How to Get an EIN for an LLC (2026 Guide)

What Is an EIN for an LLC?

An EIN is the 9-digit Employer Identification Number the IRS assigns to an LLC through Form SS-4. It serves as the company’s federal tax ID for banking, hiring, and every annual filing.

LLCs carry three classification fields on Form SS-4 that no other entity type faces, and those fields set the LLC’s federal tax treatment permanently. Lines 8a, 8b, and 9a decide whether the IRS treats the company as a disregarded entity, a partnership, or a corporation. See the LLC EIN application process, or settle the threshold question first with does my llc need an ein. For the definition on its own, without the filing process attached, read what an EIN number is for an LLC.

How Do You Get an EIN for an LLC?

You get an EIN for an LLC in 5 steps: confirm state approval, name the responsible party, set the tax classification, submit Form SS-4, and store the CP-575 letter. The IRS charges $0.

How to get a LLC EIN number in 5 steps

Each step below carries the IRS rule and the time it takes. The 5 steps total 32 minutes of preparation, and the IRS charges $0 at every one of them.

Common mistakes to avoid when filing for an EIN

Four errors account for most rejected LLC applications. Each one costs weeks, because the IRS reports the rejection by mail rather than by email.

How Long Does It Take to Get an EIN for an LLC?

An EIN takes 15 minutes online with an SSN or ITIN, and 4 to 8 weeks by fax without one. Through einforllc.co it runs 16–19 business days on Standard, or 6 to 8 business days on Fast. Mail runs longest at 4 to 6 weeks.

Source: IRS Form SS-4 instructions, verified July 2026.

The online assistant runs Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern, and times out after 15 minutes of inactivity. It validates the responsible party against SSN and ITIN records, which blocks applicants holding neither. Those applicants file on paper, where the IRS provides no tracking number and no status page.

The clock starts when the state approves the LLC, not when the founder decides to apply. Form SS-4 line 1 carries the approved legal name, so an application filed before the state stamps the Articles has nothing verifiable to match against and is rejected.

A rejection is the hidden cost in every timeline above. The IRS returns a reference code rather than an explanation, the application is corrected, and it re-enters the queue at the back. On the fax route that round trip adds another 4 to 7 business days.

How Much Does an EIN for an LLC Cost?

An EIN costs $0 from the IRS through every method. einforllc.co charges $97 for the Articles review, the classification check, and Form SS-4 faxed within 7 business days in writing, or $127 to file within 24 hours with the IRS call included. An EIN never renews, so year 2 costs $0.

Source: IRS, verified July 2026. The EIN is priced on its own; the formation add-on is a separate line and never folded into the EIN price. Full breakdown on the LLC EIN cost page.

Read this before paying anyone, including us. If you hold a Social Security Number, file at irs.gov in 15 minutes for $0. The $97 exists for applicants without an SSN, who face a paper filing, a 4-to-8-week wait, and three classification fields that set federal tax treatment for the life of the company. If your LLC already exists, the EIN is the whole invoice, and we will tell you to leave the formation add-on unchecked rather than sell it to you. If that describes you and you would rather have a specialist handle the SS-4 end to end, get your LLC’s EIN filed with the classification checked first.

What Do You Need to Apply for an LLC EIN?

You need 5 items: state-approved Articles of Organization, the exact legal name, the formation date, the member count, and one responsible party with a legal name and tax ID or the entry Foreign.

Not sure of your member count or classification? A single-member LLC and a multi-member LLC file the same form and receive different federal tax treatment. Run the LLC classification quiz or read what a disregarded entity is.

The list is short because the IRS asks for very little. No passport, no photo identification, no operating agreement and no bank details appear anywhere on Form SS-4. A service requesting a passport scan to file an EIN application is collecting more than the IRS does.

The 1 item founders lack most often is the stamped Articles of Organization, because line 1 has to match the approved legal name character for character. LLC against L.L.C. is a mismatch, and the IRS reports it as a rejection by mail rather than a correction.

How Does the IRS Classify an LLC on Form SS-4?

The IRS assigns a single-member LLC disregarded-entity status and a multi-member LLC partnership status by default. An LLC changes that treatment only by filing Form 8832 or Form 2553.

The Form 5472 penalty foreign owners hit first

A foreign-owned single-member LLC files Form 5472 with a pro-forma Form 1120 every year, even with $0 of income. Missing that filing triggers an IRS penalty of $25,000 per year under Internal Revenue Code section 6038A. The obligation attaches from year one, and the EIN is the number the return is filed under.

