Where did the IRS first send your EIN number?
The IRS printed your EIN once, on the CP-575 assignment notice it mailed within 6 to 11 weeks of approving Form SS-4. The 9 digits sit in the top block, beside the legal name. That notice is where to find your EIN first.
The CP-575 is a single-print document. The IRS never reissues the original, so a lost CP-575 is common and expected. Check 3 places before you assume it is gone: the folder from when the business formed, the email your accountant sent, and the file your registered agent keeps.
Read what the original notice contains, and how to prove the EIN when the CP-575 is missing, on the EIN confirmation letter (CP-575) page. If the CP-575 is gone for good, the IRS replaces it with Letter 147C at $0, covered below.
Which documents show your EIN number?
Thirteen documents print your EIN in a fixed field. The CP-575 carries it in the top block, Form 1120 in box B, Form 1065 in box D, Schedule C on line D, and every W-2 you issued in box b.
Work down the table. Each row names the exact field, so you check a document in seconds instead of reading it. The first 11 rows cost $0 and finish inside 5 minutes each. This is where to find your EIN number without calling anyone.
| Document | Where the EIN prints | Who holds a copy | Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| IRS CP-575 assignment notice | Top block, printed beside the legal name | Your formation file or your accountant | 1 |
| IRS Letter 147C | First line of the letter body | Anyone who requested a replacement before | 1 |
| Form 1120, C corporation return | Box B, page 1 header | Your tax preparer | 2 |
| Form 1120-S, S corporation return | Box D, page 1 header | Your tax preparer | 2 |
| Form 1065, partnership return | Box D, page 1 header | Your tax preparer | 2 |
| Form 941, quarterly payroll return | Line 1, employer identification number field | Your payroll provider | 3 |
| Form 940, annual FUTA return | Employer identification number field, top of page 1 | Your payroll provider | 3 |
| Schedule C filed with Form 1040 | Line D, page 1 | Your personal tax file | 2 |
| Any W-2 your business issued | Box b, employer's identification number | Payroll software or your year-end archive | 3 |
| Any 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC you issued | Payer's TIN box, upper left | Your accounting software | 3 |
| Form W-9 you signed for a client | Part I, employer identification number boxes | Any client who paid the business | 2 |
| Business bank account file | The account application and the annual tax-document page | Your bank | 5 |
| State registration, licence, or sales tax file | The federal EIN field the state collected at registration | Your state agency portal | 5 |
Source: IRS forms 1120, 1120-S, 1065, 941, 940, W-2, 1099-NEC, W-9 and Schedule C, verified August 2026.
Two rows deserve attention. A signed Form W-9 sits with every client who ever paid your business, which makes it the fastest route when your own files are gone. And your bank checked the EIN against the CP-575 before it opened the account, so the bank file holds a number that was verified once already.
One warning: a W-2, a 1099, and a W-9 all copy the number from your own records. A digit typed wrong 3 years ago repeats on all 3 forms. Treat matching numbers across 2 independent sources as confirmation, and treat a single form as a lead.
Where is your EIN number on returns, bank records, and payroll?
Every business return prints your EIN in its page-1 header. Bank records carry it on the account application. Payroll filings and the W-2s and 1099s you issue all repeat it. Each read takes 2 to 5 minutes.
Past tax returns are the surest source, because a preparer verified the number before filing. This table names the exact box on each return so you go straight to it.
| Return | Where it prints | Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Form 1120 | Box B, page 1 | 2 |
| Form 1120-S | Box D, page 1 | 2 |
| Form 1065 | Box D, page 1 | 2 |
| Form 941 | Line 1, page 1 | 3 |
| Schedule C (1040) | Line D, page 1 | 2 |
| Form W-2 | Box b, copy 1 | 3 |
| Form 1099-NEC | Payer TIN, page 1 | 3 |
Source: IRS return instructions, verified August 2026.
