As an individual, when you declare bankruptcy, a bank account will be opened for your bankruptcy estate. This bank account will be used to manage your assets, liquidate necessary assets, pay off your debts, and dissolve your debts. Your bankruptcy trustee will be in charge of this bank account and will manage your assets for you. Once your debts have been paid off sufficiently, the bank account will be dissolved.

The bankruptcy estate account will be separate from you, with its own EIN (also known as a federal tax ID number). You will not need to open this account, the trustee will open the account. However, you may find yourself needing to open bank accounts after the bankruptcy, which could be a challenge. Your bankruptcy trustee will handle the process of managing your assets and paying off your debts, but you will need to be open and honest about the assets and debts you have, as well as handing over any bank accounts you have.

A block/tenant association will usually need an EIN, though it’s not strictly a requirement. An EIN is something that is optional that a block/tenant association can acquire after formation, but without an EIN it would be impossible for the association to: create business bank accounts, hire employees, get permits and licenses, acquire lines of credit and loans, and more. Thus, though a tax ID is optional, it’s very difficult to operate without one.

Luckily for a block/tenant association, the process of getting an EIN is simple. An EIN can be acquired via a short form, which can be set in online, through mail, through fax, or discussed over phone. When the form is sent online, an EIN can be acquired within an hour. Usually, the association should request an EIN at the same time they create their legal formation documents and file it with the state.

It’s possible that a block association be informally organized, and that it never raise funds, require a bank account, or require hiring. If that’s true, the block association may not need an EIN.

A memorial or scholarship fund is a separate investment entity that holds its assets to disburse to those who are awarded scholarships. Many people will make a memorial or scholarship fund in memory of someone close to them who has passed. This scholarship fund might give small amounts out to many recipients, large amounts out to a small number of recipients, or anywhere in between. Often, a memorial or scholarship fund is setup with a specific school. The school itself may have a third-party that manages these funds.

Because the fund is a separate investment entity, it requires its own EIN. The fund itself will be responsible for its own income and taxes. Scholarships and memorial funds are generally not taxable to the recipient, so they don’t need to concern themselves with their own taxes after distribution. The person who sets up the memorial or scholarship fund will no longer be in charge of it, and will consequently also not be taxed regarding its income.

Also known as a conservatorship, a guardianship occurs when an individual is no longer able to make sound financial and legal decisions on their own behalf. When a guardianship occurs, the guardian themselves do not take hold of the assets, they merely control the assets. The assets still fall under the individual’s own SSN/ITIN, so no additional tax ID or EIN is needed. The guardian will not use their own.

However, there is a reason why a guardianship could need a tax ID/EIN. That’s if the individual who is under guardianship has a trust account. If a trust account is opened for the individual, and if that trust account is irrevocable, then there may need to be an additional tax ID/EIN to hold those assets for the individual.

Otherwise, the bank accounts will be under the individual’s SSN/ITIN with the conservator/guardian as a co-signer on the account, and the guardian will be able to control financial accounts through agreement with the financial institutions rather than taking them under their own SSN. It’s important that the guardian not take direct ownership of the funds as they can be called into question or they can be liable for taxes.

Most community sports teams will eventually need a tax ID. An informal sports team that simply meets and plays games will not. But a sports team that collects membership dues and fund raises, and hires employees (such as coaches), is going to have to have a tax ID. A tax ID is also known as an employer identification number (EIN) and it’s necessary to: pay taxes, file a tax return, open a business bank account, hire individuals, and pay payroll taxes.

Sports teams can get an EIN when they are officially created, and they should do so immediately. An EIN only takes an hour to get online, and it will make the process of getting bank accounts, permits, and licenses possible. A sports team may start out as casual but is going to need to structure itself and acquire an EIN if it starts bringing in money or paying out money. A community-owned sports team isn’t just good for community and social organization, but it’s also usually a non-profit organization that can gain tax-exempt status.

