How to Get Your EIN
Your Employer Identification Number, the federal tax ID for your business. Takes about 10 minutes online.
What is an EIN?
An EIN (Employer Identification Number) is a 9-digit number the IRS uses to identify your business for tax purposes, like a Social Security number, but for your company. You need one to register in SAM.gov, open a business bank account, and hire employees. Sole proprietors without employees can use their SSN instead, but getting an EIN is still recommended for privacy and to look more professional.
Who needs one?
Any business entity other than a sole proprietor with no employees. If you are a sole proprietor with employees, an LLC, partnership, S-corp, or C-corp, you need an EIN. When in doubt, get one. It's free and takes 10 minutes.
Step by step
- 1
Go to the IRS EIN application
Open the IRS EIN application →
- Available Mon-Fri 6am-1am, Sat 6am-9pm, Sun 6pm-midnight (Eastern time)
- The site times out after 15 minutes of inactivity. Don't walk away mid-application
- 2
Choose your entity type
- Sole Proprietor, LLC, Partnership, Corporation. Pick the one that matches your business structure (what you answered in the GovPath quiz)
- 3
Fill in the application
- You'll need: your name, SSN or ITIN, business address, reason for applying (select “Started a new business”)
- Takes about 5-10 minutes
- 4
Download and save your confirmation
- Your EIN appears on screen: download the confirmation letter (CP 575) as a PDF right then, because it is not re-downloadable later (a digital copy is available through your IRS Business Tax Account)
Important:Download the PDF confirmation right now. You'll need this number to register in SAM.gov.
What comes next
Once you have your EIN, the next step in the checklist is getting your UEI (Unique Entity Identifier), which happens during SAM.gov registration.