You are sitting across from a banker, ready to open your business checking account, when they ask for the one document you cannot find: your IRS EIN confirmation letter. You know your EIN by heart. You have it on old tax returns, on the W-2s you issued, maybe even on your business cards. None of that matters. The bank wants an official letter from the IRS, and the original went missing somewhere between your filing cabinet and your last office move.
Here is the good news: this is one of the most fixable paperwork problems in small business. The IRS will not reprint your original letter, but it gives you two official replacements, and since the summer of 2026 one of them is a download you can get without picking up the phone. This guide explains what each letter is, which one to get, and what banks and other institutions will actually accept.
What the Two Letters Are (and Why the IRS Won't Just Reprint Yours)
When the IRS assigns an Employer Identification Number, it sends a confirmation notice called the CP575, Notice of New Employer Identification Number. There are variants of the series (forms filers sometimes see labeled CP575A through CP575J, such as the CP575G sent for LLCs), but they all serve the same purpose: they confirm your nine-digit EIN, your legal business name, and the address the IRS has on file, plus the federal tax forms the IRS expects you to file.
The critical thing to understand is that the CP575 is issued exactly once. The "CP" means the notice was generated by the IRS computer system at the moment your EIN was created, and nobody at the IRS can recreate that original document. If you applied online, you had a chance to download it at the end of the session. If you applied by fax or mail, the IRS mailed it to the address on your Form SS-4, which typically took four to six weeks to arrive. Either way, once it is gone, it is gone.
The replacement is Letter 147C, EIN Previously Assigned (printed as "LTR 147C" on the letter itself). Where the CP575 is computer-generated, the 147C is generated by an IRS assistor at your request, and it reprints your EIN and legal name straight from IRS records. Despite the different name and origin, it is an official IRS letter on IRS letterhead, and banks, lenders, payment processors, and government agencies treat it as equivalent proof of your EIN.
One point of terminology worth clearing up: there is no "Form 147C" to fill out or file. The 147C is purely a letter code. If a bank asks you for a "147C form," they mean the letter, and this guide covers exactly how to get it.
Start Here: Do You Need the Number or the Letter?
Before you start requesting documents, figure out which problem you actually have. Finding your EIN itself is often easy. Getting official IRS paper proving it takes more work.
If you just need the nine-digit number
Your EIN appears in more places than you might think. Check any of these before you call the IRS:
- Previously filed federal business tax returns (1120, 1120-S, 1065, 941, 940, or Schedule C)
- Copies of W-2s or 1099s your business issued to employees or contractors
- Your original Form SS-4 application, if you kept a copy
- Loan paperwork, merchant account applications, or state business filings
- Business bank statements or the signature card from an existing account
If you are an authorized person on the account, the IRS will also simply tell you the number over the phone once you pass identity verification. Any of these sources gives you the digits. But digits alone will not satisfy a bank that has asked for written IRS confirmation, which brings us to the letter itself.
If someone wants official proof, you need one of two documents
As of 2026, there are exactly two forms of IRS-issued EIN proof worth pursuing: the digital CP575 you download from your IRS Business Tax Account, and the 147C letter you request by phone. Everything else — your SS-4 copy, a W-9 you filled out yourself, a screenshot of your number — is your own assertion, not IRS confirmation, and most banks will reject it. We will walk through both official options below.
Option 1: Download the Digital CP575 From Your Business Tax Account
The fastest route, and the big change in 2026, is the IRS Business Tax Account. In its summer 2026 expansion, the IRS added a downloadable digital CP575, the EIN Verification Notice, available under Tax Records. The IRS states explicitly that banks and other institutions accept it as written confirmation of your EIN, and that it substitutes both for the original CP575 series and for Letter 147C.
This is a genuine improvement over the old process. Historically, replacing a lost confirmation letter meant a phone call, a hold queue, and then a wait for mail or a fax. An eligible user can now pull the document in minutes. If you can use this route, use it first.
Who is eligible
Eligibility depends on your role and entity type. A sole proprietor generally qualifies with a Social Security number or ITIN, an EIN, and a Schedule C or Schedule F on the return. For partnerships, S corporations, C corporations, and tax-exempt organizations, the download must come from a designated official on the Business Tax Account — the person the entity authorized to act on its tax account. If nobody at your company has set up Business Tax Account access with the right role, you will need to do that first, which involves identity verification and can itself take some time.
When the download is not available to you
The digital notice only helps if you are eligible and set up. New businesses whose accounts are not fully established, entities with complicated authorization structures, and anyone who cannot pass online identity verification will hit a wall here. That is normal, and it is exactly what the 147C phone process exists for. Do not burn days fighting account access if you have a bank appointment this week — call for the 147C instead.
Option 2: Request a 147C Letter by Phone
The long-standing way to get EIN proof is a phone call to the IRS Business and Specialty Tax Line at 1-800-829-4933 (TTY 1-800-829-4059). Hours are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in your local time zone, with Alaska and Hawaii following Pacific time. There is no online request form for the 147C and no email option. The call is free, and the letter is free.
Expect an automated menu before you reach an assistor. The commonly reported path is English, then EIN information, then the option for an existing EIN needing confirmation. Menu options shift over time, so listen to the full menu rather than mashing buttons from memory. Call volumes are heaviest on Mondays and in the middle of the day; early morning or late afternoon calls tend to move faster.
