On Aug. 18, 2025, the Internal Revenue Service updated the Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) online application, which the IRS reported was part of ongoing modernization efforts, and should be easier to use.

A past source of confusion was that the online application treated the “responsible party” of a trust as the grantor (or owner or “trustor”) of the trust, even though the grantor of a trust usually has no role in the administration of an irrevocable trust, and may even be dead. This treatment was consistent with the instructions to the printed application, Form SS-4, and those instructions have not (yet) changed, but some practitioners have reported that the new online application treats the “responsible party” as the trustee and not the grantor, which is more consistent with the law of trusts.