Make sure you are on official IRS webpage when applying for EIN or TIN! I was trading emails with a probate client today and he said he was going to apply for a tin (tax identification number) and showed me the link. I reminded him that we are happy to take care of it for him but if he did do it himself to be sure he was on the IRS website. The link he was going to use was not the actual IRS website.  Be very careful because there are a lot of scammers out there on the big bad internet!

The official IRS website is IRS.gov

The link that this client was going to use had the letters IRS and maybe gov but was a totally different site and definitely did not end with .gov

I just did a google search and I think I see what my client may have done. I think he was going to use one of the ads at the top of the page rather than the actual IRS webpage.

An EIN or TIN is a necessary piece in most probate cases.  It is used when you open an estate bank account and when you sell estate real estate.  It is required for both of those situations among others.  We are happy to get this for our clients from the IRS so our clients don’t have to worry about this.

Here is the direct link to the official IRS EIN/TIN application page.

Be careful!