Get an EIN (Employer Identification Number) from the IRS

An EIN (Employer Identification Number) from the IRS serves as your business's federal tax identification number, required for numerous genuine business functions including opening business bank accounts, filing business tax returns, and hiring employees if your business reaches that stage — this represents foundational business infrastructure most formal business operations genuinely require.

Obtaining this number represents a genuinely straightforward process through the IRS's own application system, typically completed quickly and at no cost — this represents one of the more accessible items among the broader legal and business formation work discussed throughout this section, requiring relatively modest time investment for meaningful foundational business infrastructure.

This number also provides a genuine privacy benefit for sole proprietors specifically — rather than using your personal Social Security Number for various business purposes, an EIN allows you to conduct business identification functions without exposing this more sensitive personal identifier across various business contexts and documentation.

This typically represents one of the earlier, foundational steps in formal business establishment, often pursued alongside or shortly after the incorporation decision discussed elsewhere — many of the other formal business infrastructure elements discussed throughout this broader work, like business banking, genuinely depend on having this number already in place as a prerequisite.