Yes, you can get an EIN without an LLC: a sole proprietor can get one from the IRS, for free, without forming any company. The answer changes if the EIN is meant for an LLC you haven’t formed yet. For that case the IRS says to “form your entity through the secretary of state before you apply for an EIN,” and warns that an application filed before the state approves the LLC “may be delayed.”
So “without an LLC” can mean three different situations, and each has its own answer:
| Your situation | Can you get an EIN now? | Whose EIN is it? |
|---|---|---|
| You work alone and don’t plan to form an LLC | Yes, as a sole proprietor | Yours, under your own name |
| You plan to form an LLC, but the state hasn’t approved it yet | Possible, but the IRS says to form the LLC first | The LLC’s, once it exists |
| You have a sole proprietor EIN and are now forming an LLC | You may be able to keep it | See below |
Getting an EIN Without an LLC as a Sole Proprietor
A sole proprietor applies in their own name. The Form SS-4 instructions put the owner’s individual name on line 1 and the business or trade name on line 2. Nothing is filed with the state, and the EIN doesn’t create a legal entity or any liability protection: the business is still you.
The IRS requires an EIN from a sole proprietor who has employees, pays employment, excise, or alcohol, tobacco, and firearms taxes, withholds tax on payments to a nonresident alien, or sets up a qualified retirement plan. Without any of those, the number is optional, and the IRS still issues one on request: “If you don’t need an EIN for federal tax purposes, you can still request one for banking or state tax purposes,” according to its EIN page.
An EIN also keeps a Social Security number off client paperwork. The Form W-9 instructions say: “If you are a sole proprietor and you have an EIN, you may enter either your SSN or EIN.” A freelancer can give clients the EIN on every W-9, and the 1099s come back under that number.
One EIN covers all of a sole proprietor’s activities. The SS-4 instructions say a sole proprietor generally “needs only one EIN, regardless of the number of businesses operated as a sole proprietorship or trade names under which a business operates.”
LLC or EIN First? Form the LLC First
The IRS EIN page lists this under “Before you apply”: “If you’re creating a legal entity (LLC, partnership, corporation), register it with your state before you apply for an EIN.” The application also asks for the business name “as it appears on your registration or formation documents,” which only exist once the state has accepted the filing.
The order that matches the IRS instructions:
- Check that the name is available in your state and file the articles of organization (some states call them a certificate of organization or certificate of formation).
- Wait for the state to approve the filing. The approval document shows the LLC’s exact legal name.
- Apply for the EIN on IRS.gov, using that exact name and the LLC as the entity type.
- Open the business bank account with the approval document and the EIN.
Form Your LLC First
Northwest Registered Agent files your LLC with the state. Once the filing is approved, the EIN is free from the IRS.
How Long the EIN Takes vs. LLC Approval
State approval time depends on the state and the filing method, and online filings are usually faster than mail (LLC processing times by state). The EIN is the fast part:
| Method | When you get the EIN | Who can use it |
|---|---|---|
| Online at IRS.gov | Immediately | U.S. business, SSN or ITIN |
| Fax (Form SS-4) | About 4 business days | Any applicant |
| Mail (Form SS-4) | About 4 weeks | Any applicant |
| Phone (267-941-1099) | On the call | Applicants outside the U.S. only |
The EIN is free: the IRS warns, “You never have to pay a fee for an EIN.” Fax numbers, mailing addresses, and the online steps are in how to get an EIN.
Most of the waiting is on the state side, so applying for the EIN the day the approval arrives costs almost no time.
Can You Apply for an EIN Before Your LLC Is Approved?
The IRS doesn’t forbid it, but it says the application “may be delayed” if the entity isn’t formed with the state first. The bigger risk comes after: the EIN is recorded under the name and entity type you entered, and the state may approve something different.
What can happen once the state answers:
- The LLC is approved under exactly the name you used. The records match and nothing needs to change.
- The state approves a different name, for example because the first choice was too close to an existing company. The IRS name-change rules are written for an existing business that later renames itself; for an EIN issued before the LLC existed, the IRS doesn’t publish a rule (the IRS line to call is below).
- The application named the wrong entity type, such as “LLC” for a company that was never filed, or “sole proprietor” for what became an LLC. The same applies: ask the IRS before filing anything under that number.
- The LLC is never formed. The EIN now points to a company that doesn’t exist, and the IRS can only deactivate it.
If the state rejects the name and you refile, a corrected EIN can’t come the same day you got the first one: the IRS issues “only 1 EIN per responsible party per day,” whether the request is made online, by fax, by mail, or by phone.
The Texas Secretary of State doesn’t issue EINs (“The secretary of state does not issue employer identification numbers”), and the state’s instructions for the LLC certificate of formation (Form 205) mention EINs only to send filers to the IRS. Nothing in the Texas filing requires the EIN first, so the order stays the same: file Form 205 (online through SOSPortal, or by mail or in person), wait for the acceptance, then apply. The rest of the Texas process is in forming an LLC in Texas.
