How to Get an EIN for an Estate

Why the bank sent you here

The first time most executors hear the words “estate EIN” is at a bank counter. They have a death certificate and a court letter, they want to open an account to collect the deceased person’s money, and the bank asks for the estate’s tax identification number. The bank is right to ask. The account belongs to the estate, the estate is not the person who died, and the person who died no longer has a Social Security number the bank can open anything under.

The same number goes on the estate’s income tax return, Form 1041, if the estate earns enough during administration to need one, and on any brokerage or investment account that gets retitled to the estate while you are winding things up.

Who is the responsible party?

The IRS wants a real person with authority over the estate’s assets: the executor named in the will, or the administrator or personal representative appointed by the probate court if there was no will. That person’s own Social Security number or ITIN goes on the application. A lawyer, an accountant, or a bank officer helping you is not the responsible party, and naming one is a common reason the application has to be corrected later.

You are applying as a fiduciary, not as an owner. Nothing about the estate’s EIN attaches to your personal taxes. It is a number for the estate that you happen to be the signer for.

The Form SS-4 boxes that matter for an estate

• Line 1, legal name. The estate is named after the person who died, in the form “Estate of [full name]”. Not your name, and not the name of a trust they may also have had.
• Line 7a and 7b, responsible party. Your name and your SSN or ITIN. This is the executor, administrator or personal representative.
• Line 9a, type of entity. Tick Estate and enter the decedent’s SSN in the space beside it. This is the box people get wrong most often, usually by choosing Trust or Other. The wrong box produces a valid EIN attached to the wrong kind of taxpayer, and undoing that means a letter to the IRS and a wait.
• Line 10, reason for applying. Estates do not use “created a trust”. The reason is that a new estate exists, which the form handles under “Other” with a short note such as “estate administration”.
• Line 11, date. For an estate the IRS wants the date of death, not the date you are filling in the form and not the date the court appointed you.
• Signature. You sign with your title, for example “Executor” or “Personal Representative”.

How to apply

Form SS-4 for an estate can be filed the same four ways as any other: online, by fax, by mail, or by phone if the executor is outside the United States. Every method and its real timeline covers all four. The executor-specific points are these.

Online

The IRS online application issues the number in the same session when it completes. It runs on a weekday schedule, cannot be saved, and times out after a short period of inactivity. If you have to go and find the death certificate for the date, you start again. It also accepts whatever you enter on Line 9a without checking it, which is how estates end up with a trust EIN.

Fax

Faxing a completed SS-4 with a return fax number avoids the session and the schedule. A person reviews it. Expect roughly four business days. This is the route we use for estates when the online tool will not complete, and it is the only route when the executor has no U.S. taxpayer number of their own.

Mail

Mail works and takes about four weeks. If a bank or a court is waiting, that is usually too long.

The estate EIN and the deceased person’s SSN are both still in play

The SSN does not go away when the estate gets an EIN. The final personal income tax return for the year of death is still filed under the deceased person’s SSN. Income the estate earns after death, such as interest on the estate account or a sale of property during administration, belongs on Form 1041 under the estate’s EIN. Executors who deposit post-death income under the SSN, or report pre-death income under the EIN, create a mismatch that surfaces later, when it is harder to fix.

Do you also need a trust EIN?

Often, yes. If the deceased person had a revocable living trust, that trust became irrevocable at death and needs its own EIN, separate from the estate’s. An executor who is also the successor trustee ends up with two numbers for two different taxpayers. They are not interchangeable. EIN for a trust after the grantor dies covers the trust side.

After the number arrives

• Open the estate account with the EIN, the death certificate and your court letters.
• Consider filing Form 56 with the IRS to put your fiduciary relationship on record, so IRS notices about the estate reach you.
• Keep the IRS confirmation. It is issued once. If it is lost later, the replacement is a 147C letter, which this guide explains how to get.

Quick answers

Can I use the deceased person’s Social Security number for the estate account?

No. The SSN belongs to the person and to their final return. The estate is a new taxpayer and needs its own EIN.

Do I need an EIN if the estate is small?

If you need to open an estate bank account, yes, regardless of size. Whether the estate must also file Form 1041 depends on how much income it earns during administration, which is a separate question.

Who applies if there is no will?

The administrator or personal representative the probate court appoints. The court’s letters are what the bank will want alongside the EIN.

What if the IRS returns a reference number instead of an EIN?

Estates rarely hit the name conflict that produces reference number 101, but technical failures such as 109 happen. In either case the fax route gets the application in front of a person.