Application routes, compared

The IRS offers four routes to the same number. Eligibility — not preference — decides which are open to a given applicant, and for most non-resident owners the famous online route is the one that is closed.

Verified on November 4, 2026 against the IRS page “Employer identification number”, cited in full at the foot of this entry.

Timeframes below are the IRS's own stated figures, not this library's estimates.

§ 1 —The four routes

Route	Who may use it, as the IRS states it	Stated timeframe
Online	Applicants whose principal place of business is in the United States, where the responsible party holds a valid SSN or ITIN. All other applicants are directed by the IRS to the other routes.	EIN issued in the same session
Phone — international line	International applicants: where the principal place of business is outside the U.S. Call 267-941-1099 (not toll-free), Monday–Friday, 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time. Complete Form SS-4 before calling; the representative takes its information during the call.	EIN assigned during the call
Fax	Any applicant. The fax number depends on the entity's situation: for an applicant with no U.S. location, 855-215-1627 when faxing from within the U.S. and 304-707-9471 from outside it; the domestic line is 855-641-6935. Provide a return fax number to receive the EIN by fax.	About 4 business days
Mail	Any applicant, on Form SS-4 — for international applicants, to Internal Revenue Service, Attn: EIN International Operation, Cincinnati, OH 45999.	Approximately 4 weeks

§ 2 —Route timelines & fax practice — the drawn ruler

ONLINESame session — where eligible

PHONE · INTLDuring the call — SS-4 completed first

FAXAbout 4 business days — return fax number on the form

MAILApproximately 4 weeks — Cincinnati

Fax practice, as the route is actually worked: the SS-4 is the document faxed — complete, signed, with a return fax number written where the form asks, because the EIN returns by fax to that number. Keep the transmission record with the entity's papers: it is the only dated proof of when the application left your hands. The stated “about 4 business days” is the IRS's figure for the fax route; it runs from receipt, and the library publishes no faster promise of its own.

Document — Form SS-4 (Rev. December 2019)Plate B-2·1

Application for Employer Identification Number · OMB No. 1545-0003

1Legal name of entity (or individual) for whom the EIN is being requested
SPECIMEN ENTITY LLC1

2Trade name of business (if different from name on line 1)
—2

3Executor, administrator, trustee, “care of” name
—3

4aMailing address (room, apt., suite no. and street, or P.O. box)
— (address of record)4

Specimen — Not an IRS document · Sample entries are illustrative

§ 3 —Why the online route closes to most of this audience

The online application tests two things at once: a U.S. principal place of business for the entity, and an SSN or ITIN for the responsible party. A foreign-owned entity run from abroad fails the first test; a foreign responsible party with no U.S. personal tax number fails the second. Either failure ends the online session. That is a design feature of the IRS's tool, not a judgement on the applicant — the same IRS page that closes the online route opens the phone, fax, and mail routes to the same applicant.¹

§ 4 —Reading the routes honestly

One EIN per day, every route. The daily limit applies across all routes combined — an applicant cannot fax in the morning and apply online in the afternoon for a second number.

The phone route is an international route. The IRS does not issue EINs by phone to domestic applicants; the 267-941-1099 line exists for applicants whose principal place of business is outside the U.S.

A state-formed company run from abroad sits between the descriptions. The IRS's route descriptions are written around principal place of business and the responsible party's numbers. Where a reader's facts do not fall cleanly into one row of the table, the library's answer is to follow the current Form SS-4 instructions for the exact case — and this entry deliberately asserts nothing stronger than the IRS states.

A reference number on screen is not a rejection of the entity. If the online application stops and shows a reference number, the application could not be completed on that route; the other routes remain. What the common numbers record is set out in REF B-4. Do not start a second entity to escape a paperwork stop.

This library's boundary, applied here: this entry is the reference treatment of the routes — eligibility and stated timeframes, with sources. It is not a walkthrough that files anything for you. Applying is the applicant's act, or a filing business's.

General information only, not tax advice. Where this page and an IRS source differ, the IRS source governs.

§Sources

IRS, “Employer identification number” — https://www.irs.gov/businesses/employer-identification-number — consulted 2026-11-04.
IRS, Instructions for Form SS-4 (Rev. December 2025) — https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iss4 — consulted 2026-11-04.