What Are the 6 Places to Find Your EIN?
Your EIN sits in 6 records: the CP-575 letter, a filed tax return, a business bank application, a prior Form W-9, payroll records, and your accountant's file. Any 1 of the 6 shows the full 9-digit number.
| Place | What you see | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| 1. CP-575 assignment letter | Your EIN, top-right, 9 digits | Mailed 1 time when the EIN issued |
| 2. A filed tax return | Header of Form 1065, 1120, or 1040 | Every federal return you filed |
| 3. Business bank application | The EIN on the signup form | Your bank's account records |
| 4. A prior Form W-9 | The TIN box on line 1 | Any client you invoiced |
| 5. Payroll records | Form 941 and Form 940 filings | Your payroll provider |
| 6. Your accountant's file | The SS-4 confirmation copy | Your CPA or bookkeeper |
Source: IRS Publication 1635 and Form SS-4 instructions, verified August 2026.
Check them in order of speed. The CP-575 sits in your files as a single mailed original, so a saved copy ends the search in 1 step; the full letter is broken down on the LLC CP-575 letter page. A filed return is next: your 9-digit EIN prints in the header of Form 1065, 1120, or 1040. If no paper survives, order a free transcript with Form 4506-T at 800-908-9946 and the EIN prints on it. Since 2001 the IRS has assigned the first 2 digits by computer, so the prefix no longer maps to a state. The full retrieval routine sits on find an EIN for a business.
No SSN. No passport upload.
How Do You Get a 147C If Every Copy Is Lost?
Call the IRS at 800-829-4933, verify your identity, and ask for a 147C letter faxed on the call. The CP-575 is never reprinted, so the 147C is the official replacement, and it costs $0.
- Call 800-829-4933, the IRS Business and Specialty line, open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time, Monday to Friday.
- Choose the option for an existing business and an EIN request.
- Verify your identity: legal name, address, and the responsible party's SSN or ITIN.
- Request the 147C by fax so it arrives on the call, not by mail 4 to 6 weeks later.
- Confirm the 9-digit number matches your bank and payer records. The fee is $0.
The 147C states your EIN under 26 CFR 301.6109-1, and banks, Stripe, and payroll providers accept it in place of the original CP-575. Only the responsible party listed on the SS-4, or an authorized officer, can request it. The full replacement process sits on the 147C letter page, and the wider recovery walkthrough sits on lost LLC EIN.
Keep the 147C somewhere durable once it arrives, because the IRS treats it as a reprint available on demand rather than a 1-time original like the CP-575. A lender, a landlord, or a new payment processor accepts the faxed 147C as proof the 9-digit EIN belongs to your LLC, and each reprint is still $0. If you are unsure the number on file is correct, match it through how to verify an EIN before you submit it, and the free-lookup path to your own records sits on free EIN lookup. Allow up to 15 minutes on hold at 800-829-4933 during the January to April filing season, when call volume peaks.
Can You Find Your EIN Online?
There is no public online registry of every EIN for a private business. Only 2 kinds of entity are open: a public company on its 10-K at the SEC, and a nonprofit in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search.
| Business | Online source | Public? |
|---|---|---|
| Public company | SEC EDGAR 10-K cover page | Yes |
| Registered nonprofit | IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search, Form 990 | Yes |
| 501(c)(3) charity | Same IRS TEOS search | Yes |
| Private LLC or corporation | None; use your own 6 records | No |
Source: IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search and SEC EDGAR, verified August 2026.
For a private business the EIN is not indexed anywhere online, so paid sites that promise a 1-click national lookup resell public 10-K and Form 990 data you already reach free. Your own number comes from 1 of the 6 records, or from the 147C. The distinction between a self-lookup and a paid data provider sits on EIN lookup and LLC EIN number lookup.
Treat any site charging a fee to find a private EIN with caution, because the public-company data it resells comes free from the SEC EDGAR 10-K filing, and the nonprofit data comes free from the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search. For a private LLC there is no national index to buy from at all, so the number still comes from 1 of your 6 records or a 147C. The fastest free route to your own EIN is the walkthrough on free EIN lookup, and the IRS document that proves the number is the EIN verification letter. A public company files its 10-K once a year, so its EIN is durable and searchable within minutes.
How Is Finding an EIN Different From Verifying One?
Finding an EIN recovers a number you own from 1 of your 6 records. Verifying an EIN confirms a 9-digit number is valid, which a payer does before filing 1099s to avoid 24% backup withholding.
| Task | Question it answers | Whose number | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
| Find your EIN | Recover a number you own | Yours | CP-575 or 147C |
| Verify an EIN | Confirm a number is valid | Yours or a vendor's | 147C letter |
| Look up another EIN | Locate a third party's | Someone else's | SEC 10-K or IRS TEOS |
A mismatch at a payer or processor triggers backup withholding at 24% on payouts before it files 1099s once payments pass $600, so a vendor asks for a fresh W-9 or a 147C to confirm the exact 9-digit number. An address change on Form 8822-B, a tax reclassification on Form 8832, or an S-election on Form 2553 keeps the same EIN, so none of them forces a new lookup. The verification path sits on how to verify an EIN, and the letter that proves it sits on EIN verification letter.
This page states federal tax rules current as of August 2026. It is not legal or tax advice. Confirm your business's position with a licensed CPA or attorney before filing.