How to Get an EIN: The Complete Guide (2026)
Every guide to getting an EIN jumps straight to the application form. This one doesn't — because the actual application takes ten minutes once you understand what an EIN is, why you need one, and which of the several application paths actually applies to you. Start here first.
How to get an EIN: an EIN (Employer Identification Number) is a free, nine-digit federal tax ID issued by the IRS, functioning like a Social Security Number for your business. You need one to open a business bank account, file business taxes, hire employees, and generally to keep your personal SSN off business paperwork. There are three main application paths: online (US-based applicants with an SSN or ITIN, instant approval), by mail or fax using Form SS-4 (takes days to weeks), or by phone specifically for international applicants without an SSN. An EIN is always free directly from the IRS — any service charging a fee for "EIN filing" is charging for something you can get yourself at no cost.
- Cost from the IRS
- Always free
- Fastest application method
- Online — instant for eligible US applicants
- Application form (mail/fax)
- Form SS-4
- Do all LLCs legally need one?
- Not always, but almost always recommended
- International applicant path
- Phone application, no SSN required
- Common scam to avoid
- Paid “EIN filing services” charging for a free process
How to Get an EIN: What It Actually Is First
Before you learn how to get an EIN, it helps to know what you're actually getting: an EIN (Employer Identification Number) is a free, nine-digit federal tax ID issued by the IRS, formatted like XX-XXXXXXX. It functions for your business roughly the way a Social Security Number functions for you personally — a unique identifier the IRS, banks, and other institutions use to track your business's tax and financial activity. Despite the name, you don't need actual employees to get one; the "Employer" in the name is a historical artifact of the form's original purpose, not a current requirement.
Why You Need an EIN
- Opening a business bank account — virtually every bank requires an EIN before opening an account in your LLC's name.
- Filing business taxes — required for most LLC tax filings beyond a basic single-member disregarded entity.
- Hiring employees — required to run payroll and report employment taxes.
- Keeping your SSN private — using an EIN on business paperwork, vendor forms, and contracts instead of your personal Social Security Number is a genuine, simple privacy improvement.
- Building business credit — your EIN anchors your entire business credit file, separate from your personal credit.
Who Actually Needs One (and Who Technically Doesn't)
Here's a nuance most guides skip: a single-member LLC with no employees, taxed as a default disregarded entity, isn't strictly required to have an EIN by the IRS — you could technically use your SSN instead. In practice, almost every LLC owner gets one anyway, since most banks require it to open an account, and it's a simple, free way to keep your SSN off business paperwork. Multi-member LLCs, LLCs that elect S-Corp or C-Corp taxation, and any LLC with employees are always required to have one.
How to Get an EIN: The Three Application Paths
Online (fastest)
For US-based applicants with a valid SSN or ITIN. Instant approval, available directly through IRS.gov. See our step-by-step online application guide.
By mail or fax (Form SS-4)
Available to anyone, including international applicants. Takes anywhere from several days (fax) to several weeks (mail) for processing.
By phone (international applicants)
The path for applicants without an SSN or ITIN who can't use the online system. See our EIN application guide for non-residents for the full process.
If your LLC is foreign-owned — meaning at least one non-US owner — there are additional annual reporting requirements beyond just getting the EIN itself. See our EIN for foreign-owned LLCs guide for those specifics.
Cost — and the Scam to Watch For
An EIN is always free directly from the IRS. This is worth repeating because it's genuinely the most common scam adjacent to this process: third-party websites designed to look official will charge $50, $100, or more for "EIN filing services," processing the exact same free application on your behalf. Some formation services legitimately include EIN filing as part of a paid package — that's a fair value trade if you're already paying for other services — but if a site's only offering is "get your EIN," you're paying for something you could do yourself at IRS.gov at no cost.
What to Do With Your EIN Once You Have It
- Save your EIN confirmation letter (CP 575 or 147C) somewhere secure — banks and other institutions will ask for it.
- Open your business bank account using your EIN and approved Articles of Organization.
- Start building business credit under your EIN, separate from your personal credit.
- Use it on all business paperwork going forward — vendor forms, contracts, tax filings — instead of your personal SSN.
Which Application Path Fits You?
Which EIN Application Path Fits You?
1 question · a starting-point answer
Ahmad Adil's Take: the amount of confusion I see around "how to get an EIN" almost never comes from the application itself — it's genuinely simple once you're on the right form. It comes from people not knowing which path applies to them, or worse, paying a third-party site for something IRS.gov gives away free. If you take one thing from this page: confirm which of the three paths actually fits your situation before you touch any application, and never pay a standalone fee just to get an EIN.
