Is the online EIN really a 15-minute process?
Yes, for an eligible applicant. The IRS online EIN Assistant assigns the 9-digit EIN in a single session of about 15 minutes, and it delivers the number on screen before you close the browser.
The 15 minutes assume 3 things: a legal entity already formed, 1 responsible party with an SSN or ITIN, and a US address. The session itself ends after 15 minutes of inactivity, so a completed application from line 1 to line 10 takes 10 to 15 minutes of steady typing. There is no save-and-return, so the 9-digit EIN is either issued in that 1 sitting or the application resets to 0.
The online route is 1 of 5 ways to file, and the 5-route walkthrough sits on the how to apply for an EIN page. Because the IRS charges $0 for every route, price is covered separately on the free EIN number page.
When is the IRS online EIN Assistant open?
The IRS online EIN Assistant is open Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Time. It stays closed on weekends and federal holidays, so schedule the 15-minute session inside those hours.
Eastern Time governs all 50 states, so an applicant in California starts by 7 p.m. Pacific to reach the 10 p.m. Eastern cutoff, a 3-hour gap. The tool does not run 24 hours, unlike the fax route, which accepts Form SS-4 at any hour and returns the EIN in 4 business days. Starting after 10 p.m. Eastern is the most avoidable delay, because it pushes the 15-minute session to the next business day.
The full route-by-route timeline, from 15 minutes online to 4 weeks by mail, sits on the how long an EIN takes page, and you can model your own start date on the EIN timeline estimator.
Who can apply for an EIN online?
Three requirements: a responsible party with an SSN or ITIN, a US address, and a legal entity already formed. The online tool checks all 3 before it issues the 9-digit EIN.
The responsible party is the 1 person named on line 7a who controls the entity, and the online tool demands an SSN, an ITIN, or an existing EIN in that field. The IRS issues 1 EIN per responsible party per day across all 4 routes, so a person forming 2 entities on the same day files the 2nd by fax. A single responsible party can hold an unlimited count of EINs over time, just 1 new one per calendar day.
Who the responsible party is, and why the IRS caps it at 1, is set out on the EIN responsible party page. When no SSN and no ITIN exists, the online tool closes; US-based filers then fax Form SS-4 to 855-641-6935 and applicants with no US address fax the international line at 855-215-1627, both at $0 in 4 business days. The full workaround is on the EIN without an SSN page.
How do you apply for an EIN online, step by step?
Five steps, start to finish, in about 15 minutes. Open the tool, confirm eligibility, choose the entity type, enter the responsible party on line 7a, and receive the 9-digit EIN.
Open the IRS EIN Assistant
Go to the IRS EIN application on irs.gov. It runs Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Time, and the IRS fee is $0.
Confirm eligibility
The responsible party needs an SSN or ITIN and a US address, and the IRS issues 1 EIN per responsible party per day. Without an SSN, use the fax route.
Choose the entity type and reason
Name the legal entity on line 1, pick the entity type on line 9a, and state 1 reason on line 10: a new business, hiring, or banking.
Enter the responsible party on line 7a
Type the responsible party and SSN on line 7a in one sitting, because the session ends after 15 minutes of inactivity.
Receive the EIN and CP-575
The tool issues the 9-digit EIN on screen at once and offers a CP-575 to download; the paper letter follows within 14 calendar days.
The online tool mirrors the paper form field by field: line 1 for the legal name, line 2 for a trade name, line 6 for the county and state, line 7a and line 7b for the responsible party, line 8a for an LLC, line 9a for the entity type, line 10 for the reason, line 11 for the accounting year, line 13 for the highest employee count, line 16 for the principal activity, line 17 for the activity detail, and line 18 for a prior EIN. Get each line right before you start, because 1 rejected entry resets the 15-minute session to 0.
Source: IRS EIN Assistant and Form SS-4 instructions on irs.gov, verified July 2026.
Read the full form field guide on the Form SS-4 page, or draft each line before you open the tool with the SS-4 form helper.
What closes the online EIN Assistant before you finish?
A missing SSN, a session idle past 15 minutes, or IRS reference error 101 closes the tool before it issues the number. Error 101 sends the application to a 4-business-day fax review.
Error 101 is the most common stop, and it fires on a name that matches an existing IRS record across the 50 states. The fix is the fax route with a clean name control sent to 855-641-6935, which returns the EIN in 4 business days. Reaching the 1-per-day issuance limit is the 2nd stop, and idling past the 15-minute timeout is the 3rd; both push the session to the next business day.
How the IRS builds a name control from the first 4 characters of your entity name, and why a mismatch triggers error 101, is on the IRS name control page.
Online or fax — which route should you pick?
Choose online when you hold an SSN or ITIN and want the number in 15 minutes. Choose fax when there is no SSN; the fax route returns the same EIN in 4 business days at the same $0.
| EIN filed by | Speed | SSN needed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yourself, IRS online | 15 minutes | Yes, SSN or ITIN | $0 |
| Yourself, fax to 855-641-6935 | 4 business days | No | $0 |
| ein-number.com, Standard | 8 business days | No | $69 |
| ein-number.com, Fast | 7 business days | No | $99 |
| Rocket Lawyer | 4 business days | No | $59.99 |
| Bizee | 4 business days | No | $70 |
| MyCorporation | 4 business days | No | $79 |
| Northwest | 4 business days | No | $200 |
| LegalZoom | 8 business days | No | $249 |
Competitor prices verified July 2026. The IRS fee is $0 on every route, in all 50 states.
The honest rule: with an SSN and a clean entity name, the online route wins in 15 minutes and paying for it buys nothing extra. Fax is the right free choice when there is no SSN. A paid filing at $69 or $99 earns its price when error 101 keeps rejecting the name or when a wrong entry would delay a bank account. The full fee comparison sits on the EIN cost page.
What do you get right after applying online?
You get the 9-digit EIN on screen and a downloadable CP-575 immediately. The IRS mails the paper CP-575 within 14 calendar days, and the number is usable the same day for banking.
Save the on-screen CP-575 as a PDF before you close the browser, because the IRS reprints it only as a 147C letter, which takes 14 calendar days by mail. The EIN opens a bank account the same day, though some banks wait about 2 weeks for it to post to the IRS system before running payroll on Form 941 or issuing a 1099. The 9-digit number reads as 2 digits, a hyphen, then 7 digits, in the 12-34567 shape.
To reprint a lost CP-575, call the IRS Business and Specialty Tax Line at 800-829-4933, open Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time. The agent reissues the EIN as a 147C letter, which arrives within 14 calendar days, and a misclassified entity takes 4 to 6 weeks to correct by mail.
What the CP-575 contains, and how it differs from the 147C reprint, is set out on the CP-575 page.
Which mistakes reject an online EIN application?
Four mistakes reject it: a name that differs from the formation document, a blank line 7a, the wrong entity type on line 9a, and starting after 10 p.m. Eastern. Each resets the wait to 0.
A name that differs from the formation document. The name on line 1 must match the state filing character for character, or error 101 stops the 15-minute session.
A blank or wrong line 7a. The responsible party and an SSN or ITIN are required on line 7a; a blank field closes the online tool at once.
The wrong entity type on line 9a. Picking the wrong type on line 9a issues an EIN under the wrong classification, which then takes 4 to 6 weeks to correct by mail.
Starting after 10 p.m. Eastern. The tool closes at 10 p.m. Eastern, so a session begun at 9:50 p.m. can time out at 0 progress and reset to the next day.
Each of these 4 mistakes is checkable before you open the tool. Draft line 1 through line 10 first with the SS-4 form helper, and confirm the name against the 4-character IRS name control rule so error 101 never fires.