The IRS's instant online tool is closed to you. The telephone line that assigns an EIN during the call is open only to applicants outside the US. We prepare and file your Form SS-4 through whichever channel your application actually qualifies for.
$35 to us. The IRS charges nothing for an EIN and you are free to apply yourself — we have linked its instructions throughout this page. General information about US filing requirements, not tax or legal advice.
The blocker is not your missing Social Security number.
An Employer Identification Number is a nine-digit number the IRS issues to identify a business. Your company needs one to open a US bank account, to be paid by a processor such as Stripe, to hire anyone, and — if it is a foreign-owned LLC — to file the Form 5472 the IRS requires of it. The IRS charges nothing for one.
The Form SS-4 instructions put two separate conditions on the online tool, and a non-resident founder usually fails both. The first is where you are: you can apply online only if the business has a legal residence, principal place of business or principal office in the United States or a US territory. The second is who is applying: the principal officer, general partner, grantor, owner or trustor “must have a valid taxpayer identification number (SSN, EIN, or ITIN) in order to use the online application”. So the missing Social Security number genuinely is a blocker for the online route — it is just not a blocker for getting an EIN at all.
What matters is that neither condition stops you having an EIN. On the paper form the IRS expressly tells a responsible party with no SSN or ITIN, who is not eligible for one, to enter “foreign” or N/A on line 7b — the number is simply issued through a different channel. And the channel you are pushed onto is the better one.
That is the part almost nobody mentions. The IRS closed the telephone channel to domestic applicants and kept it open for exactly one group — in its own words, “Only international applicants can receive an EIN by telephone.” An applicant with no US legal residence or principal place of business may call 267-941-1099 (not a toll-free number), 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern, Monday to Friday, and an IRS representative assigns the number on the call. On this one question, being outside the US is the advantage.
Each one is a routine reason an application comes back.
Not a holding company and not a nominee. The SS-4 instructions require a natural person who ultimately owns or controls the entity. If that person has no SSN or ITIN and is not eligible for one, line 7b takes the word “foreign” — but it can never be left blank. The IRS says “an entry is required.”
The IRS caps it at one a day for each responsible party, across every channel. If you are forming several companies they cannot all be applied for on the same morning, which is worth knowing before you promise anyone a launch date.
Only letters, digits, the hyphen and the ampersand come through, and the street address field caps at 35 characters. Names that sit perfectly well on the state's certificate get truncated or rejected here.
If you authorise someone to receive the EIN for you, that authority is single-purpose and expires the moment the number is issued. It does not let anyone deal with the IRS about your company afterwards — that needs a Form 2848 or Form 8821. The EIN notice is posted to you either way.
We check all four of these before anything is filed.The responsible party, the daily limit, the character rules and the designee details. Each one is a routine reason an application comes back.
A fair question on a page trying to sell you the service. Here is the honest split.
There is no gate here that we can open and you cannot. The IRS's instructions are public and linked on this page. We charge for accuracy and for absorbing the follow-up, not for access.
The application, and the filing it exists to carry.
Every line completed from your actual formation documents, filed through whichever IRS channel your application qualifies for.
For a foreign-owned single-member LLC we check “Other” and write Foreign-owned U.S. disregarded entity-Form 5472 — the IRS's own wording for exactly this situation. Getting it wrong produces a company the IRS believes should be filing something else.
If an IRS representative asks for the signed Form SS-4 back, it has to go by fax or post within 24 hours. That is our job, not yours.
The IRS's confirmation letter is the document banks and payment processors usually want, and it is posted to the company rather than to us. We tell you what to expect and what to do if it does not arrive.
A second application for the same entity creates a duplicate that takes longer to untangle than the original wait ever would. If your formation package already included an EIN, we will say so rather than file again.
The annual filing your EIN exists to carry. Part of our US tax filing service.
Brio is not a law firm, a CPA firm, an enrolled agent practice or a tax adviser. What we do is prepare and file your Form SS-4 correctly and deal with the IRS on the application. What we do not do is advise you on your tax position. Whether your particular facts create a US filing obligation is a question for a qualified US tax professional.
And plainly: the IRS charges nothing for an EIN. You can complete Form SS-4 and apply yourself, and its instructions are public — we have linked them. Our $35 buys the form prepared correctly the first time, the entity classification set deliberately on line 9a, and someone else absorbing the follow-up if the IRS comes back.
Not sure whether you already have one?A duplicate EIN takes longer to untangle than the original wait. Ask us before you file a second application — it costs nothing to check.
