IRS Form SS-4
Answer plain questions about your company. We turn them into a completed, IRS-ready Form SS-4 you can submit today.
An EIN, or Employer Identification Number, is a nine-digit number the IRS assigns to a business for tax purposes. It works like a Social Security number, but for your company. You apply for one on Form SS-4. You may also see it called a FEIN or a federal tax ID. Those are all the same number.
Without an SSN you cannot use the IRS online tool at all. That is the situation we built Practifile for.
Same form, very different waits. We prepare it for whichever route fits you.
| Route | Typical wait | Who it works for |
|---|---|---|
| Online | Same day | Requires an SSN or ITIN and a US address. Open Monday to Friday, 7am to 10pm Eastern. |
| Fax | 4 to 7 business days | Open to applicants without an SSN. The usual route for founders outside the US. |
| 4 to 6 weeks | Works from anywhere. Also the slowest by a wide margin. |
These are the IRS’s processing times, not ours, and they stretch during filing season.
Most people have all of this to hand. Progress saves as you go, so you can stop and come back.
You can file Form SS-4 yourself at irs.gov for free, and if that is the better call for you we will say so. What $49 buys is IRS language turned into plain questions, a check for the mistakes that get applications rejected, and a form that is right the first time.
$49IRS Form SS-4
"What type of entity?" becomes "Did you set up an LLC, a corporation, or something else?"
Every field is validated as you go, so rejections for the usual errors do not happen.
The route most services quietly assume you can take is closed to you. Ours is not.
The IRS online tool keeps office hours. Practifile does not.
It depends entirely on how you submit. Online with an SSN you can have the number the same day. By fax, expect 4 to 7 business days. By mail, 4 to 6 weeks. Preparing the form takes about 10 minutes either way.
Yes. You cannot use the IRS online tool, but you can apply by fax or mail using Form SS-4, and you can name a responsible party who has no SSN or ITIN. This is the most common reason people come to us.
"Tax ID" is the umbrella term. An EIN is the tax ID for a business; an ITIN is the tax ID for an individual who cannot get a Social Security number. FEIN and federal tax ID both mean EIN.
The IRS does not always require one, but most banks do before they will open a business account, and it keeps your SSN off invoices and contracts. Many single-member LLCs get one for those reasons alone.
We help you correct it and resubmit at no extra charge. Most rejections come from errors in the application itself, which is exactly what our checks are for.
About 10 minutes. No account needed to start.
Start your EIN applicationPractifile is a private document-preparation service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the IRS. You can apply directly at irs.gov at no cost. Nothing here is legal or tax advice.