Get EIN From India: The Complete Route From an Indian Address (2026)

How do you get an EIN from India?

File Form SS-4 with the IRS. Enter the word Foreign on line 7b when the responsible party holds no SSN or ITIN, then fax the form to 855-215-1627. The IRS fee is $0.

The EIN is a 9-digit federal tax number written in the format 12-3456789. The IRS issues it to the business entity, not to the person, which is why an owner living in Bengaluru qualifies for one on exactly the same terms as an owner living in Ohio.

There are 4 filing channels: the online EIN Assistant at irs.gov, the fax route, the mail route, and the IRS international phone line at 267-941-1099. The online Assistant validates the responsible party against SSN and ITIN records, so an applicant holding neither is stopped at that screen. The other 3 channels stay open.

Nothing on Form SS-4 asks for a US visit, a US bank account, a US phone number, or a passport scan. The form runs 18 numbered fields on a single page, and a founder in Bengaluru completes the same 18 fields as a founder in Boston.

This page covers the parts that are specific to filing from an Indian address: the address block, the IST windows, the fax choice, and the annual filings that start the day the number arrives.

The step-by-step filing sequence for a responsible party with no US tax ID sits on the apply for ein without ssn page, which covers all 18 fields in order.

Which EIN route applies to you from India?

Have an SSN or ITIN? Use irs.gov, free, 15 minutes. No SSN? Fax Form SS-4 to 855-215-1627 or call 267-941-1099, still $0, or we file it for $67 or $97.

This one question decides everything else on the page. An Indian citizen who spent 3 years on an H-1B in the United States holds an SSN, and that SSN clears the online Assistant in a single 15-minute session. Nothing on this page applies to that person beyond the address fields.

An Indian citizen who has never held a US tax ID takes the paper route. That is a channel limit, not an eligibility rule: the IRS issues the identical EIN through both doors, and line 7b of Form SS-4 exists precisely to accept a responsible party with no US number.

Have an SSN? irs.gov is free — really. The tool issues the number on screen, the CP-575 downloads at the end of the session, and paying anyone in that situation buys nothing at all.

Does a PAN or Aadhaar work on Form SS-4?

No. A PAN is 10 characters and an Aadhaar is 12 digits, and the IRS validates line 7b against US records only. Enter the single word Foreign instead. The application is accepted.

The PAN is issued by the Income Tax Department of India and the Aadhaar is issued by UIDAI. A GSTIN runs 15 characters and a company CIN runs 21 characters. None of these 4 identifiers exists in any IRS database, so entering one on line 7b produces a field the reviewer cannot verify.

Line 7b is a single free-text field on the paper form. The instructions for Form SS-4 state that a responsible party without an SSN, ITIN, or EIN enters the word Foreign. That English word is a complete, correct answer, and it is what the IRS reviewer expects to read.

Line 7a still needs a human name. Enter the responsible party's full legal name as it appears on the Indian identity document, spelled the same way it appears on the US formation certificate. A middle name on one document and not the other is enough to slow a review.

One person controls the filing. The IRS defines the responsible party as the individual who controls or directs the entity and its funds. A 3-member Indian founding team names 1 of the 3 on line 7a, and the other 2 appear nowhere on the form.

Sources, verified July 2026: IRS Instructions for Form SS-4, line 7b, for the word Foreign. The 10-character PAN is specified by the Income Tax Department of India, the 12-digit Aadhaar number by the Unique Identification Authority of India, the 15-character GSTIN by the Goods and Services Tax Network, and the 21-character CIN by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

What goes on each Form SS-4 line from an Indian address?

Line 4b takes the Indian city, state, PIN code, and India. Lines 5a and 5b stay blank without a US office. Line 7b takes Foreign. Line 18 is answered No for a first application.

The address block is where Indian applications go wrong most, because the form was laid out for US addresses. Line 4b has a field labelled ZIP code, and a 6-digit PIN code goes there. There is no separate international format and no attachment required.

Lines 5a and 5b hold a street address inside the United States. A founder with a Delaware or Wyoming LLC and no physical US office leaves both lines empty rather than repeating the registered agent's address, because the IRS mails the CP-575 to line 4b.

Line 9a decides federal tax treatment for the life of the entity. A single-member LLC owned by 1 Indian individual is a disregarded entity. A 2-member LLC is a partnership that files Form 1065 every year. Changing that later requires a separate election, not a second EIN.

Line 10 takes the reason for applying. Started new business is correct for a newly formed LLC. Banking purpose is correct when the entity already exists and the EIN is needed to open an account. The wrong entry on line 10 does not stop the EIN, and the right one shortens the review.

Source: IRS Form SS-4 and its instructions, verified July 2026. Line numbers are the ones printed on the form. The 6-digit PIN code entered in the line 4b ZIP field is the postal code format specified by India Post.

