The Number Your Business Can't Run Without
Your Employer Identification Number, applied for in the exact name and entity type on your state record, so the bank account, the payroll account and your first return all go through cleanly.
EIN Application Help For Homestead, FL Businesses
An Employer Identification Number, often called a federal tax ID number, is how the IRS knows your business. You'll need one to open a business bank account, run payroll and file the business return. After the state paperwork, it's usually the first thing a bank asks for.
The number comes from the IRS, through Form SS-4 or the IRS online application. The application itself is short. The trouble comes from the details: the legal name and entity type have to match your state filing exactly, and the answers about how the business will be taxed need to be right the first time.
EIN application help is part of our business formation services in Homestead, FL. It can be a standalone job or one step in setting up a new company from scratch.
- Federal tax ID number application filed with the IRS
- Legal name and entity type matched to the state record
- IRS confirmation saved with your company records
- The new number set up in your books and payroll
How Your Federal Tax ID Gets Issued
The work runs the same way for a standalone number or one that's part of a brand-new company.
Pull The Details From The State Record
The exact legal name, address and entity type come straight from your Articles of Organization or Articles of Incorporation, not from memory or a business card.
Confirm How The Business Will Be Taxed
A single-member LLC, a partnership and a corporation each answer the application differently. If an S-Corp election is planned, it's mapped out now so Form 2553 can follow on time.
File The Application With The IRS
The application is prepared and submitted, and the IRS confirmation of your new number is saved with your company records, ready for the next time a bank or vendor asks.
Put The Number To Work
The EIN goes into your QuickBooks file, onto your payroll account in Gusto through payroll processing and onto the W-9 you give customers who pay your business.
EIN Questions From New And Growing Businesses
Is a federal tax ID number the same thing as an EIN?
Yes. Employer Identification Number, EIN, federal tax ID and FEIN all refer to the same number the IRS assigns to a business. Your bank, your payroll account and the state annual report may each call it something slightly different, but it's one number, and it belongs on every federal return the business files.
Does my LLC need a new EIN if it elects S-Corp status?
No. An LLC that elects to be taxed as an S-Corporation keeps its existing EIN, and the Form 2553 election is filed under that number. What changes is how the business is taxed, not who it is, which is one more reason the original application has to be right. S-Corp election help covers that step.
I've been in business for years without an EIN. Is it too late to get one?
Not at all. Plenty of owners work under their own name for years before they form a company or hire their first employee. The number can be applied for whenever the business needs it. If earlier years also have unfiled returns or books that never got kept, those are caught up alongside the new setup.
Do I need an EIN before I hire my first employee?
Yes. Payroll runs on the business's EIN, from the first paycheck through the quarterly Form 941 and the W-2s at year end. If hiring is coming up, the application is timed so the number and the payroll account are both in place before the first pay date.
Where The EIN Fits In A New Setup
Articles of Organization filed with Sunbiz first, so the EIN can be issued in the LLC's exact legal name.
Read about it C-Corporation FormationA new Florida corporation filed with the state, then given its EIN, books and a two-return tax calendar.
Read about it Annual Report FilingThe yearly Sunbiz report that keeps your company active, filed between January 1 and May 1 every year.
Read about it Return To Business Formation & RegistrationEvery business formation & registration service we offer in Homestead, FL, on one page.
Back to Business Formation & RegistrationGet The Number In The Right Name The First Time
Bring your state filing, or tell Alex what you're starting, and the EIN application will be prepared to match it exactly.