Sources
This guide draws on current IRS guidance. For primary source material: the IRS's EIN application guidance and the IRS's LLC classification overview.
- ✓Forms your LLC for $39 + state fee
- ✓Files online with your state’s filing agency
- ✓Free registered agent the first year
- ✓No upsells · No data selling · Privacy by Default
Disclosure: LLC School may earn a commission via this link, at no cost to you. See our advertising disclosure.
How to Get an EIN — FAQ
Ahmad Adil is the founder and CEO of LLC School. The figures here — EIN application requirements and processing timelines — reflect current IRS guidance as of July 2026. This is educational content, not legal or tax advice.
About Ahmad Adil → Compare States →Northwest Registered Agent Review — Company Overview
In this Northwest Registered Agent review, we cover the company that most independent evaluators — including LLCUniversity, LLC.org, Startup Savant, and LLC Starters — consistently rank as the top overall LLC formation and registered agent service. Northwest Registered Agent was founded in 1998 in Spokane, Washington as a registered agent service before expanding into full LLC formation. It remains a privately held, family-owned company with real offices in all 50 states and DC.
Their tagline — "We're just not annoying" — is a direct shot at the rest of the industry, and it's largely accurate. Where most formation services use confusing tier structures, aggressive checkout upsells, and post-formation spam calls from selling your data to third-party marketers, Northwest does none of those things. That's the core of their value proposition, and it holds up under scrutiny.
Northwest Registered Agent Review — Complete 2026 Pricing
Northwest's pricing model is the most transparent in the industry. One package, one price, everything disclosed upfront. Here is the complete breakdown for the Northwest Registered Agent review.
What's Included in Northwest's $39 — Full Feature List
The most important part of any Northwest Registered Agent review is understanding exactly what comes with the $39 fee — because it's substantially more than what "$0 formation" competitors include in their base price.
Northwest Registered Agent Review — Pros and Cons
Here is the complete honest assessment from our Northwest Registered Agent review — the genuine advantages and the real documented limitations, in equal detail.
What Northwest Does Exceptionally Well
- Privacy by Default — Northwest's own address appears on all public state filings instead of yours. This is a genuine differentiator. No other major formation service does this as a standard default. Your home address never enters public records.
- No data selling — Northwest explicitly does not sell customer data to third-party marketers. You will not receive the wave of spam calls and emails that commonly follow formation with Bizee or other services.
- Zero upsells at checkout — the $39 checkout has no pop-ups, no countdown timers, no "are you sure you don't need the premium plan?" The process is clean and honest.
- Corporate Guides — dedicated US-based human advisors with real knowledge. Everyone at Northwest does customer service — there's no separate sales team. You can reach someone who knows what an LLC is and can answer specific state questions.
- Same-day filing — in most states, your documents are submitted to the state the same business day you order. No processing queue, no rush fee.
- $125/yr flat RA — price-locked — the renewal price never increases. After year one free, you pay $125/yr forever. ZenBusiness charges $199/yr; LegalZoom charges $249/yr for equivalent service.
- Error-free guarantee — if Northwest makes a filing error, they file all corrections at no cost. This is explicitly stated in their terms.
- Business Identity suite (Jan 2026) — domain, website hosting, business email, phone number all included at no extra charge while your RA remains active.
- Non-US residents served — Northwest can form a Delaware LLC or C-Corp for non-US residents without an SSN, using their own address throughout the process.
Real Limitations You Should Know
- No weekend support — M–F 9am–8pm ET only. If you have an urgent question on Saturday, you're waiting until Monday. This is the most commonly cited limitation in user reviews.
- No live chat — phone and email only. ZenBusiness has 7-day live chat. Northwest does not.
- Business Identity add-ons are hard to cancel — multiple documented user complaints about difficulty canceling the domain, email, and web hosting services when they decide to switch providers. Domain transfers in particular have taken weeks. This is the most serious documented problem in recent reviews.
- EIN not included — requires a $50 add-on. However, the EIN is always free at IRS.gov and takes 10 minutes, so this is a convenience charge rather than a genuine gap.
- Basic dashboard — functional but not modern. No mobile app. If you're used to polished SaaS interfaces, Northwest's utilitarian dashboard will feel dated.
