Most payment processors that onboard a new US business will, at some point, ask for one document: the IRS letter that confirms your Employer Identification Number. For a non-resident founder who has just formed a Wyoming LLC, that single request can stall a Stripe or PayPal application for weeks. The good news is that the EIN letter is a standard IRS document, it is free, and you can get it without ever holding a Social Security Number.
The EIN letter your payment processor asks for is the IRS notice that officially confirms your Employer Identification Number and ties it to your business name. When a processor requests an "ein letter for payment processor" verification, it almost always means one of two IRS documents: the CP 575, which the IRS issues automatically when your EIN is first assigned, or the 147C letter, which the IRS sends on request as a replacement when you no longer have the original.
Processors ask for this because it lets them match the legal name and EIN on your account to what the IRS has on record. If the two do not match, the processor cannot pass its own tax-reporting checks, and your payouts can be frozen.
The two letters serve the same verification purpose but come from different moments:
A bare nine-digit EIN typed into a form proves nothing on its own. The letter carries the IRS letterhead, the assignment date, and the precise legal name that the processor compares against federal records. A mismatch as small as a dropped "LLC" or a comma can trigger a verification hold, so the document, not the digits, clears the check.
Non-residents handle the EIN letter the same way US residents do, because the IRS does not treat the confirmation letter differently based on where the owner lives. The EIN belongs to the entity, in this case your Wyoming LLC, not to you personally, so a founder in Istanbul holds the identical CP 575 or 147C that a founder in Ohio would hold. The practical difference is only in how non-residents first obtain the EIN, since the IRS online tool is closed to applicants without an SSN or ITIN.
Here is the sequence most non-resident founders follow when a processor asks for the letter:
Consider Elif, a founder in Turkey selling digital templates. She formed her Wyoming LLC, started a Stripe account, and three days later got the dreaded "please confirm your tax identity" message. She had her CP 575 saved from formation, uploaded it, and the hold lifted the next day. Her neighbour who had deleted the original had to phone the IRS for a 147C and wait for the fax, which cost him a week. The document you keep is the document that saves you time.
If the name on the IRS letter does not match your processor profile, fix the processor profile, not the letter. The IRS confirmation reflects exactly how your LLC was registered with the Wyoming Secretary of State and recorded by the IRS, so it is the source of truth. Edit your Stripe or PayPal business name to mirror the letter character for character, including "LLC" and any punctuation, then resubmit.
You get the EIN without an SSN by filing IRS Form SS-4 directly with the IRS, leaving the responsible-party SSN line handled the way the IRS instructs for applicants who do not have one, and submitting it by fax or mail rather than through the online assistant. The online EIN tool requires an SSN or ITIN, which is why non-resident founders cannot use it; the SS-4 paper route exists precisely for people in your situation. The IRS then assigns the EIN and issues the CP 575, which becomes the very letter your payment processor will later ask for.
A few facts worth fixing in place, because founders are often told otherwise:
If you would rather not navigate the SS-4 and the fax process yourself, this is where a formation service built for non-residents fits. CORPBOLT is a U.S. business formation service for non-resident founders that sets up a US (Wyoming) LLC entirely remotely, with no SSN required. Plans start from $349/year, with the EIN included from $599. (corpbolt.com)
What a service like that does is prepare and file the paperwork so the IRS issues the EIN and CP 575 to your correctly registered entity. It does not, and cannot, speed up the IRS or guarantee a date. And to be clear about a related point: a formation service can help you get bank-ready and prepare to open a business account, but it does not open accounts or introduce you to banks. The bank, like the payment processor, always makes its own decision.
No. Whether you file the SS-4 yourself or have a service file it for you, the IRS issues the same CP 575 in the name of your LLC. The letter's authority comes from the IRS, not from whoever prepared the form, so a processor treats both identically.
You should request a 147C whenever you cannot find the original CP 575, because the IRS issues the CP 575 only once and will not produce a second copy. The 147C is the IRS's designed replacement, and processors accept it as equivalent proof. Request it by calling the IRS Business and Specialty Tax Line; have your LLC's legal name and EIN ready, and be prepared to receive the letter by fax or mail rather than instantly by email.
Common situations that send founders to the 147C route:
A payment processor uses the EIN letter to verify that your business is a real, IRS-registered entity and to set up correct tax reporting for your payouts. In the US, processors must report certain payment volumes to the IRS, and they can only do that accurately if the EIN and legal name on your account match federal records. The letter is how they confirm that match before they release funds or raise your processing limits.
This is also why the letter tends to surface at predictable moments: at onboarding, when you cross a payout threshold, when you change your business name, or when an automated risk review flags an unverified tax identity. Keeping a clean PDF of your CP 575 in an accessible place means each of these moments becomes a one-minute upload instead of a multi-week scramble.
No. The EIN is the nine-digit number; the confirmation letter (CP 575 or 147C) is the IRS document that proves the number belongs to your specific business. Payment processors generally want the letter, not just the number typed into a field.
Yes. You obtain the EIN by filing IRS Form SS-4 by fax or mail, which does not require an SSN, and the IRS then issues the CP 575 in your LLC's name. That CP 575 is the letter the processor asks for, and your lack of an SSN does not change it.
The IRS controls the timing. Filed by fax, the EIN assignment typically takes a few weeks, and the CP 575 follows from the IRS. No service can promise an exact date, so plan around the IRS's pace rather than a guarantee.
The most common cause is a name mismatch. Check that the legal name on the IRS letter matches your processor profile exactly, including "LLC" and punctuation, then resubmit. If the letter is genuinely missing or outdated, request a fresh 147C from the IRS before trying again.
The EIN and its CP 575 are issued by the IRS, not by any formation service. A service prepares and files the SS-4 so the IRS issues the letter to your correctly registered Wyoming LLC; the document itself always comes from the IRS.