Fax Form SS-4 and Get Your EIN Back

IRS fax numbers for Form SS-4

• Domestic (50 states + DC): (855) 641-6935
• International from within the US: (855) 215-1627
• International from outside the US: (304) 707-9471

The IRS fax lines for Form SS-4 accept faxes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Put your return fax number in the "Applicant's fax number" field in the form's signature block. That is the number the IRS faxes your EIN back to.

Who faxes Form SS-4

The IRS online EIN tool needs a business located in the US or a US territory and a responsible party with an SSN or ITIN. Fax Form SS-4 if you are a non-US resident without an SSN or ITIN, or if the online tool will not issue your EIN. If you already have an EIN and need proof of it, getting your EIN by fax covers Letter 147C.

What you need

• Form SS-4 from IRS.gov, filled in and saved as a PDF.
• A fax number that can receive. The IRS faxes your EIN back to the number in the "Applicant's fax number" box, so the number has to be yours. A FaxTerra plan from $4.99/month gives you one, or a one-time 90-day number for $14.99 with no subscription.
• That number written in the box in the signature block, and repeated on a cover sheet.

Before you send

Fill out every field. Double-check the responsible party's SSN or ITIN on line 7b. If the responsible party doesn't have and can't get an SSN or ITIN, enter "foreign" or N/A there, per the IRS instructions. Without an "Applicant's fax number" the IRS has nowhere to fax your EIN back. Start from a sharp, legible scan or photo. Non-US founders should also read the EIN for non-US residents guide. For what else the IRS accepts by fax, see how to fax the IRS.

How to send

Upload the form, enter (855) 641-6935 or the international line that applies to you, and send. FaxTerra transmits at high resolution automatically and retries a busy IRS line. Your delivery confirmation is your proof of filing.

What happens next

Wait three weeks. A reply, when one comes, takes about 16 days, and by day 21, 95% of the replies that come have arrived. The IRS states a target of 4 business days; plan for longer. Of first filings, 36% are never answered on that filing, and of those still unanswered at day 21, only 10% are answered by day 45.

After three weeks with no reply, send the same form again, to the same line, with your fax number in the box. Of filings sent again on or after day 21 with nothing yet, 39% were answered within three weeks of the re-send; of filers with nothing by day 21 who did not send again, 11% ever got a fax-back. People who re-send are also paying closer attention, and a filer who got the EIN by phone shows as unanswered, so that gap is not a measure of what re-sending alone does. When you send from FaxTerra, you can opt in at the first send and FaxTerra sends it again for you on day 21. It uses the fax's pages and needs your number still on the account; faxing the IRS about an EIN lists every condition.

If the re-send brings nothing within three weeks, call the IRS on (800) 829-4933 and ask for Letter 147C by fax.

The IRS asks you to use only one application method for each entity, so you do not receive more than one EIN. A re-send is the same form by the same method. If you ever hold more than one EIN and are not sure which to use, call (800) 829-4933; the IRS will say which.

The reply is a fax notice carrying your EIN, not the CP 575 confirmation notice; keep it with your records. The full measurements are on the measured IRS response-time page. FaxTerra is not affiliated with the IRS, and none of this is tax or legal advice; the IRS instructions are the authority.

Keep the number active

Hold on to the number in the box until the EIN arrives. Once released, a number goes out of service and can go to someone else, so a reply sent to it never reaches you. A reply to a re-sent filing typically comes about 16 days after the re-send, and a 147C from a call needs a live line too. Faxing the IRS about an EIN has the call script.