How to get Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)

An Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) is a United States tax processing number issued by the Internal Revenue Service. It is a nine-digit number. The IRS issues ITINs to individuals who are required to have a taxpayer identification number but who do not have, and are not eligible to obtain, a US Social Security Number (like me since I am an Indian resident).  I am not going into more details since the objective of this post is get an ITIN assigned. I did not find anything substantial while searching in the Internet (Yes! I used both Bing and Google) so thought of writing this to save many hours that I spent in my process.

 Step: 1 – Completing the Application Form W-7

You need to file the Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Numberor the Form W-7. You can download the form here. You may need to fill in several relevant sections; the pdf guide available is just perfect! Follow that carefully and you should be good to complete the form W-7.

Step: 2 – Supporting Documents

This is the actual tricky part of the process.  Passport is the only stand-alone document that you can provide along with your application. Else, there are combination of documents (or additional W-* forms) that need to be submitted along with W-7. Of course, you cannot send your original passport from India to US. The instruction guide says:

“Proving your foreign status or identity - If you submit an original valid passport (or a certified copy from the issuing agency), you do not need to submit any other documents to prove your foreign status or identity.”

To get the certified copy, you have to find your nearest office of the Consulate General of the United States. For me, I visited the Kolkata consulate, so all the links in this document point to the Kolkata consulate site. You have to take an appointment for your visit to the consular general with your original passport. The purpose of the visit is to obtain a certified true copy. Note, that there is a fee of 50 USD to get the certified copy and it is mentioned here.

 Schedule the appointment; be there with your original passport, pay the fees and you’re done, the entire process does not take more than 15 minutes. The consulate office will provide you a hallmarked copy of your passport which is the only acceptable document with Form W-7.

Step:  3 – Sending the Application

Consolidate the documents (completed W-7 and certified copy of passport) and mail them to:

Internal Revenue Service
ITIN Operation
Mail Stop 6090-AUSC
3651 S. Interregional, Hwy 35
Austin, TX 78741-0000

Normally, IRS takes 6-8 weeks to process your ITIN after which, hopefully, you should have an ITIN.