You Already Have an EIN but No LLC: What Now?
What happens to an existing EIN depends on why you got it and what you form next.
Your EIN Is From a Sole Proprietorship and You Are Forming an LLC
The IRS covers this case on its page on when to get a new EIN. You don’t need a new EIN if you “use your sole proprietor EIN for your single-member LLC and don’t choose to be taxed as a corporation or an S corporation and don’t have employees or owe excise tax.”
| The new LLC | Keep the sole proprietor EIN? |
|---|---|
| One member, no employees, no excise tax, default tax status | Yes |
| One member with employees or excise tax returns | No, the LLC needs its own |
| Two or more members | No, the LLC needs its own |
| One member, taxed as a corporation or S corporation | No, the LLC needs its own |
The two-member row follows from the default rules: a multi-member LLC is taxed as a partnership unless it elects otherwise, and the IRS lists “form a partnership” among the reasons a sole proprietor needs a new EIN.
A worked example: a graphic designer has freelanced for two years with a sole proprietor EIN and forms a single-member LLC with no employees. The EIN can stay. On client W-9s, the designer’s own name goes on line 1, the LLC’s name on line 2, and the same EIN in the TIN box, because the W-9 instructions tell a disregarded single-member LLC to enter “the owner’s SSN (or EIN, if the owner has one).” If the LLC hires its first employee a year later, it needs an EIN of its own: for wages paid after January 1, 2009, a single-member LLC must use “its name and employer identification number (EIN) for reporting and payment of employment taxes,” per the IRS page on single-member LLCs.
The full switch (state filing, licenses, contracts, bank account) is covered in changing from a sole proprietorship to an LLC.
Your EIN Was Issued Before the LLC Existed
If the LLC was never formed, the IRS can’t erase the number. Its page “If you no longer need your EIN” says: “we can’t cancel it, but we can deactivate it.” Once assigned, an EIN “becomes that entity’s permanent federal taxpayer ID number.”
To deactivate it, mail a letter with the EIN, the legal name, the address, the reason, and a copy of the EIN assignment notice if you have it, to Internal Revenue Service, MS 6055, Kansas City, MO 64108, or Internal Revenue Service, MS 6273, Ogden, UT 84201. If any tax payment was made under the number, business taxes are owed, or the IRS sent a notice to file a return, the outstanding returns have to be filed and the taxes paid before the IRS deactivates it.
If the LLC was formed, but under another name or as another entity type than the application said, the IRS business and specialty tax line (800-829-4933, Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time) can confirm whether a correction is enough or whether a new number is needed. A simple misspelling of the name, once the records are otherwise right, follows the process in changing the name on an EIN.
Does Your LLC Need an EIN at All?
Not every LLC does. The IRS rules turn on the number of members, employees, and the tax classification:
- Single-member LLC with no employees and no excise tax: no EIN is required for federal tax purposes. The IRS says it “should use the name and TIN of the single member owner,” and its income goes on the owner’s return. The exception is a foreign-owned LLC, which needs an EIN to file Form 5472.
- Single-member LLC with employees, or excise tax returns: an EIN is required, in the LLC’s name.
- Multi-member LLC: an EIN is required. It files a partnership return, Form 1065, under that number unless it elects corporate taxation. Spouses who own the LLC as community property in a community property state can instead treat it as a single-member, disregarded LLC, according to the IRS page on single-member LLCs.
- LLC taxed as a corporation or S corporation: an EIN is required to file the corporate return.
The IRS’s own pages don’t read the same on this point: the general EIN page lists LLCs among the entities that need an EIN, while the single-member LLC page says a disregarded LLC without employees or excise tax “does not need an EIN.” The single-member LLC page is the more specific of the two, and it adds that such an LLC can still get its own number if it needs one “to open a bank account or if state tax law requires” it. A bank that asks for an EIN in the LLC’s name is reason enough. More on how a single-member LLC is taxed.
Questions About EINs and LLC Formation
Does Getting an EIN Create an LLC?
No. An LLC exists only once the state accepts its articles of organization, and the EIN is a separate federal number.
Can You Get an EIN Without a Business?
Yes, in a few cases. A household employer (a family paying a nanny, for example) needs one, and so do estates and most trusts. Form SS-4 also lists a banking purpose. What the IRS rules out is using an EIN for “state tax lien auctions, sales or lotteries.”
Can You Use the EIN Right Away?
For most things, yes. The IRS says you can use it immediately to open a bank account, apply for licenses, or file a return by mail. It can take up to 2 weeks before the number passes the IRS TIN matching program or works for e-filing a return and paying taxes electronically.
Can You Use One EIN for Two LLCs?
Not as the LLCs’ own number. The IRS says “a business entity should have only one EIN,” and an EIN issued to an LLC belongs to that LLC. Two single-member LLCs that have no employees and no excise tax can both report under the owner’s SSN or EIN, because neither needs its own number; any LLC that does need one gets a separate EIN.
