If you're running your own business, chances are you might need to apply for an Employer ID Number (EIN) for legal purposes and for applications, such as for a bank account. While the process is a merely a matter of filling up the application form as instructed, here are a few tips to make things a little easier for you:

1. Head to the IRS website at www.irs.gov to first see whether or not you'll need to apply for an EIN. There's a checklist of types of business entities that require an EIN on the site. If you're unclear as to what your company qualifies as, check with your CPA or attorney.
2. Download a copy of form SS-4, the Application for Employer Identification Number, from the website. You can find detailed instructions on how to fill the form out on the site as well.
3. Item 2 on the form, "Trade Name of Business", can be different from your company's legal name. Write or type in the operating name of your business here. Say, for example, your company's legal name is "Business, Inc.", but you'd rather have the name your customers see be "The Business", enter the legal name in item 1 and the operating name in item 2.
4. In item 3, your executor is the person you'd like to have in charge of legal matters. Include your executor's Social Security number, ITIN or EIN in this entry.
5. If you and a spouse are running an LLC together, write "1" on line 8b if it's owned solely by the two of you in a community property state, and you choose to treat the entity as a disregarded entity.
6. Check with your CPA on how your company should be taxed before answering item 9a.
7. If you checked "Started a new business" in item 10, provide a description of your company. As with any answer on the form, remember to keep it short and simple.
8. Your "Date Business Started" entry can be any reasonable date, like the day you started serving customers. Again, check with your CPA regarding any tax implications that stem from your starting date. The same goes for item 12, selecting the closing month of your accounting year.
9. Answer "no" in item 14 if your company won't be having employees, or if you'll be paying less than $4000 in employee wages within the year.
10. Indicate in item 18 whether or not your business has ever previously applied for an EIN.
11. You may want to designate your attorney as a "third party designee" for representation purposes.
12. Before signing the form, double-check every answer. You'll want to make sure that the application really is "true, correct, and complete." If everything's good to go, you can send it in online or via fax. You'll get your EIN almost immediately after. Either print it out or write it down - you'll need it for documentation. You'll also be mailed a confirmation; keep that in a safe place as well. You now have your EIN!

Click here to visit HowToDoThings.com