Channels and hours from the Form SS-4 instructions (Rev. 12/2025); processing figures from the IRS's own processing-status page, reviewed 28 August 2026. These are IRS service estimates, not commitments — ours or theirs. Which channel your file qualifies for depends on its details, so we do not promise you a date.
| Channel | Who it is open to, and what the IRS says about timing |
|---|---|
| Online — issued instantly | US applicants only. Closed to anyone with no US legal residence or principal place of business. |
| Telephone, 267-941-1099 — assigned during the call | International applicants only. 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern, Monday to Friday. |
| Fax | Open to all. IRS processing status: worked 9 business days after receipt. |
| Post | Open to all. IRS processing status: worked within 30 days of receipt. |
| Using a brand-new EIN | Usable immediately for most purposes. Allow up to two weeks before TIN matching, e-filing and electronic payment work. |
| What the IRS charges | $0, on any channel |
| What we charge to prepare and file it | $35 |
An EIN is not the finish line. For a US LLC with a single foreign owner it is the number a mandatory annual filing runs on, and that filing carries the largest penalty most of our clients will ever meet.
Brio is not a law firm, a CPA firm, an enrolled agent practice or a tax adviser, and whether your facts create a filing obligation is a question for a qualified US tax professional. What we can tell you is that this filing is required whether or not the company made a penny. See the whole year in our compliance checklist.
Legal name exactly as filed, formation state and date, the responsible party's details, and what the business actually does. If we formed the company, we already have all of it.
Every line, with the entity classification set deliberately and the name checked against the IRS's character rules before it goes anywhere.
And deal with whatever the IRS comes back with, including returning the signed form within 24 hours if a representative asks for it.
The EIN first, then the CP 575 confirmation posted to the company. We will tell you which one your bank is going to ask for.
Ready when you are.$35 to prepare and file the SS-4. The IRS's own fee is nothing, and we say so on this page for a reason.
Brio is not a law firm, a CPA firm, an enrolled agent practice or a tax adviser. The answers below are general information about how the IRS handles Form SS-4 and the filings that follow an EIN — not advice on your position. Whether your particular facts create a US filing obligation is a question for a qualified US tax professional.
No, and this is the most common misconception on the subject. The Form SS-4 instructions say to enter “foreign” or N/A on line 7b where the responsible party has no SSN or ITIN and is not eligible to obtain one. Note that it is a two-part condition — does not have one and cannot get one — and that the line can never be left blank, because the IRS says “an entry is required.” What the missing SSN does affect is the channel: the instant online tool is closed to you, but the telephone line is open only to you.
There are two clocks and we will never present them as one number. Ours is the preparation, which is short. The IRS's is the one that decides when you actually have the number, and it depends on the channel: assigned during the call on the international telephone line, worked 9 business days after receipt by fax, or within 30 days by post, according to the IRS's processing-status page reviewed on 28 August 2026. Which channel your application qualifies for depends on details of your own file, so anyone quoting you a guaranteed date for an EIN is guessing.
Yes. The SS-4 has a Third Party Designee box, and the instructions say the caller “must be authorized to receive the EIN and answer questions concerning Form SS-4.” The designee has to be a named individual rather than a company, and it is your signature on the form that makes the authorisation valid. That authority then terminates the moment the EIN is assigned — it is not an ongoing power of attorney, and the EIN notice is still posted to you.
Exactly that, and we would rather say it than have you discover it. The IRS charges nothing and its instructions are public. The $35 buys the form filled in correctly the first time — the entity classification on line 9a, the name inside the IRS's character rules, line 7b handled properly — plus us dealing with the IRS if it comes back, and telling you honestly if you already have an EIN and do not need another. If you would rather do it yourself, the instructions are here.
No. An EIN is an identifier, not a tax. What creates a US tax liability is the nature of your income — broadly, whether it is effectively connected with a US trade or business, or is US-source FDAP income such as dividends, interest or royalties. Those are questions of fact about your business. Brio is not a law firm, a CPA firm, an enrolled agent practice or a tax adviser; this is general information about US filing requirements, not advice on your situation. What is true either way is that a foreign-owned US LLC has filings to make whether or not any tax turns out to be owed.
The EIN belongs to the company; an ITIN belongs to a person. Your company needs the EIN for its bank account, its payment processors and its Form 5472. An ITIN is a personal number you need only if you have a US federal tax purpose of your own. Most non-resident owners of a single-member US LLC need the EIN and never need an ITIN, which is the opposite of what a lot of formation sites will tell you. Our ITIN page sets out when you genuinely do.
$35 to prepare and file your Form SS-4, from the team that will still be here when the Form 5472 falls due.
