EFIN

A firm applies for an EFIN by filing an IRS e-file application. It must meet the IRS’s eligibility rules and pass a suitability check, a review of the firm and its principals. Its principals and responsible officials must also be fingerprinted, unless they prove a professional status. That status covers attorneys, CPAs, enrolled agents, officers of public companies, and bank officials bonded and fingerprinted in the last two years. Approval can take up to 45 days.

A firm that e-files its clients’ returns acts as an electronic return originator (ERO). An ERO starts the electronic filing of returns it prepared, or collected from a taxpayer or another ERO. The IRS also accepts other roles, including transmitter and software developer. A firm needs a separate EFIN for each fixed location where it starts e-filing returns.

Paid preparers must generally e-file individual returns, through an authorized provider. A preparer is exempt only if they reasonably expect to file 10 or fewer such returns in the year. For a preparer in a firm, the firm’s returns are counted together. A preparer without an EFIN can have an ERO e-file their returns. The ERO then attests that the preparer signed the return and that the electronic data matches it.

An EFIN belongs to the firm that received it. The IRS bars sharing, renting, leasing or selling one, and a firm that shares its EFIN can face sanctions. A buyer of a business must get its own. An EFIN is also separate from a PTIN, the number each individual paid preparer needs.