Bank records and prior filings
Your business bank recorded the EIN on the account application and on every year-end 1099-INT it sent. One 5-minute call to the bank, plus an identity check on the signer, returns the 9 digits. State filings hold it too: the EIN sits in the federal-ID field your state collected at registration, and most state portals show it after login.
Payroll, W-2s, and 1099s
If the business ran payroll, Form 941 prints the EIN on line 1 of all 4 quarterly returns, and Form 940 prints it once a year. Every W-2 you issued shows it in box b, and every 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC shows it in the payer’s TIN box. Your payroll provider stores all 3 for at least 4 years.
How do you call the IRS to get your EIN number?
Call the IRS Business & Specialty line at 800-829-4933, open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time. An authorized person answers 5 verification questions and the IRS issues Letter 147C at $0. International callers use 267-941-1099.
The call fails on preparation, not on eligibility. Have these 5 answers open before you dial, in this order.
| Step | What the IRS asks | What you have open |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Your name and your role in the business | Your title: owner, partner, corporate officer, trustee, or executor |
| 2 | The legal name of the entity | The formation document, so you read it character for character |
| 3 | The address the IRS has on file | The address you entered on line 4a of the original Form SS-4 |
| 4 | The entity type and where it was formed | Your answers to line 9a and line 9b of Form SS-4 |
| 5 | How you want Letter 147C delivered | A fax number you control, or the mailing address on file |
Source: IRS Business & Specialty line, verified August 2026.
Step 2 decides the call. The IRS matches the legal name you speak against the name recorded from line 1 of your original Form SS-4. LLC and L.L.C. are 2 different names in that record, and so are a trailing Inc and Inc. with a period. Read the formation document out loud rather than reciting from memory.
Wait times run longest on Mondays and after the April 15 deadline. Call within the first hour after 7 a.m. local, and the queue is shortest. Ask the agent to fax Letter 147C the same day, so you skip the 4 to 6 week mail window.
What is Letter 147C and how do you request it?
Letter 147C is the official IRS replacement for a lost CP-575. It shows the same 9-digit EIN beside the same legal name. The IRS issues it at $0 by mail or fax, on the same call that verifies your authority.
Banks, Stripe, PayPal, and Amazon accept Letter 147C in place of the original CP-575, so it fully replaces the notice you lost. The letter arrives by fax the same day, or by mail in 4 to 6 weeks. The IRS sends it only to the address or fax on file, never to a new one given on the call.
The step-by-step request script, the fax cover-sheet details, and the exact wait times sit on the EIN verification letter (147C) page. That page is the deep guide to the 147C; this one shows you 12 faster ways to find the number before you ever request it.
How do you confirm the EIN number you found is right?
Run 3 checks. Confirm the number is 9 digits printed as 2, a hyphen, then 7. Confirm the legal name beside it matches your formation document. Then confirm the same 9 digits appear on a second, independent document.
Check the shape: 2 digits, hyphen, 7 digits. An EIN is always 9 digits. A 10-digit number is a state ID, and a 9-digit number printed as 3-2-4 is a Social Security Number, not an EIN.
Check the name printed beside it. The EIN belongs to the legal name from line 1 of Form SS-4. A trade name on the document means you are reading a DBA, and a DBA never holds its own EIN.
Check a second independent source. A filed Form 1120 and a bank file are 2 independent records. A W-2 and a 1099 you issued are 1, because both copy the same internal record.
Check for a transcription error. The digit 0 and the letter O read alike in a scan, and so do 1 and 7 in handwriting. Compare against a printed IRS document before you rely on the number.
Check whether the entity has 2 EINs. A parent and a subsidiary hold 2 separate numbers. Line 18 of Form SS-4 asks whether the entity ever received an EIN before, and that answer is where a second number surfaces.
The 2-digit prefix answers nothing about the business. It once identified the IRS campus that assigned the number, and it stopped mapping to a location when the IRS centralized EIN assignment in 2001. Two businesses formed in the same state in the same week carry unrelated prefixes.
