To get an EIN in Washington as of 2026, you apply free at IRS.gov and the online tool issues your number the same day. There’s no state fee and no separate Washington EIN. Just form your Washington LLC first so the IRS confirmation matches your Secretary of State record.
How to Get a Washington EIN: The Short Version
A Washington EIN is free, issued by the IRS, and granted the same day you finish the online application. Washington itself charges nothing for the EIN, and you separately register with the state Department of Revenue for your UBI, business license, tax accounts, and endorsements once your LLC starts operating. Any LLC with employees, multiple members, or a corporate election needs one; single-member LLCs usually get one anyway for banking and SSN privacy.
- Cost: $0 direct from the IRS; third-party sites charge for the same free service
- Where: the IRS online EIN Assistant, with Form SS-4 as the fax or mail backup
- Timing: same day online once approved; about four business days by fax, four weeks by mail
- Washington’s number: a nine-digit UBI used for state business records, licensing, tax accounts, and endorsements, not an IRS-issued EIN
Does Your Washington LLC Need an EIN?
Whether your Washington LLC needs an EIN depends on how it’s owned, how it’s taxed, and whether you’ll hire. This table sorts the common setups.
| Business type | EIN required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Single-member LLC, no employees | Not federally required | Recommended for banking and to keep your SSN private |
| Single-member LLC, with employees | Yes | Required the moment you pay wages |
| Multi-member LLC | Yes | Default partnership taxation requires it |
| LLC taxed as S-corp or C-corp | Yes | The election needs a federal number |
| Sole proprietor, no LLC | Sometimes | Only with employees or certain excise filings |
| Partnership | Yes | Always required |
A single-member LLC with no staff is a disregarded entity for federal tax, so the IRS doesn’t strictly require an EIN. Most owners get one anyway, because banks ask for it and it keeps a Social Security number off vendor paperwork.
Washington is a community-property state under RCW 26.16.030, which hands married couples an extra choice. A spouse-owned LLC can be treated as one disregarded entity instead of a partnership, and a Washington LLC operating agreement should record which spouse runs the tax and banking decisions.
How to Apply for a Free Washington EIN Online
Most Washington owners finish the application in a single sitting once the LLC is approved. Boost Suite’s editor has filed these in 25-plus states, and the entity-classification screen is what sends people back to redo the form, so go slowly there.
- Confirm your LLC is approved: check the state’s business lookup first, because the IRS name has to match your formed entity.
- Open the IRS online EIN application: the IRS EIN Assistant runs Monday to Friday 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. ET, Saturday 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET, and Sunday 6 p.m. to midnight ET.
- Pick the entity type carefully: a one-owner LLC is “disregarded,” a two-owner LLC is a “partnership,” and you check “corporation” only if you’ve actually elected it.
- Enter the legal name, not the trade name: match your Certificate of Formation exactly, then add any DBA separately.
- Name the responsible party: a real person with an SSN or ITIN, never a holding company or nominee.
- Choose your reason and submit: “started a new business” fits most new LLCs.
- Save the EIN confirmation letter the moment it appears: that on-screen notice is your CP 575; the IRS won’t reissue the original, so a lost one means requesting a 147C later, and your bank will want it.
Work straight through, because the tool drops an idle session and you’d start over. Can’t use the online version? You can fax Form SS-4 for an EIN in roughly four business days, or mail it and wait about four weeks. Foreign applicants whose business sits outside the U.S., including many responsible parties with no SSN, call 267-941-1099, which isn’t the domestic number.
Worth flagging on cost: the EIN is genuinely free from the Internal Revenue Service, so any site charging $150 to $300 is reselling a form you can file yourself. And the IRS caps issuance at one EIN per responsible party per day; jumping to another channel won’t beat that limit.
Save Your CP 575 Before You Move to Washington State Registration
When the IRS approves your Washington LLC’s EIN online, the confirmation appears on screen right away. That notice is your CP 575 EIN confirmation letter, and it is the federal proof your bank, payroll provider, and tax accounts may ask for later.
