How To Find Employer Identification Number Without W2

An employer identification number (EIN) is a unique ix-digit identifier that's issued by the IRS. It's also known as a federal tax identification number or a concern tax ID number. There are a number of ways to make up one's mind a business's (EIN).

All businesses are eligible to apply for an EIN and even small businesses, such as sole proprietors, volition often obtain an EIN. This is because an EIN is typically required for non-tax-related business tasks, such equally opening a bank business relationship or applying for a license or let.

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Reasons Why You Might Need to Find a Company's EIN

While you should ever know your own business organisation tax ID number, or EIN, in that location are also a diversity of legitimate reasons why yous might need to know the EIN of some other company. These include the following:

Unemployment benefits.Many states require the EIN of your former employer when you use for unemployment benefits.
Vendor data. If you're looking into using a new vendor and they've given yous their business information, yous may need their EIN in order to make certain the information you've been given is valid.
Client data. You may need to know the EIN of new business clients in order to verify the data they've given you.
Daily business operations. Some industries, such every bit insurance, may require the EINs of different companies equally part of their day-to-twenty-four hour period operations.

Continue in mind, though, that a company'southward EIN is much similar an individual's social security number. Therefore, you lot should just look for a company's EIN if you have a valid reason for doing so.

Finding Your Ain Business'south EIN

If you've lost or misplaced your EIN, at that place are a number of ways you can locate it:

EIN confirmation letter. When your business organisation first applied for an EIN, the IRS would take sent you lot an EIN confirmation alphabetic character. Your EIN will be located in that letter.
Business and tax filings. Bank check for your EIN on copies of whatsoever previous business organization or tax filings you've made. For example, if you applied for a country business license, you lot may have been required to provide your EIN.
Ask your depository financial institution. If you opened upwardly a business bank account or obtained a concern loan from your banking company, chances are they volition have your EIN on file.
Contact the IRS. You can telephone call the IRS'south Business & Specialty Revenue enhancement Line and ask them to search for your EIN. You will have to provide identifying data, as the IRS volition only provide a visitor's EIN to persons who are authorized to receive the information.

Public Companies

If the company y'all demand the EIN for is a publicly traded visitor, you will be able to obtain its EIN through the U.Southward. Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR database. Input the company name into the Visitor and Person Lookup search field, and check its latest Form 10-Q or Class ten-K filing for the visitor's EIN.

Nonprofits

Y'all can locate the EIN of a nonprofit or charitable arrangement through a database like Guidestar. If the nonprofit is registered as a tax-exempt organization with the IRS, y'all tin can besides search for it on the IRS'due south tax-exempt organization search page.

Private Companies

Finding the EIN for a private company tin can exist more than challenging, as in that location are no gratis one-stop databases that aggregate this kind of information. The post-obit are the best means to find the EIN for a private company:

Check your Form Westward-2. If you are an employee of the company, you volition receive a W-2 form every yr from them. The company's EIN volition be on this grade.
Search government filings. If the visitor has fabricated any state filings—for example, license or permit applications—y'all may be able to find their EIN on your land's searchable business databases.
Contact the visitor. As long equally you accept a legitimate reason for obtaining a company'southward EIN, you tin e'er effort calling them directly for the information. The company's accounting department is often the all-time place to learn a company's EIN.

Other Ways to Determine a Business organisation's EIN

In improver to the free methods listed in a higher place, at that place are other, fee-based ways to find a business'southward EIN:

Purchase a business organization credit study. You tin buy a business's credit study from a credit report company. The company's EIN should be included in the information in the credit report.
Employ a paid legal database. Legal search companies maintain databases of companies that typically include companies' contact and taxation information.
Search a fee-based EIN database. There are a number of paid EIN search databases you can use to obtain a company's EIN information, for a fee.

Depending on whether the company whose EIN you're looking for is a publicly traded company, a nonprofit company, or a private company, there are a number of ways to determine its EIN. As long as y'all have a legitimate reason for obtaining this information, the process is ordinarily not difficult and may involve goose egg more picking up the phone and contacting the company straight.

This portion of the site is for advisory purposes only. The content is not legal advice. The statements and opinions are the expression of author, not LegalZoom, and accept not been evaluated past LegalZoom for accuracy, completeness, or changes in the constabulary.