To close an EIN account with the IRS, mail a signed letter to the IRS asking them to deactivate the account tied to your Employer Identification Number. There is no form, no online portal, and no fee. The catch is that the IRS won’t process the request until every required final return has been filed and every dollar of tax has been paid under that number, so the letter is the last step, not the first.
One thing to understand up front: the IRS calls this “deactivation” rather than cancellation because an EIN never disappears. It stays permanently tied to your entity and is never reissued to anyone else. What closes is the account and the filing obligations attached to it.
File Your Final Returns Before You Write the Letter
Most people who get stuck on this send the letter first and then wait months while their request sits in limbo behind an unfiled return. Do the returns first.
Final Income Tax Returns
Which return you file depends on how the business was structured:
- Sole proprietors file Schedule C with the individual Form 1040 for the year the business closed.
- Partnerships file Form 1065 for the final year and check the “Final return” box under Item G on page one.
- C corporations file Form 1120 for the final year. If you adopted a resolution or plan to dissolve the corporation or liquidate its stock, also file Form 966, Corporate Dissolution or Liquidation.
- S corporations file Form 1120-S for the final year, plus Form 966 if applicable.
Mark each return as a final return in the header box so the IRS stops expecting another one next year.
Employment Taxes If You Had Employees
Payroll adds several filings:
- Form 941 or 944 for the quarter or year you paid final wages. Check the box indicating the business has closed and enter the date of the last wage payment on line 17 of Form 941 or line 14 of Form 944. Attach a statement naming who is keeping the payroll records and where.
- Form 940 for the calendar year of the final wages. Check box “d” in the Type of Return section to mark it final.
- Form W-2 for each employee, generally by the due date of your last Form 941 or 944.
- Form W-3 to transmit Copy A of the W-2s to the Social Security Administration.
Contractor Payments
If you paid any independent contractor $600 or more during the calendar year you closed, report those payments on the appropriate information return, typically Form 1099-NEC. Stopping operations mid-year doesn’t cancel this obligation.
What to Put in the Deactivation Letter
There’s no dedicated IRS form. Write a short, plain letter that includes:
- The complete legal name of the business, exactly as it was registered with the IRS
- The EIN
- The business address
- Your reason for deactivating, such as business closed or change in structure
- A copy of the EIN assignment notice (Form CP 575) if you still have it
- The name and phone number of a contact person for follow-up
Keep it to one page. A few clear sentences explaining that operations have ceased and you want the account deactivated is enough.
Where to Mail the Letter
Send it to either of these addresses:
Internal Revenue Service
MS 6055
Kansas City, MO 64108
or
Internal Revenue Service
MS 6273
Ogden, UT 84201
Mail is the only submission method. There is no online option for EIN deactivation, and no fax option unless you’re a tax-exempt organization.
Tax-Exempt Organizations Follow a Different Path
Nonprofits and other exempt organizations have to file a final annual return or notice before the EIN can be closed, and they mark it as terminated:
- Form 990-N (e-Postcard) filers answer “yes” to the question about whether the organization has terminated.
- Form 990 filers check the “Terminated” box in header area B on page 1, answer “yes” at Part IV, Line 31, and complete Schedule N to report how assets were distributed.
- Form 990-EZ filers check the “Terminated” box in the header, answer “yes” at Part V, Line 36, and complete Schedule N.
- Form 990-PF filers check the “Final” return box in Item G of the header.
Exempt organizations that have applied for tax-exempt status, been covered in a group ruling, or filed an information return cannot use the standard letter process to close the EIN. Those that do qualify send the letter to a dedicated address:
Internal Revenue Service
Attn: EO Entity
Mail Stop 6273
Ogden, UT 84201
Exempt organizations may also fax the letter to 855-214-7520. They are the only entity type with a fax option.
What Happens After You Send It
Once the IRS processes the request, you’ll receive a confirmation letter acknowledging the deactivation. Processing time varies with IRS workload, from several weeks to a few months. The EIN itself stays permanently assigned to your entity and will never be given to another business, but the account will no longer carry filing obligations.
Keep a copy of your letter and the IRS confirmation with your other business records. If a question about your tax history comes up years later, those documents prove the account was closed intentionally on a specific date.
Penalties If You Skip a Final Return
Sending the deactivation letter without filing every required final return exposes you to penalties that compound quickly. The failure-to-file penalty is 5 percent of the unpaid tax for each month or partial month the return is late, capped at 25 percent. If a return is more than 60 days late, the minimum penalty is $525 or 100 percent of the tax due, whichever is less; that floor applies to returns due after December 31, 2025. A separate failure-to-pay penalty of 0.5 percent per month, also capped at 25 percent, accrues on the unpaid balance, plus daily interest.
Penalties apply per return. A corporation that misses both its final Form 1120 and its final Form 941 gets a separate calculation on each. This is why the returns come before the letter.
Don’t Stop at the IRS
Closing the IRS business account does not dissolve your business at the state level. Most states require a separate filing to dissolve or cancel an LLC, corporation, or partnership, and the fees vary. Until you file that paperwork, you may keep owing annual report fees, franchise taxes, or other state obligations even though the business has stopped operating. Check with your state’s secretary of state and department of revenue.
On records: don’t shred anything yet. General tax records should be kept at least three years from the filing date or two years from the date the tax was paid, whichever is later. Employment tax records should be kept at least four years after the tax becomes due or is paid. Property records tied to basis, depreciation, or disposition should be kept until the limitations period runs on the year you disposed of the property. If no return was filed, or a return was fraudulent, there is no time limit on IRS assessment, so keep those records indefinitely.