How do I get an EFIN?
Create an IRS e-Services account, complete the e-file application naming your firm and each principal, pass a suitability check including fingerprinting where required, and wait for approval. It is free, and it takes about 45 days.
The steps
| Step | What it involves |
|---|---|
| 1. e-Services account | Identity verification for each principal. Do this first — everything else sits behind it. |
| 2. E-file application | Firm details, EFIN owner, and every principal and responsible official named consistently. |
| 3. Suitability check | Credit and criminal history, tax-compliance check, and fingerprints where not exempt. |
| 4. Approval | The EFIN arrives in your e-Services account. Your software needs it before you can transmit. |
Start it before anything else
Roughly 45 days is the planning number, and it is the one item on the opening checklist that cannot be compressed by spending money. Offices that sign a lease and buy software in December and start the EFIN application in January open late, because an office that cannot transmit is not open no matter how finished it looks.
Keeping it once you have it
An EFIN belongs to the firm and has to stay accurate — new principals, an address change or a change of responsible official all require updating the application. It is also worth checking your transmitted-return counts in e-Services during the season: a number higher than your own records is how EFIN misuse is usually discovered.
This page is general guidance on the process, not tax or legal advice. The IRS publications and your state board are the authority on your specific situation.
Related questions
- How much does an EFIN cost?
- Nothing. The IRS does not charge for the e-file application or for the EFIN itself. If someone is selling you one, what they are selling is either their help with the paperwork or something you should not buy.
- Can I use somebody else’s EFIN?
- No. An EFIN is issued to a firm and its principals, and transmitting under another firm’s EFIN puts that firm’s authorisation at risk, not just yours. If you are working under an arrangement where returns go out under someone else’s number, understand exactly whose responsibility those returns are.
- Do I need fingerprints?
- Applicants who are not already credentialed as an attorney, CPA, enrolled agent, or otherwise exempt generally need to submit fingerprints as part of the suitability check. The IRS moved this to a scheduled electronic process rather than mailed cards, so allow time to book an appointment.
- What can delay it?
- Unfiled personal returns, an outstanding balance with the IRS, a criminal history surfaced by the suitability check, or simply naming principals inconsistently across the application. The last one is the most common and the easiest to avoid.