Call the IRS for Business From Abroad: Every Number, Sorted by Form

Two phone numbers cover almost every reason a business calls the IRS from outside the US. To apply for an EIN when your principal place of business is outside the US, dial +1 (267) 941-1099, Monday through Friday, 6 AM to 11 PM Eastern. For every other business tax question (Form 941 payroll, Form 1120 corporate, Form 5471, entity elections, practitioner authorization), the IRS publishes 1-800-829-4933, Monday through Friday, 7 AM to 7 PM local time. That second number is US-toll-free, and US toll-free numbers either fail or bill at premium international rates from foreign carriers.

This guide sorts every IRS business line by form number, explains why the toll-free numbers give foreign callers trouble, calibrates the wait times, and shows how to reach the toll-free lines from any country at four cents a minute.

The Two IRS Business Lines That Actually Connect From Abroad

The IRS publishes one direct-dial international phone line for business callers: +1 (267) 941-1099. It exists for one job, EIN-by-phone applications from applicants whose principal place of business sits outside the US. The agent walks through Form SS-4 line by line on the call and issues the EIN before you hang up. It is the EIN line, so calling it with a Form 941 question or a refund question sends you to the wrong desk.

• International EIN-by-Phone (Form SS-4, principal business outside the US). Number: +1 (267) 941-1099. Hours: Mon-Fri 6 AM - 11 PM Eastern.
• Business & Specialty Tax Line (US-toll-free; route it through WorldDialer from abroad). Number: 1-800-829-4933. Hours: Mon-Fri 7 AM - 7 PM taxpayer local time.

Both sets of hours come from the IRS itself: the EIN window is published on the IRS Employer Identification Number page, the business-line window on the IRS telephone assistance page.

This article covers business tax: EIN issuance for foreign-formed entities, payroll tax (Forms 941 and 940), corporate and S-corp returns (1120, 1120-S), entity elections (8832, 2553), Form 5471 questions for US shareholders of foreign corporations, excise tax (Form 720), estate and gift account questions (706, 709), tax-exempt organizations (Form 990), and practitioner authorization. Individual income tax filing from abroad runs through a different line and a different desk, covered in the guide for individual taxpayers. Foreign Bank Account Reports have their own two-agency mess, covered in the FBAR phone number guide.

Why 1-800-829-4933 Fails From Abroad (and How to Make It Work Anyway)

The IRS-published business line, 1-800-829-4933, is US-toll-free, and US toll-free numbers do not connect reliably from outside the US. The architecture is the problem, not the agency.

US toll-free numbers (1-800, 1-888, 1-877, 1-866, 1-855, 1-844, 1-833) are funded by the called party paying a per-minute origination fee inside the US tariff. International origination sits outside that tariff. Most foreign carriers refuse to route the call. Some route it and bill you a premium international rate. Italian carriers reliably block them; some UK and EU carriers connect at a premium; Australian carriers commonly block outright.

WorldDialer dials US numbers from a browser at $0.04 a minute, which is how you reach 1-800-829-4933 from a country whose carrier will not route it. Same number, same agents, same hours, same authentication questions. If you want the longer version of why US toll-free breaks at the border, see calling 1-800 numbers from overseas.

Which IRS Number for Which Form (EIN, 941, 1120, 5471, 8832, 720, 706, PPS)

Most IRS business questions route through one of three numbers: +1 (267) 941-1099 for EIN applications from outside the US, 1-800-829-4933 for general business tax topics, and +1 (866) 860-4259 for tax practitioners with a CAF number or PTIN. The rest of the map is a handful of specialty lines for excise, estate, and tax-exempt work.

