Do I need an Employer Identifcation Number EIN?

Question

We formed an LLC for our real estate investment business. We heard you can get discounts as a business but you need an EIN#. Does anyone know the ins/outs of an EIN# and do we need to have employees in order to get one?

Dmitriy Fomichenko · Answer

Jackie, you don't need employees in your LLC to get an EIN. You can simply apply online on the IRS website, it takes about 5 minutes, simply answer few questions and you will be able to generate your IRS letter with your EIN in a pdf format. Here is the link to apply:

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-se...

Ashish Acharya · Answer

If you have multi-member LLC, you are taxed as partnership and partnerships' need EIN. Single member LLC is taxed as sole and do not necessarily need EIN. But you should get EIN anyway even if you have single member LLC because you can use EIN rather than your personal SSN on some of the Business and tax forms.

You dont need to have employee to get EIN, but one you have employee, you will need EIN.

Cary O. · Answer

No employees are needed to file for an EIN#, and it can be done easily online through the IRS website. It is beneficial to file online for an EIN# for your LLC so that you can open a bank account for your LLC and keep your personal and business accounts separate. Banks (at least in Texas) generally require the certificate of formation, certificate of filing, the EIN#, and the LLC Operating Agreement listing the members that have the rights to be able to open an account and withdraw money from the account.

Dmitriy Fomichenko · Answer

Jackie,

single member LLC = sole proprietor, pass through

2 member LLC = taxed as partnership, the LLC files it's own tax return and each member gets a K1

Vinod Dasani · Answer

@Jackie Thennes - Think of EIN as the SS# for an Entity.  It takes a few minutes to apply for it which can be done online for free so I would suggest getting one for the LLC.

Michael Plaks · Answer

@Erica Raby

Choose "starting a new business"

Nillion Lambert · Answer

Hello BP! I know this thread is a bit old but I have additional questions regarding it and can't find them in any other posts. What should I choose for tax purposes or how should my LLC be setup? I am a single member LLC that plans to wholesale and fix and flip. Please see the options below. Thanks in advance for all of your help.

- Sales and Use Tax

- Use Tax Payment Only

- Employer Withholding Tax Account

- Unemployment Insurance

- Transient Vendor License

As I was applying for an EIN, the below options appeared. Which should I select from the highlighted options? My initial thought was for banking purposes only, but I see many private lenders/hard money lenders require it and I don't know if that changes anything...

Jackie Badiali · Answer

Thanks for all your input everyone. We got our EIN# so we're good to go!

Jackie Badiali · Answer

okay great thanks everyone for your input! One of the questions is how we will be taxed and I'm not sure how to answer that? Is being taxed as a sole proprietor the only way we can be taxed as a 2 member LLC? If I select this can it be changed later?

Do I need an Employer Identifcation Number EIN?

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