Joint ventures are an interesting type of partnership under which two or more entities agree to pool their resources in order to accomplish an intended goal. The entities involved remain legally distinct and are able to maintain their own tax returns under their own social security numbers or ITINs, but they are known to be working together, and have made agreements to that effect.

A joint venture will not need a tax ID or EIN, because it is treated as separate entities operating together for a common goal. Joint ventures will not need to file a single tax return; instead, each individual or business within the joint venture will file their own tax return separately. This makes it different from a traditional entity such as an LLC or an LLP.

If joint ventures need to hire employees, it will be one of the entities involved that hires the employee, rather than the joint venture itself. Consequently, the separate entities within the partnership could need to get their own EIN, as they wouldn’t be able to use an SSN or ITIN for this. Joint ventures are often used for things like research and development, under which it can be advantageous for parties to work together for a mutual benefit.

PTAs and PTOs are both parent-teacher organizations. A “PTA” is a Parent Teacher Association that operates specifically under the national PTA. They pay dues to the national PTA and operate under the PTA’s guidelines. A “PTO” is a Parent Teacher Organization that is not affiliated with the national PTA. Either way, both PTAs and PTOs will need to have a tax ID.

PTAs and PTOs are tax-exempt, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t need to file a tax return. It just means they don’t need to pay taxes. PTAs and PTOs may also need to hire and pay employees and open business bank accounts, both of which require a Tax ID, also known as an employer identification number (EIN). It isn’t difficult to get an EIN. One can be acquired online within an hour.

Any PTA or PTO should be registered as its own entity, usually a non-profit organization. From there, it can acquire an EIN, and start operating with guidance from its board.

REMIC stands for Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit. It’s a special type of investment that is backed by real estate, and consequently tends to be less volatile than other forms of investment (though there have still been crashes). A REMIC consists of mortgage securities that have been repackaged, so that investors are able to invest in the real estate market without strictly having to own real property. REMICs provide additional liquidity to the mortgage market, which in turn makes it easier for banks to leverage themselves and continue to lend even if they don’t have the actual cash at hand. Investors are subject to more volatility than the actual real estate market, but can still benefit from the stability of the real estate market.

A REMIC is required to have its own EIN. It is a separate investment vehicle that takes funds from a number of investors. Like any business or individual, a REMIC can apply for an EIN online, through the mail, or through fax. A short application form will validate the REMIC’s information, and someone will need to be responsible for corresponding with the IRS regarding the company’s status. The REMIC will need its own EIN for the purposes of tax reporting.

A political organization generally refers to a group that is intended to support an individual candidate in their run for office. These organizations are non-profit groups that need to be filed with the IRS, and will consequently still need a tax ID. Political organizations may have to hire staffers, in which case the tax ID will serve as an Employer Identification Number. While they may be exempt from federal taxes, they will still need to pay payroll taxes.

Political organizations can acquire an EIN online or through the mail, and should get one as soon as they are organized. The organization will need their EIN to open bank accounts and lines of credit, and to file their taxes at the end of the year, including claiming their exemption. They may also need their tax ID for things like getting licenses and permits for events. Luckily, getting an EIN is a fairly simple process; if it’s acquired online, it can be acquired within an hour.

An IRA usually does not have its own EIN. Instead, it’s reported under the social security number of the person who owns it. Since IRAs are individual and independent retirement accounts, they are owned by the person contributing to it. But there are some exceptions to this rule, the most notable being if you have a self-directed IRA.

A self-directed IRA is an IRA that you have control over. You can invest in businesses, real estate, or even gold through your IRA account. There are rules and regulations regarding a self-directed IRA, and it’s not something that someone should do without some training and education.
With a self-directed IRA, there will usually be a custodian involved to make sure that the IRA is managed correctly, and the custodian will acquire an EIN for the IRA. But other than this most IRAs are never going to need an EIN, and will continue to report under the person making contributions.