How do you find your EIN number without an SSN?
The same way anyone does. All 13 document routes read paperwork you hold, and Letter 147C verifies authority over the entity, not a Social Security Number. A new EIN takes the word Foreign on line 7b of Form SS-4.
| Channel | Number | What it is used for |
|---|---|---|
| IRS international phone line | 267-941-1099 | Requesting Letter 147C from outside the United States |
| IRS fax, US-based entity | 855-641-6935 | Filing Form SS-4 when the entity has a US business address |
| IRS fax, international | 855-215-1627 | Filing Form SS-4 when the entity has no US business address |
Source: IRS, verified August 2026.
Line 7b is the field that decides the route on a new application. It takes an SSN, an ITIN, or the word Foreign. Foreign on line 7b blocks the IRS online assistant and sends the form to one of the 2 fax numbers above. The IRS asks for no identity document with Form SS-4, and no passport is required at any step.
Field-by-field rules for all 18 numbered fields sit on the Form SS-4 page, and the honest price answer sits on the free EIN number page.
How is finding your EIN number different from looking up another company’s?
Your own EIN reads documents you hold, or the IRS releases it to you at $0. Another company’s EIN is not yours to request, so you use public sources: SEC filings for public firms, and 990 returns for nonprofits.
The IRS runs no public database for private-company EINs. That is the core difference. For your own entity, authority over the business unlocks Letter 147C. For a vendor or partner, no such authority exists, so the number surfaces only where the law already publishes it, or where the business hands it to you directly.
Public companies. A traded company prints its EIN on the cover of every 10-K and 8-K it files with the SEC. EDGAR search returns it in under 2 minutes, at $0.
Nonprofits. A tax-exempt organization files a Form 990 that lists its EIN on page 1. ProPublica and the IRS Tax Exempt Search both index it for free.
Private companies. A private business EIN appears in no public database. Request it on a Form W-9, which the vendor is required to return before you issue a 1099.
The full method for a third party’s number, source by source, sits on the find an EIN for a business page. Both self-lookup and third-party lookup are mapped from the EIN number lookup hub.
How much does finding your EIN number cost?
Finding it costs $0. The IRS charges $0 for Letter 147C and $0 to assign an EIN in the first place. An EIN also costs $0 in year 2 and every year after, because an EIN never renews and never expires.
| What you are doing | Handled by | Price | Filing guarantee in writing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading the EIN off a document, 1 to 5 minutes | You | $0 | Not stated |
| Requesting Letter 147C | The IRS | $0 | Not stated |
| Applying for a new EIN with an SSN, 15 minutes | irs.gov online assistant | $0 | Not stated |
| Applying for a new EIN with no SSN | einnumber.co Standard | $67 | Filed by fax within 5 business days or the filing is free |
| Applying for a new EIN with no SSN | einnumber.co Fast | $97 | Filed and the IRS call made within 24 hours, guaranteed, or the filing is free |
| Applying for a new EIN with no SSN | Northwest | $200 | Not stated |
| Applying for a new EIN | ZenBusiness | $99 | Not stated |
| Applying for a new EIN | Rocket Lawyer | $59.99 | Not stated |
Competitor prices verified August 2026. Northwest reflects the no-SSN rate. Business days are Monday to Friday, excluding US federal holidays.
Read this before paying anyone, including us. If your business already has an EIN, nothing on this page needs a payment. Work the 13 documents, then call the IRS. The $67 exists for one situation only: an entity that has never held an EIN, whose responsible party holds no SSN and no ITIN, and whose application therefore runs on paper and fax with no tracking number.
For that case, einnumber.co prepares all 18 fields of Form SS-4, verifies the legal name character by character, and files by fax within 5 business days of your completed details on Standard, $67, landing 12–14 business days total. Fast files within 24 hours for $97 with the IRS call included, landing under a week. Support runs on live chat 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, plus a dedicated post-purchase chat and email. Ready? get started.