How to Get an EIN for a U.S. LLC as a Non-U.S. Resident

If you've formed (or are forming) a U.S. LLC from outside the United States, you'll need an EIN — and you can get one without an SSN or ITIN. The IRS doesn't make it especially easy, but it's entirely possible if you understand the process.

What an EIN actually is

An EIN — Employer Identification Number — is a nine-digit number the IRS issues to identify business entities for U.S. federal tax purposes. Think of it as a Social Security Number for your LLC. Banks need it, payment processors need it, and the IRS needs it for any U.S. tax filings your LLC is required to make.

Why non-U.S. residents can't use the IRS online application

The IRS online EIN tool is only for businesses based in the U.S. whose responsible party has a Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). If your business is run from outside the U.S., or you have neither number, you use one of the international channels instead.

How to apply by phone, fax or mail

According to the Instructions for Form SS-4 (revised December 2025), applicants whose principal place of business is outside the U.S. can:

• Phone: call +1 267-941-1099 (not toll-free), Monday–Friday, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time. The EIN is issued during the call if the application is complete.
• Fax: send Form SS-4 to +1 304-707-9471 from outside the U.S., or 855-215-1627 from within the U.S. The IRS's target is generally 4 business days.
• Mail: Internal Revenue Service, Attn: EIN International Operation, Cincinnati, OH 45999. Expect approximately 4 weeks.

The IRS changes numbers without notice, so check the current SS-4 instructions on irs.gov before you send anything. Whichever channel you use, the key SS-4 lines to get right are:

• Line 7a: Name of responsible party — must exactly match your passport.
• Line 7b: if the responsible party doesn't have, and isn't eligible for, an SSN or ITIN, the IRS instructions say to enter "foreign" or N/A. Don't leave it blank.
• Lines 8a–8c: whether the applicant is an LLC (yes), the number of members, and whether it was organized in the U.S.
• Line 9a: type of entity. A single-member LLC owned by a non-U.S. person checks "Other" and writes "Foreign-owned U.S. disregarded entity-Form 5472"; a multi-member LLC normally checks "Partnership".

The IRS's own targets are about 4 business days for fax and about 4 weeks for mail. Without follow-up, faxed applications from outside the U.S. can take 1–3 months because the IRS often replies by mail; checking the status with the IRS usually gets the EIN within 1–2 weeks. The IRS issues only one EIN per responsible party per day, so don't send duplicate applications while you wait.

What to do if you get stuck

If you've faxed the SS-4 and heard nothing for 4 weeks, something may have gone wrong. The IRS doesn't email about issues — they send paper letters to the address on the SS-4. If your address forwarding fails, you may never see those letters.

At that point, options include calling the IRS international EIN line (+1 267-941-1099), preparing a follow-up letter, or requesting a 147C verification if the EIN was already issued but the confirmation went missing.

When to hire help

You don't have to. The SS-4 is free to download from irs.gov and the IRS will process it whether you prepare it yourself or have someone do it for you. Most people who hire us do so because they tried it once, got rejected without explanation, and don't want to lose more weeks to the same trial-and-error process. See how our EIN service for non-U.S. residents works, or check how long an EIN takes by each method.