A max coverage TIN Matching API for business verification
Middesk’s TIN matching API lets you instantly verify that a business’ TIN and name match IRS records
Uplift in auto-
approvals
Coverage in the
United States
Businesses updated
<10 days
State business
registries
What is an IRS TIN matching API?
An IRS TIN matching API is an integration that’s built into business verification software allowing the software to automatically find and verify a submitted business name and business TIN (tax ID number), checking it matches IRS database records. This helps validate the legitimacy of the business.
All businesses need a business TIN from the IRS to legally operate in the U.S. Whether a business has a valid TIN is a critical aspect of business verification, because it can help you determine the legitimacy of a business very quickly, and early in the onboarding process. A TIN matching API helps you do this quickly and at scale when you onboard many businesses in shorter periods of time.
How the TIN verification API works
Step 1
After obtaining your API key, create a Business using the “TIN” order type to have Middesk verify the TIN and business name.
Step 2
We return results if the TIN and name match was verified with the IRS.
Step 3
You can order additional searches for other business verification information, and you can stay on top of your customer base with automated updates of changes in status like a bankruptcy filing or a new business lien.
Information you can get using our TIN matching API
Needing to verify a business’ TIN and name means you likely need to verify other business information to start a relationship with a new customer.
Middesk Compliance Data Sources
Data You Can Access
What Do You Need to Know?
EIN / TIN (Business Tax ID)
Is the business legally registered, and in good standing with the IRS? Did they provide you with an accurate and correct business TIN?
Without a valid and unique business TIN, an entity can’t legally conduct business in the U.S., so verifying the business TIN should be the very first step of your business verification procedures.
Ongoing monitoring
How will I know if there’s a change to the status of this business, like a line filed against them or if they file for bankruptcy? Can I automate this process using an API, or am I still doing this manually and inconsistently?
Business verification information
Is this business allowed to conduct business in the state I’m looking at? Is the formation information they gave me matching what’s in the IRS or Secretary of State (SoS) databases?
Business documentation
Can I access the Articles or Incorporation or other business formation documents I need? Is this business in good standing with the IRS?
People associated with the business
Do I know who owns this business, and can I verify information about those who are involved with the business?
Industry classification
What industry is this business operating in? Do I have a way to check their NAICS, SIC, or MCC codes?
Liens, litigations, & bankruptcy
Is this business going to cause me significant risk? Are they involved in any litigations? Do they have liens filed against them? Can I search bankruptcy data to see if they have filed?
Watchlist screening
Is anyone associated with this business on a watchlist, on the OFAC list, or on a U.S. sanctions list?
Web presence analysis
Do I have a way to assess the quality of this business through their online footprint and web presence, or am I still doing this manually and inefficiently?
Applications for a TIN verification API
When you need to conduct business verification processes repeatedly, you need a tool that can help you do it at scale. That’s where the Middesk TIN API comes in.
Fintechs
An automated TIN check API can verify tax ID and business names match the records of the IRS, which keeps customer onboarding friction low.
Insurance
Before underwriting a new customer, you need to check if their business operates legitimately. A TIN API retrieves business information quickly so you can speed up your underwriting risk assessment.
Commercial banking
Businesses are required to have a business TIN (EIN) to open commercial financial accounts (different from their personal TIN). Looking up TINs with an API can tell you instantly if the person representing the business is legally qualified to open a commercial bank account.
Lenders
An IRS TIN matching API can ensure the business is properly registered, which is one of your biggest risk factors to assess before lending out capital to the business, and the API helps you check these at scale when you’re onboarding many businesses in short periods of time.
Marketplace
Use the TIN verification API to determine if the business applying to be in your marketplace is legally registered to operate within the U.S., and ensure your marketplace remains fully compliant without the presence of bad actors likely to commit fraud.
Payments Service Providers (PSPs)
Ensure your merchants are all legitimate with a TIN matching API that can instantly verify the merchant has a legally-registered TIN, making sure your platform remains compliant, and preserving trust for your customers.
Business identity verification made easy with Middesk’s TIN check API
Know you’re onboarding a legitimate business
A unique TIN that is legally registered with the IRS verifies that the business you’re onboarding is legit.
Automate bulk TIN lookups
When you verify multiple businesses or are scaling up your operations, you can’t validate TINs manually. You need a tool that can run bulk TIN match checks, as many times as you need.
Streamline business verification & risk assessment
The TIN matching API retrieves the business verification information you need instantly, saving critical time and internal resources. With access to other business information with the same search, the API can pull up including registration data, formation documents, and more.
Reliable, authoritative data
Our business verification data—including TINs—comes directly from the IRS and Secretary of State (SoS) offices, so you can make decisions faster, relying on trustworthy data.
Start verifying with our TIN match API today
What makes Middesk’s IRS TIN matching API different?
Complete data
With data on 100% of all registered businesses in the U.S., and access to 52 state business registries, we offer complete coverage for business identity verification.
Data freshness & variety
92% of our business data records were updated within the past 10 days, and we provide access to both authoritative data (like the IRS) and alternative data (like adverse media screening).
Continuous monitoring
We will notify you automatically if there are changes to your customers’ business identity information, so you can still act quickly and assess risk after onboarding.
Dedicated manual support
If we can’t match the business TIN in our database, someone from our team will manually review your request within 5 minutes.
How Bill introduced significant automation and efficiency to onboarding workflows
“With Middesk, we’ve introduced significant automation and efficiency into our onboarding flows. We can now compliantly auto-approve over 50% of new applicants, eliminate the risk of onboarding bad actors, and convert good customers faster using their technology."
How Checkr acquired a new customer segment by automating regulatory compliance with Middesk
"Middesk has taken the brunt of the compliance workload off of our customer support team so they can continue helping our customers with timely resolutions to any issue they encounter with their background checks."
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 IRS TIN matching APIs
A business tax identification number (TIN) is issued to all new businesses by the IRS. Having a legitimate TIN that is registered with the IRS helps prove the business is registered to file taxes with the IRS, can hire employees, can open commercial bank accounts, and so on.
Most businesses can’t legally operate in the U.S. without a business TIN, so checking that theirs is valid is a quick step to complete at the beginning of any business identity verification process.
Middesk checks business TINs against the IRS database, where they are issued from.
TINs are 9-digit numbers with a limited number of valid prefixes (like the first two numbers). An API can check for this specific number formatting, then check whether the TIN matches with the given business name.
If there is no exact match found, the TIN matching API performs additional lookups to determine if the TIN is registered to a business with a different — but similar — name.
A TIN matching API would save you a lot of time compared to manual lookups. It also reduced manual error issues or problems when your initial search does not return any records because of name variation issues. A TIN match API knows how to deal with acronyms, abbreviations, and contractors, and can solve those problems quickly.
A TIN API eliminates the manual work and internal resources spent on these lookups — all time that is better spent on Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) and actual onboarding risk assessment.
Setup couldn’t be easier, and can be done within only a few hours. Simply: (1) set up an account with us at Middesk, (2) receive your account’s API key, (3) submit an API request to create a “Business” object, (3) create an “Order” object to search for and verify the business TIN. That’s all there is to it.
Get TIN matching API access to verify accurate business identity data in seconds
Get started building with our easy-to-integrate API today.
