Getting a US Employer Identification Number From Canada: Who Needs One, the SS-4 Without an SSN, and the Phone Route

The Employer Identification Number is the US federal tax identifier for entities — and for some individuals in business — and Canadians meet it at the moment a US bank, a US payroll provider, a US customer's vendor form, or a US filing requirement asks for one. Who needs an EIN: a US entity formed by a Canadian (an LLC, a C corporation, a partnership — the EIN is issued to the entity at formation and is required for its bank account, its returns, and its payroll); a Canadian corporation or other entity that files US returns (Form 1120-F for a corporation with US-source income or a protective return; the partnership and trust equivalents), that has US employees or payroll withholding obligations, that must withhold on payments to US persons, or that needs an identifier for a US-facing account or contract; and a Canadian sole proprietor with US employees or with a US filing that requires an entity-level identifier. Who doesn't: a Canadian individual with US investment or rental income files on an ITIN, not an EIN (the ITIN guide covers that); a Canadian corporation receiving US-source passive income and claiming treaty benefits on Form W-8BEN-E generally does not need a US identifier at all — the form accepts a foreign tax identification number (the Canadian business number) for most treaty claims, and an EIN is required on the W-8BEN-E only in specific cases (certain treaty claims for income effectively connected with a US business, and where the withholding agent's or the form's instructions require a US identifier); and a Canadian business selling into the US without a US entity, US employees, or US filings needs no EIN merely because a customer's onboarding portal has a field for one — an explanation to the customer's vendor team is the right response, not an unnecessary application. The application: Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number, asks for the entity's legal name and address, the type of entity, the reason for applying, the date the business started, the number of employees expected, and — the field that stops Canadians — the responsible party's Social Security number, ITIN, or EIN. A responsible party without any of those (the ordinary Canadian owner) enters "Foreign" in that field, which the form's instructions permit for a responsible party who has no US identifier and is not required to obtain one. The routes: the online application (immediate issuance) requires the responsible party to have an SSN or ITIN — Canadians without one cannot use it, and the lookalike third-party websites offering "online EIN for foreigners" are paid intermediaries filing the same SS-4 by fax, sometimes with the intermediary listed as a nominee in ways that create problems later; the telephone route — the IRS's international applicants line, staffed during US business hours, issues the EIN during the call to an applicant who has the completed SS-4 in hand and can answer its questions, and is the fastest route for most Canadians (a same-day number, with the confirmation letter following by mail); the fax route — the completed SS-4 faxed to the IRS's international fax number, with the EIN returned by fax typically within a few business days; and mail, which is slow and rarely the right choice. Practical details that go wrong: the responsible party must be an individual who controls or manages the entity (not the accountant, not a nominee service — the IRS's definition and its consequences make nominees a liability); the entity type on the SS-4 must match the entity's actual classification (a single-member LLC that will be disregarded, a corporation, a partnership — and a foreign entity making a Form 8832 election coordinates the two forms); the "reason for applying" drives what the IRS expects next (choosing "hired employees" triggers employment tax filing expectations; "banking purposes" for a foreign entity does not); the address can be a Canadian address (the IRS mails the confirmation letter internationally); and the confirmation letter (CP 575) is the document banks and payroll providers want — request a replacement (Letter 147C) by phone if it is lost, which happens. After issuance: the EIN is permanent for the entity, does not expire, and carries filing expectations consistent with the entity type and the reason given — an EIN obtained for a US corporation means the IRS expects a Form 1120 every year, and one obtained for a Canadian corporation's US bank account creates no filing obligation by itself but does put the entity in the IRS's records. A Canadian entity that obtained an EIN years ago for a purpose that ended (a US account since closed, a project since finished) generally leaves it alone; the IRS closes business accounts on written request when there is no further use, and an unused EIN with no filing obligations creates no exposure — but an EIN attached to a US entity that stopped filing does, which is a different problem covered by the entity-maintenance guides.

