Just formed my Delaware LLC. Need an EIN to open a bank account. Seeing different options on IRS website — online, fax, mail. Which is fastest? Any gotchas?
Online is instant — you get EIN immediately. But it only works if you have a US SSN or ITIN. Hours are M-F 7am-10pm EST.
Fax takes about 4 business days. Mail takes 4-6 weeks. No reason to use anything but online if you qualify.
If you're a foreign founder without SSN, you need to fax Form SS-4. I used a service that faxed it for me and got EIN in 5 days. Some people report calling the IRS directly works too but expect long hold times.
I have SSN. Just did it online — literally took 5 minutes. Got the EIN confirmation letter PDF immediately. That was way easier than expected.
Pro tip: some banks want you to wait 24-48 hours after getting EIN before opening account. The EIN needs to "propagate" through IRS systems. Had a bank reject my application because they couldn't verify the EIN same-day.
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