You do not need an SSN or an ITIN to get an EIN for your US company. You apply on Form SS-4 by fax or phone to the IRS international line, and you write "Foreign" in the field asking for the responsible party's taxpayer identification number.
That's the whole answer. The rest of this article is why so many people believe otherwise, and how to avoid the handful of things that cause rejections.
Why the myth exists
The myth has a real root, which is why it's so persistent.
The IRS online EIN application requires the responsible party to have an SSN or ITIN. If you don't have one, the online tool will stop you. Thousands of founders hit that wall, conclude an EIN requires a tax ID, and go off to spend three months and several hundred dollars getting an ITIN they may not need.
The online tool is one channel, not the requirement. The fax and phone channels exist specifically for applicants without a US taxpayer number, and they are the documented, intended route for foreign responsible parties.
This is the single most expensive piece of misinformation in the non-resident founder space, and it circulates most heavily on YouTube.
What an EIN is
An Employer Identification Number is a nine-digit number identifying a business entity for federal tax purposes. Despite the name, you don't need employees.
You'll need one to: open a US business bank account, file the tax forms your LLC is required to file (including Form 5472 — see our article on that), work with most payment processors, and generally do anything with a US institution that needs to identify your company.
An EIN identifies the company. An SSN or ITIN identifies a person. Different numbers, different purposes.
Before you apply
Form your entity first. The EIN attaches to a legal entity, so the LLC or corporation should exist and you should have the stamped formation documents from the state. Have the exact legal name, the formation date, the state, and the business address in front of you.
Decide who the responsible party is. The IRS defines this as the person who ultimately owns or controls the entity, or exercises effective control over it. For a single-member LLC that's you, the owner. It must be a natural person — not another company. Use your real name as it appears on your passport.
Have your address details ready in a format that fits a US form. Foreign addresses often don't map cleanly onto the field layout; work out how you'll express it before you're filling boxes.
Completing Form SS-4
Download the current form and instructions from irs.gov — don't use a copy from a third-party site, as forms are revised.
The lines that cause the most trouble:
Line 7b — Responsible party's SSN/ITIN/EIN. This is the one everybody asks about. If you have no US taxpayer number, write "Foreign". Don't leave it blank, don't invent anything, don't put your home-country tax number.
Line 8a — Is this an LLC? Yes, if it is. Line 8b asks the number of members. Be accurate — this feeds how the IRS classifies the entity.
Line 9a — Type of entity. For a foreign-owned single-member LLC not electing corporate treatment, practitioners commonly select "Other" and write a description such as "Foreign-owned U.S. disregarded entity." Read the current IRS instructions; the wording matters and the guidance is periodically updated.
Line 10 — Reason for applying. Usually "Started new business" or "Banking purpose." Be truthful.
Line 16 — Principal activity. Be specific. "Consulting" is weak; "software development services" or "online retail of home goods" is better. This is also what several banks later compare against your account application, so keep the description consistent across everything.
Third Party Designee section. If someone is applying on your behalf, this section authorises the IRS to give them the EIN. It's limited authority and it expires. If you want someone to represent you more broadly, that's Form 2848, a different thing.
Signature. The responsible party signs. Not a service provider signing for you.
How to submit
By fax — send the completed SS-4 to the IRS fax number for international applicants. If you include your own fax number, the IRS can fax the EIN back. This is the route most non-residents use.
By phone — call the IRS international EIN line, complete the form in advance, and go through it with the agent. You can receive the EIN on the call. Be prepared for hold times and note the line's operating hours in US Eastern time.
By mail — works, and is the slowest option by a wide margin.
Get the contact details fresh — the fax numbers, the phone number, and the hours all appear on the IRS "Apply for an EIN" pages and do change. Get them from irs.gov directly rather than from any article, including this one.
Timelines
Fax is commonly described as taking a few business days to a few weeks; phone can produce a number on the call. But processing times fluctuate significantly with IRS workload, and there have been long periods where international applications ran far slower than usual.
Check the current processing estimates and treat any specific promise with suspicion. Nobody outside the IRS controls this queue, and any provider guaranteeing an EIN by a specific date is guaranteeing something they can't deliver.
After you have it: the CP-575
The IRS issues an EIN confirmation letter (CP-575). Save it in several places. Banks ask for it constantly.
The CP-575 is issued once and is not reissued. If you lose it, you request a 147C letter instead — a verification letter serving the same purpose, obtainable by calling the IRS. Banks accept it. Plenty of founders end up with a 147C and it's completely normal.
Common rejection causes
- Entity name doesn't match the state filing exactly — including punctuation, "LLC" versus "L.L.C.", and whether "The" is part of the name
- Formation state or date wrong — the IRS may cross-check
- Responsible party is a company rather than a natural person
- Illegible fax — this is a real cause; send a clean, high-contrast copy
- Missing signature
- Duplicate application — applying again while the first is pending creates confusion and delay. Wait.
The consistency point matters beyond the EIN itself. The name and address you put on the SS-4 should be identical to the state filing and to what you'll later put on a bank application. Copy-paste; don't retype.
One EIN per entity
An EIN belongs to a specific legal entity. Two LLCs means two EINs. You don't reuse one across companies.
If you form an LLC, get an EIN, and later dissolve the company, the EIN isn't transferable to a new entity. And a rarely-mentioned point: EINs aren't really "cancelled" — you can ask the IRS to close the business account associated with one, but the number itself is retired to that entity permanently.
Should you do this yourself?
Yes, honestly, for most people. Form SS-4 is one page. The IRS charges nothing. The instructions are complete. The only genuine friction is the fax, and there are cheap online fax services.
Where paying for help makes sense: you've already been rejected and don't know why, your situation is unusual (multi-member with foreign members, an entity election, a trust in the ownership chain), or your time is genuinely worth more than the fee and you'd rather not learn the process.
What you should not pay for: a large fee purely to submit an SS-4 by fax on a straightforward single-member LLC. Some providers charge several hundred dollars for exactly that. It's a legitimate service — but know that's what you're buying.
Also be wary of any service asking to be your responsible party. The responsible party is the person who controls the entity. That's you. A provider putting themselves in that position is either misunderstanding the requirement or creating one you don't want.
What we do
EIN filing is included in our Foundation package alongside formation. Once you have your EIN, the next step is typically choosing the right state for your LLC, because in practice they're one workflow and nobody wants to run the fax themselves. From there, the bank account setup service handles the provider introduction for your country and business model. It isn't sold as a standalone miracle, because it isn't one.
If you've formed your company yourself and just need the EIN, do it yourself. It's genuinely a one-page form.