Best EIN applications tools 2027: guide and criteria, in plain terms

The IRS issues the Employer Identification Number and charges nothing for it. Every product below is an errand service: you pay for someone to file Form SS-4, not for the number.

Ranked by how clearly each one prices that errand, and by whether you end up holding the confirmation.

The fee ranges below are typical for 2027. Each company posts its current figure on its own page, and the free IRS route stays at zero either way.

What to take away

The tools, ranked

1. IRS online application. Free, direct, and the only route where no third party touches your details. It asks for the responsible party's name and identifying information.

Best for a sole owner with a Social Security number or ITIN who wants the number today. Nothing to pay, so nothing to compare.

2. Registered agent services. A registered agent is a business you appoint to receive legal notices at a physical address in the state. Most agents, including the large national ones, file your EIN as an add-on to the retainer.

ZenBusiness, Northwest Registered Agent and Harbor Compliance all sell this way. Best for an LLC that needs an agent anyway, because the EIN arrives inside a service you were buying regardless.

Pricing is a retainer, usually annual, and it varies by state and by whether you want the address included. Typical published rates for 2027: ZenBusiness about $199 a year and Northwest about $125 a year, both with an EIN add-on around $50.

Harbor Compliance runs from about $99 to $299 a year by state and entity, and quotes EIN work per engagement.

3. Online formation companies. LegalZoom, Incfile and ZenBusiness file articles of organization and offer the EIN as a checkbox in the package. Best for a founder who wants the state filing and the federal number handled in one order.

The EIN line is often unpriced inside a bundle, which is exactly why you should ask what it covers before you pay. Where it is priced, the add-on is typically about $50 to $70 on top of a state filing fee that varies by state.

4. Incorporation and compliance firms. Harbor Compliance and similar firms serve corporations and multi-state operators, and file Form SS-4 alongside registered agent and license work. Best when the entity is a corporation or already registered in several states. Pricing is quoted per engagement rather than published. What drives the quote is the number of states and whether license work is bundled in.

5. CPA and attorney practices. A CPA or attorney who is forming the entity will file the EIN as part of the engagement. Best when the entity choice or the tax election needs professional judgment.

This is the one route where the fee buys advice as well as filing. The SS-4 is usually folded into the engagement fee rather than priced on its own.

6. Freelance filing services. Marketplaces list Form SS-4 filing for a flat fee, often the cheapest paid option. Typical flat fees run from about $25 to $150, and they buy submission only. Best for a founder who has already decided everything and only wants the form submitted. Check who is named as responsible party before you hand over your details.

Side by side, the six routes look like this.

Criteria for choosing

Four things separate a good service from a bad one.

Start from the IRS's own employer identification numbers page for what the number is and who needs one, and its online application route for the current channels. Read those before you compare anything, because they are the only authoritative description of the process.

How the charge is disguised

None of that is illegal. The question to keep asking is what you are paying for, and whether you would still pay it if the answer were "submitting a free form on your behalf".

Checking a service before you use it

Look at the address bar. A federal agency's page sits on a federal domain, and good visual design tells you nothing. Lookalike sites are usually well made, because they compete for people who have already decided to act.

Ask what happens to your information. Form SS-4 asks for identifying details about a real person, and handing those to an intermediary is a decision worth making deliberately. The Federal Trade Commission's guidance for small businesses covers the general shape of this.

If you use a service anyway

Paying for an errand is a normal transaction. Get the fee itemized in writing, separate from anything else. Ask who is named as responsible party and make sure it is the right person rather than the service. Check the entity name against the state's record character by character.

What the number does and does not do once you have it is set out in the identifier explained, and why the state filing has to come first is in the formation sequence.

The wider pattern

The same shape appears around name filings and annual reports, where solicitations arrive looking official. Treating "who is charging me, and for what" as the first question protects you across all of them, including the appointment covered in choosing an agent and the ongoing filings in keeping things current.

Common questions

Is it ever wrong to pay someone for this?

No. Paying for an errand is a choice. Paying because you believed the number itself costs money is a misunderstanding somebody sold you, and that is the difference worth holding onto.

I already paid. Is my number valid?

The number is issued by the IRS and is unaffected by who submitted the application. What is worth checking is whether the details on it are correct, particularly the responsible party and the exact entity name.

Can a service get one faster?

No third party controls the IRS's process. Any speed claim is about their own handling, and it is worth asking them to say so plainly in writing.

How do I recognize the official route next time?

By starting from the agency's own site rather than from a search result, for this and for every other government process attached to a business. The same habit covers annual reports, name filings and license renewals.