An EIN is an Employee Identification Number. You may not HAVE to get one, as they’re really for banking purposes and hiring employees. But here’s the thing, when you fill out a W-9 to send to a client to be paid and you DON’T have an EIN, guess what? You will have to put your social security number on there. This is a requirement for any tax documents and payments so they know who you are and can file it with the government come tax time. I don’t know about you, but having your social security number emailed to various people doesn’t sit well with us. This is why we encourage obtaining an EIN number for your business. And guess what? It’s FREE and easy.
How To Obtain An EIN Number For Your Blog Business
We want to emphasize FREE here because many sites may try to fool you if you search “EIN”. This is a free service that literally takes seconds to get on the IRS website. It’s really easy. All you have to do is click HERE to apply online. You can apply online, by fax or telephone. But hello, we’re bloggers, we like the online way. It’s fast and simple. Here are the steps you’ll follow.
- Identify the type of business – for many of us, that’s sole proprietors or partnerships (LLC will fall under this)
- Select your reason – this usually is simply that you started a business
- Your name
- Input your business name
- Submit!
It’s free and simple. This EIN will then be sent to you and we recommend writing it down somewhere safe to easily reference. Also, update the W-9 that you send out to clients when being paid. That’s it!
In addition to having an EIN number for your business, you’ll also want to have an LLC. You can learn the benefits of creating an LLC for your blog business and how to set it up right here. These are two really simple things every blogger or influencer should have if you’re generating any amount of revenue for your business.
For more business and tax tips for bloggers, check out these posts!
