Lost your EIN or the CP-575 letter? Here's the fix

First, the good news: your EIN itself never expires and doesn't change. Losing the paperwork doesn't lose the number.

Find the number first

Before calling anyone, check the places it already lives: prior business tax returns, the original CP-575 confirmation (search email and files for 'CP 575' or 'EIN'), bank account opening documents, payroll or bookkeeping software, and state filings. One of these usually has it.

Replacing the confirmation letter

The CP-575, the IRS's original confirmation notice, is generated once and cannot be reissued. Its official replacement is the 147C verification letter, which banks and institutions accept the same way.

To get a 147C, an authorized person (owner, officer, trustee) calls the IRS Business & Specialty Tax Line at 800-829-4933 (Monday–Friday, 7 AM–7 PM local time), verifies identity, and asks for the letter by fax or mail. Only the IRS can issue it, no third party, including us, can request a 147C on your behalf, so we'll say plainly: this one is a phone call you make yourself.

If it turns out you never had an EIN at all, sometimes the case for owners who assumed formation included one, we can prepare and file a new EIN application as your third-party designee.