An ITIN is an individual taxpayer identification number. It is a 9-digit number the IRS issues if a person needs a U.S. taxpayer identification number for federal tax purposes but is not eligible for a Social Security number (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)).
The regulation defines it narrowly and then says what it is not. The term IRS individual taxpayer identification number means a taxpayer identifying number issued to an alien individual by the Internal Revenue Service, upon application, for use in connection with filing requirements under this title. The term does not refer to a social security number or an account number for use in employment for wages. For purposes of that section, the term alien individual means an individual who is not a citizen or national of the United States (26 CFR 301.6109-1(d)(3)(i)).
What an ITIN Is Not
The IRS puts this as a list of four things the number does not do, and each one closes off a use the number is regularly assumed to have.
An ITIN is issued by the IRS for federal tax purposes only. It does not qualify the holder for Social Security benefits or the Earned Income Tax Credit, does not provide or change immigration status, does not authorize the holder to work legally in the U.S., and does not serve as identification outside the federal tax system (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)).
It also sits in a class with two other numbers rather than standing alone. A business identifier is a different thing entirely, covered in employer identification number, and the number issued for a child in a pending adoption is covered in adoption taxpayer identification number.
Who Needs One
The trigger is a federal tax purpose plus ineligibility for an SSN. A person needs an ITIN if they have a federal tax purpose and are not eligible for an SSN (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)).
The IRS lists four things that create a federal tax purpose: being legally required to file a U.S. federal income tax return, wanting to claim a refund or allowable tax benefit or report income by filing a return, being claimable as a spouse or dependent for an allowable tax benefit, and having to provide a tax identification number for another federal tax purpose. Generally, a return that contains all zero entries will not show a federal tax purpose (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)).
Eligibility does not turn on immigration status. A resident alien, a nonresident alien, or their spouse or dependent can apply for an ITIN regardless of immigration status (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)). Which of the two alien statuses applies is settled by the residency tests, and those are set out in nonresident alien, substantial presence test and green card test.
The IRS also names who does not need one: a U.S. citizen, a nonresident alien with a U.S. work visa, since that person qualifies for an SSN, a permanent legal resident of the U.S. holding a green card, and anyone eligible for an SSN (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)).
Note the shape of that last item. Eligibility for an SSN, not possession of one, is what rules an ITIN out.
How the Number Is Obtained
The regulation states the duty and names the form. Any individual who is not eligible to obtain a social security number and is required to furnish a taxpayer identifying number must apply for an IRS individual taxpayer identification number on Form W-7, Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or such other form as may be prescribed by the Internal Revenue Service. The individual must furnish the information required by the form and accompanying instructions, including name, address, foreign tax identification number if any, and the specific reason for obtaining the number (26 CFR 301.6109-1(d)(3)(ii)).
The same paragraph carries a timing duty that is easy to read past, because it is stated as a standard rather than as a date. The individual must make the application far enough in advance of the first required use of the number to permit issuance of the number in time for compliance with that requirement (26 CFR 301.6109-1(d)(3)(ii)).
The statute then limits how an application may be submitted, and the route depends on where the applicant lives. The Secretary is authorized to issue an ITIN only if the applicant submits an application, using the required form and including the required documentation, in the case of an applicant not described in the subparagraph below, meaning one who does not reside outside the United States, either in person to an employee of the Internal Revenue Service or a community-based certifying acceptance agent approved by the Secretary, or by mail pursuant to rules prescribed by the Secretary. In the case of an applicant who resides outside of the United States, the application may go by mail or in person to an employee of the Internal Revenue Service, a community-based certifying acceptance agent approved by the Secretary, or a designee of the Secretary at a United States diplomatic mission or consular post (26 U.S.C. 6109(i)(1)).
Documentation is defined by purpose rather than by list, and defined only for that subsection. For purposes of the subsection, the term required documentation includes such documentation as the Secretary may require that proves the individual’s identity, foreign status, and residency, and the Secretary may accept only original documents or certified copies meeting the Secretary’s requirements (26 U.S.C. 6109(i)(2)). The regulation states the same duty against a shorter list of things to prove. An applicant for an IRS individual taxpayer identification number must submit such documentary evidence as the Internal Revenue Service may prescribe in order to establish alien status and identity, and examples of acceptable documentary evidence may include items such as an original, or a certified copy of the original, passport, driver’s license, birth certificate, identity card, or immigration documentation (26 CFR 301.6109-1(d)(3)(iii)).
The two provisions do not name the same things. The statute’s required documentation proves identity, foreign status and residency, and the regulation’s documentary evidence establishes alien status and identity.
The Timing Rules, and Where They Decide a Credit
The application is not a separate errand from the return. The IRS instruction is to apply on or before the tax return due date, to include the tax return in the ITIN application package, and not to file the return separately. An ITIN can be applied for at any time where the applicant is filing a prior year return or meets an exception to the filing requirement (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)).