Changing classification after the EIN issues

An LLC elects corporate treatment on Form 8832 or S corporation treatment on Form 2553. Form 2553 is due within 2 months and 15 days of the start of the tax year the election takes effect, and 26 CFR § 301.7701-3 defines the default classification the election overrides. A classification chosen on Form 8832 locks the LLC in for 60 months before it can change again, under 26 CFR § 301.7701-3(c)(1)(iv). Under Internal Revenue Code section 6109, the EIN identifies the LLC on all of these filings. A responsible-party or address change is filed on Form 8822-B within 60 days of the change, and Form 7004 extends the partnership return 6 months from March 15 to September 15. A late partnership return triggers the per-partner penalty under Internal Revenue Code section 6698. See Form 8832 for an LLC and when an LLC needs a new EIN.

This page states federal tax rules current as of July 2026. It is not legal or tax advice. Confirm your LLC’s position with a licensed CPA or attorney before filing.

Which EIN Filing Service Is Cheapest for an LLC?

Filing directly with the IRS costs $0 and takes 4 to 8 weeks without an SSN. Among paid services, einforllc.co charges $97, or $127 filed within 24 hours, Rocket Lawyer $59.99, ZenBusiness $99, and Northwest $200.

Prices verified July 2026 from each provider’s public pricing page. Our formation add-on is taken only by owners who have not filed with a state yet; it passes state filing fees through at cost, and its first-year registered agent renews at $99 a year.

The IRS route wins on price at $0 and loses on certainty: no deadline, no tracking, and no second reader on the three classification fields. Applicants holding an SSN should take that route and finish in 15 minutes.

Price is the wrong axis for comparing the paid options against each other. All 4 file the same 1-page form to the same agency for the same $0 government fee. What separates them is whether anyone reads lines 8a, 8b and 9a before transmission, and whether a filing deadline is stated in writing.

The cheapest paid option is not the cheapest outcome when line 9a is wrong. Correcting a classification after the fact means Form 8832, which then locks the LLC for 60 months. That correction costs more in accountant time than the gap between any 2 prices in the table.

What Does the IRS Online EIN Assistant Require to Finish in 1 Session?

An open window, an SSN or ITIN, and all 5 answers staged before you start. The assistant runs Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern — 15 hours a weekday, 0 hours on weekends and 11 federal holidays — and it ends any screen left idle for 15 minutes.

The session timeout is the single most common restart cause. The assistant tracks 15 minutes of inactivity per screen, shows 1 warning banner at 13 minutes, and then ends the session with 0 recovery: no autosave, no resume link, no state in the URL. Form SS-4 restarts at line 1. The usual trigger is line 7a, where the owner leaves the tab to hunt for a passport scan or an old ITIN letter.

Browser conditions matter as much as the clock. Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari all pass within 2 major versions of latest. A private or incognito window drops the session cookie between screens and returns you to line 1 after every click. A translation extension rewrites the wording on line 9a and the assistant rejects the translated value with reference 109, so translation has to be off for irs.gov. Corporate VPNs that rewrite the User-Agent string break the session the same way.

Source: IRS — Apply for an EIN Online and the Form SS-4 instructions, verified July 2026.

What Are the 5 IRS Reference Codes That Block an EIN Application?

Reference 101 (name conflict), 102 (SSN or ITIN mismatch), 103 (duplicate EIN), 109 (system error), and 113 (the 1-EIN-per-responsible-party daily cap). Each carries a different fix, and 3 of the 5 end at the fax route.

Reference 101 is the one that ends the online path for good. It fires when the legal name on line 1 collides with an existing IRS record, and no amount of retrying the assistant clears it. The fix is the paper route: fax the SS-4 to 855-641-6935 with a 1-page cover explaining the name, and the IRS assigns the EIN in 4 to 7business days. Reference 103 means the LLC already holds an EIN, so the next step is recovery rather than application — see recovering a lost LLC EIN.

Reference 113 exists because the IRS caps a responsible party at 1 EIN per day across every channel. Founders standing up 3 LLCs in a week hit it on day 1 and have to spread the filings across 3 business days, or route the extra entities through a filing agent on Form SS-4 line 18.

Source: IRS Instructions for Form SS-4 and the EIN Assistant error reference, verified July 2026.