- Not for complex structures — not well-suited for LLCs with unusual ownership structures, multi-class membership interests, or complex formation needs. An attorney is recommended in those cases.
- No banking partnership — no integrated business bank account offering. You'll need to open your business account separately (recommended: Mercury, Chase, or Relay).
- Core RA cancellation requires phone call — you cannot cancel the RA service entirely through the dashboard; you must call. Some users find this inconvenient.
- Small Trustpilot sample — only ~222 reviews vs ZenBusiness's 30,000+. The small sample makes the Trustpilot score less representative and more volatile.
LLC School Score Breakdown — Northwest Registered Agent
Here's how we rated Northwest Registered Agent across the five criteria that matter most when choosing an LLC formation and registered agent service for our Northwest Registered Agent review.
Scores are LLC School's independent assessment. The 4.5 for Support reflects the M–F-only hours and no live chat — quality of support when reached is 5.0, but availability limitations reduce the category score.
Northwest Registered Agent Review — Real Complaints Addressed
Every honest Northwest Registered Agent review must address the documented complaints. We've reviewed BBB complaints, Trustpilot reviews, and Reddit discussions to identify the patterns. Here's what the real issues are — and how serious they are.
Multiple users on Trustpilot and Reddit have documented difficulties when trying to cancel or transfer the domain, email hosting, and web hosting services included in the Business Identity suite. Specific documented issues include:
— Domain transfers taking weeks instead of ICANN's required 5 days
— Billing continuing after cancellation was initiated
— "Cancel" button not functioning in the dashboard for some services
— Credit card cannot be removed from one service without removing it from all
Important context: These complaints specifically relate to the Business Identity add-on services — NOT the core registered agent and LLC formation service. Users who have no complaints about formation quality or RA quality often report the Business Identity issues. If you want to avoid this problem entirely: cancel the Business Identity free trials immediately after formation if you don't intend to use them long-term. Or simply don't opt into them during checkout.
Northwest's response pattern: In documented BBB complaints, Northwest's support team acknowledges and resolves billing issues when escalated. The resolution rate is high — but the friction to get there is real.
Northwest's Trustpilot profile shows approximately 57% 5-star reviews and 33% 1-star reviews — a bimodal distribution with very little middle. This pattern is common in service industries where: (1) happy customers rarely leave reviews, (2) frustrated customers are highly motivated to review, and (3) former employees or competitors can influence small review pools.
In contrast, ZenBusiness has 30,503 reviews. Bizee has 25,400+. LegalZoom has 31,000+. With 222 reviews versus their competitors' 25,000–31,000, Northwest's Trustpilot score reflects a sample that is less than 1% of the size of their competitors' review pools.
When you read the 1-star reviews, most fall into two categories: (1) Business Identity add-on billing/cancellation issues (same complaint as above), and (2) customers who had filing errors or complex situations handled poorly. The core RA and standard LLC formation service receives consistently high marks. The BBB rating is A+ with most complaints resolved to customer satisfaction.
Recommendation: Don't let the Trustpilot score sway you disproportionately given the sample size. Do read the specific 1-star reviews to understand what the failure modes are — mainly Business Identity and unusual filing situations.
Some users report difficulty reaching support — calling multiple times without getting through, or not receiving timely email responses. These complaints exist but are less frequent than the Business Identity complaints.
The context: Northwest's support is M–F 9am–8pm ET only. No weekends. No live chat. If you call during peak hours or near closing, wait times can be longer. For users accustomed to ZenBusiness's 7-day live chat, the contrast is real.
When you do reach a Corporate Guide, the quality is universally praised — knowledgeable, helpful, no scripts, no upsells. The issue is availability windows, not quality. For most LLC owners with non-urgent questions, email response within a business day is acceptable. For urgent situations requiring same-day answers on a Saturday, Northwest is the wrong choice — ZenBusiness is better.
Practical tip: Call before 3pm ET on weekdays for the best chance of immediate connection. For non-urgent questions, email works reliably within 24 hours during business days.
Northwest is not designed for complex business structures. Complaints about support quality are most common from users trying to form something other than a standard LLC or S-Corp — multi-class membership interests, unusual manager arrangements, professional LLCs with regulatory requirements, or complex operating agreements with custom provisions.
For these situations, Northwest's service reaches its limits. Their operating agreement template is a solid starting point for simple single-member or standard two-member LLCs, but it's a template — not a custom-drafted document. Northwest's Corporate Guides can answer basic questions but cannot provide legal advice.
