Lost EIN Letter (CP 575)? Get a 147C Replacement

When you need replacement

Banks (Mercury, Relay) and platforms (Stripe, Amazon) often request CP 575 during onboarding. If you lost the original, Form 147C is the replacement.

147C is functionally equivalent to CP 575 for nearly all purposes.

How to request 147C

Call IRS Business and Specialty Tax Line: 800-829-4933 (or 267-941-1099 from outside US). Have ready: LLC's EIN, legal name, formation date, owner identity verification. Request Form 147C.

IRS agent verifies your identity and sends 147C by mail or fax.

Timing and cost

Cost: free. Timing: 1-2 weeks to receive by mail; faster by fax if you provide fax number. Plan ahead before bank/platform deadlines.

Why CP 575 cannot be reissued at all

The first thing that surprises many non-resident founders is that the IRS will never print a second CP 575.

That letter is generated exactly once, at the moment your EIN is assigned, and the agency treats it as a one-time computer-generated notice rather than a document it keeps on file for reprinting.

When you call and ask for another copy of the original, the agent will politely explain that no such reissue exists. This is not a regional rule or a discretionary decision.

It applies to every EIN holder regardless of where the owner lives or how the LLC was formed.

For a founder outside the US, this matters because you often did not receive the CP 575 in the first place.

If you applied through the SS-4 fax or mail process, which typically takes about 8 to 10 business days for the EIN to be assigned, the paper letter may have been mailed to a registered agent address you never actively monitor, or it simply never reached an international mailbox.

The result is the same. You have a valid EIN but no original confirmation in hand, and the path forward is the 147C rather than any attempt to recover the lost CP 575.

Understanding this distinction saves hours of frustration.

Once you accept that the 147C is the permanent replacement and not a downgrade, you stop chasing a document that cannot be produced and focus on the verification letter that banks and platforms actually accept in its place.

Confirming the IRS even has your EIN on record

Before you spend time requesting a 147C, it helps to confirm the IRS has your EIN linked to the exact legal name you expect.

Non-resident founders sometimes form a Delaware LLC, pay the $110 formation fee, and then apply for the EIN under a slightly different spelling or with a name suffix that does not match the Certificate of Formation.

When the name on file and the name you give the agent do not align, the identity check on the call stalls and the agent cannot release the letter.

The cleanest way to avoid this is to gather your formation documents first.

Pull up the stamped Certificate of Formation, your SS-4 confirmation if you kept one, and any prior correspondence that shows the nine digit EIN.

Write down the legal name precisely as it appears on the state filing, including LLC versus L.L.C. and any comma placement.

The IRS database stores the name in a specific format, and the agent will be matching against that exact string when they verify you.

If you genuinely cannot find the EIN anywhere, the same Business and Specialty Tax Line can look it up using the responsible party details from the original SS-4.

This is slower because the agent has to search rather than confirm, but it works.

Having the formation date, the responsible party name, and the mailing address used on the SS-4 ready will move the call along and reduce the chance of a failed verification that forces a callback.

Preparing for the identity verification call

The identity check is where most international calls go sideways, so preparation is the difference between a ten minute success and a wasted hour.

The agent on the Business and Specialty Tax Line will ask you to confirm that you are an authorized person for the LLC.

For a single-member Delaware LLC owned by a non-resident, that authorized person is normally you as the responsible party named on the SS-4.

Have your name, the LLC legal name, the EIN, the formation date, and the address on file ready to recite without searching.

Phrasing your request clearly also helps. State plainly that you need a Form 147C letter because you do not have the original EIN assignment notice.

Agents handle this request constantly, so naming the document by its form number signals that you know what you need and shortens the back and forth.

If the agent offers to read the EIN over the phone instead, accept that as a bonus but still insist on the mailed or faxed 147C, because a verbal number is not something a bank will accept as proof.

Keep a pen ready to write down the agent identification number and the date and time of the call.

If the letter never arrives, that reference lets a second agent see exactly what was requested and reissue it without restarting the whole verification.

For a founder in a distant time zone, this small habit prevents a single missed letter from turning into weeks of repeated calls.

Calling from outside the United States

Reaching the IRS from abroad takes some planning because the toll free 800-829-4933 line does not always connect from foreign carriers.

The international number 267-941-1099 is the reliable alternative, and it reaches the same Business and Specialty Tax Line staff.

Expect international call charges, so a voice over internet service with US calling is often cheaper and more stable than a mobile roaming connection that drops mid verification.

