How to Apply for an EIN in New York

The EIN step itself

One federal form, one agency, the same options wherever the business sits: online, fax, mail, or the international phone line. The method decides the timeline, not the state. Every method and what it actually takes covers that in full, and it applies to New York unchanged.

What New York needs first

Form your entity with the New York Department of State, Division of Corporations before applying. The IRS asks for the legal name and formation date exactly as the state recorded them, and a mismatch is one of the common causes of a rejected application.

New York issues a DOS ID number. It identifies your company in state records and is not a tax ID. It cannot be used where an EIN is asked for, and the IRS has no record of it.

What New York requires once you have the EIN

• Register with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, and obtain a Certificate of Authority before collecting sales tax — the EIN is required on the application.
• File the biennial statement with the Department of State every two years in the anniversary month of formation.

What is actually different about New York

• New York is one of very few states with an LLC publication requirement: within weeks of formation the LLC must publish a notice in two newspapers designated by the county clerk and then file a Certificate of Publication with the Department of State. It has nothing to do with the EIN, but new owners routinely assume the EIN letter satisfies it, and it does not.
• New York asks for a biennial statement rather than an annual report, so the Department of State hears from an LLC every two years rather than every one. Owners arriving from annual-report states tend to file a year early or a year late.
• The Division of Corporations issues a DOS ID number that identifies the entity in state records. Banks in New York sometimes ask for it alongside the EIN; the two are unrelated, and the DOS ID is not a tax number.