EIN
- An EIN is an Employer Identification Number.
- It identifies a business for federal tax purposes.
- The IRS issues EINs.
- An EIN does not prove you have a real office.
- An EIN does not guarantee a bank account.
Tax identity is not business presence
An EIN, ITIN, LLC, and address are not the same thing.
A foreign founder can easily buy the wrong service because several different problems get sold as one package. Separate the tax number, company filing, address, mailbox, and bank question.
ITIN
- An ITIN is an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.
- It is for a person, not the company.
- It is for federal tax purposes.
- It is used when a person is not eligible for an SSN but needs a U.S. taxpayer ID.
- An ITIN does not prove a company address is accepted.
Do not mix these up
LLC
The company filing. It creates or registers the business entity.
EIN
The business tax ID. It does not create the company by itself.
ITIN
A personal taxpayer ID. It is not a company address or registered agent.
Registered agent
The legal-notice role. It is not automatically a mailbox.
Mailbox
Mail receiving. It may involve CMRA and USPS Form 1583 rules.
Bank address
The address a bank or payment platform accepts. You must check its rule.
CAA document review
The ITIN document review process has IRS rules. A CAA video interview is not the same as a scan-only document review.
Direct answer for foreign founders
If a provider says it can help with an LLC and EIN, that does not automatically mean it solved your ITIN issue, bank account issue, mailbox issue, or U.S. business address issue.
If a provider says it gives you an address, ask which address role it provides: registered agent, mailing address, principal office, virtual office, CMRA mailbox, or something else.
If your bank, Amazon, Walmart, Stripe, PayPal, tax adviser, or customer needs an address, check that specific rule before relying on a bundled service.
If a payment platform asks for verification, do not assume the issue is only your EIN. The request may be about the business, the person, ownership, address, website, bank account, or risk review.
Official IRS starting points
Use the IRS for EIN and ITIN source information. Do not rely only on a formation vendor's summary.