Employer Identification Number (EIN)

An Employer Identification Number (EIN), also called a Federal Tax Identification Number, is the nine-digit number the IRS issues to identify a business for federal tax purposes — in effect, a Social Security number for the entity rather than a person. It appears on the business’s federal returns, payroll filings, and the forms its banks and vendors keep on file.

A business generally needs an EIN to hire employees, file business tax returns, open a business bank account, and often to form an entity such as an LLC or corporation. The IRS issues an EIN directly, free of charge. This page is educational; whether your business needs one, and any entity or tax question around it, belongs with the IRS and your CPA or EA — not with us.

The EIN is the thread that ties a business’s financial records together: it’s on the business bank accounts you reconcile, the payroll tax filings, and the W-9 the business hands to its own customers. Keeping payroll and the books set up under the correct EIN — especially after an entity change — is what keeps filings and records consistent.

What TechBrot does is operational: making sure the EIN is recorded correctly in QuickBooks and that payroll and the books are configured to it — see payroll management. Obtaining the EIN, and any entity or tax decision behind it, is handled directly with the IRS and your CPA or EA.

They’re different numbers from different authorities. The EIN is federal, issued once by the IRS, and identifies the business to the federal government. A state tax or registration ID is issued separately by a state — for state payroll withholding, sales tax, or business registration — and a business operating in several states may hold more than one. Having an EIN does not give you a state ID, and vice versa.