EIN

An EIN order obtains the company's federal tax ID from the IRS. Include ein in POST /orders — with a formation for a new company, or with companyId for an existing one.

curl -X POST https://api.fileforms.com/v1/orders \
  -H "x-api-key: sk_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "userId": "user_a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8",
    "companyId": "comp_x1y2z3w4v5u6t7s8",
    "filingState": "TX",
    "ein": {
      "businessCategory": "Consulting",
      "businessPurpose": "Management consulting services",
      "applicationReason": "Started a new business",
      "vehicle55kPounds": false,
      "gamblingWagering": false,
      "fileForm720": false,
      "alcoholTobaccoFirearms": false,
      "isW2Expected": true,
      "agricultureEmployeesCount": 0,
      "otherEmployeesCount": 3,
      "firstWagesDate": "2026-09-01",
      "fileForm944": false,
      "responsiblePartyFirstName": "Jane",
      "responsiblePartyLastName": "Doe",
      "responsiblePartyTitle": "Managing Member",
      "responsiblePartySsn": "123456789",
      "responsiblePartyPhoneNumber": "+17135550123"
    }
  }'

Field requirements

Every field in the ein object is required (the IRS application needs them all), with the responsible-party exceptions noted below:

• businessCategory — one of the fixed categories (Consulting, Retail, Real Estate, Finance, … — the full enum is in the API reference); businessPurpose is free text.
• applicationReason — one of: Started a new business, Hired employee(s), Banking purposes, Changed type of organization, Purchased active business.
• IRS yes/no questions — vehicle55kPounds, gamblingWagering, fileForm720, alcoholTobaccoFirearms, fileForm944.
• Employment — if isW2Expected is true, the employee counts must sum to at least 1 and firstWagesDate is required; otherwise counts can be 0 and firstWagesDate can be null (the key must still be present).
• Responsible party — name, title, phone, and SSN (9 digits, no dashes). It must be an SSN, not an ITIN — the API validates the format only, but the IRS rejects ITINs (surfaced as exception code 483). The responsible party is the person who controls the entity. The phone number accepts E.164 format (+17135550123); a bare 10-digit number is treated as US.

Foreign responsible parties

If the responsible party is a foreign person without an SSN, set responsiblePartyIsForeign: true. The SSN is then omitted, and the phone number can be international (E.164 with the country code, e.g. +447911123456):

{
  "responsiblePartyFirstName": "Pierre",
  "responsiblePartyLastName": "Dupont",
  "responsiblePartyTitle": "Managing Member",
  "responsiblePartyIsForeign": true,
  "responsiblePartyPhoneNumber": "+33612345678"
}

responsiblePartyIsForeign defaults to false, in which case responsiblePartySsn is required.

Billing: standalone vs. bundled

• Bundled — ein + formation in the same order: the formation is billed at the tier 2 wholesale price, which includes the EIN. The EIN line itself owes nothing.
• Standalone — ein + companyId: billed at the EIN wholesale price. No state fee (it's a federal filing).

Duplicate protection

409 Conflict if the company already has an EIN on record (EIN already exists for this company) or a previous EIN order (EIN already requested for this company).

After ordering

• filing.status_changed events as the application progresses; filed when the IRS issues the number
• document.uploaded → the EIN confirmation letter
• Exceptions specific to EINs: code 483 (SSN rejected by the IRS) and 484 (SSN doesn't match the responsible party's name) — both need corrected information from your customer