How to find a companys ein number

An employer identification number (EIN) identifies a business to the IRS the way an individual is tagged by his Social Security number. Where an individual writes down his Social Security number on a return, a business uses an EIN. Corporations, which are legally separate from their owners, need EINs; sole proprietorships do too if they have employees. If you need to look up your own or another company's EIN, it's simple enough.

Lost Your EIN?

If you lost your EIN it shouldn't be difficult to recover it when you need it:

• Find your last tax return and look up the EIN there.
• Dig through your paperwork and find the original IRS notice assigning your EIN.
• If you used your EIN on your business bank account, the bank will have it on file.

If none of those approaches work, you can call the IRS and recover your EIN over the phone. As you'll have to prove your identity so the IRS knows you're legitimate, this might take longer.

Finding Someone Else's EIN

If you have a legitimate business need to know another company's EIN just call and contact them. Once you show you're not a scammer, there's no reason for them not to tell you.

Businesses registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission – corporations that sell shares, for instance – have to include their EINs on their paperwork. You can search for free in the SEC's Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR) system. That will give you plenty of information, including the company's EIN. The biggest challenge might be sifting through all the documents the SEC has on file to find one with the number.

If the company's not in EDGAR, it takes a little more work. If the company has used its EIN on any forms filed with your local city or county government – taking out a business license, for instance – the forms are probably a public record. For a nonprofit company, there are several free databases you can use. If, say, the organization registers as a tax-exempt nonprofit with the IRS, you can look up the nonprofit and its EIN on the agency's search engine for tax-exempt groups.

Things to Remember

Some companies don't have or need an EIN. If you or the company in which you're interested is a sole proprietorship with no employees, you don't need an EIN – a Social Security number does the trick.

Also keep in mind that EINs, unlike Social Security numbers, can change. Suppose your company starts out as a sole proprietorship with a couple of employees. If you incorporate down the road, you'll have to take out a new EIN. If you lose the new EIN paperwork, unearthing a file with your business's original number won't help you at all.

An employer identification number — also called an EIN or federal tax ID number — is a unique numerical identifier that is assigned to businesses by the IRS principally for tax purposes. Your company’s EIN is like a Social Security number for your business and thus very important. Just like you need to incorporate your business or form an LLC, acquiring your EIN is a necessary step in establishing your business.

For many businesses, having an EIN is a legal requirement, though there are some exceptions. If you’re just starting your business, you might have some questions about how to apply for an EIN or where to find your tax ID number if you’ve already been assigned one. Furthermore, as a small business owner, you might find yourself in a position where you may want to look up another business’s EIN. Read on to learn about how to apply for an EIN, how to find your tax ID number and how you can do an EIN lookup.

What Is an EIN and What Is it Used For?

As mentioned, your EIN is a unique numerical identifier that is assigned to you by the IRS. The primary purpose of an EIN is for the IRS to identify taxpayers who are required to file various business tax returns. Not every business is required to have an EIN, but there are several criteria that you must pass in order to be sure you won’t need an EIN.

According to the IRS, if you answer “yes” to any of these questions about your business, then you need an EIN:

• Do you have employees?
• Do you operate your business as a corporation or a partnership?
• Do you file any of these tax returns: Employment, Excise, or Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)?
• Do you withhold taxes on income, other than wages, paid to a non-resident alien?
• Do you have a Keogh plan?

Another piece of criteria concerns the types of organizations your business is involved with. If your small business is involved with trusts, estates, real estate mortgage investment conduits, non-profit organizations, farmers’ cooperatives or plan administrators, then you are required to have an EIN for your company.

One type of business entity that often doesn’t have an EIN is a sole proprietorship. This is because this type of business organization isn’t required to register as a business nor has employees. However, just because you’re not required to have an EIN doesn’t mean it isn’t a good idea to get one. Obtaining an EIN is a smart accounting more because it enables you to separate your personal and business taxes. Also, it’ll help you keep personal and business finances separate in general. If you’re a sole proprietor without an EIN, banks will use your Social Security if you try to open a business credit card. It’s good bookkeeping to keep your personal and business finances from intertwining, so having an EIN as a sole proprietor is a good move.

See: 2020 Business Tax Deadlines You Need to Know

EIN Lookup: How to Find Your Tax ID Number

A forgotten or lost EIN is a common issue that small business owners can run into, just as individuals lose their W-2s. Unfortunately, there isn’t a convenient, searchable database of EINs or companies you can search for their federal tax ID number. Fortunately, there are some ways you can track down your EIN.

Check Your Documents

The first place to check is your previous tax returns. If you can’t find those, see if you can locate any legal or financial papers related to your business, such as loan applications, permits, certifications or any documents that your EIN would likely be printed on. Look for tax and tax-related documents from the IRS, both in your email and physical mail. The IRS generally sends out a confirmation of your EIN after you applied for one.

