you have two ways to confirm your number. Request an entity transcript through the IRS’s online transcript tool, or call the IRS Business and Specialty Tax Line at 800-829-4933, Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time, and ask for Letter 147C. The 147C confirms the EIN previously assigned to your entity and serves as a replacement for the lost notice.4Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number