Do not confuse it with Washington’s state records. Your EIN comes from the IRS, while your UBI, business license, B&O tax account, sales tax account, and employer registrations are handled through Washington state systems.
- Online approval: download or print the CP 575 before closing the IRS screen.
- Fax or mail backup: fax usually takes about four business days, while mail takes about four weeks.
- If you lose it: the IRS will not reissue the original CP 575, so you request a 147C verification letter instead.
- Washington follow-up: keep the CP 575 next to your UBI and Department of Revenue registration details so the federal and state numbers do not get mixed up.
Sample IRS CP 575 EIN confirmation letter for a Washington LLC.
Keep the Washington LLC and EIN records clean before state registration.
The EIN is free from the IRS, but the filing still needs to match your approved Washington LLC name before you use it for banking, business licensing, Department of Revenue accounts, payroll, or employer registrations. Northwest Registered Agent can help with LLC formation, registered agent service, and optional EIN services so the legal name, responsible party, and CP 575 letter stay aligned.
What Washington LLC Owners Need Before Applying
A little prep means you won’t stall out mid-form. Pull these together before you open the tool.
- Approved LLC legal name: exactly as the Secretary of State shows it.
- UBI and formation date: if you’ve already registered with the state.
- Responsible party and TIN: their Social Security number or ITIN.
- Entity type and reason: the same answers from the steps above.
- Business address: a physical street address for the business, not only a PO box.
The order matters, and Boost Suite’s call is to form first, then file. Checking how long Washington LLC approval takes and what Washington LLC formation costs run lets you time it so the CP 575 name is right on the first try.
EIN vs. Your Washington UBI: Two Numbers, Two Governments
Here’s where most Washington owners get tangled: both numbers identify the business, but they’re not interchangeable. One is federal, and one is the state’s.
| Details | IRS EIN | Washington UBI |
|---|---|---|
| Issued by | Internal Revenue Service | Department of Revenue, Business Licensing Service |
| Used for | Federal taxes, payroll, bank accounts | B&O tax, sales tax, employer accounts, endorsements |
| Who needs it | Most LLCs (see the table above) | Any LLC licensing or registering in Washington |
| Where to get it | IRS.gov, free | Business License Application, $50 to open |
Nearly every week, a Washington owner forwards me a UBI and asks why the bank will not take it as their EIN. I always explain the same thing: they are two numbers from two different governments.
The EIN is federal, issued by the IRS. The nine-digit UBI is the state’s number, issued through the Business License Application, and it never comes from IRS.gov.
- I tell every client to label each number the day it arrives: “EIN, federal” and “UBI, state.”
- I also tell them to keep both numbers with the CP 575, so the EIN confirmation is always easy to find.
- That one habit prevents the panicked call I so often get on the morning payroll is due.
After Your EIN: Washington Business License, B&O Tax, and Sales Tax
The EIN opens the state layer, and in Washington that layer runs through one door: the Department of Revenue Business License Application, which issues your UBI and your tax accounts together. You’ll register here once your LLC grosses $12,000 a year or needs a state or city endorsement.
Washington skips income tax but leans on the B&O tax, a gross receipts tax charged on income before expenses. Rates run by activity, from 0.471% on retailing to 1.5% on most service income under $1 million, all reported on the Combined Excise Tax Return.
Selling taxable goods, or as of October 1, 2025 certain taxable services, also means a retail sales tax account at 6.5% state plus local rates. Out-of-state sellers hit Washington nexus once they pass $100,000 in receipts sourced here.
Washington Employer Accounts: ESD, Paid Leave, WA Cares, and L&I
Hiring brings three more agencies into the picture, and not one of them is a wage-withholding account. The catch is that you’ll manage them through the same Business License Application, then report each quarter.
- Unemployment insurance: the Employment Security Department, on a 2026 taxable wage base of $78,200.
- Paid Leave and WA Cares: premiums of 1.13% and 0.58% of wages, filed through ESD.
- Workers’ compensation: the Department of Labor & Industries, a state-run fund rather than a private policy.