Call the IRS

If all else fails and you really cannot find your EIN on existing documents, you can reach out to the IRS by calling the Business & Specialty Tax Line at 800-829-4933. Make sure to call between the hours 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. local time. If your EIN has changed recently, which could render any old documents useless, you should definitely call the IRS.

Related: Small Business Tax Guide

How to Find Your Employer’s EIN

Due to the coronavirus, a massive surge in unemployment has swept the nation. And in many states, you may need your employer’s EIN in order to file for unemployment. If you need to locate a current or former employer’s EIN for that or another reason, you can do so in two ways:

• Locate Your W-2: Your employer’s EIN will appear on your W-2 form in Box b. If you have past tax records, this is the easiest way to find your employer’s identification number. If you cannot find your physical copy of your W-2, check your tax filing software such as TurboTax or any online payroll records you may have through companies such as ADP.
• Contact Your Employer: If you cannot locate your personal tax forms or don’t have sufficient forms due to being an independent contractor, the next step is to contact your employer. Reach out to the accounting, payroll and/or HR departments. They should be able to help you out right away.  If your employer is a publicly traded company, you should be able to find it online on the company’s 10-K, which is public record. If your employer went bankrupt, look online for public court records which may include its EIN.

Can You Look Up an EIN Number of Another Business?

It is not a common situation, but sometimes small business owners may want to find out the EIN of another company, sometimes called a reverse EIN lookup. For example, some vendors require an EIN from companies they’re doing business with. In certain industries, like insurance and law, you may need another company’s EIN as a part of your day-to-day business. Another possibility is that you want to look up another business’s EIN to make sure their information is valid.

The bad news is that there’s no convenient, searchable database in which you can just type in the name of the company and get its EIN — if it’s a private company. If the company is publicly traded and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), then the business is required to have its EIN on all documents. You can use the SEC’s EDGAR system to conduct an EIN lookup of a publicly-traded company for free.

When finding the EIN of a private company, things get a bit more difficult. Here are some basic steps you can take to track down another business’s EIN:

• Contact the company’s payroll or accounting department and ask for the EIN.
• Get the company’s business credit report through a credit bureau like Experian, Equifax or Dun & Bradstreet. You can purchase or view another company’s credit report, which contains their EIN.
• Hire a service to look up the EIN for you.
• Check to see if the company filed any local or federal registration forms, which can sometimes be found online.

New: How to Get a Business Loan

How to Apply for an EIN

Applying for an EIN is very straightforward and easy, and you should do it as early as possible when starting your business. Many early steps when starting a company, like opening business bank accounts or hiring an employee, will require that you have or get an EIN. Here are the ways you can apply for an EIN:

• Apply for EIN Online: Naturally, this is the preferred and most common way to apply for a federal tax ID these days. You can apply for an EIN right at the IRS website on their EIN online application.
• Apply for EIN by Fax: Businesses can fax in their application to the appropriate IRS fax number. You’ll use a physical application, Form SS-4, which can be found on the IRS website.
• Apply for EIN by Mail: This is the old-fashion method and takes four weeks to process as a result. You will fill out a physical application, Form SS-4, and mail it to the appropriate address.

There are a few key stipulations about your eligibility to apply for an EIN. Applicants must either have a Social Security number, an Individual Tax Identification (ITIN) or an existing EIN to be eligible for one. Also, the applicant must be an individual, not a business entity, and the true principal officer, owner, general partner, grantor or trustor of the business.

Get your EIN when you form your company with MyCompanyWorks.

Does an EIN Expire?

An EIN is your business’s equivalent to your Social Security number. And just like an SSN, your EIN does not expire. That means if you started a business long ago that you want to revitalize now, you’ll need to locate your original EIN rather than applying for a new one. Additionally, the IRS cannot cancel an EIN. Even if you never got far enough in your business to file taxes, if you applied and received an EIN, it remains to this day.

If you cannot locate an old EIN, contact the Business & Specialty Tax Line at 800-829-4933 between the hours 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. local time to obtain a copy of your EIN.

How to Cancel Your Business Account With the IRS

That said, you can contact the IRS to cancel your business account. You can do that by sending a letter to the IRS that includes:

• Complete legal name of your business entity
• EIN of the business
• Business address
• The reason you wish to close the account
• Copy of EIN Assignment Notice (if available)

Then mail the above information to:

Internal Revenue Service

Cincinatti, Ohio 45999

The Bottom Line

There simply just isn’t an easy way to search a database online for yours or another company’s EIN. However, this makes a bit more sense when you consider that an EIN is like a Social Security number in a way, and you never would want to let that out into the open for someone to abuse. Fortunately, you do have some options when it comes to finding your EIN or another business’s employer ID number — if you know where to look.

Editorial Note: Seek Capital does not have a database of employer identification numbers and cannot provide you with an EIN. Please use the instructions detailed in this article to locate an EIN.

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