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Acceso Latino

What is the Employer Identification Number and how is it processed?

The Employer Identification Number (EIN) is a nine-digit number processed by the United States Internal Revenue Service, and is issued to business owners and other business entities.

The EIN is one of the Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN) in the United States, such as the Text Social Security Number (SSN) or the Taxpayer Personal Identification Number (ITIN). However, the EIN works specifically for the identification of business entities.

Therefore, the EIN is a business procedure. All businesses with employees must file their EIN. It is also necessary to obtain the EIN if the company is registered as a corporation or partnership.   

Other reasons for filing EIN are businesses that have a Keogh Plan (retirement plan for independent workers), participate in trusts, non-profit organizations, agricultural cooperatives or real estate entities.

The person who processes the EIN for the business must have an SSN or ITIN. This means that people who are in the United States without documents, can process it by having an ITIN.

To begin the process it is necessary to fill out form SS-4 (https://www.irs.gov/es/forms-pubs/about-form-ss-4-pr), which asks for information such as the name and identification number of the taxpayer of the owner or director of the company, a natural person. Companies with more than one partner should choose only one person responsible to the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for this process.

It is a free procedure and the IRS gives the possibility of do it online or in person.