Apply for an EIN
Apply for an EIN with the IRS for a business already in your Palm account.
The business record must already have its legal name, entity type, formation jurisdiction and date, and principal address; if anything required is missing, the request is rejected with the specific fields listed.
Responsible party. Either pass a user_id for a user who already has a first name, last name, and SSN on record, or pass first_name, last_name, and ssn directly and Palm will create and link the user for you.
Result. Returns the filing in queued status, then ready_to_file → processing → filed → completed, sending a filing.* webhook at each step. The assigned EIN is on filing.result.ein_number once completed. Until the filing enters processing, you can cancel it with the cancel endpoint.
Authorizations
Enter your API key in the format: sk_test_xxxxx or sk_live_xxxxx
Headers
Use one key per logical submission and reuse it for every retry of that submission; do not key on a customer or order, and do not mint a fresh key per retry. A key is bound to the first request that succeeds with it and honored for 24 hours. Once the original attempt has returned, retrying with the same key and payload returns the previously created filing with the Idempotent-Replayed: true response header instead of creating a second one. The replayed body reflects the filing’s current state, including terminal states; only its identifiers are guaranteed stable. Reusing a key with a different payload or on a different operation is rejected with a 409 idempotency_key_conflict problem carrying existing_filing_id. The entire request body counts toward the payload fingerprint, including fields the API would otherwise ignore. Keys are 1-255 characters, unique per organization and mode.
255Body
Responsible party for the entity
Reason for applying
started_new_business, hired_employees, banking_purposes, changed_organization_type, purchased_business, created_trust, created_pension_plan, withholding_compliance, other "started_new_business"
Closing month of accounting year. 1-12, most entities use 12 for calendar year.
1 <= x <= 1212
Highest number of employees expected in next 12 months by category
Principal activity category, matching the IRS online EIN flow. Pick the one that best describes the business:
accommodations: hotels, motels, casino hotelsconstruction: contractors and construction tradesfinance: banks, brokers, lenders, investment and advisory firmsfood_service: restaurants, bars, catering, coffee/ice-cream shopshealth_care: physicians, dentists, hospitals, clinics, mental-health practitionersinsurance: insurance carriers, agents, and brokersmanufacturing: producing goods from raw materialsreal_estate: renting, building, selling, or managing propertyrental_and_leasing: renting or leasing real estate or goodsretail: selling goods to consumers (online, storefront, direct, auction)social_assistance: nursing homes, shelters, youth servicestransportation: moving cargo or passengerswarehousing: storage and warehousingwholesale: selling goods to businesses for resaleother: anything not covered above (consulting, repair, services, etc.)
The object is discriminated by category; each category carries its own follow-up fields.
- Option 1
- Option 2
- Option 3
- Option 4
- Option 5
- Option 6
- Option 7
- Option 8
- Option 9
- Option 10
- Option 11
- Option 12
- Option 13
- Option 14
- Option 15
Free-text description of the principal line of merchandise sold, products produced, or services provided (IRS Form SS-4, line 17).
"Software consulting services"
Has the entity previously applied for and received an EIN?
false
Details for the reason. Required if reason is "other".
"Compliance with state reporting requirements"
Date wages will first be paid. Required if total expected employees > 0.
"2026-04-01"
Previous EIN if applicable. Required if has_previous_ein is true.
"12-3456789"
Trade name / DBA if different from legal name
"Acme Trading Co"
Elect to file Form 944 annually instead of Form 941 quarterly. Applies if expected annual employment tax liability is $1,000 or less.
false
Whether the business owns a highway motor vehicle with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more.
false
Whether the business involves gambling or wagering.
false
Whether the business needs to file Form 720 (Quarterly Federal Excise Tax Return).
false
Whether the business sells or manufactures alcohol, tobacco, or firearms.
false
Business phone number
"919-555-1234"
Mailing address, if different from the business address
Number of members in the LLC — the IRS EIN application asks this for every LLC, so it is required when the referenced business is an LLC. When it is 2 and the business is physically located in a community property state (AZ, CA, ID, LA, NM, NV, TX, WA, WI), members_are_married_couple is required.
x >= 11
Whether the two LLC members are married to each other. Required when llc_member_count is 2 and the business is physically located in a community property state (AZ, CA, ID, LA, NM, NV, TX, WA, WI), where the IRS EIN application asks whether the members are husband and wife.
false
Federal tax classification election for a married-couple LLC in a community property state (Rev. Proc. 2002-69): treat the LLC as single-member (disregarded entity) or multi-member (partnership). Required if members_are_married_couple is true.
single_member, multi_member "single_member"
Partner-defined metadata
Response
EIN filing created
Unique identifier for the resource
"123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000"
Object type
filing "filing"
Whether this resource was created with test or live credentials. Test and live data are fully isolated — a test resource never appears in live results and vice versa.
test, live "live"
ISO 8601 timestamp of when the resource was created
"2025-10-24T10:30:00Z"
ISO 8601 timestamp of when the resource was last updated
"2025-10-24T15:45:00Z"
Store up to 50 custom key-value pairs for application-specific data. Useful for storing references to external systems, feature flags, or other custom attributes.
Filing type
formation, ein, amendment, scorp_election Current status
queued, ready_to_file, processing, filed, completed, canceled Entity type (for formations)
llc, professional_llc, corporation, professional_corporation Jurisdiction (ISO 3166-2)
"US-NC"
Business name for the filing
"Acme Holdings LLC"
Expedited processing tier requested for this filing, or null for standard processing. Only set on formations submitted with an expedited_tier.
"same_day"
Linked business ID
Filing result — populated on completion, null until then. Shape depends on the filing type: formation → { registration_number, formation_date }; EIN → { ein_number, entity_name }. Other filing types have no result.
- Option 1
- Option 2
Parent filing ID (for bundled EIN/RA)
Bundle of obligations tracked under this formation, each with its own object type and status: filings (state registration, EIN) and the registered agent (id is the business, resolvable at GET /business/:id/registered-agent).
- Option 1
- Option 2
Documents associated with this filing
Fee components keyed by type (base, dynamic, late, credit_card, ach), plus a convenience total grand total (assumes credit-card payment). Only present components are included. When items is set, it lists each evaluated rule for itemized rendering — the component-keyed values are the sums across those items.
Reason the filing was canceled (partner request, parent off-boarded, duplicate, etc.). Only present when status is canceled.
Role that initiated the cancellation. One of: partner, palm. Only present when status is canceled.
Timestamp the filing was canceled
Cases attached to this filing. One entry per partner-visible case, in chronological order. Each case carries a typed request payload describing what Palm needs and, once submitted, a typed response. Partners respond via POST /v1/case/:case_id/response. An entry with status=needs_response is an outstanding ask — its presence is the signal that the filing needs partner action.