Timing the call to the IRS phone hours is essential. The line operates on US Eastern time during weekday business hours, which can fall in the middle of the night or early morning depending on where you sit.

Picking a moment near the start of their day, rather than the final hour before they close, gives you room to be placed on hold, transferred, or asked to call back without running out of agent availability.

Hold times of thirty minutes or more are common, so block out a generous window.

Language and accent rarely cause problems because the agents are accustomed to international callers, but a quiet environment and a strong connection matter a great deal.

A dropped call during identity verification means starting over.

If you have a US based contact who can help, they cannot impersonate you, but having your documents organized on screen during the call removes most of the friction that international founders run into.

Requesting the 147C by fax for speed

The mailed 147C can take one to two weeks to reach a US address and considerably longer to reach an international one.

If you have a bank onboarding deadline or a platform verification window closing soon, ask the agent to fax the letter instead.

Fax delivery is often same day or next day, which can be the difference between meeting a deadline and watching an application expire.

Most non-resident founders no longer own a physical fax machine, and that is fine. Online fax services let you receive a fax as a PDF in your email inbox using a US fax number.

Set one of these up before the call so you can give the agent a working fax number on the spot.

When the PDF arrives, it is a clean digital copy you can upload directly to a bank or platform without scanning anything.

One detail worth confirming during the call is whether the agent will send the letter to the fax number you provide or only to the address of record.

Some agents default to the registered mailing address for security.

If yours insists on mail only, ask whether the security concern can be resolved by answering additional verification questions, since the faxed copy is the faster route to clearing your onboarding.

Which banks and platforms accept 147C

For practical purposes, the 147C is accepted anywhere the CP 575 would be.

The fintech banks that non-resident Delaware LLC owners most often use, including Mercury, Wise, Relay, Lili, and Payoneer, recognize the 147C as valid proof of your EIN.

Their onboarding teams see far more 147C letters than original CP 575 notices precisely because the original is a one time document that so many founders never receive.

When a bank application form specifically asks for the CP 575 by name, it is usually using that term as shorthand for the EIN confirmation rather than demanding that exact notice.

Uploading the 147C and, if there is a notes field, adding a short line explaining that the 147C is the IRS issued replacement for the CP 575 tends to clear the question without delay.

Support teams at these banks understand the substitution well.

Payment processors and marketplaces follow the same pattern. Whether you are verifying a payout account or registering as a seller, the 147C carries the same weight.

The rare exception is an older institution with a rigid checklist that has not updated its language, and even there a quick message to support citing that the IRS does not reissue the CP 575 usually resolves it.

Keep the 147C PDF in a dedicated folder so you can supply it instantly whenever a new platform asks.

Keeping the EIN letter safe this time

Once the 147C arrives, treat it as a permanent record rather than a disposable confirmation.

Save the PDF in at least two places, such as a cloud drive and a local backup, and name the file clearly with the LLC name and the word EIN so you can find it under pressure during an onboarding flow.

Founders who lose the document once tend to lose it again, and each replacement means another international call and another wait.

It is also worth storing the EIN itself somewhere separate from the letter, in a password manager or an encrypted note alongside your formation date and registered agent details.

The nine digit number is what you actually need in most fields, and having it memorized or instantly retrievable speeds up everything from tax filings to bank logins.

The letter then serves only as proof when a platform demands documentary evidence.

Because your EIN ties directly to your annual federal obligations, including the Form 5472 plus pro forma 1120 filing that carries a $25,000 penalty if missed, keeping the confirmation accessible is part of staying compliant rather than just convenient.

A founder who can produce the EIN letter on demand is far less likely to fumble a deadline or stall a banking relationship when documentation is requested unexpectedly.

What the 147C does and does not prove

It helps to be precise about what the 147C actually establishes. The letter confirms that a specific EIN is assigned to a specific legal entity name.

That is all it does, and that is exactly what banks and platforms want when they ask for it.

It does not prove that your LLC is in good standing with Delaware, it does not prove that your franchise tax is paid, and it does not prove anything about your tax filings.

This distinction matters for non-resident founders because the various proofs you collect serve different gatekeepers. A bank wants the 147C to tie you to an EIN.

The state of Delaware cares about your $300 annual franchise tax due June 1 and your registered agent, not your EIN letter. The IRS cares about your annual return.

Confusing these can lead you to hand the wrong document to the wrong reviewer and wonder why it does not satisfy them.