What time do the IRS EIN channels open in Indian Standard Time?

Indian Standard Time runs 9 hours 30 minutes ahead of Eastern time in July. The IRS phone line opens 3:30 p.m. IST and closes 8:30 a.m. IST. Fax accepts pages at any hour.

The gap changes twice a year. From March to early November, Eastern time is UTC minus 4 and IST is UTC plus 5:30, a gap of 9 hours 30 minutes. From November to March, Eastern time is UTC minus 5 and the gap widens to 10 hours 30 minutes. Every IRS hour on this page shifts by 60 minutes in that window.

The online Assistant runs 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern, which is 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. IST. That is a workable window for an Indian applicant with an SSN, and it is closed on weekends and on US federal holidays.

The phone line at 267-941-1099 runs 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern, which is 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. IST. A call placed at 8 p.m. IST on a Tuesday reaches an assistor at 10:30 a.m. Eastern, mid-morning on the same US business day.

Fax has no clock at all. A page sent at 4 a.m. IST on a Sunday sits in the IRS queue until the next US business day begins, which is why the fax route removes the time-zone problem entirely rather than working around it.

Source: IRS, verified July 2026. IST is UTC+5:30 year round. Eastern time is UTC−4 from March to early November and UTC−5 from November to March, so every IST window above shifts 1 hour later in the US winter.

How do you fax Form SS-4 from India without a fax machine?

Use an internet fax service that sends a PDF to a US number. Dial 855-215-1627 as 001-855-215-1627 or +1-855-215-1627 from India. The IRS charges $0 to receive it.

There are 2 IRS fax numbers and picking the wrong one delays the file. 855-215-1627 is for applicants whose business has no legal residence or principal office in a US state. 855-641-6935 is for entities based in a US state. A Wyoming LLC run from Pune with a US business address uses 855-641-6935.

Send the whole 1-page form in a single transmission, right side up. Include a return fax number on the form so the IRS can fax the EIN back rather than mailing it, which is the difference between 4 business days and 4 weeks.

Fax gives no receipt from the IRS. There is no reference number, no tracking page, and no confirmation of delivery. The transmission report from the fax service proves the pages left India; it proves nothing about what happened at the other end.

Sign line 18 by hand before scanning. An unsigned Form SS-4 is returned, and a return trip across an ocean costs weeks. The signature block also needs a daytime phone number, and an Indian mobile with the +91 country code is accepted there.

The transmission mechanics, both IRS numbers, and what happens after the pages land sit on the ein by fax page.

How long does an EIN take from India?

Fax returns an EIN in 4 business days when a return fax number is on the form. Mail takes 4 weeks. The phone line issues the number during the call. Business days exclude US federal holidays.

US business days are Monday to Friday, excluding US federal holidays, and they do not track the Indian calendar. Diwali, Holi, and Republic Day are ordinary working days at the IRS. US federal holidays are not working days, and neither is any Saturday or Sunday.

The 4-business-day fax figure assumes a clean form. A missing line 7b entry, an unsigned line 18, or a legal name that does not match the state formation record puts the application into manual review and restarts the clock.

Mail from an Indian address adds international transit on top of the 4-week IRS processing window. That route suits an applicant with no deadline, and it carries the same $0 IRS fee as every other channel.

einnumber.co Standard costs $67 and faxes the form within 5 business days of receiving completed details, or the filing is free, landing at 12–14 business days total. Fast costs $97, is filed within 24 hours with the IRS call included, and lands under a week.

Source: IRS, verified July 2026. Business days are Monday to Friday, excluding US federal holidays. Indian public holidays do not change the IRS calendar.

What can you open with the EIN once it arrives?

The EIN plus the CP-575 letter and the state formation certificate opens US business banking and payment accounts. Providers verify the legal name on the CP-575 against the formation document, character for character.

Mercury, Wise, Relay, Payoneer, Stripe, and PayPal each ask for the EIN and the entity's legal name during onboarding. The check is a string comparison. Sunrise Labs LLC on the certificate and Sunrise Labs L.L.C. on the CP-575 read as 2 different entities and produce a rejection with no explanation.

The CP-575 is issued once per EIN and the IRS never reprints it. A replacement arrives later only as a 147C letter, requested by phone on 267-941-1099. Store the original the day it arrives, because the second copy costs a call and a wait rather than money.

An Amazon seller account adds its own tax interview on top of the bank check, and that interview asks for the EIN before the first payout clears, and no payout is released without it.

Hiring anyone in the United States, including a household worker, requires the EIN before the first payroll run, because the number identifies the employer on every wage filing.

The marketplace sequence sits on the ein for amazon page, and the US payroll sequence sits on the ein for household employer page.

What does an Indian owner file after the EIN arrives?

A single-member LLC owned by a non-US person files Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 by April 15 each year. The penalty for missing it is $25,000 per form, per year.

