Responsible party

Who is the responsible party on Form SS-4?

The real person who controls the company — you. The IRS requires a human being here, not an agency and not a company name.

Form SS-4 asks who controls, manages or directs the company and its funds. The IRS means a natural person: for a single-owner LLC that is the owner, and there is no version of the answer that is a company, a nominee or an agent.

Some providers put their own details in this box, because it makes the paperwork easier for them. It is a violation, and the consequences land on the company, not on them — the IRS can revoke the EIN, and a mismatch here surfaces years later when a bank or the IRS checks who is behind the business.

There is a legitimate way for a service to receive your EIN on your behalf: the third party designee section further down the same form. That authority is limited to the one EIN and ends the moment it is issued. It is not the same box and it is not the same thing.