An instant EIN lookup API for KYB with max coverage
Middesk’s EIN lookup API lets you verify tax ID numbers for millions of businesses, all instantaneously from the IRS or Secretary of State offices.
Business Profiles
Added in Q3
Update frequency
Business registries
What is an EIN API?
An EIN API is an integration for AML compliance software. It allows the software to automatically find and verify the Employment Identification Numbers of businesses you provide identifying details about. All US businesses need an EIN from the IRS in order to legally operate.
Whether or not a business has a valid and unique EIN is a critical signal you can use to determine the legitimacy and risk profile of a business you wish to start (or maintain) a relationship with.
How the EIN Lookup API works
Step 1
After obtaining your API key, create a Business object to store information about the business you want to verify.
Step 2
Create an Order object to have Middesk search for the EIN of the business profile you’ve created. You can also order searches for other information you need on the business, as well.
Step 3
Review the EIN of the business you want to confirm, as well as any other business information you want to verify.
Step 4
Stay on top of changes related to your customer base with automated updates of changes in status, such as a bankruptcy filing or a new business lien.
Information you can get using our EIN verification API
Needing to verify a business EIN likely means you need to verify other business information to start a relationship with a new customer.
Middesk Business Verification Data Sources
Data You Can Access
What Do You Need to Know?
EIN / Business Tax ID
Is the business registered to file taxes with the IRS, and is it using the correct tax ID number that was assigned to it?
Without a valid and unique EIN number, a business entity can’t operate legally in the US. So verifying this number should be the first step of any business verification process.
Business name, address, & phone number
Is this business legally allowed to conduct business in the state I’m trying to do business in, and were they upfront about their legal formation information?
Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO)
Did the business I want to form a relationship with provide me with correct information about their owner(s)?
Business license
Is this business operating legally and in good standing locally, within their state, and federally?
Business industry classification (NAICS, SIC)
What kinds of services and industries is this business involved with?
Business documents
Can I access Articles of Incorporation and other important documents to ensure this business is legitimate and real?
Liens & litigations
Is this business currently involved in any litigations? Do they have any liens filed against them? Are there risks like this I need to know about?
Bankruptcy data
Can I search bankruptcy databases to ensure there are no financial risks to me by forming a relationship with this business?
Watchlist hits & PEP screening
Are any people associated with this business on a US sanctions list or other watchlist? Does this restrict or prohibit associating with the business?
Applications for an EIN lookup API
When conducting repeated business verification processes, there are any number of reasons you might need to use the Middesk EIN API.
Fintechs
Fintechs need to be agile to stay competitive, but agility shouldn’t come at the cost of risk management. An automated EIN verification API can verify tax IDs for businesses you onboard, while keeping onboarding friction to a minimum for them.
Insuring new customers
Before underwriting a new business customer, you need to know whether it’s a legitimately-operating business. The EIN API allows for retrieving a business’s tax registration information (if it exists) quickly to speed up the determination.
Commercial bank account onboarding
A business needs an EIN to open financial accounts that are separate from the owners’ personal ones. Looking up an EIN with the API will quickly tell you if someone is actually representing a business that legitimately qualifies for a commercial bank account.
Lenders
Be confident you’re lending capital to a business that actually qualifies for it. Use the EIN lookup API to ensure a business is properly registered with the IRS, quickly crossing off one potential risk factor for lending to that business.
Marketplace
Use the EIN API to check if businesses applying to be part of your marketplace are legally registered to operate in the US. Build a compliant commerce hub that lets in legitimate businesses and keeps out fake ones – winning the trust of users, regulators, and new applicants.
Payments platforms
Using the EIN search tool, paUsing the EIN API, you can assure payments providers and Payment Service Processors (PSP) that you’ve verified the legitimacy of your merchant customers before onboarding. This preserves the trust present within your payments platform for all customers.
Accelerated customer onboarding made easy with EIN API
Know you’re onboarding a legitimate business
A valid and unique EIN confirms that a business you’re onboarding is registered legally with the IRS.
Automate bulk EIN lookups
Run bulk searches of EINs and other business information with our API, as many times as you need. Handle regular business verification with ease.
Streamline business verification processes
The EIN API retrieves the relevant information instantly, saving you the time and other resources that would be spent verifying EIN numbers manually. Speed up onboarding even further by pulling up other business information with the same search, including basic registration data, business formation documents, and UBO details.
Use information verified by official sources
Get EINs and other critical business verification information directly from the IRS and Secretary of State offices. Make faster decisions backed by trustworthy data.
Get started building with our easy-to-integrate APIs today
What makes Middesk’s EIN lookup API different?
Complete data
Our direct connections with the IRS and Secretary of State offices allow us to cover all registered businesses in the United States.
Data freshness
We prioritize data freshness, with 92% of our business records updated within as little as 2 hours.
Automatic notifications
We automatically notify you of changes to information regarding your customers, so you can also make fast decisions after onboarding.
Manual reviews
If we can’t match the EIN of the business you’re looking for to our database, someone from our team will manually review your request within 5 minutes.
How Radius Bank finds more hours in the day with Middesk
“Every minute we’re able to save in processing loans is a minute faster than a small business will have access to the capital they need. With Middesk, what ordinarily would have taken us hours to do is now taking us minutes. We take pride in partnering with technology companies that help us serve our customers better.”
How Novo redefines its KYB process with Middesk’s verification product
“Middesk's market-leading methods challenge the established legacy approach to verification. Their product has unlocked significant efficiency, enhancing the onboarding experience for small businesses to access Novo. Middesk’s ground-up approach to product development played an integral part in increasing confidence in KYB, both internally and with partners.”
Driving team efficiency and performance with Clearco
“Middesk's Lien Search product has allowed my team to focus on value-add activities like making deals rather than tedious tasks like sifting through UCC portals. My team is faster and happier with getting business owners the capital they need to grow their businesses.”
Leveling up Plaid’s onboarding process with seamless KYB
“When a customer signs up for Plaid, they want to start building on our APIs right away. Middesk has been a critical partner enabling us to quickly and seamlessly onboard new customers.”
Frequently Asked Questions about EIN lookup APIs
An EIN is a type of tax identification number (TIN) issued by the IRS. By having one, a business proves it’s properly registered to file taxes with the IRS, hire employees, open commercial bank accounts, and exercise owner liability protection. In short, most businesses can’t legally operate in the US without an EIN.
Middesk checks EINs against both Secretary of State offices (i.e. where businesses are registered) and the IRS (i.e. where EINs are issued from).
All EINs are 9-digit numbers and have a limited number of valid prefixes (i.e. first two numbers). The API will check for this formatting, then check whether the number matches with the given business name. If there is no exact match, the API will perform several subsequent lookups to determine if the EIN is registered to a business with a different (but potentially similar) name.
Potentially quite a bit! Consider that you may have to do multiple searches manually at the IRS, a Secretary of State office, or the SEC if you can’t get an exact EIN match on a business due to varying name formats (e.g. company titles, acronyms, abbreviations, or contractions). You can also try ordering a business credit report or asking the company directly to get an EIN, but this can take even longer. The EIN API eliminates all of this hassle by creating an automated queue of instantaneous searches at both the IRS and SOS offices.
All you need is an account with us here at Middesk, and the account’s corresponding API key. From there, you can submit an API request to create a “Business” object, which will store information verified about a particular business. With this request, you can also create an “Order” object to search for and verify the business’s EIN, based on information about the business you’ve already provided. All of this doesn’t take much more than a few minutes!
Get EIN lookup API access to get accurate business verification data in seconds
Get started building with our easy-to-integrate API today.
