Getting an EIN for Your Illinois Nonprofit

An Employer Identification Number is a nine-digit federal tax identifier that the IRS assigns to your organization. Think of it as a Social Security number for your organization — a unique identifier the federal government, banks, and other institutions use to recognize your nonprofit as a distinct legal entity.

Despite the word "Employer," you don't need to have employees to need an EIN. Every Illinois nonprofit corporation needs one, and needs it early, because so many downstream steps depend on it:

• Opening a bank account — no reputable bank will open a business account for the organization without an EIN.
• Applying for 501(c)(3) status — the IRS exemption application requires your EIN.
• Filing the annual Form 990 — your exempt-organization return is filed under the EIN.
• Hiring staff or contractors — payroll and 1099 reporting run through the EIN.
• Applying for grants — many grantmakers and registration systems key off the EIN.

The nonprofit is its own legal person, separate from its founders, and it needs its own tax ID. Do not run the organization's finances through a founder's Social Security number — that blurs the line between the individual and the corporation, which is exactly what incorporating was supposed to prevent.

There's a right moment in the formation sequence to get your EIN, and getting it out of order causes avoidable headaches.

Incorporate first, then get the EIN

Apply for the EIN after your Illinois Articles of Incorporation are filed and the corporation legally exists. The EIN application asks for the entity's legal name and formation details, so having the corporation actually created first means the IRS record matches your state record. Applying before the entity exists, or with a name that doesn't match what Illinois has on file, creates mismatches that cause problems later with banks and the IRS.

But get the EIN before exemption and banking

The EIN comes before two big steps: applying for 501(c)(3) status and opening the bank account. Both require the number. So the clean order is: Articles filed → EIN obtained → bank account opened and exemption application filed. Getting the EIN in the right slot keeps the whole formation moving without backtracking.

This ordering is exactly why we walk founders through the sequence on the step-by-step formation page — the EIN is a small task, but doing it at the wrong time gums up the bigger ones.

The application is straightforward and, importantly, free. Apply directly with the IRS; never pay a third party a large fee just to obtain the number.

The online method (fastest)

The IRS EIN Assistant at IRS.gov issues the number immediately once you complete the short application. A few things to know:

• The online tool is available during posted IRS hours, and the session must be completed in one sitting.
• You'll need a responsible party — a real person, usually a director or officer, with a valid SSN or ITIN — to be listed on the application.
• When asked for entity type, select the option that fits a nonprofit or corporation, and indicate the nonprofit nature of the organization as prompted.
• Print or save the confirmation notice the instant it appears. That page is the only immediate record of your number.

Other methods

If you can't apply online — for example, the responsible party has no SSN or ITIN — you can apply by fax or mail using Form SS-4. These methods take longer (days to weeks) but reach the same result. International applicants without a U.S. taxpayer ID typically use these routes.

A nonprofit EIN application has a couple of wrinkles that catch first-timers, and a handful of mistakes that create real cleanup work.

The EIN is not your tax exemption

This is the single most important thing to understand: getting an EIN does not make your nonprofit tax-exempt. The EIN just identifies the entity. Tax-exempt status is a separate IRS determination you apply for later with Form 1023 or 1023-EZ. Some founders get the EIN and believe they're "done with the IRS" — they're not; they've just gotten the identifier they need to apply for exemption.

Mistakes that cause do-overs

• Applying before incorporating, or with a name that doesn't match the Articles — creates record mismatches.
• Using a founder's SSN for the organization's finances instead of getting the EIN — undermines the corporate separation.
• Getting more than one EIN for the same organization — apply once; duplicate numbers confuse the IRS and everyone downstream.
• Losing the confirmation — if you don't save the CP 575 notice, retrieving the number later means calling the IRS. Save it immediately and store it with your corporate records.
• Naming a responsible party who leaves — if the responsible party changes, the IRS expects you to update it (Form 8822-B). Keep it accurate.

Keep the EIN with your permanent records

Once issued, the EIN is permanent for the life of the organization. Store the confirmation notice alongside your filed Articles of Incorporation and bylaws. You'll be asked for the number constantly — grant applications, bank forms, the 990, vendor paperwork — so keep it somewhere the whole board can reach.