The EIN and the Oregon BIN (step 4 of 6)

This is step 4 of six. Step 3 filed the Articles of Organization; if the LLC does not exist yet, finish that first, because the IRS will ask about the entity. This lesson covers the two identification numbers a new practice may need: the federal EIN, which nearly every practice wants, and the Oregon BIN, which a solo practice with no employees does not need at all. It is for new Oregon clinicians who have just formed an LLC.

The EIN: free, online, from the IRS and nowhere else

An Employer Identification Number is a nine-digit number the IRS assigns to businesses for tax filing and reporting. Despite the name, you do not need employees to get one. Banks generally want an EIN to open a business account, and it lets you put the practice's number on paperwork instead of your Social Security number.

The one thing to know before anything else: the IRS states on its own application page that you never have to pay a fee for an EIN. There are websites that will charge you to file the same free application. Some of them rank above the IRS in search results. Go to irs.gov directly and type the address if you have to.

The online application is an interview, not a form: it asks questions and assigns the number at the end of the session. It is not open around the clock. As of September 2026 the IRS page lists these hours, all Eastern time:

On Pacific time that is roughly 3 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays. Plan to do it in one sitting with your LLC's exact name and formation details in front of you.

Form SS-4, if the online interview is not an option

The paper equivalent is Form SS-4, the IRS's application for an EIN. For a U.S.-based solo practice the online interview stands in for the form. Reading the SS-4 instructions first is still useful, because the online questions follow the same structure and the form's wording shows what each answer means.

What to have in front of you

I did not capture every question of the live interview for these notes, so treat this as what to have ready rather than a list of the screens.

1. The LLC's legal name, exactly as filed in Step 3, and the date it was filed.
2. The state where it was formed and the address of the practice.
3. Your own name and Social Security number, since a single-member LLC is applied for by its owner.
4. Whether you expect to have employees. A "no" today does not prevent you from hiring later.

Save the confirmation notice the moment it appears. You will need the number for the bank in Step 5, for payer credentialing, and for every tax filing after that.

The Oregon BIN: only when you pay someone

The Oregon Business Identification Number is a state number for payroll taxes. The Oregon Department of Revenue's page on starting payroll taxes describes the BIN as your primary number for filing and paying payroll taxes, obtained through Revenue Online, and says you must register before paying employees. The page frames the whole process for anyone who plans to hire, even one person.

The corollary matters for a solo practice: if you have no employees and no plans to hire, there is nothing to register. You do not need a BIN to see clients, bill insurance, or file your own taxes. The moment you plan to put someone on payroll, a receptionist or an associate, you register through Revenue Online before their first paycheck. The Department of Revenue page does not mention a fee for BIN registration; I take that to mean there is none, but I could not find an explicit statement either way, so do not be surprised by a fee, and do be suspicious of a third party charging for it.

Hiring brings a good deal more than a number, and it gets its own lesson later in this series. For now, the checklist attached to this lesson covers both the EIN and the BIN steps so you have them in one place.

This is not tax or legal advice. I have written down what the IRS and the Oregon Department of Revenue say on their own pages, with links; a CPA gets the final word on how the numbers apply to your return and your payroll.

Real example from my own filing

The document attached below is the IRS confirmation notice for my EIN, rebuilt from the public layout of the CP 575 and redacted. Notice the address block: the LLC on the first line and my name on the second with the words SOLE MBR, which is how the IRS labels a single-member LLC it treats as a disregarded entity. Every bank and payer form afterwards expects the name exactly as printed there.

Further reading

• IRS: Apply for an EIN Online. The only place to start the application, and the page that states in plain words that the EIN is free.
• IRS: About Form SS-4. The paper application and its instructions; read the instructions even if you file online.
• Oregon DOR: Starting Payroll Taxes. The BIN page; bookmark it for the day you hire and ignore it until then.
• IRS: text script of the EIN video. The transcript of the IRS video shown on this page, for anyone who prefers reading to watching.