What Is an ITIN?

If you earn non-employment income in the United States and do not qualify for a tax exemption or for not filing a return, you will need to apply for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) to file taxes.

The IRS created the ITIN specifically for tax filing, but some banks and credit card issuers allow people who do not have an SSN and only have an ITIN to apply for credit cards or high-yield savings accounts. So once you get an ITIN, applying for cards becomes a practical option for people without an SSN. For example, undergraduate students and graduate students without scholarships studying in the U.S. may not have an SSN at first, which makes it impossible to open many cards. An ITIN can provide another path to getting a credit card.

For a reference on which banks allow this and which do not, see

Other common ITIN use cases include

  • Filing taxes on income: Amazon FBA sellers, gains from U.S. stock investing, and rental income from investment properties
  • Reducing high withholding tax: U.S. stock dividends are generally subject to 30% withholding by default; with an ITIN + Form W-8BEN, that can be reduced to 10%
  • Married filing jointly: a spouse with a green card can use an ITIN to file jointly and potentially save on taxes

One important note: an ITIN is not the same as work authorization. You still need work authorization issued by immigration authorities to work, such as an EAD card. Also, an ITIN will expire if it is not used for 3 years, though filing taxes can keep it active.

Documents Required for an ITIN Application

  • Form W-7
    • Form W-7 is fairly straightforward to complete. One field worth mentioning is 6d, specifically the last item, Date of entry into the United States. Here you should enter the date you entered the U.S. for the purpose related to the matter for which you need to apply for Form W-7. If you have never entered the United States, write “Never entered the United States.” Then there is field 6g. The instructions state that all blanks in 6g must be completed in two situations: first, if you selected reason f for filing Form W-7 (Nonresident alien student, professor, or researcher filing a U.S. federal tax return or claiming an exception); second, if you entered the United States temporarily for business purposes. Applicants in either of these situations must complete all of section 6g.
  • Original proof of identity or copies certified by the issuing agency（Original Proof of Identity or Copies Certified by Issuing Agency）
  • Foreign status document (Foreign Status Document)
  • Tax return

Only a passport can serve as a standalone document for both item 2 and item 3 at the same time. In general, providing a passport is also the simplest method. Of course, you can also provide other documents separately to satisfy items 2 and 3; see the chart below.

Three Ways to Apply for an ITIN

Mail your application to the IRS

This is the most common and least expensive method. Mail Form W-7, your tax return, and your original passport or certified copy to the IRS ITIN office at the following address:

  • Internal Revenue Service

    Austin Service Center
    ITIN Operation
    P.O. Box 149342
    Austin, TX 78714-9342

About mailing your original passport. According to the IRS website, your original documents and ITIN will be returned within 60 days after the IRS receives and processes the ITIN application. This option is suitable for people who do not need their passport urgently. If you use this method, it is recommended that you include a prepaid courier envelope, both to speed things up and to improve security. Based on historical reports I found, there have been occasional cases where the IRS sent original passports by regular mail and they were lost.

About mailing a certified passport copy. Chinese consulates do not provide this service, and passport issuing authorities in China do not provide it either. However, you can obtain this certification at a U.S. consulate in China. I originally chose this path and helped my parents make an online appointment for citizen services at a U.S. consulate in China. Even using a Chinese passport, the appointment was successfully booked. The fee was $50/page. Later, though, I found another option and canceled the appointment. If you are in China, have access to a U.S. consulate nearby, and do not want to risk mailing your original passport, this may be worth trying.

Apply through an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center

If the applicant is in the United States and there is a local IRS office nearby, this is absolutely the best option. IRS staff can review and certify your documents for submission, so you can get your passport back on the spot. However, not every office offers this service. You can use the link below to find a local office and check the services available there.

Also, be sure to schedule an appointment in advance. I called in early March to make an appointment. The office closest to my home was already fully booked, and the nearest available date at another office was April 19.

Apply through an IRS-authorized Certified ITIN Acceptance Agent (CAA)

This option is suitable for people who are not in the United States, need their passport soon, or are not comfortable mailing it out. You can find the list at the following link:

I selected 4 firms from the local list and called them: 2 Chinese and 2 non-Chinese. The Chinese Acceptance Agents were able to provide passport certification. They only needed to look at the original passport, after which you could take it back, and they would use the certified copy to help file taxes and apply for the tax ID number. If tax filing and the ITIN application were done together, the fee was $400-500. One of them also offered ITIN-only service for $225 per application. The non-Chinese firms talked a lot, quoted fees of around $1,000, and in the end did not even provide certification, instead requiring the original passport to be mailed in with the application.

In addition, some people online mention platforms like Fiverr. Prices there can also be high, and the providers are a mixed bag.

In fact, IRS-certified CAAs are available around the world, including in China:

We specifically contacted CAAs in China, and 2 of them offer remote ITIN application services. They will help complete Form W-7. There is no need to mail your passport; identity is verified by video, and the entire process is handled in Chinese. After coordinating with them, the special discounted pricing they provided is:

  • No U.S. mailing address: ￥899
  • With a U.S. mailing address: ￥699（limited to 99 spots）

Of course, they also provide other services such as tax filing.

To proceed, you need to join the group. Scan the code to add the group assistant, who will invite you to the ITIN application and consultation group.

My Personal Experience

Last year, my parents bought an investment property to rent out, and this year they needed to file taxes. They had never worked in the United States and did not have SSNs, so they needed to apply for ITINs when filing their tax return.

At the time, we delayed for a long time and did not start the tax filing process until March. Then we discovered that the application required either the original passport or an officially certified copy. My parents were both in China and were not expected to come to the United States until June or July of that year. After researching, the original plan was for my parents to mail their passports to the U.S., and I would take them to an Acceptance Agent to apply for the tax numbers. Later, my dad checked with DHL (and also with SF Express, which directly refused to ship original passports). DHL replied: “Original passports can be shipped, but there is risk. If customs inspects the package, it will definitely be held, a lot of documents will be required, and it may also affect future entry.” That scared my dad into immediately rejecting the idea, so I helped them book an appointment for citizen authentication services at the U.S. consulate, to be completed one week later.

During that period, one day I searched online: “If the ITIN application is unsuccessful, how is tax filing handled?” Then I saw an IRS website reply saying: “If the ITIN is not approved, it does not affect tax filing. You only need to promptly mail in the required supplemental documents.” Since the main goal was filing taxes rather than urgently obtaining the tax number, and my parents could simply go to a Taxpayer Assistance Center with the original documents when they came to the U.S. in June or July, I canceled the consulate appointment to avoid wasting time and money.

People apply for ITINs for different reasons, and their time constraints vary, so the right application method also varies. I hope my experience helping my parents apply for ITINs, along with the information I collected, will be helpful to everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you change the address on an ITIN?

In theory, the address associated with your ITIN is unrelated to the address on your credit report. Form CP565 includes the address and the number, but when applying for a credit card, you really only need the number itself. However, CP565 can actually be used as proof of address in some situations, such as when applying for a credit card or bank account and needing to upload supporting documents. So you may want to change the ITIN address to your current residential address or the address on your credit report to make verification easier. The IRS lists several ways to change your address: