Catalogue — REF A-1…E-2
- A-1 — EIN basics for non-residents
- A-2 — EIN vs. ITIN vs. SSN — the three numbers
- B-1 — Responsible-party rules
- B-2 — Application routes, compared
- B-3 — Form SS-4, annotated line by line
- B-4 — Reference numbers 101 and 102
- B-5 — When the responsible party changes
- C-1 — Lost CP 575 & the Letter 147C replacement
- C-2 — Wrong name or address on the CP 575
- C-3 — Closing an EIN — the IRS never cancels one
- D-1 — Form 5472 + pro-forma Form 1120
- D-2 — State tax IDs are not EINs
- E-1 — TIN matching and name control
- E-2 — How a bank verifies an EIN
- The Catalogue
- Find Your Answer
- Reference Desk
- Checklist Review
- Errata & Changes
- Enquiries (FAQ)
- Imprint & Method
- Contact — Request Slip
A reference desk that refuses to be a filing desk
EIN For Non-Residents exists because the research stage of the non-resident EIN journey is larger than the filing stage, and it was being served by pages that treated every reader as a filing customer. Founders, their accountants, bookkeepers, and partners arrive with questions — which number do I actually need, who may be named, where did the confirmation letter go, what is this April form — and a library, not a sales funnel, is the honest shape of the answer.
§ 1 —The split that defines the business
Two different needs live in this subject, and this business serves exactly one of them:
Filing — submitting an EIN application to the IRS on a foreign owner's behalf. A filing business's work, with a filing business's responsibilities. Never done here.
Reference and verification — the dated, source-cited library; guidance on checking an EIN's status and replacing its proof; the decision reference between the three tax numbers; the deadline reference for the annual filing; and readiness reviews of the documents around all of it. This is the whole of what we sell.
The split is printed on the homepage, repeated in the colophon of every page, and enforced in the product: the Reference Desk's benefits are walkthroughs, references, and reviews — there is no tier, add-on, or “concierge upgrade” at which this site starts filing.
§ 2 —The verification method, as a protocol
01 · WRITE FROM PRIMARY SOURCES ONLY — IRS WEB PAGES AND FORM INSTRUCTIONS, AND THE CODE PROVISIONS THOSE INSTRUCTIONS CITE. SECONDARY COMMENTARY IS NEVER A SOURCE OF RECORD.
02 · STAMP EVERY ENTRY — SOURCE TITLE, SOURCE REVISION, FULL URL, VERIFIED DATE, AND NEXT RE-VERIFICATION DATE, IN THE MARGIN BESIDE THE TEXT.
03 · WHERE A SOURCE IS SILENT, AMBIGUOUS, OR A POINT TURNS ON FACTS WE CANNOT SEE, THE ENTRY SAYS SO OR OMITS THE POINT. NOTHING IS FILLED IN BY PLAUSIBILITY.
04 · CORRECT IN THE OPEN — THE ENTRY IS CORRECTED AND THE CORRECTION IS SLIPPED INTO THE ERRATA LOG AND THE ENTRY'S OWN MARGIN.
05 · RETIRE RATHER THAN ROT — IF THE IRS SOURCE CHANGES AND THE ENTRY CANNOT BE BROUGHT CURRENT, THE ENTRY IS RETIRED, AND THE RETIREMENT IS LOGGED.
§ 3 —Edition history
| Edition | Date | Entries | Errata recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| First edition | 4 November 2026 | 7 entries + Reference Desk | 0 |
| Second edition — The Annotated Codex | 5 November 2026 | 12 entries (B-3, B-4, B-5, C-2, C-3 new) | 3 slips (edition records) |
§ 4 —Who operates it, and its current state
The business is EIN For Non-Residents, to be operated by EIN For Non-Residents LLC — a Pennsylvania limited liability company — as one of a family of independent businesses for non-resident founders, each with its own lane and its own books. Until that company is formed and its payment account is live, this site operates in the posture stated on the Reference Desk page: the free library fully open, the paid tier built and switched off, the founding list capturing interest and nothing else. No revenue is taken under another company's name, and no date for the switch is promised.
§ 5 —Limits, in one place
Not a law firm, accounting firm, or tax preparer. No adviser–client relationship is created by reading or subscribing. Content is general information and orientation, not tax, legal, or financial advice. IRS procedures, numbers, and forms change; the cited IRS source governs in any conflict with this site. If the Desk does not reach a sustainable readership, it moves to maintenance mode — the library kept current for existing readers, growth stopped, and the change published rather than spun.