How to get an EIN without an SSN in 2026
By Mariam Raouf. Published 2026-08-27. 6 min read.
Somebody has probably told you that you need an ITIN first. That advice is wrong, it is everywhere, and it costs founders months of waiting for a number they never needed.
Here is how to get an EIN without an SSN, in the words of the IRS rather than a formation service. The instructions for Form SS-4 say, at line 7b: "Enter 'foreign' or N/A on line 7b if the responsible party doesn't have and is ineligible to obtain an SSN or ITIN."
That single line is the whole answer. There is a designated way to write "I do not have a US tax number" on the form, and the IRS put it there on purpose, because plenty of people who need an EIN are not American.
What an EIN is and why you need one
An EIN is an Employer Identification Number, a federal tax identification number for a business entity. Despite the name, you do not need employees to have one.
You need it to open a US business bank account and to file the federal returns your company owes. Payment processors and marketplaces ask for it. If you have just formed a US LLC from abroad, it is the next thing you do after the state approves your filing.
It is not a licence and not permission to trade. It is an identifier.
You do not need an SSN or an ITIN
The confusion comes from the shape of the form. Line 7b of Form SS-4 asks for the responsible party's SSN, ITIN or EIN, and people reasonably conclude they must produce one of the three.
Read the instruction attached to that line instead. The IRS Instructions for Form SS-4 tell you what to do when you have none of them: "Enter 'foreign' or N/A on line 7b if the responsible party doesn't have and is ineligible to obtain an SSN or ITIN."
That is not a workaround or a grey area. It is the documented procedure for your exact situation, published by the agency that issues the number.
The responsible party, for a single owner LLC, is you. It has to be a natural person who controls the entity, not another company.
Why the online application will not work for you
Everything you read points at the IRS online EIN assistant, which issues a number immediately at the end of the session. Then you start it and cannot get through.
The IRS is explicit about why. Its EIN guidance states that if you have no legal residence, principal place of business, or principal office or agency in the United States or US territories, you cannot use the online application to obtain an EIN.
Notice what that is and is not. It is a restriction on one web form, not a statement that you are ineligible for an EIN. The tool was built around US identity verification and cannot handle an applicant it cannot verify that way, so the IRS routes those applicants to a human instead.
One more thing about the online tool, if you do have a US address and can use it. The session expires after 15 minutes of inactivity and restarts from the beginning, so gather everything first.
The phone route for international applicants
If you are outside the US with no US presence, the fastest route is the telephone.
Call 267 941 1099. It is not a toll free number, so it will cost you international call rates. Lines are open 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday to Friday.
This is a dedicated line for international applicants. An assistor takes you through Form SS-4 question by question and the number is issued on the same call. That is the entire process. No ITIN, no notarised documents, no agent.
The two practical difficulties are the time zone and the wait. Work out what 6:00 a.m. Eastern is where you are, call early in the IRS day rather than late, and expect to hold. Do not call from a phone that will run out of battery or credit halfway through.
Fax and post are the alternatives if a call is impractical. You complete Form SS-4, sign it, and send it in.
How long each route takes
| Route | Timeline | Open to applicants with no US presence |
|---|---|---|
| Online | Immediate, issued at the end of the session | No |
| Phone, international applicants | Same call | Yes |
| Fax | Generally within 4 business days | Yes |
| Post | Approximately 4 weeks | Yes |
Source: IRS Instructions for Form SS-4, revised December 2025. Checked September 2026.
Those are the IRS's own published expectations rather than anecdotes from a forum. Real processing can run longer at busy times, but the ranking never changes: phone beats fax, fax beats post, and post is the last resort.
An EIN is free
The IRS could not put this more plainly: "Beware of websites that charge for an EIN. You never have to pay a fee for an EIN."
An entire tier of services charges to obtain a number the IRS gives away. The better ones are transparent that you are paying for admin rather than the number. The worse ones are designed to look like the IRS.
Paying somebody to make the call is a legitimate choice if the time zone is impossible or the form makes you nervous. Just be clear that you are buying an hour of somebody else's morning, not a product. The government fee is zero.
What to have in hand before you call
Get all of this on one page before you dial. The assistor works through the form in order, and hunting for a document mid call is how sessions go wrong.
- The entity's exact legal name as the state approved it, including LLC
- The formation date and the state of formation
- The company's mailing address, usually the registered agent address
- Your own name as the responsible party, exactly as it appears on your passport
- Your foreign address
- The answer for line 7b, which is "foreign", because you have no SSN or ITIN
- Your reason for applying, usually that you started a new business
- A plain description of what the business does and its principal activity
- The closing month of your accounting year, normally December
- Whether you expect US employees in the next 12 months, usually no
- A completed Form SS-4 in front of you, so you are reading rather than improvising
Write the number down when it is read to you, then read it back. The confirmation letter takes a while to arrive.
What comes next
The EIN is the middle step. It sits between forming the company and the two things that actually take effort.
Next is the bank account, where the obstacle is bank policy rather than anything legal. Our guide to opening a US business bank account as a non resident LLC owner covers what to prepare.
After that comes the federal filing that catches almost every foreign owned LLC by surprise. If your LLC has a single owner who is not a US person, Form 5472 and its $25,000 penalty apply to you, and funding your own company counts as a reportable transaction. Read that one before your first year end, not after.
If you have not formed the company yet, the full sequence is in how to open a US LLC as a non resident.
The short version
You do not need an SSN. You do not need an ITIN. You need a formed company, a completed Form SS-4, and either a phone call at an awkward hour or a fax and some patience.
The myth persists because most content about US company formation is written by people selling formation packages, and "you need an ITIN first, we can help with that" is a better sales pitch than "write foreign on line 7b and call this number". The IRS published the instruction. It has been there the whole time.
At Calpir we work on what happens after the paperwork, the systems and admin a new company needs to actually operate. If you want a second pair of eyes on your setup sequence, our contact page is open, and telling you that you can do this yourself in one call is a perfectly good outcome.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get an EIN without an SSN or ITIN?
Yes. The IRS instructions for Form SS-4 tell a responsible party who has no SSN or ITIN and cannot obtain one to enter "foreign" on line 7b. You apply by phone, fax or post rather than online, because the online tool is restricted to applicants with a US legal residence, principal place of business or principal office.
Do I need an ITIN before applying for an EIN?
No. This is the most common piece of bad advice non resident founders receive, and following it can add months to a launch for no benefit. An ITIN is an individual taxpayer number with its own separate application process. Your company's EIN does not depend on it, and line 7b of Form SS-4 tells you what to write instead.
How much does an EIN cost?
Nothing. The IRS warns directly that you never have to pay a fee for an EIN and to be careful of websites that charge for one. Third party services may charge for handling the application on your behalf, which is a service fee rather than a government fee, and you are free to make the call yourself for the price of an international phone call.
What is the IRS phone number for international EIN applications?
267 941 1099, open 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern, Monday to Friday. It is not a toll free number. An assistor takes you through Form SS-4 on the call, and for international applicants the EIN is issued during that same call rather than posted out later.
How long does an EIN take by fax or post?
The IRS says fax applications are generally processed within 4 business days and posted applications take approximately 4 weeks. If you have any deadline at all, the phone line is the only route that gives you a number the same day.