Employer Identification Numbers, or EINs, are corporate identifiers similar to Social Security numbers. They’re required to open a business and for other business purposes. There is no fee to get an EIN from the IRS.
The FTC recently sent warning letters to several companies running websites that trick new business owners into paying for an EIN. These sites used seals, logos, colors, fonts, and layouts that mimicked the IRS. Some even included “IRS” in their domain names and ran ads directing people to their look-alike pages.
The FTC says these operators failed to clearly state that they were not affiliated with the IRS or any government agency.
If you need an EIN, go directly to irs.gov to get one for free. Don’t pay a third-party website that pretends to be official.
If you see someone posing as the IRS or another government agency, report impostors to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. You can also report scams to the BBB’s Scam Tracker at bbb.org/scamtracker, even if you didn’t lose money.
**This episode originally aired Tuesday, November 25, on WKNO 91.1