A Step-by-Step Guide to Get an FEIN for International Businesses

So, to sell in the US as an international seller, the first step is to get an EIN, which is employer identification number, issued by the IRS, the Internal Revenue Service. And without an FEIN you can't open a US bank account or mailing address, or start establishing a company to allow you to sell to US customers and collect sales tax. Of course, everything leads back to sales tax permits.

So I want to show you how you can get your EIN in the most effective way, so you can start getting your business registered and getting your mailing address, bank account, and getting your sales tax licenses.

Okay, before we dive in, if you haven't, please subscribe to our channel and hit the bell sign, so every time we publish a new video you will get notified.

1:12

Here at LedgerGurus, ecommerce is our focus, and we have lots of international ecommerce businesses that we've helped get their EIN and get their sales tax registered. So that's why I want to share this knowledge with you. So if you are an international seller and you want to do this yourself, this is how you can do it.

Okay, before we start, let's talk about what is EIN. EIN is employer identification number, and it is issued by the IRS, the Internal Revenue Service. If you're in the UK, it's very similar to HMRC. If you're in Canada, it's like the Canada Revenue Agency. And the IRS will issue you this number.

And it's a unique identifier for your business, and it's tied to everything you do in the US, including opening a US bank account and getting paid. So it's super, super important.

2:11 Who has to call, and who doesn't

So there's lots of ways to apply for an EIN if you are physically in the US, or if you have owners of the business that have a Social Security number. Then you can apply for it online. Just go to the IRS website.

So if that's you, you don't need to watch the rest of this video. I'm going to link it below in the description on where to go to start your application online, because you are either physically located in the US or you have a Social Security number.

But if you are located outside of the US and your owners are not US citizens, they don't have Social Security numbers and they don't have ITINs, then this is the video for you.

3:15 The process end to end

So in this situation, the only way to get an EIN is by calling the IRS. And you heard that right, you have to call them, you have to talk to them. And let me check the number. The one I can see here is (267) 941-1099.

You have to call them. They open really early, so call right when they open. And before you call them, you need to have this form completed. And this is what I'm going to show you through this video, is how to fill out this form. The form's name is called Form SS-4.

So the big picture is, you fill out the form, you call the IRS, then you have to confirm everything on the form with an IRS agent while you fax over the form. So the agent has a copy and you have a copy, and you confirm line by line each item that's on the form. And after the agent confirms all the detail with you, the agent will give you the EIN, the employer identification number, over the phone. And they will also send you a letter in the mail in the next six weeks. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer, especially during tax season, but I think right now six weeks is about right.

4:20 Filling out Form SS-4

So in this video, let's focus on getting that document ready. I'm going to share my screen.

So this is the form. It's called application for employer identification number, and you will leave this blank. When the agent gives you the EIN over the phone, you are going to write it down here for your records. But keep this blank right now.

So let's go through all of this. You can also find instructions for Form SS-4 on the IRS's website. It's called instructions for Form SS-4, and they haven't updated it since December 2019.

4:59

Okay, so line one is legal name of the entity. This is the legal name you want your EIN to be associated with. Even with commas or dots or spaces, everything needs to be included on here.

Trade name of the business. This is doing business as, if it's different than the first one.

Executor, administrator, trustee. If this is not applicable, you can simply put NA on here.

Then this mailing address, if it's outside of the US, which most of you will be for watching this video. On the instructions it tells you exactly, if you go to, so this is line one, legal name, and if you are an individual it tells you how to do that as well.

For line 4A, 4B, this shows you that you have to enter the city, province or state, postal code and the name of the country, and do not abbreviate the name of the country. So if you're in the UK, do United Kingdom instead of UK. So you have to put it on here. And if it's different, you put that there.

6:06

And the city, state, zip code foreign instructions are all on the instruction page. So you can see there's 5A, 5B. You can go and read the instructions to make sure. For foreign addresses, they just want you to provide city, province and country, and do not abbreviate the country.

So, county and state where principal business is located. This would not be applicable because you're not in the US, so I would leave this one blank.

Name of the responsible party. It's usually the owner of the business, so CEO, CFO, people in the C-suite. Or if you are their chief accounting officer, you are in charge of their books and finances, feel free to put your name on there as well.

