Registering your shop for texting checks your business's legal name and EIN against the IRS's records, so both have to match your IRS letter exactly. This page says which letter that is, and what to do if it's gone.
What is my IRS letter?
It's the CP-575, the notice the IRS sent when it gave your business its EIN. It carries the 9-digit EIN and the business's legal name, with the address under the name.
If the CP-575 is gone, the IRS can send a different letter with the same facts: Letter 147C, "EIN Previously Assigned." Either one works for registering your shop for texting.
Why does the name have to match it exactly?
The review checks the legal name and the EIN you give against the IRS's records, word for word. A name that is close is not a match, and the registration comes back.
Copy the name from the letter, every word, with the "LLC" or "Inc" it ends with. If the name runs onto 2 lines, use every line above the address. Don't copy it from a W-9 or a W-2: those can say it differently than the IRS letter does.
What does a mismatch look like?
Here are 2, for a made-up shop called Ink & Iron Parlor.
The shop's name where the company's name goes. The letter says R ASH ENTERPRISES LLC, the company that owns the shop. The registration said Ink & Iron Parlor, the name on the sign out front. The fix is the name the letter prints: R ASH ENTERPRISES LLC.
The LLC left off. The letter says INK & IRON PARLOR LLC. The registration said Ink & Iron Parlor. The fix is the whole name: INK & IRON PARLOR LLC.
What if the letter is gone?
The IRS cannot send another copy of the original CP-575. It can send a 147C instead.
To ask for one, call the IRS Business and Specialty Tax Line at 800-829-4933, Monday to Friday, 7am to 7pm your local time. In Alaska and Hawaii, the hours follow Pacific time. Ask for Letter 147C, "EIN Previously Assigned."
If your business has an IRS Business Tax Account, look there first. An eligible account can download a digital CP-575, and the IRS says it stands in for both the original and the 147C.
What if I don't know my EIN?
The IRS says to look in 4 places first: the letter itself, the bank that holds your business account, the agencies where you applied for a state or local license, and your past business tax returns. If none of them has it, call the same line, 800-829-4933. The IRS checks who you are and gives you the number over the phone if you are allowed to have it.
With the letter's name and EIN in hand, registering your shop for texting takes a few minutes.
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