Short for Employer Identification Number, an EIN is a special number that identifies your trucking business to the government as well as to banks and other entities. Wondering how to get an EIN for your trucking business? Here is what you need to know. To get an EIN for your trucking company, simply follow these steps.
Steps to Applying for a Trucking Business Tax ID (EIN) Number
- Decide If Your Trucking Business Needs an EIN
- Choose How to Apply for a Trucking Business EIN
- Gather Trucking Business Info
- Name a Responsible Party
- Prepare Details About Your Employees
- Wait for EIN Processing
- Receive Your EIN
1. Decide If Your Trucking Business Needs an EIN
Almost all businesses including trucking companies need an EIN. Some of the most common reasons that your trucking business may need an EIN include the following:
- Starting a new trucking business.
- Purchasing an existing trucking business.
- Changing the structure of your trucking business.
- Hiring employees.
- Opening a bank account, applying for a loan, or other banking purposes.
- Creating a pension plan for your business.
The EIN application has a list of options including the above reasons, but if you don’t see your reason for applying, you can choose “other” and type or write in why your trucking business needs an EIN.
2. Choose How to Apply for a Trucking Business EIN
Your trucking business can apply for an EIN online, and if you want to use the internet to apply, this is the fastest and easiest option. There are services that can guide you through the process of applying and make sure you don’t make any errors that lead to delays in the process.
Alternatively, your trucking business can apply for an EIN by mailing or faxing a paper application. These applications require the same details about your trucking business, and at the end of the process, you also get an EIN. However, faxed and mailed applications take longer to process.
Regardless of how you decide to apply for an EIN for your business online, you should gather your trucking business info before you start to apply.
3. Gather Trucking Business Info
To fill out your trucking company’s EIN application form, you need details about your business. Most of the information is very straightforward, and you probably know these details off the top of your head. However, you also need a few pieces of information that you are slightly more complicated.
In terms of basic information, you need your trucking business’s legal name and doing business as (DBA) name. You need your business address and contact details. If you fax the application, make sure to include a return fax number or you will end up receiving your EIN through the mail.
Be prepared to note the structure of your trucking business. The main options are sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation. If your trucking company is a limited liability company (LLC), you still have to choose another business structure because as LLC is not a taxable structure. It’s just a legal structure. However, you have to note that your business is an LLC in a different section of the application.
Beyond that, you also have to put some information about your business’s responsible party and details about your employees. Because those sections are slightly detailed, the instructions are fleshed out below.
4. Name a Responsible Party
The EIN application requests information about the responsible party for your trucking business. If you have a sole proprietorship, you should note yourself in this position. For partnerships, one of you can opt to be the responsible party.
Similarly for corporations, you should select someone who is the founder of the company, in a managerial role, or anyone else who is willing to be the responsible party. If non-human entities such as other businesses or partnerships own party of your trucking company, they cannot be the responsible party. You need to have a person in this role.
The responsible party is not taking on any financial liability for taxes or anything. Instead, they are just basically agreeing to receive information about the EIN and to be the point of contact about this number. You need to note their Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) as well as their phone number.
If you like, you can also designate another party to receive information about your trucking company’s EIN. This person is the designee, and you have to sign that you authorize them to be in this role.
5. Prepare Details About Your Employees
Finally, the application requires some details about your trucking company’s employees. In particular, you need to note the number of employees that you plan to have over the next year. Then, you need to tick if you plan to owe more than $1,000 in payroll tax during the year. As a general rule of thumb, if your trucking business is going to pay more than $4,000 in wages to W2 workers, you should tick “yes” on this section of the form.
6. Wait for EIN Processing
Once you complete the EIN application for your trucking business, you just have to wait for processing. Depending on how you apply, you should expect the following wait times.
- Internet: On the same day or by the next business day
- Fax: Within about four business days.
- Mail: In four to six weeks.
Note that you can only apply for a trucking company EIN over the phone if you are based in another country. These applications take different amounts of processing time based on where you are located.
7. Receive Your EIN
Once you receive your EIN, your trucking company can start to use the number right away. You can use your EIN on employee tax documents, banking forms, and any other paperwork that requires a federal tax ID (EIN) for your trucking business. You do not have to wait to use your number.
In most cases, you probably want your EIN right away. For example, if you’re hiring your first employee, you need that number to do paperwork. Again, to expedite the process, you should apply online, and before you start applying, you should make sure that you have all the details you need to complete the application quickly and efficiently.