My startup’s name includes a symbol that is not accepted in the IRS’s online EIN application. What should I do?
The IRS’s online EIN application won’t accept certain kinds of characters in a business name. The only characters their online system accepts are:
- alpha (A-Z)
- numeric (0-9)
- hyphen (-)
- ampersand (&)
If your startup’s name contains a symbol or any other type of character, refer to the following chart that the IRS has provided as guidance:
| If your legal name contains: | Then: |
|---|---|
| A symbol or character, such as a “plus” symbol (+), “at” symbol (@), or a period (.) | 1) Spell out the symbol or 2) drop the symbol and leave a space. Example: If the legal name of your business is Jones.com, then input it as Jones Dot Com or Jones Com |
| Backward () or forward (/) slash | Substitute a hyphen (-) |
| Apostrophe (') | Drop the apostrophe and do not leave a space. |