Staying current on these is part of good standing, right alongside a dependable Washington registered agent and the yearly report your LLC files a Washington annual report with the Secretary of State.
Washington EIN Mistakes That Trigger B&O and Licensing Penalties
Most EIN slip-ups stay invisible until a bank or an agency flags them. In Washington, the expensive ones grow out of how the state taxes revenue, not profit.
The priciest Washington mistake I see has nothing to do with the EIN. I see owners hear “no state income tax,” assume there is no state filing to worry about, and never open the Business License Application.
Then months later, a B&O assessment lands. That happens because Washington’s B&O tax is based on gross receipts, whether or not the business actually made a profit.
- If your LLC pulls in $12,000 a year, you owe the Department of Revenue a registration.
- I tell clients to open the Business License Application the same week their EIN clears.
- Do that early, and the unpleasant letter I see later usually never shows up.
The everyday errors still bite too: picking the wrong classification on the form, naming a company instead of a person as the responsible party, filing for a second EIN you don’t need, or using a name that doesn’t match your Secretary of State record.
How to Find a Lost Washington EIN or Update Your LLC
Lost the CP 575? Your EIN sits on past tax returns, your business bank file, and old payroll filings, and you can also recover a forgotten EIN by asking the IRS for a 147C verification letter. Your UBI lives in your My DOR account and your state business record.
Not every change calls for a new number. A name or address update uses Form 8822-B, but converting a sole proprietorship into an LLC, or shifting from single-member to multi-member, means you’ll need a fresh EIN. If you’re reshaping the business, it pays to compare Washington LLC services before you refile.
Washington EIN Frequently Asked Questions
A handful of questions come up on nearly every Washington filing, and several have answers a generic federal page won’t give you.
Does my Washington LLC need a state tax ID if there’s no income tax?
Usually yes, despite the missing income tax. You skip a wage-withholding account, but once your LLC grosses $12,000 a year, sells taxable goods or services, or hires, you register with the Department of Revenue for a UBI. That UBI, not the EIN, is the number the state and your city rely on.
What’s the difference between my EIN and my Washington UBI number?
The EIN is your federal number from the IRS and works nationwide. The UBI is a nine-digit Washington number from the Department of Revenue, sometimes called your tax registration or business license number. You use the EIN for federal taxes and banking, and the UBI for B&O, sales tax, and employer accounts.
Is a Washington EIN really free?
Yes, completely. The IRS issues it at no cost and says outright that no one ever needs to pay for an EIN. Any “Washington EIN service” charging $150 or more is billing you for a form you can finish yourself in one sitting.
Do I register for B&O tax with my EIN, and when?
You register through the Business License Application, which asks for your EIN, once gross income reaches $12,000 a year or you need an endorsement. Because B&O taxes gross receipts, it applies even in a year the business loses money. Most owners register the same month their EIN arrives.
How does a married-couple Washington LLC handle the EIN?
Since Washington is a community-property state, a spouse-owned LLC can be treated as a single disregarded entity rather than a partnership. You name one spouse, the one steering the money and the filings, as the responsible party, and the business still receives just one EIN.
Can a foreign-owned Washington LLC get an EIN without an SSN?
Yes. A foreign responsible party with no Social Security number or ITIN can’t use the online tool, but can fax or mail Form SS-4, or call the international line at 267-941-1099. Expect a few business days by fax and roughly four weeks by mail.
- Washington Secretary of State: Start or Register a Business
- IRS: Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) Online
- IRS: Instructions for Form SS-4
- Washington Department of Revenue: Apply for a Business License
- Washington Department of Revenue: Business and Occupation (B&O) Tax
- Washington Employment Security Department: Employer’s Guide to Paying Taxes
Looking for an overview? See Washington LLC Services
Get Your Washington EIN Quickly with Harbor Compliance
Harbor Compliance helps Washington business owners obtain an EIN efficiently and accurately. Whether you’re forming a new LLC, opening a business bank account, hiring employees, or preparing for tax registration, their streamlined support helps you get the federal tax ID your business needs without unnecessary delays.
