What is an ITIN?
An Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) is a number issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the purposes of tax identification and tax processing. It takes the place of the Social Security Number (SSN) for people who need a U.S. taxpayer identification number but are ineligible to receive an SSN from the Social Security Administration.
An ITIN number consists of 9 digits. It begins with the number “9” and is formatted like an SSN (NNN-NN-NNNN). According to the Internal Revenue Code, U.S. residents and non-citizens alike must have an ITIN number in order to file their tax returns.
Read more: Guide to Understanding the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)