When an institution asks for proof of your entity beyond the EIN, the document they usually want is the Certificate of Formation or a Certificate of Good Standing from Delaware, not the 147C.

Knowing which letter answers which question lets you respond to onboarding requests quickly and avoid the loop of submitting a perfectly valid 147C to a reviewer who was actually asking for something else entirely.

Using a third party or registered agent to request it

Some non-resident founders prefer not to wrestle with US time zones and hold queues and instead ask whether someone else can request the 147C for them.

The IRS will only discuss the EIN with an authorized person, which for a single member LLC means the responsible party or someone you have formally authorized.

A registered agent or a CPA cannot simply call and collect the letter unless you have put authorization on file.

The mechanism for granting that authority is Form 2848 for a power of attorney or Form 8821 for tax information authorization.

If you work with a CPA who already handles your Form 5472 and pro forma 1120 filings, they may already hold one of these authorizations, in which case they can request the 147C on your behalf during a call they were going to make anyway.

This can be the simplest route for a founder who finds the phone process daunting.

If you do delegate, make sure the authorized representative has the same set of details you would carry into the call, namely the EIN, the exact legal name, the formation date, and the address on file.

The IRS verification standard does not relax just because a professional is calling.

Delegation removes the time zone and language friction, but it does not remove the need for accurate entity information to clear the identity check.

When the name or responsible party has changed

A complication that catches some founders is a mismatch between the current state of the LLC and what the IRS has on record.

If you amended your Delaware LLC name after formation, or if the responsible party listed on the original SS-4 is no longer accurate, the 147C will reflect the older information the IRS holds rather than your present reality.

The letter is a snapshot of the EIN record, not a live mirror of your state filing.

If the legal name on the 147C does not match your current Certificate of Formation, you generally need to update the IRS separately before the letter will be useful for onboarding.

A name change is reported to the IRS in writing, and only after that update will a freshly requested 147C show the new name.

Requesting the letter before fixing the record just produces a document with the wrong name on it.

The responsible party is a different issue. The IRS expects the responsible party on file to be a real individual who controls the entity, and they offer Form 8822-B to update it.

For a non-resident single member LLC, the responsible party is usually you, so this rarely changes.

But if ownership shifted, correcting the responsible party of record keeps your EIN file accurate and prevents future verification calls from failing because the agent cannot match the person calling to the record.

Avoiding paid services that charge for a free letter

A small industry exists around offering to retrieve your 147C for a fee, and non-resident founders are a common target because the IRS phone process feels intimidating from abroad.

It is worth stating plainly that the 147C itself is free.

The IRS does not charge to verify your EIN or to send the letter, whether by mail or fax, and any service quoting a fee is charging only for making the call on your behalf.

There are legitimate reasons to pay a professional for convenience, especially if you already have a CPA with authorization on file or you simply value not spending an hour navigating hold music in the middle of your night.

That is a fair trade of money for time. The problem is services that present the fee as if the IRS itself requires payment, which is never the case for a 147C.

If you do the call yourself, the only real cost is the international phone charge and your time.

For a founder who has already invested in formation at $110, a one time setup fee of $297 for a service bundle, and the various banking relationships, knowing which steps are genuinely free helps you spend where it counts.

The 147C is squarely in the free category, and handling it directly is well within reach once you have your documents prepared.

Building the 147C into your annual compliance habit

The EIN letter is easy to forget about until a bank suddenly demands it, so folding it into your yearly compliance rhythm keeps it from becoming an emergency.

Many founders set a recurring reminder around their other Delaware obligations, such as the $300 franchise tax due each June 1, and use that moment to confirm their EIN documentation is still on hand and the file still opens.

A quick yearly check costs minutes and prevents scrambling later.

Pairing the EIN letter with your tax calendar also makes sense because the same number drives your federal filings.

Your CPA references the EIN on the Form 5472 and pro forma 1120 each year, and the $25,000 penalty attached to a missed 5472 is a strong reminder that EIN related paperwork is not something to treat casually.

Keeping the confirmation letter beside your tax records groups the documents you reach for at filing time.

For non-resident founders juggling a Delaware entity from another country, a single organized folder containing the Certificate of Formation, the 147C, the EIN itself, and contact details for your registered agent and CPA turns most onboarding and compliance requests into a copy and paste exercise.

The 147C is one piece of that kit, and once you have requested it once and stored it well, it should serve you for the life of the LLC without another call to the IRS.