Form SS-4

What is Form SS-4?

The application form for an EIN — 18 sections, about 35 fields. Without a US Social Security Number you cannot use the IRS website and must send this form by fax or post instead.

Form SS-4 is the IRS form that asks for an EIN. It wants the company's legal name, where it is registered, what it does, who controls it, and why you are applying. None of the questions is difficult on its own; the difficulty is that the IRS is unforgiving about how they are answered.

A blank box that should have been filled, an entity type that does not match the state registration, a name spelled differently from the formation certificate — any of these can have the application set aside, and you find out weeks later, if at all. That is the entire reason a preparation service exists for a free form.

Applicants outside the United States cannot submit it online. The form goes in by fax or by post, and the reply comes back the same way.