A Federal Identification Number contains nine digits.
Also known as an Employer Identification Number (EIN) or a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN), a federal identification number is a unique nine-digit number the Internal Revenue Service issues and uses to uniquely identify a business. Locating a company's federal identification number is not always easy. Whether you are searching for a company's number to complete your taxes or you simply want to learn more about a company before investing, you'll need to know a few tips to obtain the information you need quickly and easily.
Instructions
1. Check a W-2 form. Look in box "b" in the employer section of the W-2 form, titled Employer's FED ID number.
2. Use FEINSearch.com. Register for a free account and sign up for a free trial, which entitles you to five free searches. Depending on your needs after your free trial, expect to pay $19.99 to $1,500 for a subscription.
3. Check the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR) system. According to Lexis Nexis, "Companies with at least 500 stockholders and/or $5 million in assets and/or big private debt placements must file financial disclosure documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)." The SEC houses these documents on its EDGAR database. Use the free database to search for records, such as form 10-K, 20-F and other SEC filing forms. that may contain the company's federal identification number.
4. Locate federal identification numbers using KnowX.com. Enter the company's name and state and retrieve your results. As of 2009, each individual search for a federal identification number costs $6.95. Alternatively, pay $19.95 for multiple searches.
5. Locate numbers using EIN Finder. Visit EinFinder.com and sign up for a free trial, which will allow you three free searches for federal identification numbers. Alternatively, sign up for a day pass, which costs about $40, as of 2009.
Tags: federal identification, free trial, company federal identification, Employer Identification, Employer Identification Number