When to use an attorney instead of Northwest: Multi-member LLC with complex profit-sharing arrangements (non-proportional to ownership), manager-managed LLC where the manager agreement needs custom provisions, LLCs that will raise outside investment, professional LLCs (PLLCs) for licensed professionals, or any formation where you need actual legal advice about structure rather than just filing paperwork. For a standard single-member or two-member LLC, Northwest handles everything you need without an attorney.
Northwest Registered Agent Review vs Competitors
How does Northwest stack up in our Northwest Registered Agent review against the most common alternatives? Here's the direct comparison on the metrics that matter.
| Feature | Northwest | ZenBusiness | Bizee | LegalZoom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formation Fee | $39 | $0 (Starter) | $0 (Basic) | $0 (Basic) |
| RA Year 1 | Free | Not in Starter | Free | Not in Basic |
| RA Renewal | $125/yr flat | $199/yr | $119/yr | $249/yr |
| True 3-Year Total | $289 | $597 | $238 | $747 |
| Privacy by Default | Yes — always | No | No | No |
| Data Selling | Never | No | Sells data | Limited |
| Operating Agreement | Free — included | Pro plan only | Standard plan | Pro plan only |
| Business Identity Suite | Yes — all included | No | No | No |
| Support Hours | M–F phone + email | 7-day live chat | M–F email/chat | M–Sat phone |
| Support Quality | Best (Corporate Guides) | Very good | Average | Average |
| Dashboard Quality | Functional | Excellent | Good | Good |
| Attorney Access | No | No | No | Yes |
| Mobile App | No | Yes | Limited | Yes |
| Trustpilot Score | 3.8/5 (222 reviews) | 4.8/5 (30,503) | 4.7/5 (25,400+) | 4.6/5 (31,000+) |
| BBB Rating | A+ | A+ | Not accredited | A+ |
| Founded | 1998 | 2015 | 2004 | 2001 |
Who Should (and Shouldn't) Use Northwest — Final Verdict
The key question from any Northwest Registered Agent review is whether it's right for your specific situation. Here's our honest assessment.
- You work from home and don't want your address on public state records
- You want transparent flat pricing with no surprise renewal increases
- You want to avoid spam calls and emails after formation (data is never sold)
- You're forming a standard single-member or simple multi-member LLC
- You want the lowest 3-year total cost of any quality formation service
- You prefer talking to a real human expert over chatbot or generic support
- You're operating in multiple states and want consistent $125/yr RA pricing
- You're a non-US resident forming a Delaware LLC or C-Corp
- You want same-day filing at standard speed without paying a rush fee
- You don't need weekend support or live chat
- You specifically need attorney access or legal consultation — use LegalZoom
- You need weekend or 24/7 live chat support — use ZenBusiness
- You want the absolute lowest upfront cost possible — use Bizee ($0)
- You want a polished mobile app and modern dashboard — use ZenBusiness
- You're forming a complex LLC with custom operating agreement needs — use an attorney
- You need New York publication services — use ZenBusiness (they offer this)
- You're forming a PLLC with specific state professional licensing requirements — use an attorney
- You're raising venture capital and need a Delaware C-Corp with stock option setup — use an attorney or Stripe Atlas
- You want an integrated business banking solution — add Mercury or Relay separately
- ✓Privacy by Default — their address on all public state filings
- ✓$39 flat · Free RA yr 1 · Free OA · Domain · Email · Website · Phone
- ✓$125/yr RA renewal (price-locked) — cheapest quality service
- ✓Never sells customer data · Corporate Guides · Same-day filing
Disclosure: LLC School may earn a commission via this link, at no cost to you. See our advertising disclosure.
Northwest Registered Agent Review — FAQ
Ahmad Adil is the founder and CEO of LLC School. This Northwest Registered Agent review was compiled from: (1) direct use of Northwest's formation service for LLC formations; (2) pricing verified against Northwest's published pricing pages as of June 2026 ($39 formation, $125/yr RA, $50 EIN add-on, $100 annual report service); (3) Trustpilot and BBB complaint review conducted June 2026 (222 Trustpilot reviews, BBB A+ rating confirmed); (4) independent review site rankings from LLCUniversity, LLC.org, Startup Savant, LLC Starters, and LLC Compass. LLC School has an affiliate relationship with Northwest Registered Agent. This is disclosed prominently throughout the page.
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