How to Get an EIN for Your Business (Free, on IRS.gov)

Search for an EIN and the first few results will be companies charging $50 or more to file on your behalf. You do not need them. The IRS issues the number itself, for free, and the whole thing takes about ten minutes.

Go straight to IRS.gov and find the page titled Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) online. Read Step 1 while you are there: your business has to be in the US or a US territory, and you need a valid SSN, ITIN or existing EIN to apply. One EIN per responsible party per day.

Click through to the application and you land on a screen called Important Information Before You Begin. Worth actually reading, because of one detail: the session times out after 15 minutes of inactivity and there is no save button. If it expires you start over.

Have your details ready before you click Begin Application. The assistant only runs Monday to Friday, 7am to 10pm Eastern.

The first real question is what kind of entity is applying. You get Sole Proprietor, Partnerships, Corporations, Limited Liability Company, Estate and Trusts.

Pick the one that matches the business you have already formed. This step comes after you set up the LLC or corporation with your state, not before. If you have not filed yet, stop and do that first, then come back.

For an LLC, the assistant asks how many members it has. A single-member LLC is just you, so enter 1. Then choose the state or territory where the business is physically located.

The member count matters more than it looks. It drives how the IRS treats the LLC for tax purposes, so enter the real number rather than guessing.

Five options: started a new business, hired employees, banking purposes, changed type of organization, or purchased an active business.

Most people applying for the first time want Started a new business. Pick banking purposes only if the business already exists and you are getting the EIN specifically to open an account.

The responsible party is the person who controls the business. Enter their legal first and last name and their SSN or ITIN.

This has to match IRS records exactly. A nickname or a maiden name that no longer matches will fail the check. Then say whether you are an owner or member of the LLC, or a third party applying on someone's behalf. If it is your own business, you are the owner.

Street, city, state, ZIP and a phone number. There is a checkbox if you want mail sent somewhere different from the physical address.

One rule catches people out: no PO boxes. It has to be a street address. Military addresses have their own format, linked from the page.

Enter the legal name of the LLC exactly as it appears on your articles of organization. If the two do not match, the EIN gets attached to a business that does not quite exist.

A trade name or DBA goes in the second field, and only if you actually have one. Then the county, the state where the articles were filed, and the start date.

Five yes or no questions. Does the business own a highway vehicle over 55,000 pounds. Does it involve gambling. Does it need to file Form 720. Does it sell alcohol, tobacco or firearms. Will it have employees receiving W-2s in the next twelve months.

For most small businesses every answer is no. Answer the employee question honestly though, because saying yes creates payroll filing obligations.

Now pick the category that best describes what the business does. The list runs from Accommodation and Construction through Finance, Food Service, Health Care, Insurance, Manufacturing, Retail, Transportation and Wholesale, with Other at the bottom.

Take a minute over this one. If nothing fits, Other opens a second screen where you narrow it down, and consulting lives in there.

Last screen. You can receive the confirmation letter online or by mail.

Choose online. The EIN is issued immediately and you can download and print the letter right away. Picking mail means waiting up to four weeks for a number you could have had in seconds. Save that PDF somewhere you will find it again, because banks ask for it when you open the business account.