Save Initials EIN with airSlate SignNow

Save initials EIN

Hi, this is Lee Philips and I'm an attorney. And I want to talk to you for two seconds about the next step that you do in creating a corporation or an LLC. And that is, get your EIN number. I'm actually doing a series on the formalities that you need to follow in order to keep your corporate shield in place. And remember, the corporate shield for the corporation and the corporate shield for the LLC, same thing. You've got to follow the formalities and one of the formalities is are you paying taxes? Do you have your EIN number? It's an employer identification number or your tax ID number. Basically, what it is it's the Social Security number for your company. You're going to apply for it on the IRS website. Look up apply for EIN number, and go to the federal website, IRS.gov, fill out the forms, and they will then email you, pretty much instantly, an EIN number. That's the number you're going to put on all your tax returns for the company. You can't open up a bank account until you've got the EIN number. You can't do this, this, this and this without the EIN number. If you're going to treat it as a real company, fine. Let's get it its' own social security number or its' own EIN tax identification. And remember the whole argument in the corporate shield is, did you treat this as a real company or is this really your alter ego? So this is one of those steps that we can show no, no, no, we treated it as a real company, we got it an EIN number, we paid the taxes, we did everything separate from us. It's not me, it's a real company. Now in an LLC, the EIA number has a little different-- well, what do I want to say, a little twist to it. And that it is you can choose how your LLC is taxed. Do you want it taxed as if it's a sole proprietorship, as if your LLC is a partnership, or an S corporation, or a C corporation? How do you want it taxed? And there's other videos that I've got on making those decisions, but let me just say that, if you choose to have your LLC taxed as a sole proprietorship, that means one guy, you do not need an EIN number. Now the bank may say, oh, no, no, no, you need an EIN number. The answer is no. This is my social security number and my personal social security number works as the EIN for a sole proprietorship or an LLC taxed as if it were a sole proprietorship. So other than that exception, your company's going to need its own EIN number, employer identification number, and you need to apply for it online and get it. That's one of the steps in the formalities and one of the steps in creating the LLC or the corporation. I'm going to assume that you've already got all your paperwork from the state, you file your articles of incorporation or your articles of the organization, you've got your certificate of organization from the state, however you want to call that. You've paid your state fees and you've written your bylaws, the rule book, if it's a corporation, or we call it an operating agreement with an LLC. The next step is then let's get an EIN number. And, by the way, do not apply for the EIN number until you are sure you are going to start doing business. And kind of a cute little thing with the IRS. They've got a new little [? bippi ?] for you. And that is, if you qualify yourself as an S corporation or a C corporation, that means you're taxed under Sub-chapter S of the IRS code or you are taxed under Chapter C of the IRS code. If you get your EIN number, and a lot of these guys they set up the EINs and the corporations, you know how you get it in Nevada or whatever, it's another story. You don't want that. But they get you an EIN number, then you never do anything with this company. It's an S corp, it's an LLC. They file it as an S corp. You never do anything with it. You never file a tax return. Well the IRS decided, hey, we're going to make some money and we're going to punish these people who do not file a tax return. So if it's a C corporation or an S corporation taxation structure and you do not file, then they have a little bit before it's, right now I think it's $195 per member, or per owner, per month, that the tax return is late. So don't fall into that trap with them. Don't get the EIN number until you're absolutely sure you're going to run money through this company and you're going to start doing things. And by the way, you can apply for the EIN number and make it effective at sometime in the future, and that way the IRS just starts the clock at that time, and you don't have to file or do anything until that date. But, at any rate, just a little caveat on that. Get your EIN number.