The EIN opens the filing obligation. A foreign-owned single-member LLC is treated as a corporation for reporting purposes, so it files a pro forma Form 1120 with Form 5472 attached even in a year with $0 of revenue. Form 7004 extends that deadline to October 15.

Form 5472 reports transactions between the LLC and its foreign owner. Capital contributed from an Indian bank account and distributions sent back to one are both reportable, and each one belongs on the form for the year it happened.

A non-resident individual with US-source income files Form 1040-NR, due June 15 when no US wages were paid. A 2-member LLC files Form 1065 and issues a Schedule K-1 to each partner instead.

The India–United States income tax treaty has been in force since 1990 and reduces US withholding on several income categories below the 30% statutory rate for FDAP income. Claiming a treaty rate takes a Form W-8BEN-E given to the US payer, and that form asks for the EIN.

Sources, verified July 2026: IRS Instructions for Form 5472 and Internal Revenue Code section 6038A for the $25,000 per-form, per-year penalty; IRS Form 1120 instructions for the April 15 due date and Form 7004 for the extension to October 15; IRS Form 1040-NR instructions for the June 15 date when no US wages were paid; IRS Publication 515 for the 30% statutory FDAP withholding rate; and the United States–India income tax treaty, signed 1989, in force since 1990, per the IRS treaty tables.

Why do EIN applications from India get rejected?

The 6 common causes are a PAN on line 7b, an unsigned line 18, a name mismatch with the state record, the wrong fax number, a US address with no US office, and a duplicate application.

Every one of the 6 is a paperwork defect, not a verdict on the business. The IRS does not decline EIN applications because the owner lives outside the United States, and it has no rule requiring a US resident on line 7a.

Name mismatch is the slowest failure because it surfaces late. The state issues the certificate, the IRS records what the form said, and the mismatch appears months later when a bank compares the 2 documents. Copy the legal name from the certificate character for character, including punctuation.

Reference number 101 is the online Assistant's name-conflict error, and it moves an application to paper for a human reviewer. That path ends at the same place a fax filing does, at the same $0 fee.

A second application for an entity that already has an EIN creates a second tax account rather than replacing the first. Recover a lost number by calling 267-941-1099 and requesting a 147C letter instead of reapplying.

What does getting an EIN from India cost?

The IRS charges $0 on every route: online, fax, mail, and phone. An EIN never renews, so year 2 and every year after also cost $0. Filing services charge for execution, not for the number.

There is no IRS fee, no government processing charge, and no annual EIN renewal anywhere in the system. Any page that implies the number itself costs money is describing a service fee.

An internet fax service is the only unavoidable outside cost on the free route, and it is small. The real cost of the free route from India is the blind window: no tracking, no receipt, and no way to know whether the pages arrived.

einnumber.co charges $67 one time to close that window. That covers preparing Form SS-4, entering Foreign on line 7b, and faxing it within 5 business days or the filing is free, at 12–14 business days total. Fast is $97, filed within 24 hours with the IRS call included, under a week.

Year 2 costs $0 with us as well, because there is nothing to renew and no subscription attached to the filing.

The service side of that $67, and the filing guarantee behind both tiers, sits on the home page: get your EIN filed, from $67.

Competitor prices verified July 2026. The IRS fee for an EIN is $0 on every route, and an EIN never renews.

Who in India should not pay a filing service?

Anyone whose responsible party holds an SSN or an ITIN should use irs.gov and pay $0. The online Assistant issues the same EIN in one 15-minute session, from the same IRS system.

Returning founders are the clearest case. An Indian national who worked in the United States on an H-1B or an L-1 kept the SSN permanently, and that number still clears the responsible-party screen years after leaving.

ITIN holders clear the same screen. An Indian resident who already filed a US return and holds an ITIN uses the free tool exactly as a US resident does, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. IST, Monday to Friday.

A US-resident co-founder solves it too. If any 1 person with an SSN qualifies as the responsible party under the IRS definition, name that person on line 7a and the whole application runs online in 15 minutes at $0.

The paid route exists for the applicants the tool turns away, and for no one else. The honest boundary is a single field on a single form, and it is line 7b.

What else do people in India ask about getting an EIN?

These 10 questions cover the 2 IRS fax numbers, the IST windows, the 4-business-day fax timeline, and the annual Form 5472 filing. Every answer stands on its own, and every one names the IRS fee of $0.

Filing from India without an SSN?

Have an SSN? Use irs.gov, free, 15 minutes. Without one, Standard is $67: we prepare Form SS-4 and fax it within 5 business days or the filing is free, 12–14 business days total for your 9-digit EIN and IRS CP-575 letter. Fast is $97, filed within 24 hours with the IRS call included, under a week.

No SSN. No passport upload. · compare the $67 and $97 tiers