• **EIN application (principal business outside the US, Form SS-4)**. Dial: +1 (267) 941-1099. Hours / Notes: Mon-Fri 6 AM - 11 PM ET. Complete SS-4 fully before calling. Agent walks it line by line and issues the EIN at the end of the call.
• **EIN replacement or EIN status check (existing US entity)**. Dial: 1-800-829-4933. Hours / Notes: Mon-Fri 7 AM - 7 PM local. Route via WorldDialer from abroad.
• Form 941 / 940 (payroll tax). Dial: 1-800-829-4933. Hours / Notes: Same.
• Form 1120 / 1120-S (corporate / S-corp return status). Dial: 1-800-829-4933. Hours / Notes: Same.
• Form 5471 (US shareholder of a foreign corporation). Dial: 1-800-829-4933. Hours / Notes: Same. Complex cases escalate to an international examiner callback.
• Form 8832 (entity classification election). Dial: 1-800-829-4933. Hours / Notes: Same.
• Form 2553 (S-corp election). Dial: 1-800-829-4933. Hours / Notes: Same.
• Form 720 (excise tax: fuel, telecom, indoor tanning). Dial: +1 (866) 699-4096. Hours / Notes: Mon-Fri 8 AM - 6 PM ET. Toll-free; route via WorldDialer.
• Form 706 / 709 (estate / gift: account questions, not legal advice). Dial: +1 (866) 699-4083. Hours / Notes: Mon-Fri 10 AM - 2 PM ET only, a four-hour daily window.
• Form 990 (tax-exempt organizations). Dial: +1 (877) 829-5500. Hours / Notes: Mon-Fri 8 AM - 5 PM local.
• **Practitioner authorization (Form 2848 / 8821, CPA or EA with a CAF number or PTIN)**. Dial: +1 (866) 860-4259. Hours / Notes: Mon-Fri 7 AM - 7 PM local. Practitioner Priority Service, toll-free.
• Backup withholding / Form 1099 series. Dial: 1-800-829-4933. Hours / Notes: Mon-Fri 7 AM - 7 PM local.

Every number and every hours window in that table is published by the IRS on irs.gov, on the telephone assistance page and the Practitioner Priority Service page. The pattern: most business tax topics route through 1-800-829-4933. The exceptions are the international EIN line (267-941-1099), excise (866-699-4096), estate and gift (866-699-4083, with that four-hour window), exempt organizations (877-829-5500), and practitioner authorization (866-860-4259). Every line except 267-941-1099 is US-toll-free, which means every line except one needs a routing workaround from abroad.

Hours, Hold Times, and the Best Window to Call

Call +1 (267) 941-1099 direct, or route 1-800-829-4933 through WorldDialer, between 7 and 9 AM Eastern. Mornings clear faster than afternoons on the IRS phone system by a wide margin, and the first two hours after open are the cleanest stretch of the day.

The Taxpayer Advocate Service's review of the 2024 filing season put level of service on the IRS Accounts Management lines at 87.6%, with an average wait of about three minutes on the main helpline. The same review notes that the IRS excludes calls that drop before reaching a queue, and that only 32.1% of calls were answered by an employee. Read both halves: the phones are far better than the 2022 collapse, and a bad call can still eat your morning.

EIN-by-phone is procedurally heavier than a general business call. The agent reads through every line of Form SS-4 with you: responsible-party name, foreign address, reason for applying, principal activity, NAICS code, accounting year. Plan on 20 to 40 minutes once you reach an agent, on top of the hold.

Best window: 7-9 AM ET, right after open. Best days: Wednesday and Thursday. Worst day: Monday, and the Tuesday after a federal holiday, when a three-day backlog lands at once. Worst months for business lines: January and February, when Q4 Form 941 and the Form 1099 series are both due January 31, then March and April for Form 1120 and S-corp filers.

Business-line hours are quoted in taxpayer local time, and a call routed through US infrastructure lands as Eastern, so plan every window in ET. Here is when to dial to hit the 7-9 AM Eastern opening, and how much later the EIN line stays reachable:

• UK and Ireland. Local Time for the 7-9 AM ET Window: 12 PM - 2 PM. EIN Line Open Until (Local): 4 AM next day.
• Western Europe (Paris, Berlin, Madrid). Local Time for the 7-9 AM ET Window: 1 PM - 3 PM. EIN Line Open Until (Local): 5 AM next day.
• Middle East (Dubai, Tel Aviv). Local Time for the 7-9 AM ET Window: 3 PM - 5 PM. EIN Line Open Until (Local): 7 AM next day.
• India. Local Time for the 7-9 AM ET Window: 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM. EIN Line Open Until (Local): 9:30 AM next day.
• Southeast Asia (Singapore, Manila). Local Time for the 7-9 AM ET Window: 8 PM - 10 PM. EIN Line Open Until (Local): 12 PM next day.
• East Asia (Tokyo, Hong Kong). Local Time for the 7-9 AM ET Window: 9 PM - 11 PM. EIN Line Open Until (Local): 1 PM next day.
• Australia (Sydney). Local Time for the 7-9 AM ET Window: 11 PM - 1 AM. EIN Line Open Until (Local): 3 PM next day.
• Mexico City. Local Time for the 7-9 AM ET Window: 6 AM - 8 AM. EIN Line Open Until (Local): 10 PM same day.

