The EIN takes minutes to request and years to fix if the entity type or the responsible party is wrong. We file it as part of setting your business up.
An EIN is the number the IRS uses to identify your business. You need one to open a business bank account, run payroll, and get set up with most vendors and general contractors. The application itself is short. What makes it worth doing carefully is that a few of the answers are hard to change once they are on file.
We file EINs for new companies across Kentucky, usually in the same sitting as the formation paperwork, and for existing businesses that need a new number after an ownership change or a restructure. We also clean up the ones that went sideways, where the entity type on file does not match what the business actually is and the IRS notices start showing up addressed to something that no longer exists.
The form wants your legal business name exactly as it was filed with the state, the entity type, the reason you are applying, the date the business started, how many employees you expect over the next year, and a responsible party with their own taxpayer identification number. That last one is the piece people rush. The responsible party is the individual who controls the entity, not your attorney and not your bookkeeper, and the IRS expects that record kept current. Get the legal name wrong by a single word and your bank may send the account opening right back to you.
Three problems come up over and over. The first is applying before the state has approved the entity, which leaves you holding a number attached to a company that does not legally exist yet. The second is picking the wrong entity type on the application, usually sole proprietorship instead of the LLC that was just formed, and that error follows you into payroll setup and every notice after it. The third is listing a responsible party who has since left the business and never updating it, so IRS correspondence goes to someone who does not open it. All three are fixable. All three take longer to fix than to avoid.
Not every change requires a new EIN, and applying for one you do not need creates its own mess. A name change usually does not. Moving to a new address does not. Adding a location does not. Converting a sole proprietorship into an LLC generally does, and so does bringing in a partner where there was one owner, or the reverse. Incorporating an existing business usually does. Estate and bankruptcy situations follow their own rules. We look at what actually changed and file only what the situation calls for, then update the books and the payroll accounts so nothing keeps running under the old number.
An online application through the IRS generally returns a number in the same session, as long as the responsible party has a valid taxpayer identification number and the entity is already approved by the state. Applications sent by fax or mail take considerably longer. Timing depends on IRS availability, so We will not promise a specific hour, only that it gets filed the moment the entity clears.
Often, yes. Most banks want one before they will open a business account, and single member LLCs generally need one to keep the owner's Social Security number off vendor paperwork. Partnerships and corporations need one regardless. A true sole proprietor with no employees can sometimes operate without one, but it puts your personal number on every W-9 you sign.
Yes. We can file for an existing Kentucky business, correct an entity type that was recorded wrong, or update the responsible party on a number you already have. We will also check that your bank, payroll, and accounting records all point at the same number, which is where the real problems hide. Book a consultation and bring your formation documents.
Other work in this area that tends to come up in the same conversation.
Operating under a name that isn't your legal entity name? The assumed name registration gets filed where it needs to be filed.
Read moreKentucky requires one every year. Miss enough of them and the state administratively dissolves the entity, which is worse to fix than to prevent.
Read moreFayette County and the surrounding cities each have their own occupational license requirements. Sorting out which ones apply to you comes first.
Read moreBook a consultation and we will walk through the work, the timing, and who does what.
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