Who is allowed to make the request
The IRS will only issue the letter to someone authorized on the account. That means the responsible party — the owner, a partner, or a corporate officer who can bind the company — or a representative with a valid Form 2848, Power of Attorney, or Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization, on file. Your bookkeeper, your spouse, and your business partner's assistant cannot call on your behalf without that authorization in place.
Have the following ready before you dial:
- The EIN itself (find it using the sources above if you do not have it memorized)
- The exact legal business name as it appears in IRS records
- The business address the IRS has on file
- Your own identifying information to pass verification
The name-and-address match is where calls most often stall. If the legal name or address you give does not match IRS records exactly — a missing "LLC" suffix, a suite number the IRS never recorded, a move you never reported — the assistor cannot verify you. Non-U.S. founders hit this frequently when a company name was entered slightly differently at formation. If you suspect a mismatch, be prepared to work through variations with the assistor.
Update a changed address first
If your business has moved since the EIN was issued, update your address with the IRS before requesting the letter, using Form 8822-B, Change of Address or Responsible Party. The mailed 147C goes to the address of record, and a letter showing a stale address can raise eyebrows at the bank even though the EIN itself is unchanged. Note the frustrating wrinkle: the form updates the IRS record, but your old printed letter still shows the old address. The only way to get paper showing the current address is a freshly issued 147C requested after the update posts.
Fax or mail: how you actually receive it
During the call, the assistor will offer two delivery methods:
- Fax, during the call. If you provide a fax number, the assistor can send the 147C while you are on the line, making this effectively same-day service. Almost nobody owns a fax machine anymore, but that does not matter: online fax services that give you a receiving number work fine. Set one up before you call so you can read the number to the assistor.
- Mail to your address of record. A mailed 147C typically arrives in about ten to fourteen business days, though filers report longer waits during peak periods. The IRS will only mail it to the address it has on file — you cannot redirect it to a new address or a P.O. box on the call, which is another reason to file Form 8822-B first if you have moved.
There is no email delivery, for security reasons. Anyone promising to email you an official 147C is either confused or running a scam.
Where Banks Draw the Line: What Counts as Proof
Requirements vary by institution, but the pattern is consistent. Most banks ask new business account applicants for a package: formation documents such as Articles of Organization, an Operating Agreement, government ID for each signer, and the IRS EIN letter. On that last item, here is how the substitutes stack up:
- Original CP575 or digital CP575 download: universally accepted. This is the gold standard, and the IRS now says so explicitly about the digital version.
- Letter 147C: accepted by banks, lenders, and payment processors as equivalent to the CP575. If a front-line banker balks at it, ask for a supervisor or the business banking team — the 147C is standard documentation, and escalations usually resolve it.
- Form SS-4 copy: generally not accepted. This is your application, not IRS confirmation. It proves you asked for a number, not that the IRS issued it to the entity named.
- W-9, old tax returns, bank statements: useful for your own reference, but not IRS-issued proof of the EIN-to-entity match. Some fintech account openings that verify you electronically will never ask for a letter at all; traditional banks with manual review usually will.
One more scenario worth knowing: banks sometimes ask for the letter not at account opening but years later, during a periodic "know your customer" refresh or when you add a signer. If your letter is buried, the same two replacement routes apply. This is also why, once you have a fresh letter in hand, you should scan it immediately and store the copy somewhere you will actually find again.
Mistakes That Turn a Small Errand Into a Big Mess
Applying for a brand-new EIN because you lost the letter. This is the costliest error on this list. A lost letter is a documentation problem, not a missing number. Applying again creates a second EIN for the same entity, splitting your tax history across two accounts and triggering confusion the IRS flags with notices about multiple EINs. If you already did this, call the Business and Specialty Tax Line and ask which EIN is correct for your entity going forward; do not just pick one.
Paying a third-party site for a "replacement letter." Your EIN was free, and so is the 147C. Websites that charge a fee to "retrieve" your confirmation letter are selling you a phone call you can make yourself — or worse, harvesting your business identity details. The only issuer of IRS letters is the IRS.
Having the wrong person call. An hour on hold ending with "we can't verify you as an authorized party" is miserable and avoidable. Confirm that the caller is the responsible party or has Form 2848 or 8821 on file before dialing.
Requesting the letter before fixing a mismatch. If you know the business moved, changed its legal name, or has a DBA the IRS never recorded, handle the underlying record update first. A 147C that does not match the name on your bank application just moves the argument from the phone queue to the teller window.
Treating the fax number as optional. If you need the letter this week, the fax option is the whole game. "I don't have a fax machine" is not a blocker — a ten-minute e-fax signup before the call is the difference between same-day paper and a two-week mail wait.
Keep the Paper You Just Worked to Replace
Once the replacement letter arrives, break the cycle that created this errand. Scan it the same day, keep the scan with your formation documents and operating agreement, and make sure at least one other authorized person knows where the set lives. Businesses that treat the EIN letter as part of a permanent records kit — formation papers, EIN proof, ownership agreements, key licenses — never make this phone call twice.
Good record habits pay off far beyond one bank visit. Every lender application, license renewal, and tax notice goes faster when your core documents are organized and retrievable. If your financial records live in scattered folders and mystery PDFs today, that is a problem worth fixing on purpose rather than rediscovering at the worst possible moment.
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