Can I apply for an EIN at any time of the year?

It is ultimately up to you to decide when you apply for your employer identification number. There is no date by which you must apply by each year, although you should keep in mind how long it will take to process and receive your EIN. You can wait until after you register your business before you apply for an EIN for an LLC, corporation, business partnership. You can browse through the information with GovDocFiling for answers to questions such as, “What is a business partnership?”

The greatest effect on when you choose to apply for EIN has to do with when you incorporate the business. This mostly differs if you apply for incorporation at the end of the year versus the beginning or middle of the year. When you choose to register your business is most likely to affect the way you file your taxes the following year, so you will want to consider how much extra work is required based on when you incorporate:

• Applying at the end of the year: You only need to file one tax form set and can start off the new year with your business intact. This is likely to be the simplest method.
• Applying at the beginning or middle of the year: You will need to file two tax form sets for the time you operated before incorporation and the time after.

You don’t have to wait until your business is incorporated, however, to apply for EIN online or in person. You can actually do either one first. However, some states may require a business to pay the fees for incorporation through a business account – for which you might need an EIN. You will need to weigh the personal advantages and disadvantages to getting your business tax ID first as opposed to registering your business. Fill out your EIN form and other necessary business applications with GovDocFiling.