For three credits the assignment date is the whole question. An ITIN must be assigned to the filer, the spouse if filing jointly, and the dependent by the due date of the tax return, including extensions, to be eligible to claim certain credits, and the three the IRS names as affected are the child tax credit, the credit for other dependents, and the American opportunity tax credit (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)).
The assignment date is defined, and a renewal is treated differently from a first application. The ITIN assignment date is generally the date the IRS receives the ITIN application package if no other action was needed to complete the application, and for an ITIN renewal the assignment date is the original date the ITIN was assigned before it expired (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)).
That second half matters more than it looks. A renewed number carries its original assignment date, so a lapse does not push the date forward and cost the credits that turn on it. The identification rules those credits run on are set out in child tax credit, credit for other dependents and american opportunity tax credit.
Two things do not wait for the number at all. An ITIN is not needed to apply for an extension of time to file: the IRS says to request the extension by the April tax filing due date, which gives until October 15 to file without penalties, to complete and mail Form 4868, to write “ITIN TO BE REQUESTED” in the form sections for SSN or ITIN, and not to include a Form W-7 with the Form 4868. The extension is only for filing the return, and any tax owed is still payable by the April filing date (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)).
Estimated payments run the same way. An ITIN is not needed to make estimated tax payments, and the IRS instruction is to pay by check or money order with an estimated tax payment voucher, Form 1040-ES or Form 1040-ES (NR), writing “ITIN TO BE REQUESTED” in the voucher sections for SSN or ITIN, and not to include a Form W-7 with the Form 1040-ES (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)).
Processing time is stated as a range with two conditions on it. The IRS asks filers to allow 7 weeks for notification about an application’s status, and says it can take 9 to 11 weeks if it is tax season, meaning January 15 to April 30, or if the application was made from overseas. Where original supporting documents were mailed and have not come back within 60 days, the IRS asks to be contacted (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)).
Those weeks are why the number belongs on a firm’s January checklist rather than its April one.
An ITIN Expires by Non-Use
An ITIN is not permanent, and what ends it is silence rather than any decision.
An individual taxpayer identification number issued after December 31, 2012 remains in effect unless the individual to whom the number is issued does not file a return of tax, or is not included as a dependent on the return of tax of another taxpayer, for 3 consecutive taxable years ending after the issuance of the number. Where that happens, the number expires on the day after the due date for the return of tax for that third consecutive taxable year (26 U.S.C. 6109(i)(3)(A)).
Both halves of the non-use test have to fail before the clock runs. Being included as a dependent on someone else’s return counts as use, so a number can stay alive for years without its holder ever filing.
Older numbers ran on a different rule. An ITIN issued before January 1, 2013 remained in effect until the earlier of the applicable date, or, if the individual did not file a return of tax, or was not included as a dependent on the return of tax of another taxpayer, for 3 consecutive taxable years at least one of which ends after December 18, 2015, the due date for the return of tax for that third consecutive taxable year (26 U.S.C. 6109(i)(3)(B)). The applicable date was January 1, 2017 for a number issued before January 1, 2008, January 1, 2018 for one issued in 2008, January 1, 2019 for one issued in 2009 or 2010, and January 1, 2020 for one issued in 2011 or 2012 (26 U.S.C. 6109(i)(3)(C)).
Every date in that schedule has passed, so every legacy number has already met its applicable date and any still in use has been renewed. The rule is worth knowing anyway, because it is what a client means when they say their number expired and they never stopped filing.
Common Questions
Eligibility, and what the number can be used for. An ITIN is a taxpayer identifying number issued to an alien individual for use in connection with filing requirements, and the term does not refer to a social security number or an account number for use in employment for wages (26 CFR 301.6109-1(d)(3)(i)). An ITIN is issued for federal tax purposes only and does not authorize the holder to work legally in the U.S., does not provide or change immigration status, and does not qualify the holder for Social Security benefits or the Earned Income Tax Credit (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)).
Immigration status is not part of the eligibility test. A resident alien, a nonresident alien, or their spouse or dependent can apply for an ITIN regardless of immigration status (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)). What the number does not do is separate: it does not provide or change immigration status and does not authorize work (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)).
Yes, through non-use. A number issued after December 31, 2012 stays in effect unless its holder neither files a return nor is included as a dependent on another taxpayer’s return for 3 consecutive taxable years ending after issuance, and it then expires on the day after the due date for the return for that third year (26 U.S.C. 6109(i)(3)(A)).
No. For an ITIN renewal, the assignment date is the original date the ITIN was assigned before it expired (IRS, Individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN)). That is the opposite of a new application, where the assignment date is generally the date the IRS receives the application package if nothing further was needed.
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