How to Get a Tax ID Number for a Trust After Death

To get a tax ID number for a trust after death, the trustee files IRS Form SS-4 to obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for the trust, and the fastest route is the IRS online EIN Assistant, which issues the number at the end of the session in about ten minutes.1Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number The trustee is the person who applies, and the grantor’s Social Security number can no longer be used for the trust once the grantor has died.

Why the Trust Needs Its Own Number Now

While the grantor was alive, a revocable living trust was treated as the grantor for tax purposes. Income flowed onto the grantor’s Form 1040 under the grantor’s Social Security number.2Internal Revenue Service. Abusive Trust Tax Evasion Schemes – Questions and Answers

At death, that arrangement ends. The trust typically becomes irrevocable, because the person with the power to change or revoke it is gone, and it becomes its own taxable entity. It needs an EIN so the trustee can file Form 1041 for any year the trust has $600 or more in gross income, or any nonresident alien beneficiary.3Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 1041 and Schedules A, B, G, J, and K-1 Banks and brokerages will also ask for the EIN before they retitle accounts out of the deceased grantor’s name.

What to Have Ready Before You Apply

The application is IRS Form SS-4. Gather these details first so you can finish in one sitting:4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form SS-4 (Rev. December 2025)

  • The trust’s legal name, exactly as written in the trust document.
  • The date the trust became irrevocable, which for a revocable trust that converted at the grantor’s death is the grantor’s date of death.
  • The grantor’s date of death.
  • The trustee’s name and mailing address, because that is where the IRS will send trust correspondence.
  • The responsible party’s Social Security number or ITIN.

Who the Responsible Party Is

The IRS defines the responsible party as the person who controls the entity’s funds and assets. For a trust, that role is typically filled by the grantor, owner, or trustee.5Internal Revenue Service. Responsible Parties and Nominees With the grantor deceased, the acting trustee fills the slot. It must be an individual with a valid SSN or ITIN. You cannot name another trust or a business entity.

If the trustee later changes, the new trustee files Form 8822-B within 60 days to update the responsible party on file.6Internal Revenue Service. Form 8822-B, Change of Address or Responsible Party

Which Reason to Check on Form SS-4

Form SS-4 asks why you need the EIN. For a trust that became irrevocable at the grantor’s death, check “Created a trust” and specify the trust type, such as “irrevocable trust.”4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form SS-4 (Rev. December 2025) Some grantor-type trusts do not need an EIN at all because they continue to report under the grantor’s SSN, but that exception does not apply once the grantor has died.

Applying Online

The IRS online EIN Assistant is the quickest route. You answer the prompts, and if everything checks out the system issues the EIN at the end of the session. You can download or print the CP 575 notice confirming the number. Save it with the trust documents.1Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number

The online application is open during these Eastern Time hours:

  • Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. the next day.
  • Saturday, 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
  • Sunday, 6:00 p.m. to midnight.

The session times out after 15 minutes of inactivity and cannot be saved, so you would have to start over.7National Taxpayer Advocate. When Taxpayers Struggle to Obtain an EIN, Everyone Loses Having every piece of information from the previous section ready before you begin is the point of that checklist.

To use the online system, the trust’s principal place of business must be in the United States or a U.S. territory, and you must have the responsible party’s SSN or ITIN.1Internal Revenue Service. Get an Employer Identification Number

Applying by Fax, Mail, or Phone

If you cannot use the online system, three alternatives exist. Each needs a completed and signed Form SS-4.8Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form SS-4 (12/2025)

  • Fax the signed form to the domestic number, 855-215-1627. The IRS typically faxes the EIN back within four business days.
  • Mail the signed form to the address listed in the SS-4 instructions. Allow four to five weeks.
  • International applicants (trust’s principal place of business outside the U.S.) can call 267-941-1099, Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Current fax and mailing addresses for both domestic and foreign applicants are printed in the Form SS-4 instructions on the IRS website.9Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number

After the EIN Is Issued

Once you have the number, the trustee should move on a few things without waiting.

  • Give the new EIN to every bank, brokerage, and insurance company holding trust assets so accounts can be retitled out of the grantor’s SSN.
  • Send a fresh Form W-9 with the trust’s EIN to any payer of interest, dividends, or other income to the trust, so future 1099s carry the correct taxpayer.
  • File the CP 575 confirmation notice with the trust instrument, death certificate, and letters of trusteeship. You will need the EIN on every filing going forward.

The trust files Form 1041 for any tax year with gross income of $600 or more, or with any nonresident alien beneficiary.3Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 1041 and Schedules A, B, G, J, and K-1 If trust assets generate any meaningful income, that threshold is easy to hit.

If the Trust Splits Into Sub-Trusts

Many estate plans direct a revocable trust to divide at the grantor’s death into two or more separate trusts. A common example is an A/B trust that splits into a survivor’s trust and a bypass (or family) trust. Each new trust that becomes a separate taxable entity needs its own EIN. Read the trust document to see how many sub-trusts are created, then apply separately for each.

The online EIN Assistant allows only one application per responsible party per day. If you need several EINs, plan on applying on consecutive days or use fax for the extras.

One Decision to Raise With a Tax Professional: The Section 645 Election

If the deceased grantor also has a probate estate, the trustee and executor can jointly elect under Section 645 to treat the trust as part of the estate for income tax purposes. The election can offer a fiscal year instead of a mandatory calendar year, a higher exemption on Form 1041, a two-year holiday from estimated tax payments, and access to the estate’s passive-loss treatment during the same window.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 645 – Certain Revocable Trusts Treated as Part of Estate

The election is made on Form 8855, signed by both the executor and the trustee, by the due date (including extensions) of the estate’s first Form 1041. Once filed, it cannot be revoked.11Internal Revenue Service. Form 8855 (Rev. December 2020) Election to Treat a Qualified Revocable Trust as Part of an Estate Talk it through with a CPA or estate attorney before the first filing deadline. Either way, the trust still needs its own EIN.