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An Employer Identification Number (EIN), also called "Federal Employer Identification Number" (FEIN)
and "Taxpayer Identification Numbers" (TIN), is a nine-digit unique number
that the Internal Revenue Service assigns to businesses that are required to
file tax returns including corporations, partnerships, nonprofit organizations,
sole proprietors, government bodies, churches, trusts and estates. If a company
you are researching has an EIN, you know that the company is required to file
tax returns which would include information about the company's assets as well
as some if not all of the executives for the company.
If you do not have a company's Employer Identification Number and need to find it,
there are several ways to try to locate the EIN. Public companies print the EIN on
the first page of their 10-Ks, 20-Fs and other SEC filings. You can locate these
documents for free through the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's
EDGAR database.
Nonprofit organizations often include the EIN on the Form 990 which provides a
nonprofit organization's financial information and executive names.
GuideStar,
which is a nonprofit organization Website, maintains a database with several
organizations' Form 990. The basic GuideStar search is a free service that
requires an ID (e-mail) and password to access the Form 990.
For private companies you can try looking at the company Website, a company
invoice or try fee-based resources such as Westlaw (BUS-TRACK and/or FEIN-ALL) or Lexis (D&B/FEIN).
In addition, KnowX, a commercial vendor, allows you to search using a FEIN and will display a list of results;
however payment is required to view full details. (http://www.knowx.com/fein/search.jsp)
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