Per Diem Rates from the U.S. General Services Administration

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Rates are set by fiscal year, effective October 1 each year. Find current rates in the continental United States ("CONUS Rates").

Per Diem Rates

The Purpose of Tax Identification Numbers

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Tax identification numbers are used by federal, state, and local tax authorities to identify tax reporting entities such as individuals, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and trusts and to facilitate tax administration. An individual's tax identification number is his social security number.

Tax Identification Numbers for Businesses

Common tax Identification Numbers Used by Businesses:

• Federal employer identification number (EIN).
• State Withholding Number
• State Unemployment Account Number
• Sales Tax Number (state/local)

Sole Proprietors

Sole proprietors need an Employer Identification Number (EIN) if any of the following apply:

• You hired or will hire employees, including household employees
  • You file retirement plan tax returns
  • You file excise tax returns (e.g., alcohol, tobacco, or firearms)
  • You opened a bank account that requires an EIN for banking purposes
  • You are subject to a bankruptcy proceeding

  Other reasons an EIN may be required:

  • You changed the legal character or ownership of your organization (for example, you incorporate a sole proprietorship)
  • You purchased a going business
  • You represent an estate that operates a business after the owner's death
  • You created a pension plan as a plan administrator
  • You created a trust and are a foreign person and need an EIN to comply with IRS withholding regulations
  • You are a withholding agent for taxes on non-wage income paid to an alien (such as an individual, a corporation, or a partnership)
  • You are a state or local agency
  • You are a federal government unit or agency
  • You administer an estate formed as a result of a person's death

  Keep in mind, if you're a sole proprietor and none of the above conditions apply to you, you can still get an EIN in your own name. The possibility of identity theft is a good reason to get your own EIN.

  For example, if you do business with an independent contractor and pay that person $600 or more during the tax year, you're required to issue that person a 1099. In the payer's box of Form 1099, you must enter your tax identification number. If you don't have an EIN you'll have to enter your social security number, something you may not be comfortable doing when dealing with a stranger. So for greater protection against potential identity theft, getting an EIN to avoid revealing your social security number is something to consider.

  Schedule C and Your Employer Identification Number:

  If you have an EIN, enter it on Schedule C, line D. If you don't have an EIN, leave line D blank and enter your social security number of Schedule C.

  Employer Identification Number for LLCs

  Multi-member LLC (MMLLC):

  A multi-member LLC is automatically (the default tax treatment) treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes and must have a federal tax identification number (EIN) issued to the LLC in the LLC's name. Individual members do not need an EIN for themselves.

  Single-Member LLC (SMLLC)

  A single-member LLC that has employees or has a qualified pension plan is required to have an EIN in the LLC's name. A single-member LLC with no employees and no qualified pension plan is not required to have an EIN in the LLC's name. The owner may use his social security on tax documents or, if the owner acquired an EIN in his/her name, that number may be usd.

  If you obtained an EIN in your own name when you started your business, then subsequently changed your business' legal status to an LLC and hired employees or set up a qualified pension plan, you'll have two EINs, one in your own name when you started your business and had no employees and a second EIN in the name of the LLC, which is required when the LLC has employees or setting up a qualified pension plan).

  If you operate a single-member LLC and have two EINs (one in your own name from when you started your business without employees and another one in the name of the LLC when you hired employees, only enter the EIN that's in your own name on Schedule C, line D. The EIN in the name of the LLC is not entered on Schedule C. It is included on employment tax returns and when paying employment taxes.

  Employer Identification Number for Partnerships

  Although a partnership is not a tax-paying entity, it is a tax-reporting entity, and therefore, must have its own Employer Identification Number (EIN).

  Employer Identification Number for Corporations

  A corporation must have a federal employer identification number for two reasons:

  1. A corporation is a separate legal entity, separate and apart from its owners (shareholders).
  2. A corporation may be an employer.

  Even if you're the only shareholder/worker in your corporation, the corporation is an employer and you are its employee.

  Applying for an Employer Identification Number

  The following can apply for an EIN on the IRS's website:

  • Individual / Sole proprietor
  • Partnership
  • LLC
  • S corporation
  • C corporation
  • Personal Service Corporation
  • Non-Profit Organization
  • Estate of Deceased individual
  • Trust
  • Church Organization