EIN verification

IRS Letter 147C: how to get an EIN verification letter by phone or fax

Letter 147C is the IRS’s confirmation of the legal name and Employer Identification Number it has on file for a business. You request it by phone, and it is the document a payer, a bank, a payroll provider or a Medicare enrollment contractor asks for when the original EIN notice (CP 575) is lost. It is also the only thing that satisfies a Second B-Notice for an EIN.

TIN Compliance EditorialSince 2006, this team has designed 1099 and TIN matching programs for over 10,000 companies, including roughly half the Fortune 100.

Updated October 20, 2026Reading time 8 minutesSources IRS Business & Specialty Tax Line; Publication 1281; IRM 3.13.2; IRM 3.13.222; IRM 21.7.13

Letter 147C in 60 seconds

800-829-4933call the Business & Specialty Tax Line, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local, Monday to Friday

Fax or mailfaxed during the call if you have a fax or e-fax number; mailed in 10 to 14 days

Freeno fee, no form, no online request; the IRS never emails it

Owner or officeror a partner, trustee, or a POA on Form 2848 or 8821; a payer cannot request a vendor's

Ask for an “EIN verification letter, Letter 147C.” Use the name on it, exactly, on line 1 of every W-9.

In this guide

What Letter 147C is
How to request one
Who can request it
When you need it
Letter 147C and the Second B-Notice
What the entity manual says about 147C
Questions people ask

What Letter 147C is

When the IRS assigns an EIN it mails a one-time notice, CP 575, showing the legal name, the EIN and the address on file. The IRS does not reissue a CP 575. If the notice is lost, or the business name has since changed, the replacement is Letter 147C, an EIN verification letter that restates the name and number currently on the IRS master file. The two documents carry the same information and are accepted interchangeably by almost everyone who asks for “proof of EIN.”

The name on the 147C matters as much as the number. It is the exact legal name the IRS matches against on every 1099, and it is what belongs on line 1 of the W-9. A business that has been using a trade name or a slightly different spelling often discovers the discrepancy only when the 147C arrives.

How to request one

Call the IRS Business & Specialty Tax Line at 800-829-4933, Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time. Expect a wait; early in the day and mid-week is faster.
Choose the EIN options and ask for an EIN verification letter, Letter 147C.
Answer the identity questions: the business name, address, the EIN if you know it, the type of entity, and your name and role.
Ask for it by fax if you have a fax number or an e-fax service; the agent can usually send it during the call. Otherwise it is mailed to the address of record, typically within 10 to 14 days.

There is no online request. The IRS does not email the letter, and no third-party service can obtain one for you, though a service or accountant can call on your behalf with a power of attorney.

If you only need to confirm an EIN you already have, and not a document, the IRS agent can also confirm the number and name over the phone once you pass the identity questions.

Getting a Letter 147C

Call 800-829-4933Business & Specialty Tax Line, 7 a.m.–7 p.m. local, Monday–Friday.

Prove you are authorizedOwner, officer, partner, trustee, or POA on file.

Ask for faxSent during the call if you have a fax number or e-fax; mail takes 10–14 days.

Use the name exactlyLine 1 of the W-9 must match the letter, or the next 1099 mismatches.

Who can request it

The IRS will only issue a 147C to someone authorized for the entity: a sole proprietor, a partner, a corporate officer, a trustee or executor, or a person holding a power of attorney (Form 2848) or tax information authorization (Form 8821) on file. An employee without one of those roles, or a customer who wants to verify a vendor’s EIN, cannot get it. Payers verify a vendor’s name and EIN through IRS TIN matching instead.

When you need it

Opening a bank or merchant account when the bank asks for the CP 575 and you no longer have it.
Payroll and PEO onboarding. Most providers require a CP 575 or 147C before they will file under your EIN.
Medicare enrollment (PECOS) and Medicaid provider applications, which require IRS documentation of the legal name and TIN.
State registrations, licenses and grant applications that ask for IRS proof of the EIN.
Responding to a Second B-Notice from a customer who pays you, covered next.
After a name change, to confirm the IRS has recorded the new legal name before you put it on a W-9.

Letter 147C and the Second B-Notice

When the IRS tells a payer twice within three years that a payee’s name and TIN don’t match, the payer must send a Second B-Notice, and a new W-9 is not enough to stop backup withholding. Publication 1281 requires the payee to send proof from the agency that issued the number: a copy of the Social Security card for an SSN, or Letter 147C for an EIN. The payer has to receive it within 30 business days of the notice date or begin withholding 24%. If you received a Second B-Notice, call the IRS the same day; the mail option will not make the deadline, so ask for fax. The page for payees who received a B-Notice walks through the whole response.

For payers: a 147C dated after the CP2100 is what your file should show for a Second B-Notice payee. Keep the copy with the solicitation record; it is what supports the reasonable-cause statement if a 972CG follows.

