When you run into a situation where you are an individual in charge of a bankruptcy estate (individual), where does that land you in terms of Internal Revenue Service requirements? One of the common questions is whether you need an employer identification number (EIN) to open a bank account for the estate?
An employer identification number is something you must have if you are an individual in charge of a bankruptcy estate. The reason is related to the way you want all financial data flowing in and out of the estate to be tied back to it as an entity. Even if you are just one individual over the estate, you want the estate to have its own unique identifier, according to the IRS.
Having the employer identification number for the estate lets you do things such as open bank accounts to manage the estate’s finances, file tax returns with all pertinent estate financial data, and more. The fact that you need the Tax ID (EIN) number to do all of this makes it a key requirement.