Key takeaways

• Who needs one: US entities formed by Canadians; Canadian entities filing US returns, running US payroll, or withholding on US-person payments; Canadian sole proprietors with US employees.
• Who doesn't: Canadian individuals (ITIN, not EIN, for US income); Canadian corporations claiming treaty benefits on W-8BEN-E for passive income (the Canadian business number usually suffices); Canadian sellers with no US entity, employees, or filings — a customer's form field is not a requirement.
• The SS-4 without an SSN: the responsible party enters "Foreign" in the identifier field — the online application is closed to them, the phone and fax routes are open.
• Phone is fastest: the international applicants line issues the EIN during the call to an applicant holding a completed SS-4; fax returns it in days; mail is slow; paid "foreign EIN" websites are intermediaries filing the same form, sometimes as problematic nominees.
• Get the details right: a genuine responsible party (never a nominee), the correct entity classification (coordinated with any Form 8832), a reason for applying that matches your actual plans, and the CP 575 confirmation letter kept (Letter 147C replaces it).
• An EIN is permanent and carries expectations: a US corporation's EIN means annual Form 1120s; a Canadian corporation's banking EIN creates no filing by itself — but an EIN attached to a US entity that stops filing is a problem the entity guides address.

The one-week EIN process from Canada

Day one: confirm you actually need one (the who-doesn't list eliminates a third of the requests we see). Day two: complete the SS-4 — legal name exactly as formed, Canadian address if that's the entity's address, entity type matched to classification, responsible party as the controlling individual with "Foreign" in the identifier field, reason for applying stated accurately, start date and employee expectations honest. Day three: call the international line during US business hours with the form in hand; answer the questions; write down the EIN issued. Or fax the form and wait a few days. Day four onward: open the bank account, set up payroll, or complete the filing that needed the number; file the CP 575 letter when it arrives; note the filing expectations the EIN carries. One week, no intermediary, no nominee.

Worked example

Three Canadians, three EIN questions. Applicant one: a Toronto software company forming a Delaware subsidiary to hire two US engineers — the subsidiary needs an EIN for its bank account, its payroll, and its Form 1120; the SS-4 lists the subsidiary, the Canadian CEO as responsible party with "Foreign" in the identifier field, "started new business" and "hired employees" as reasons, and two expected employees; the phone call issues the EIN in twenty minutes; payroll registration follows the same week. Applicant two: a Calgary consulting corporation whose new US client's vendor portal demands an EIN before it will pay — the corporation has no US entity, no US employees, and its services are performed in Canada (Regulation 105 doesn't apply to a Canadian-resident supplier; the US withholding question runs on the W-8BEN-E treaty claim, which accepts the Canadian business number): no EIN is needed; a one-paragraph explanation to the client's vendor team, with the W-8BEN-E attached, resolves it — the application that would have put the corporation in IRS records for no reason is not filed. Applicant three: a Vancouver individual who owns a Florida rental through a Wyoming LLC — the LLC has an EIN from formation (filed by the US lawyer, correctly, with her as responsible party), but she has been filing her 1040-NR rental income under it instead of under an ITIN, because nobody told her the disregarded LLC's income is hers personally; the repair is an ITIN application and corrected returns — the LLC's EIN was right for the entity and wrong as her personal identifier, the distinction the who-needs-what list exists to draw. Three requests, one number issued, one avoided, one clarified.

Official sources

The Instructions for Form SS-4 direct the applicant to "enter 'foreign' or N/A on line 7b if the responsible party doesn't have and is ineligible to obtain an SSN or ITIN"; international applicants without a US residence may obtain the EIN by telephone (an option "available to international applicants only") or by fax. — Internal Revenue Service, Instructions for Form SS-4 and Employer Identification Number, https://www.irs.gov/businesses/employer-identification-number

"Form W-8 BEN-E is used by foreign entities to document their status for purposes of chapter 3 and chapter 4"; a withholding agent "may rely on a properly completed Form W-8BEN-E to treat a payment ... as a payment to a foreign person who beneficially owns the amounts paid," and a foreign tax identifying number is entered on line 9b. — Internal Revenue Service, About Form W-8BEN-E, https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-8ben-e

Practitioner note

EIN requests from Canada divide into the third that shouldn't be filed (a customer's form field isn't a legal requirement, and the W-8BEN-E usually accepts the Canadian business number), the majority that need the phone route with 'Foreign' in the responsible-party field, and the occasional one that has been used as a personal identifier by mistake. We confirm the need first, run the SS-4 by phone in a day, and keep clients away from the paid intermediaries whose nominee arrangements create the responsible-party problems we later untangle.

See also: For whether to sell the Canadian business before or after you move, see whether to sell the Canadian business before or after you move; and browse every cross-border tax topic guide, organized by situation.

Next step

Fairlight prepares the EIN engagement — need determination against the who-doesn't list, SS-4 preparation with correct classification and responsible-party entries, the phone or fax application, confirmation-letter retention, and clarification of EIN-versus-ITIN use for disregarded entities. See cross-border pricing or book a call.