Two practical reads on that table. If you are in Asia or Australia, the 7 AM ET opening is the middle of your night, and the EIN line's 11 PM ET close is the middle of your working afternoon: call late in the ET day instead and accept a longer queue in exchange for calling at a civilized hour. And these conversions use US standard time; during US daylight saving, mid-March through early November, the local time shifts one hour earlier. Mexico abolished daylight saving in 2022, so Mexico City shifts with the US side of the clock, not its own.

What IRS Business Agents Can and Can't Do on the Phone

IRS business-line agents can issue EINs, read your business account, explain notices, answer entity-election status questions, set up payment plans within published parameters, and request transcripts mailed to the address of record. Tax-law advice, treaty interpretation, and audit-risk assessment sit outside what they are allowed to give you.

What an agent will do:

• Issue an EIN at the end of a call to 267-941-1099

• Read your business account: balance, payments applied, return-receipt status, deposit history

• Explain a specific notice or letter (CP-series for business, LT-series, matching notices)

• Confirm whether a Form 8832, 2553, or 706 was received and processed

• Set up an installment agreement for business tax debt within IRS-published parameters

• Request mailed transcripts to the address of record, 5-10 business days

What an agent won't do:

• Give legal advice on treaty positions, FDII, GILTI, subpart F, or Form 5471 reporting categories. That is work for a CPA, an enrolled agent, or an international tax attorney

• Tell you whether a streamlined filing or voluntary disclosure procedure fits your situation

• Predict how an audit will go

• Override a prior IRS examiner's decision

• Tell you which entity election is best for your tax situation. They will process the election you decide on; the decision belongs to you and your CPA

If your question requires research, the agent opens a service-request escalation and the case routes to a back-office team for callback or written response. On the harder international questions, the phone call is the trigger rather than the resolution.

Before You Call: Documents and the EIN-Application Prep

Have your EIN (if you already have one), the business legal name as filed, the business address on file with the IRS, the specific notice or letter number, and your most recent business return in front of you before you dial. Authentication eats the first several minutes of every call.

For EIN-by-phone (267-941-1099):

• Form SS-4 completed in full: responsible-party name (that person needs an SSN or ITIN, or must be applying for one), business address, reason for applying, principal activity, NAICS code, accounting year. The agent will not wait while you fill it in on the call

• A fax number ready for the EIN confirmation letter

• One EIN per responsible party per day is the IRS limit, by phone or any other channel

For any business call to 1-800-829-4933:

• EIN, business legal name as filed, address on file

• The notice or letter number, top-right of the notice

• A copy of the most recent filed return with all schedules

• Any prior IRS reference number from earlier calls

For practitioner calls (866-860-4259):

• CAF number or PTIN

• Form 2848 (Power of Attorney) already on file with the IRS, or ready to fax during the call

Pen and paper: write down the agent's ID number at the start of the call. If the line drops, that number is what gets you back to the same case file without re-authenticating from scratch.

Calling From Outside the US: The Mechanics and the Cost Math

From outside the US, dial +1 (267) 941-1099 direct for an EIN, or route 1-800-829-4933 through WorldDialer for any other business tax topic. Both land with the same agents US-domestic callers reach.

The 267 prefix is an ordinary Philadelphia area code. Every international carrier bills it the way it bills any US landline, so the EIN line is dialable from a foreign mobile, a hotel phone, or anything else that can place a call to the US. What that costs you depends entirely on your own carrier's international and roaming rates, which vary by country, plan, and whether you are roaming or dialing out on a local SIM. Check your plan's own rate sheet before a 40-minute EIN call. The toll-free 4933 line is the harder problem: direct international dial fails on many carriers regardless of what you are willing to pay.