What the entity manual says about 147C

IRM 3.13.2 (rev. Nov. 4, 2025), the manual for the IRS staff who maintain business accounts, adds these points:

The CP 575 is never reissued: "If the taxpayer asks for a duplicate CP 575, send a Letter 147C explaining that the original notice of EIN assignment cannot be duplicated" (IRM 3.13.2.10.13).
Backup withholding and B-Notice requests are worked the same day, and the letter gives "the information exactly as it is on IRS records, unless the taxpayer is requesting a valid name change." After a second name/TIN mismatch notice "the taxpayer (payee) is required to provide the bank, or other business entity (payor) with a copy of the Letter 147C to stop backup withholding" (IRM 3.13.2.10.14).
It can be faxed, and since January 2024 requests can come through the Document Upload Tool; it is not resent within 45 days unless the name or address changed; and it is not sent when tax software has redacted the EIN with asterisks (IRM 3.13.2.10.14, 3.13.2.8.2).
"A Letter 147C will be sent on every valid name change input" (IRM 3.13.2.10.24). A vendor that just changed its name should have one; ask for it instead of the new letterhead.
The IRS will not confirm an EIN merely because it is in a valid number range: "Do not tell the taxpayer the EIN is valid because it is within the valid range if research shows the EIN is not on the Master File" (IRM 3.13.2.10.14). A new EIN "must wait until the EIN posts to Master File, or the name/TIN match will fail" (IRM 3.13.2.2.12); the business master file posts weekly.
The Accounts Management script (IRM 21.7.13.3.9.1, rev. Oct. 1, 2026) adds the timing: the letter is faxed and/or mailed to the address of record and the caller is told "to expect the letter in 10 to 14 business days," and "Do not mail Letter 147C if the EIN was assigned in the last 30 days or Letter 147C was mailed within the last 30 days." A vendor that asks twice in a month gets nothing the second time. A representative's Form 2848 or 8821 must have line 3 noted "SS-4 or EIN application"; the Third Party Designee named on the SS-4 loses all authority the moment the EIN is issued and can never receive a 147C by fax or mail (IRM 21.7.13.3.7.1). A new EIN takes "approximately two weeks" to post to the Master File that TIN Matching reads (IRM 21.7.13.2.7).
The entity unpostable unit's rule is that "Whenever the Employer Identification Number (EIN) on the unpostable tax return or document by the taxpayer is changed, use the appropriate letter to notify the taxpayer of the correct EIN" (IRM 3.13.222.13), so an unsolicited 147C after you filed a return or made a deposit means the IRS posted that filing to a different EIN than the one you used. Six conditions switch the letter off even when the EIN was corrected: the filer used an SSN instead of an EIN; "the EIN is missing digits, transposed digits, or only one or two digits are incorrect"; the EIN has merged into another number; the EIN was established (TC 000) within the last six to eight cycles; a 147C was already issued within the last 45 days; or the unit is corresponding with the taxpayer on another matter. When a return arrives with an EIN the IRS has no account for and research finds the right one, the corrected return gets a 147C (IRM 3.13.222.42), and an e-filed Form 1041 with the wrong EIN gets one that "must also address the name control" (IRM 3.13.222.42(2), 3.13.222.45(2)). The letter is never used for entity elections: "Do not use a Letter 147C on any election issues" (IRM 3.13.222.39(9)). A vendor who says "the IRS fixed my EIN on my return, they must have sent me a letter" is usually describing one of the six exceptions; ask for a fresh 147C by phone instead.
One note of caution from the backup withholding manual: a 2020-dated paragraph says "BWH regulations require that a payee request Letter 147-C in writing" (IRM 5.19.3.5.1.2(6)). Current practice is the phone line; if a payee is told to write, the entity section of the campus where they file is the address.

Questions people ask

Can I get a 147C online through my IRS account?

Not the letter itself, but as of October 2026 the IRS accepts a substitute from Business Tax Account: "Eligible Business Tax Account users can download a digital CP575, Employer Identification Number Verification Notice, in BTA. This digital notice can be used as a substitute for the original CP575A-J notice series and Letter 147C" (IRM 21.7.1.4.7.1). The 147C letter is still issued only by phone request, by fax during the call or by mail, "in 10 to 14 business days." For a second B-Notice the IRS still tells callers the request "must be in writing."

Does the 147C show my EIN in full?

Yes. Both the CP 575 and the 147C show the complete nine-digit number and the legal name.

My 147C shows a name I don’t use anymore. What now?

The IRS has not recorded the change. A corporation or partnership reports a name change on its next return (or by letter to the IRS); a sole proprietor writes to the IRS office where they file. Until it is processed, use the name on the 147C on your W-9 so 1099s match.

I’m a sole proprietor with an EIN. Whose name will it show?

Yours, as the individual, possibly with the business name after it. That is why line 1 of your W-9 must be your name, not the business. See which name goes on the W-9.