This one, because you do not have Social Security number, ITIN or EIN, we're applying for it, of course we don't have it yet, you can put FOREIGN US, all caps, like this. Because you don't have one and we need to fill out this form. So this is what you're going to put on there.

7:17 LLC, corporation, and business details

So on here, is this application for a limited liability company? So I just want to clarify really quick what an LLC is.

An LLC is essentially a partnership in the US. So you have members. It's not like, there's no stocks involved, there's no dividends involved. It's a pass through partnership, but it's limited liability. So if that fits your scenario, then you would say yes.

Okay, and if it's yes, then you need to enter in number of LLC members, so how many owners of this partnership. From my experience, most foreign businesses are incorporated. So if you are incorporated, then you are a corporation, then you are not an LLC. So I would say no, and then you can leave this one blank.

So type of entity, either partnership or corporation. Or if you're in the US, a lot of people are sole proprietorships, so they would check this one. But most of what I've seen are corporations. And if you are not sure, again, go back to here, type of entities, on the instructions. It'll tell you exactly what it means for each different category.

8:49

So after this, if a corporation, name the state or foreign country where incorporated. So foreign country, put in this one. And 9B, let's see, let's find 9B. Okay, it doesn't really talk about 9B, but here, the state, I would put NA, because foreign countries they usually don't have states. And then foreign country, just put your country of incorporation, and don't abbreviate it. So spell everything out.

And then reason for applying. If you are starting a business, if you're starting to sell in the US, then I would say starting a new business, and specify what type of business you are, either retail or manufacturing. But I've seen a lot of businesses that need it for structuring, like lots of private funds and venture capital funds. If they need to put in like blocks or certain shapes of entity for tax services, then they can put it on here and say Form 8832 reasons. That's to recategorize an entity. But most of my clients choose this one, to start a new business.

10:08

Okay. Business start date, acquiring month. This is where you put in when your business started.

Closing month of accounting year. It's usually December, but if it's different, then definitely put it on there.

Highest number of employees expected in the next 12 months. Ours are zero. Most of my clients do zero. And employment tax liabilities is usually zero as well, because you're not hiring US employees. So I don't think you need to check it, because you don't have any employees.

So first day wages, this is NA. If applicant is a withholding agent, I think this is NA, because you are not going to pay any wages or annuities in the US.

10:58

Okay. And then check one box that best describes the principal activity of your business. Again, this kind of repeats what you would put on here, specify type of new business. So if it's one of these, great. If it's not, just specify it here.

And then line 17, it wants you to say what kind of products is it. So if I say I sell clothing, I would check retail, then I would put clothing on here.

Has the applicant entity shown on line 1 ever applied for and received an EIN? Normally it's no, so then you can leave this one blank.

And then designee name. It can be your name, it can be your accountant's name. You just need to complete all of their information. And then name and title, signature, date. So it's one page. This is not hard to fill out.

11:47 Making the call

And then after this, remember, is to go, and I'll leave the link of this page in the description here. Apply by telephone. You need to call this number. It's 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM.

I strongly recommend calling it right when it opens. With time difference it should work out okay to call, and call right when they open. And they'll put you on hold for hopefully less than 20 minutes. But if it's longer, then you can hang up and try again in a couple hours. But call when they open.

Sometimes when I do it for my clients, I wake up at 4:00 AM my time, I set an alarm, I get up and I call the IRS. So yeah, that's the process. You fill out the form, then you call the IRS.

And if you have any questions, refer to the instructions or leave me a comment below, and I'm more than happy to answer your questions. If you have any other questions on how to get an EIN as a foreign seller that's not in the US and doesn't have a Social Security number, let me know in the comments and I'm happy to help you wherever I can as well.

13:05 The international sellers checklist

That's a lot of information. So to try to make it easier for all of you guys, I've actually created a document that's called 5 Steps International Sellers Must Take Before Applying for a US Sales Tax Permit, and I'll link it down below. That's where you can get it for free. And it shows all the details that I've just talked about, except the step by step walkthrough of the actual form. So be sure to download that and keep it and read through it.

And let me know if you have any questions. And I will be doing another video shortly on what creates, like why do international sellers have to worry about sales tax, when do they need to worry about it, what does US nexus mean for international sellers. So keep an eye out for that as well.

And I'll see you in the next video. Have a good day. Bye.