Apply for an EIN by Phone: 267-941-1099, Hours and Who Can Call (2026)

Which EIN route is yours?

Two routes cover every applicant. An SSN holder finishes free online at irs.gov in 15 minutes. An applicant with no SSN files Form SS-4 by phone or fax, also at $0, with Foreign entered on line 7b.

Have an SSN? irs.gov is free — really. Source: IRS, verified July 2026.

Can you apply for an EIN by phone?

Yes. You apply for an EIN by phone on 267-941-1099, the IRS international line, Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern. An assistor issues the 9-digit number during the call, at a cost of $0.

The phone route is a real IRS channel, not a workaround. The assistor works from the same Form SS-4 the online tool and the fax route use, and asks the same 18 numbered lines in the same order. The EIN that comes out the other side is identical to one issued by any other method.

One rule decides access: the business has to sit outside the United States. The IRS reserves 267-941-1099 for entities with no legal residence, principal office, or principal agency inside a US state or the District of Columbia. An applicant whose company sits in Texas cannot use the line.

The number is not toll free. The IRS publishes 267-941-1099 as a direct Philadelphia line, and the caller pays the international call charge. The EIN itself still costs $0, on this route and on every other route the IRS operates.

Speed is what makes the line worth the call charge. Fax and mail return nothing until the IRS processes the form, while the phone assistor reads the number back before the call ends. That single difference is why a founder outside the US reaches for the phone first.

Who can apply for an EIN by phone?

International applicants can. The IRS opens 267-941-1099 to entities with no legal residence, principal office, or principal agency inside a US state or the District of Columbia. Domestic applicants use the online tool or fax instead.

The test is where the business sits, not where the person sits. A founder living in Lagos who forms a Wyoming LLC with a Wyoming office fails the test, because the principal office sits inside a US state. A founder whose company operates entirely from Lagos passes it.

The caller has to be authorized to receive the EIN. The IRS accepts the responsible party named on line 7a, an officer, a general partner, a trustee, an executor, or a person holding a signed authorization. The assistor asks for that role at the start of the call.

No SSN is required to call. Form SS-4 line 7b takes the word Foreign when the responsible party holds no SSN and no ITIN, and the assistor accepts that answer over the phone exactly as the IRS accepts it on paper.

The line answers one entity at a time. An applicant forming 3 companies makes 3 separate calls, because the IRS assigns one EIN per legal entity and closes each application before starting the next.

What are the IRS EIN phone line hours?

The IRS international EIN line runs Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern. It stays closed on weekends and on US federal holidays, which removes 2 days from every week.

The window spans 17 hours, which is wider than the 15-hour window the online tool keeps. That extra reach matters for callers many time zones away, because 6 a.m. Eastern is 3:30 p.m. in New Delhi and 11 p.m. Eastern is 4 a.m. the next morning in Lagos.

Wait times run longest at the open and at the top of each hour. Callers who dial mid-morning Eastern reach an assistor faster than callers who dial at 6 a.m. Eastern, when the queue that built overnight clears.

Weekend closure is absolute. A founder whose state formation certificate arrives on a Friday night waits until 6 a.m. Eastern on Monday before anyone answers, and a US federal holiday pushes that to Tuesday.

Budget the whole call in one sitting. The assistor completes the application in a single conversation, and a dropped call restarts the process from the first line of Form SS-4.

What do you need before you call 267-941-1099?

Complete Form SS-4 first. Have 8 items ready: the exact legal name, the mailing address, the country of organization, the formation date, the responsible party's name, line 7b, the entity type, and the principal activity.

The assistor reads Form SS-4 line by line and enters your spoken answers. A completed form in front of you turns an 18-line interview into 18 quick reads, and it removes the pauses that stretch a call into a second attempt.

The legal name on line 1 has to match the state or country registration character for character. LLC and L.L.C. read as 2 different entities inside IRS records, and a mismatch surfaces months later as a rejected bank application rather than an error on the call.

Line 7b is the field that decides everything for an applicant with no US tax ID. The line takes an SSN, an ITIN, or the word Foreign. Saying Foreign to the assistor is a complete and correct answer, and the IRS issues the EIN on it.

Line 9a fixes federal tax treatment for the life of the entity. One member produces a disregarded entity, and 2 or more members produce a partnership that files Form 1065 every year after. Line 10 records the reason for applying, and line 18 records whether this entity ever held an EIN before.

Write the number down as the assistor says it, then read it back. The IRS speaks the 9-digit EIN once during the call, and a caller who mishears one digit spends weeks correcting a bank record built on the wrong number.

How does the EIN phone call work, step by step?

The call runs in 5 stages: identity and authority, entity details from Form SS-4 lines 1 through 6, responsible party from lines 7a and 7b, entity and activity from lines 8a through 17, then the EIN read aloud.

Stage 1 establishes who you are. The assistor asks for your name, your role in the entity, and a callback number, and confirms that you hold authority to receive the EIN. A caller with no listed role and no signed authorization stops here.

Stage 2 covers the entity block. Lines 1 through 6 carry the legal name, any trade name, the mailing address, the street address, and the county and state or foreign country of the principal office. Foreign addresses are read out in full, including the postal code.

