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Can I put my registered agent's address on my EIN application?

EINRegistered agentIRS

You can, and it is usually the wrong choice. Form SS-4 asks for two addresses: a mailing address, which the IRS uses for the company's correspondence, and a physical location if that is somewhere different. The mailing address is where the CP 575 confirmation notice is mailed, and where every later notice goes: a filing reminder, a penalty, a letter about a return the IRS thinks is missing. A registered agent exists to receive legal papers and state notices. Most agents treat IRS mail as outside the service, some decline it, and Arabella's own agent covers legal and state mail and nothing else.

The usual practice is the address where someone who runs the company actually opens the post. For most early companies that is a founder's home or the office. There is no privacy reason to do otherwise: the EIN application is not a public record, so the agent's address hides nothing there that needed hiding. The physical location line, if you fill it in, is simply where the business operates, and a P.O. box is not accepted for it.

If it has to change later

A new mailing address, a new business location or a new responsible party is reported on Form 8822-B. It is one page and there is no fee, and the IRS asks for a change of responsible party within sixty days. The IRS does not read state filings to learn your new address, so a move filed with the Secretary of State is still unfiled with the IRS until this form goes in.

Written by the lawyers who built Arabella. This is legal information, not legal advice for your situation, and reading it does not make us your lawyers. For a real dispute or a high-stakes decision, talk to a licensed attorney. More questions.