A Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) is an identifying number used for tax purposes in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and in other countries under the Common Reporting Standard. In the United States it is also known as a Tax Identification Number or Federal Taxpayer Identification Number. A TIN may be assigned by the

Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability and survivor benefits. To qualify f ...

or by the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory t ...

(IRS).

Types

Any government-provided number that can be used in the US as a

unique identifier A unique identifier (UID) is an identifier that is guaranteed to be unique among all identifiers used for those objects and for a specific purpose. The concept was formalized early in the development of computer science and information systems ...

when interacting with the IRS is a TIN, though none of them are referred to exclusively as a Taxpayer Identification Number. A TIN may be: * a

Social Security number In the United States, a Social Security number (SSN) is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents under section 205(c)(2) of the Social Security Act, codified as . The number is issued to ...

(SSN) * an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) * an Employer Identification Number (EIN), also known as a FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number) * an Adoption Taxpayer Identification Number, used as a temporary number for a child for whom the

adopting Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

parents cannot obtain an SSN * a

Preparer Tax Identification Number The Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) is an identification number that all paid tax return preparers must use on U.S. federal tax returns or claims for refund submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Anyone who, for compensation, p ...

, used by paid preparers of US tax returns

SSNs

SSNs are used by people who have or had the right to work in the United States.

ITINs

ITINs are used by

aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

who may or may not have the right to work in the US, such as aliens on temporary visas and non-resident aliens with US income.

EINs

EINs are used by employers, sole proprietors,

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

s, LLCs,

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...

s, non-profit associations,

trusts A trust is a legal relationship in which the holder of a right gives it to another person or entity who must keep and use it solely for another's benefit. In the Anglo-American common law, the party who entrusts the right is known as the "sett ...

, estates of decedents, government agencies, certain individuals, and other business entities.

Relevant Internal Revenue Code sections

Section 6109(a) of the

Internal Revenue Code The Internal Revenue Code (IRC), formally the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, is the domestic portion of federal statutory tax law in the United States, published in various volumes of the United States Statutes at Large, and separately as Title 2 ...

provides (in part) that "When required by regulations prescribed by the Secretary f the Treasury or his delegate

. . . The ellipsis (, also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning. The plural is ellipses. The term origin ...

Any person required under the authority of this title .e., under the Internal Revenue Codeto make a return, statement, or other document shall include in such return, statement or other document such identifying number as may be prescribed for securing proper identification of such person." Internal Revenue Code section 6109(d) provides: "The social security account number issued to an individual for purposes of section 205(c)(2)(A) of the Social Security Act odified as shall, except as shall otherwise be specified under regulations of the Secretary f the Treasury or his delegate be used as the identifying number for such individual for purposes of this title he_Internal_Revenue_Code,_title_26_of_the_United_States_Code.html" ;"title="United_States_Code.html" ;"title="he Internal Revenue Code, title 26 of the United States Code">he Internal Revenue Code, title 26 of the United States Code">United_States_Code.html" ;"title="he Internal Revenue Code, title 26 of the United States Code">he Internal Revenue Code, title 26 of the United States Code"See subsection (d) of .

References

External links

Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN)
on IRS

.gov The domain name gov is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from the word ''government'', indicating its restricted use by government entities. The TLD is administered by the Cyber ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) Taxation in the United States Unique identifiers Taxpayer identification numbers Company identification numbers