Form SS-4 for an Estate: Every Line, Filled In
Last updated September 6, 2026 · Written by the EIN Registration filing team
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| Line | For an estate | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Legal name | Estate of [full name of the person who died] | Their name as it appears on the death certificate. Not your name, not the trust's name. |
| 2. Trade name | Leave blank | |
| 3. Executor, administrator, trustee, care-of name | Your name | This is the line the form provides for the fiduciary. Mail about the estate comes to you. |
| 4a, 4b. Mailing address | Your address, where estate mail should arrive | The IRS writes to this address. A business or lawyer's office is fine if that is where mail should go. |
| 5a, 5b. Street address | Leave blank unless different from Line 4 | |
| 6. County and state | The county and state where the estate is being administered | Usually where the probate court is. |
| 7a. Responsible party | Your name | The executor, administrator or personal representative. Never the person who died. |
| 7b. SSN, ITIN or EIN | Your SSN or ITIN | The deceased person's SSN here produces reference number 115. |
| 8a. Is this an LLC? | No | |
| 9a. Type of entity | Estate, with the deceased person's SSN in the box beside it | The most-missed line. Trust or Other here issues an EIN to the wrong kind of taxpayer. |
| 9b. State of incorporation | Leave blank | |
| 10. Reason for applying | Other: estate administration | Banking purpose is also accepted. Do not use Created a trust. |
| 11. Date business started | The date of death | Not today and not the date the court appointed you. |
| 12. Closing month of accounting year | December for almost every estate | An estate may elect a fiscal year; do that only on advice, because it changes every filing deadline. |
| 13. Employees expected | 0, in every column | An estate that continues to run the deceased person's business with staff is the exception. |
| 14. Form 944 election | Leave blank | |
| 15. First date wages paid | Leave blank, or N/A | |
| 16. Principal activity | Other: estate | |
| 17. Principal line of business | Estate administration | |
| 18. Applied for an EIN before? | No | The estate is new. The deceased person's business EIN, if any, belongs to their business and is answered elsewhere. |
| Third-party designee | Blank, unless a preparer is filing for you | If filled in, the designee's own address and phone, not yours. |
| Signature | Your signature, your title (Executor, Administrator or Personal Representative), the date, your phone |
The two mistakes that matter
The deceased person on Line 7
The estate is named after them, so people write them into every box. The responsible party has to be the living fiduciary; the IRS checks Line 7b against Social Security’s death records and the online tool stops with reference number 115. On a faxed form the same mistake is sometimes accepted, which is worse: the EIN comes back tied to the wrong person.
Trust or Other on Line 9a
An estate ticked as a trust gets a valid EIN attached to the wrong kind of taxpayer, and the IRS then expects trust returns. Undoing it is a letter and a wait. If the person who died also had a trust, the trust gets its own separate application. EIN for a trust after the grantor dies.
Where to send it
Online, if the executor has an SSN or ITIN, for an immediate number. By fax to the IRS Fax-TIN line for a reply typically within a few business days. By mail for a wait of several weeks. An executor outside the United States can also apply by phone. Numbers, addresses and what each method needs.
Quick answers
Is Form SS-4 the same as the estate tax return?
No. SS-4 only gets the EIN. The estate’s income tax return is Form 1041, filed under that EIN if the estate earns enough during administration. The federal estate tax return, Form 706, is a different thing again and applies only to large estates.
Do I also file Form 56?
It is optional but useful. Form 56 tells the IRS you are the fiduciary, so notices about the estate reach you rather than the deceased person’s last address.
What if I already got an EIN with the wrong answers?
Do not apply again; that creates a second EIN. Write to the IRS describing the error and the correction, quoting the EIN. For a wrong entity type or a wrong responsible party, the letter is the fix. How corrections to an EIN record work.
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Related guides
- Estate Tax ID Number (EIN): How to Get One An executor cannot open the estate account or file Form 1041 without the estate's own EIN. Who applies, which SS-4 boxes matter, and the date the IRS actually wants.
- EIN for an Estate Bank Account The account is opened in the estate's name under the estate's EIN, never the deceased person's SSN. What the bank asks for and how the account is titled.
- Form SS-4 Instructions, Line by Line Every line on the EIN application and what actually goes in it, with the entity-specific traps: Line 9a, Line 10, the responsible party, and the date the IRS wants.
- IRS EIN Reference Number 115: Deceased Person Flag The responsible party's SSN matches a Social Security death record. For an estate it means the deceased person went on Line 7 instead of the executor.
- How to Get an EIN Number: 4 Ways, Step by Step Online, fax, mail, and the international phone line. Real timelines, what you need, and what can go wrong.
Sources
EIN Registration is an independent document preparation and filing service and is not affiliated with the IRS or any government agency. You can also apply for an EIN directly with the IRS at irs.gov at no cost.