EIN for a Revocable Trust: When You Need One

While the grantor is alive

The rule is written for grantor trusts, which is how a revocable trust is normally treated, because the grantor can take the assets back. A trust owned by one grantor need not obtain a taxpayer number if the trustee gives all payors the grantor’s name and number and the trust’s address. The IRS calls this Optional Method 1. In practice, the bank titles the account in the trust’s name and reports under the grantor’s SSN.

When a live revocable trust does need an EIN

• It does not use Optional Method 1. The SS-4 instructions say grantor trusts that do not report that way must have an EIN. One of the other optional methods uses the trust’s own number.
• The method is not available to it. The regulation excludes several kinds of trust from these methods, including one with its situs or assets outside the United States, and one whose owner is not a U.S. person or uses a fiscal year.

When the grantor dies

Regulation 1.671-4(h)(2) is plain: a trust all of which was treated as owned by the decedent must obtain a new taxpayer number upon the death, if it will continue afterward. The IRS’s list of when to get a new EIN says the same thing in fewer words: a revocable trust that changes to an irrevocable trust. The trustee then gives payors a new Form W-9. Our guide to an EIN for a trust after the grantor dies covers the SS-4 line by line, including the date that trips up most trustees.

Executor and trustee can also elect on Form 8855 to treat the trust as part of the estate for income tax. The trust needs its number whether or not they make that election, and an election cannot be revoked once made, so talk to whoever prepares the Form 1041 first.

Quick answers

We changed trustees. Do we need a new EIN?

No. Changing the trustee is on the IRS list of changes that do not need one. If a new number is needed after the grantor’s death, it is because of the death, not the new trustee.

Is it wrong to get an EIN for a revocable trust while the grantor is alive?

Not wrong, but usually unnecessary, and it leaves a reporting method to keep track of. If yours already has one, read the section on existing numbers before applying again.

Our trust has two grantors. Does this change?

It can. The exception above is written for a trust owned by one grantor, and different reporting methods apply to joint trusts. When one spouse dies, part of the trust may become irrevocable while part stays revocable. That is a question for whoever prepares the return before you file anything.