WorldDialer's published rate to the United States is 4¢ a minute, listed on worlddialer.com/rates. At that rate a 30-minute EIN call costs $1.20 and a 45-minute hold costs $1.80, from any country with an internet connection. Credits start at $5 and never expire, so the cost of a call you make once a year is the call, not a plan you carry for eleven idle months.

If you are a US-based business calling from inside the US, none of this applies. Dial 800-829-4933 from your US line and you are done. WorldDialer earns its place on the international side of the problem: founders, CFOs, and CPAs working outside the US who need a line their local carrier will not route. It is one option among several for calling US government agencies from abroad.

Make the Call

You have the form-router, the hours, the prep list, and a realistic picture of the queue. Time to dial.

For an EIN, dial +1 (267) 941-1099 direct, Monday through Friday, 6 AM to 11 PM Eastern, with Form SS-4 completed in front of you. For everything else (Form 941, 1120, 5471, 8832, practitioner authorization), route 1-800-829-4933, Monday through Friday, 7 AM to 7 PM.

WorldDialer dials both from anywhere at $0.04 a minute. Browser-based, no app to install, no subscription required.

We'll be here when the line you need is the +1 line.

→ Try WorldDialer

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get an EIN by phone if my business is formed outside the US?

Dial +1 (267) 941-1099 between 6 AM and 11 PM Eastern, Monday through Friday. The IRS reserves this line for applicants whose principal place of business is outside the US. Complete Form SS-4 in full before the call, because the agent reads through every line with you and will not wait while you fill it in. You need the responsible party's SSN or ITIN, the business address, principal activity, NAICS code, and accounting year. The call typically runs 20 to 40 minutes and the EIN is issued at the end. Have a fax number ready for the confirmation letter.

Is +1 (267) 941-1099 a general IRS business line or a refund hotline?

Neither. It is the EIN-by-phone line for applicants whose principal place of business is outside the US, and that is the only job the IRS publishes it for. General business tax topics go to 1-800-829-4933, Monday through Friday, 7 AM to 7 PM local time. There is no separate international refund line at all. Refund questions from abroad go through the IRS international taxpayer service line covered in our guide for individual taxpayers, and the online refund tool at irs.gov/refunds answers most of them faster than a phone call will.

Can an IRS business agent give me advice on Form 5471 or a treaty position?

No. IRS business-line agents cannot give legal advice on treaty positions, FDII, GILTI, subpart F, or Form 5471 reporting categories. Those require a CPA, an enrolled agent, or an international tax attorney. The agent can read your business account, confirm a return was received, explain a specific notice, answer entity-election status questions, and process the election you decide on. Complex Form 5471 questions generate an escalation to an international examiner who calls you back. On those questions the phone call is the trigger rather than the resolution.

What is the best time to call the IRS business line from Europe or Asia?

Call at 7 AM Eastern, right after the line opens. That converts to noon in London, 1 PM in Paris and Berlin, 3 PM in Dubai, 5:30 PM in Mumbai, 8 PM in Singapore, and 9 PM in Tokyo. The EIN line at +1 (267) 941-1099 stays open until 11 PM Eastern, which gives Tokyo callers until 1 PM the following local afternoon if the early window is impossible. Wednesday and Thursday have the shortest queues. Avoid Monday and the Tuesday after a US federal holiday. January through April is peak for business lines because of the Form 941 quarterly deadline and Form 1120 due dates.

Does the IRS have a callback option for international callers?

The IRS does not offer scheduled callbacks for international callers. Complex cases generate a service-request escalation that routes to a back-office team, and that team responds by callback or written letter. The callback program on domestic toll-free lines generally needs a US callback number, which is a problem if all you have is a foreign mobile. Practitioners with a CAF number can use the Practitioner Priority Service at +1 (866) 860-4259, Monday through Friday, 7 AM to 7 PM local time, though the same callback-number constraint applies there.

Related reading

• Calling US Agencies and Companies from Abroad: full index
• Call Medicare from Abroad
• Call Medicare from Mexico
• Pay-Per-Use vs Subscription

• How to Call the US From Abroad

• Call Medicare from Abroad

• Pay-Per-Use vs Subscription