Frequently asked questions

99% of our orders are completed in 72 hours or less, measured from your payment to the 147c letter in your inbox. The clock runs on business days, Monday to Friday: weekends and US federal holidays do not count, because the IRS unit we file with is closed then. We file the application with the IRS through our established process and contacts and follow up until the number is issued. If your order is among the few that take longer, we reach out to you before you have to ask. Usually it means a few more days. See the next question.

No. We count business days, Monday to Friday, because the IRS office that handles these applications is closed at the weekend and on US federal holidays, and nothing moves there on those days. The clock starts when your payment goes through and pauses from Friday evening until Monday morning, and for the whole of a federal holiday. So an order paid on Monday is normally with you by Thursday, an order paid on Friday by Wednesday, and an order placed over the weekend starts counting on Monday. A public holiday in that window adds a day.

It happens to roughly 1 in 100 orders, usually because the IRS needs a second look at a name that does not quite match the state record or an EIN that already exists for the entity. When it does, we reach out to you to tell you where the application stands and what, if anything, we need from you, and we keep working on it at no extra cost. In most of these cases the letter arrives a few days later than planned. If an order takes considerably longer than that, we offer a partial or full refund depending on the situation, because we would rather lose a fee than leave you with a bad experience. You never have to chase us for an update, and you can also cancel for a full refund at any time before the EIN is issued (see below).

Yes, completely. There is only one kind of EIN: the one the IRS assigns. We do not generate numbers, we do not use a pool of numbers, and we do not register anything in our own name. We prepare Form SS-4 for your LLC and submit it to the IRS as your third party designee, which is the mechanism printed on the IRS form itself and used by law firms and CPAs every day. The IRS reviews the application, assigns the EIN to your LLC, and the 147c letter you receive is the IRS confirming that number on its own letterhead. The number is permanently tied to your LLC, works with every bank, payment provider, and government agency, and is exactly the same EIN you would have received by faxing the form yourself, just weeks earlier.

For a foreign-owned LLC, yes, and the sooner the better. Without it your LLC cannot open a US bank account, cannot set up Stripe, PayPal, or a marketplace seller account, cannot give clients a W-9, and cannot file the Form 5472 that every foreign-owned single-member LLC owes the IRS each year (penalty from $25,000). In other words, the company exists on paper but cannot take or send money. Everything else you plan to do with the LLC starts after the EIN arrives, so it is the first thing to sort out after formation.

You receive the IRS EIN verification letter, Form 147c, as a scan of the fax we receive from the IRS. It is an official IRS document on IRS letterhead and shows your EIN, the LLC name, and the LLC address on file. We deliver only the 147c letter. The original IRS confirmation notice (CP 575) is mailed by the IRS to your LLC address and usually arrives within 3 to 4 weeks. You do not need to wait for it.

Yes. The 147c is an official IRS document and is the standard proof of EIN accepted by US banks, fintech banking providers, Stripe, PayPal, Amazon, and similar services. Many of our customers open their account the same day they receive the letter.

Yes. That is exactly who this service is for. The IRS online EIN tool requires an SSN or ITIN, which is why foreign owners are stuck with fax or mail and wait 4 to 12 weeks. We handle the application as your third party designee, so you need neither. That role is limited to the EIN application itself: we do not represent anyone before the IRS.

Yes, and this is common. Many owners fax the SS-4, hear nothing for weeks, and then order from us. Upload the form you filed in the order form and we work from it. The IRS never issues two EINs for the same LLC, so there is no risk of a duplicate: if your application has already produced a number, we retrieve it and send you the 147c letter; if it has not, we make sure the application goes through. Either way you get the letter by email, in 72 hours or less for 99% of orders.

No. Your existing application is not cancelled, withdrawn or put on hold, and you do not need to do anything to stop it. We work with the application that is already in the system and push it along, so the effect is that it gets expedited rather than replaced. Because the IRS assigns one EIN per entity, the number you receive from us is the number the IRS associates with your LLC permanently. There is no second application competing with the first, no duplicate record, and nothing for you to undo afterwards.

Because of the clock. For an owner without an SSN, most formation services do what you could do yourself: they fill in Form SS-4 and fax or mail it to the IRS, then wait. Their own pages quote 4 to 8 weeks or "up to 30 business days", and you receive the number once the IRS letter reaches them. We file as your third party designee, follow up directly, and obtain the 147c letter by fax the day the number exists: 99% of our orders are done in 72 hours or less. If your formation service has already filed, you can still order from us: upload the SS-4 they filed and we retrieve the number. Read the full comparison.

You can, but be careful about what you are handing over and to whom. To file an SS-4 the seller needs your full name, your home address, your LLC details, and in many cases a copy of your passport. With an anonymous marketplace account there is no legal entity behind the service, no refund if the application is botched or never filed, and no recourse if your data is misused, for example to list a nominee as the responsible party or to apply for an EIN that is tied to someone else. We have also seen doctored "confirmation" images offered instead of a real IRS letter. SwiftEIN is operated by a registered German company with a published imprint, a privacy policy that tells you exactly where your data goes, a refund if the IRS issues no EIN, and a real 147c letter faxed by the IRS, not a screenshot.

A single payment of $149, charged by card through Stripe when you place the order. There are no subscriptions, no follow-up fees, and no upsells. If we cannot obtain an EIN for your LLC, we refund the full amount.

The LLC name and address, the state and date of formation, the owner's name and address, the number of members, a short description of the business, your email, and a phone number. You enter everything in the order form. No account or sign-up is needed.

Yes. Email us at the support address with your order number and we cancel and refund you in full, no questions asked, as long as the IRS has not yet issued the EIN. Once the EIN has been issued, the service has been performed and the order cannot be cancelled or refunded.

We refund the full $149. This can happen if, for example, the LLC already has an EIN on file or the information provided does not match the formation documents. We will tell you what we know so you can fix the issue.

Go to the status page and enter your order number together with the owner's last name. The order number is in your confirmation email. There is no login or account.

No. We are not a law firm, CPA firm, tax advisor, or registered agent, and nothing on this site is legal or tax advice. Our service is limited to preparing and submitting the EIN application with the IRS based on the information you provide, and delivering the 147c letter to you. For questions about your tax obligations, please consult a qualified professional.

Any newly formed US LLC that does not yet have an EIN is eligible, regardless of the state of formation or the owner's country of residence. Single-member and multi-member LLCs are both fine. If your LLC already has an EIN, we cannot apply for a second one, but email us and we will try to help.

SwiftEIN is operated by Paircat UG (haftungsbeschränkt), a company registered in Berlin, Germany. Our team works with US filing partners to submit EIN applications. See the imprint and terms of service for the full legal details.

We use the information you enter only to prepare and submit the EIN application and to communicate with you about the order. Payment details are handled by Stripe and never touch our servers. Advertising and analytics cookies are only set if you accept them in the cookie notice. See our privacy policy for the details.