Stage 3 covers the responsible party. Line 7a takes the name, line 7b takes the SSN, the ITIN, or the word Foreign. The assistor does not ask for a passport, and no document is uploaded or mailed on this route.

Stage 4 covers structure and purpose. Line 8a asks whether the entity is an LLC, line 9a asks the entity type, line 10 asks the reason for applying, line 11 asks the start date, line 16 asks the principal activity, and line 17 asks what the business sells.

Stage 5 delivers the number. The assistor reads the 9-digit EIN, spells it back on request, and confirms that the IRS will mail the CP-575 confirmation letter to the address given on the call. The EIN is active for filing from that moment.

Can someone else call the IRS for your EIN?

Yes. Name that person in the Third Party Designee block on Form SS-4, and sign the form. The authorization covers one EIN and ends the moment the IRS assigns it. Form 2848 grants broader authority.

The Third Party Designee block sits at the foot of Form SS-4, above the signature line. It carries the designee's name, address, phone, and fax, and it authorizes that person to receive the EIN and answer questions about the application.

The authority is narrow on purpose. A third party designee holds authority over 1 application and loses it when the EIN is issued, which is why the block cannot stand in for a general power of attorney on later tax matters.

Form 2848 grants representation authority that outlives the EIN assignment, and Form 8821 grants information access without representation. An applicant who wants an accountant handling future IRS correspondence files one of those 2 forms separately.

The responsible party still has to sign. An unsigned Form SS-4 carries no designee authority at all, and the assistor ends the call rather than issuing a number to an unauthorized caller.

Why do EIN phone applications fail?

Phone applications fail for 5 reasons: a domestic principal office, an unauthorized caller, a legal name that conflicts with IRS records, a call placed outside the 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern window, or an incomplete Form SS-4.

A domestic principal office is the most common block. The IRS routes those applicants to the online tool at irs.gov, which issues an EIN in 15 minutes for $0 to any responsible party holding an SSN or ITIN.

Name conflicts stop the call the same way they stop the online tool. A legal name resembling an entity that already holds an EIN raises the same condition the online tool reports as reference number 101, and the application moves to a written Form SS-4 for a human reviewer.

Authority failures end the call in stage 1, before Form SS-4 line 1 is read. A bookkeeper with no role in the entity and no signed Third Party Designee block cannot receive the number, no matter how complete the form is.

Hold times end more calls than rejections do. A caller who waits, hangs up, and calls back the following day loses no progress, because the IRS stores nothing from an abandoned call.

The fallback is always fax. A rejected or abandoned phone application costs nothing and blocks nothing, and the same Form SS-4 goes to 855-641-6935 from a US-based entity or 855-215-1627 from outside the United States, at $0.

What happens after the IRS gives you an EIN by phone?

The EIN is active for filing immediately. The IRS mails the CP-575 confirmation letter to the address given on the call. The EIN never expires, and it costs $0 in year 2 and every year after.

The CP-575 is the document banks read. Mercury, Wise, Relay, Stripe, PayPal, and Amazon each match the legal name on the CP-575 against the formation document, and a 1-character mismatch stalls the account opening.

The IRS issues 1 CP-575 per EIN and never reprints it. A replacement arrives only as a 147C letter, requested by phone on the same 267-941-1099 line for international entities, and the 147C carries the same weight with banks.

Mail delivery of the CP-575 takes longer than the call did. The letter travels by post to the address on the application, and a foreign address adds transit time that no IRS route shortens.

The number costs $0 in year 2 and every year after. An EIN never renews, never expires, and never carries a maintenance fee. Applying a second time for the same entity creates 2 tax accounts rather than replacing the first.

How does the phone route compare to online, fax, and mail?

Phone returns the EIN in one call and serves international entities only. Online returns it in 15 minutes and needs an SSN or ITIN. Fax and mail accept everyone and return nothing live. Every IRS route costs $0.

Source: IRS, verified July 2026. Business days are Monday to Friday, excluding US federal holidays. ET is US Eastern time.

What does EIN help cost when the phone route fails?

The IRS charges $0 on every route. Filing services charge for execution: einnumber.co $67 or $97, Rocket Lawyer $59.99, ZenBusiness $99, Northwest $200 at the no-SSN rate. All figures verified July 2026.

Reference prices verified July 2026. Year 2 cost is $0 on every row, because an EIN never renews. The IRS fee stays $0 whoever files the form.

Doing it yourself costs $0 on every channel. If the international line is closed or the assistor ends the call without issuing a number, the paper fallback is documented on the ein by fax page, and an applicant who does hold an SSN should use the free web tool covered on the irs ein assistant page. The complete process for a founder with no SSN at all, from line 7b through delivery, sits on the apply for ein without ssn page.

What else do people ask about applying for an EIN by phone?

These 10 questions cover the IRS phone route: the number 267-941-1099, the hours, who qualifies, the cost, and the fax fallback. The IRS charges $0 for an EIN on every route it operates.

Rather not sit on the line?

Have an SSN? Use irs.gov, free, 15 minutes. No SSN? We prepare Form SS-4, enter Foreign on line 7b, and file by fax within 5 business days for $67, or within 24 hours for $97 with the IRS call included. You receive the 9-digit EIN and the official IRS CP-575 letter.

No SSN. No passport upload. · filed on time, or the filing is free