What “responsible party” means
The IRS defines the responsible party as someone who owns, controls or exercises effective control over the business. The SS-4 instructions give examples: the principal officer of a corporation, a general partner of a partnership, the grantor or trustee of a trust. For an LLC this is usually the owner or the managing member — the person who actually runs it and controls its money.
It has to be a person
The responsible party must be an individual (a natural person), not an entity — the only exception is government entities. This trips up founders whose LLC is owned by a holding company abroad: you can’t list the holding company. List the individual at the top who ultimately owns or controls it.
Nominees can’t be listed
A nominee is someone given limited authority to act for the business — often during formation — with little or no control over its assets. The IRS says nominees can’t apply for an EIN and shouldn’t be listed on Form SS-4. A formation service or registered agent can help you file, but it shouldn’t appear as your responsible party. If you want a service to deal with the IRS for you, name it as the third-party designee instead — see our Form SS-4 line-by-line guide.
Line 7b without an SSN or ITIN
Line 7b asks for the responsible party’s SSN, ITIN or EIN. Enter “foreign” or N/A if the responsible party doesn’t have, and is ineligible to obtain, an SSN or ITIN. You don’t need to get an ITIN just to apply — see ITIN vs. EIN.
One EIN per responsible party per day
The IRS issues only one EIN per responsible party per day, across all application methods. If you are forming several entities, stagger the applications, and never resend an application while you’re still waiting on the first — it can create a duplicate EIN.
Changing the responsible party later
Ownership changes, members leave, managers change. Report a change of responsible party on Form 8822-B within 60 days. If you don’t receive a confirmation within 60 days, the IRS asks you to send a copy marked “Second Request”. A change of responsible party doesn’t require a new EIN.