Getting an ITIN Without Losing Your Passport

The application is Form W-7, Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. It is short. What makes an ITIN application go wrong is almost never the form; it is the documentation, and specifically how you get your identity documents in front of the IRS without mailing your only passport across the country.

Start with why you need it

The IRS issues an ITIN to someone who needs a US taxpayer identification number for federal tax purposes and is not eligible for a Social Security number. Form W-7 asks you to state the reason, and the reason usually determines whether you must attach a tax return to the application. Most first-time applicants file the W-7 together with the federal return the number is needed for.

If you already hold a Social Security number, or are eligible for one, you do not apply for an ITIN. The two are alternatives, not companions.

The document requirement

You have to prove identity and foreign status. A valid passport is the one document that does both on its own, which is why it is the standard choice. Without a passport, the IRS requires a combination from its published list — national identification cards, birth certificates, foreign voter registration cards, foreign driver's licenses and others, with specific rules about which pairs work.

The documents must be originals or copies certified by the issuing agency. A notarized copy is not the same thing and is not accepted. This is the single most common reason applications come back.

Three ways to submit — pick the right one

• By mail to the IRS. Simple, but you are sending original documents. If your passport is your only identity document, this means being without it for a period. Most people should not choose this route.
• Through a Certifying Acceptance Agent. A CAA is authorized by the IRS to verify your documents and certify them, so your passport stays in your hand. They charge a fee. The IRS publishes a list of agents by location.
• At an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center. Designated centers can authenticate documents in person, by appointment, and return them to you the same visit.

For anyone whose passport matters to them, the second or third route is worth the extra effort and cost.

Timing

Processing takes time, and it takes longer during filing season when the IRS is busiest. Apply well ahead of any deadline you are working toward. If you need the number for something with a date attached, build in months rather than weeks.

Where this connects to your car

Nowhere, directly. You do not need an ITIN to be licensed by the DMV, to register a vehicle, or to buy auto insurance in California. Where it helps is that some carrier applications have a tax-number field and having a number to put in it removes one point of friction.

If you are trying to get insured now and the ITIN is months away, do not wait on it. Get quoted with what you have — a California license number is the identifier that does the real work.