Form SS-4 for a foreign-owned U.S. LLC.

Line 1: legal name

Enter the LLC’s legal name exactly as it appears in the state formation document, including “LLC” or the registered suffix. Do not substitute a brand or storefront name.

Lines 4a–5b: mailing and street addresses

The mailing address is where the entity receives IRS correspondence. A foreign address must include city, province or state, postal code and country name without abbreviating the country. The street address is required only if it differs from the mailing address, and it cannot be a P.O. box.

Lines 7a–7b: responsible party

Line 7a must name the individual who ultimately owns or controls the entity. Except for a government entity, the responsible party must be a natural person rather than another company.

If that individual has no SSN or ITIN and is ineligible to obtain one, the IRS instruction says to enter “foreign” or “N/A” on line 7b. The field cannot be blank.

Need an ITIN for a personal federal tax obligation? Read ITINYa’s Spanish guide for foreign LLC owners. An EIN does not automatically require a personal ITIN.

Lines 8a–8c: LLC information

• Check “Yes” on line 8a for an entity organized as a limited liability company.
• Enter the number of LLC members on line 8b.
• Line 8c asks whether the LLC was organized in the United States.

Line 9a: do not guess the tax classification

The default classification depends on member count and elections. A domestic single-member LLC is generally disregarded unless it elects corporate treatment; a domestic multi-member LLC is generally a partnership unless it elects otherwise.

Lines 10–18: the operating facts

The application also asks why you need the EIN, when the business started, the accounting-year closing month, expected employees, principal business activity, and whether the entity previously applied for an EIN. These answers must describe the actual business rather than a generic online example.

Signature and third-party designee

The applicant signs and dates the form. Complete the third-party designee section only if you want another named person to receive the EIN and answer questions about Form SS-4. A U.S.-organized LLC cannot use the IRS international phone application route, so authorization does not change its need to file by the applicable fax or mail method.

Determine the submission route separately

The fax and mail routes below apply when the applicant has no legal residence, principal place of business, or principal office or agency in a U.S. state or D.C. If the applicant does have one of those connections, use the domestic destination in the current IRS instructions. The March 2026 IRS processing update classifies an LLC organized in a U.S. state as domestic and excludes it from telephone assignment on the international line.