How do I close my EIN and IRS business account?

People search for 'cancel my EIN' and the honest answer is that there's nothing to cancel. The IRS's own page puts it plainly: once it assigns an EIN, that number becomes the entity's permanent federal taxpayer ID number, and the IRS can't cancel it, only deactivate it. Deactivating means the IRS closes the business account tied to the number, stops expecting returns under it, and marks it inactive. Nobody else will ever be issued your EIN.

So the real question is how to close the IRS business account, and that comes down to two things: getting the returns finished, and writing one letter.

Step 1: File everything and pay what's owed

The IRS won't close the account with loose ends. Its rule: if you made tax payments, owe business taxes, or received a notice to file a business tax return, you must file all outstanding returns and pay the tax owed before it can deactivate the EIN.

In practice that means the final income return marked final (Form 1065, 1120-S, or 1120, or your last Schedule C for a single-member LLC), the final employment returns if you had staff (Form 941 or 944 for the last wage quarter, Form 940 for the year, W-2s and W-3), and any 1099-NECs for contractors. Corporations, including LLCs taxed as corporations, also file Form 966 within 30 days of adopting the plan to dissolve.

If the EIN was assigned but the business never got off the ground, never paid anything and never received a filing notice, there may be no return to file first. The letter still works the same way.

Step 2: Write the letter

There is no IRS form for this. The letter needs four things, straight from the IRS instructions: the complete legal name of the business, the EIN, the business address, and the reason you want the account closed. If you kept the notice the IRS mailed when it assigned the EIN (the CP 575), enclose a copy. Sign it as an owner, member, or officer.

A working version fits in one paragraph: 'Please close the IRS business account for [Legal Name], EIN [XX-XXXXXXX], [mailing address]. The company was dissolved with the [State] Secretary of State effective [date], has ceased all operations, and has filed all required returns. A copy of the EIN assignment notice is enclosed.' Add your name, title, phone number, and signature. That's the whole document.

Step 3: Mail it to the right address

This is the one place to slow down, because the IRS's own pages currently disagree. The 'Canceling an EIN - Closing your account' page (reviewed November 2025) lists two addresses: Internal Revenue Service, MS 6055, Kansas City, MO 64108, or Internal Revenue Service, MS 6273, Ogden, UT 84201. The broader 'Closing a business' page (reviewed July 2026) still gives the older address, Internal Revenue Service, Cincinnati, OH 45999.

Both are IRS guidance. The safest habit is to open the 'Canceling an EIN' page the day you mail and use the address printed there. Send it by a method that gives you proof of mailing and keep a copy of the letter.

Exempt organizations have their own route: Internal Revenue Service, Attn: EO Entity, Mail Stop 6273, Ogden, UT 84201, or by fax to 855-214-7520, and an exempt organization that applied for exemption, sat under a group ruling, or filed an information return has extra termination steps before the account can be closed.

What happens after you mail it

Not much that you'll see. The IRS processes the letter, closes the account, and doesn't promise a fast turnaround, so keep your copy and the mailing receipt as your proof. Don't send a second letter after a few weeks; a duplicate just goes to the back of the same queue.

If you need to show a bank or a buyer that the entity is closed, use the state's stamped dissolution rather than waiting on the IRS. The state record is public and immediate; the IRS closure isn't something a third party can look up.

The EIN itself stays attached to the entity for good, which is why the IRS calls this deactivation rather than cancellation. If the same entity ever comes back to life, that's the number it uses; nobody else can be issued it.

The full 'close a business with the IRS' checklist

The EIN letter is the last item on the IRS's own close-out list. The whole list, in order:

File a final return and the related forms. Schedule C for a sole proprietor or single-member LLC, Form 1065 for a partnership, Form 1120-S or 1120 for a corporation, each marked final where the form has a box, plus Form 966 for corporations, filed within 30 days of the resolution to dissolve.

Take care of employees. Final Form 941 or 944 for the last wage quarter, with the closed-business box checked and the final wage date on line 17 (941) or line 14 (944); Form 940 for the year with box 'd' checked; W-2s to employees and W-3 to the Social Security Administration.

Pay the tax you owe, including any final employment tax deposits.

Report payments to contract workers on Form 1099-NEC (the 2026 threshold is $2,000, up from $600), with Form 1096 if filing on paper.

Close the IRS business account with the letter above.

Keep the records: employment tax records for at least four years, property records until the limitations period runs out for the year you disposed of the property, and returns generally three years, six if income was underreported by more than 25 percent.

Do you have to close the account at all?

No law requires it, and plenty of dissolved companies never do. Two reasons to bother. First, an open account means the IRS may keep expecting returns and can send notices for years the business didn't exist; the letter and the final-return box together shut that down. Second, an EIN that's known to be inactive is harder for anyone to misuse to open credit or file bogus returns in the company's name.

Remember that the state side is separate. Dissolving with the Secretary of State does not notify the IRS, and closing the IRS account does not dissolve the entity. State tax accounts (sales tax permit, withholding, unemployment insurance) close with the state agencies that issued them, each on its own form.

Where this fits in the close-out order

Dissolve with the state first, then finish the final returns, then mail the EIN letter. If you skip ahead and send the letter before the returns are in, the IRS simply can't act on it.

DissolveYourBusiness.com handles the first step, the state dissolution filing, for a flat $75 plus the state fee, submitted within 3-5 business days. We don't cancel EINs, close IRS accounts, or file tax returns; those later steps are yours or your accountant's, and this guide is the map.