Whether you can look up a company by EIN depends on what kind of company it is. Nonprofits are easy: their Employer Identification Numbers appear on public tax filings and in free searchable databases. Public companies disclose their EINs in SEC filings that anyone can pull up. Private for-profit businesses are the hard case, because the IRS keeps no public directory of the EINs it issues and no other federal database fills that gap.
Nonprofit Organizations
Federal law requires tax-exempt organizations to make their annual returns publicly available, and the EIN is not excluded from public inspection.1Internal Revenue Service. Exempt Organization Public Disclosure and Availability Requirements2Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 990 Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (2025) The number sits on every Form 990, and several free tools make it searchable.
The IRS runs its own Tax Exempt Organization Search, where you can search by EIN or by name. It pulls from Pub 78 data, auto-revocation lists, determination letters, and filed Form 990 returns in one place.3Internal Revenue Service. Tax Exempt Organization Search It only covers tax-exempt entities, so a for-profit EIN will not return a match.
GuideStar, now part of Candid, accepts an EIN pasted directly into its search bar and returns the organization’s profile, financials, leadership, and mission.4Candid. Conduct a Search in GuideStar A free account unlocks the detailed view. ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer does the same thing with a different presentation, showing full 990s with executive compensation and revenue breakdowns.5ProPublica. Nonprofit Explorer Both draw from the same IRS data, so checking both is sometimes worth the extra minute.
Publicly Traded Companies
Public companies print their EIN on the cover page of the annual Form 10-K, right below the state of incorporation.6SEC.gov. Form 10-K Those filings live in the SEC’s EDGAR system, which archives electronic filings going back to 2001.7SEC.gov. EDGAR Full Text Search
EDGAR does not have an EIN field. You search by company name, ticker, or CIK, then open the most recent 10-K and read the cover page. Going the other direction, from an EIN to the company name, is possible through EDGAR’s full-text search using the number as your query. Results are hit-or-miss, but the approach works for companies that file electronically.
Private For-Profit Businesses
This is where most searches stall. The IRS issues EINs to millions of businesses and offers no public lookup tool for them.8Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number No federal database lets you type in a number and get back a private company’s name, address, or status.
Secretary of State websites let you search registered business entities in each state, but the search field is almost always the business name, not the EIN. Some states display an EIN inside the entity’s filing details once you find it; many do not. Availability is inconsistent enough that this is not a reliable path.
The reliable path is to ask the company directly. Businesses provide their EIN on IRS Form W-9 when they enter into a contract, open a vendor account, or set up any relationship that will trigger tax reporting. That is what the W-9 is for.
Why the IRS Won’t Publish Private EINs
The tax code treats EINs as part of a taxpayer’s confidential return information. “Return information” is defined to include the taxpayer’s identity, which itself includes the taxpayer identifying number, and EINs sit inside that definition.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6103 – Confidentiality and Disclosure of Returns and Return Information IRS employees and others with access to the data cannot disclose it outside of specific authorized channels.
Nonprofits are a carve-out because Congress separately required them to make their filings public. Public companies disclose their numbers voluntarily through SEC filings. Everyone else stays behind the confidentiality wall unless they choose to share.
When a Company Refuses To Give You Its EIN
If you’re paying a business and they will not provide an EIN on a W-9, you’re required to withhold 24% of the payment as backup withholding and remit it to the IRS.10Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15 (2026), (Circular E), Employers Tax Guide The business that failed to furnish the number also faces information return penalties for each instance of nonfurnishing.11Internal Revenue Service. Information Return Penalties Supplying a false TIN to dodge backup withholding carries a separate $500 penalty, with willful falsification opening the door to criminal charges.12Internal Revenue Service. Form W-9 (Rev. March 2024) – Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification
So if the number matters for tax reporting and the counterparty won’t cooperate, you have a mechanism. If you’re trying to identify a private business you don’t have a relationship with, there isn’t one.