Interactive formation tool

Stripe / IRS TIN Name-Match Fixer

Stripe rejecting your tax ID with "this combination of tax ID and legal name was not recognized by the IRS"? Paste the name you typed into Stripe against the name on your CP-575 letter and this tool points at the exact offending character — "LLC" vs "L.L.C.", "&" vs "and", a trailing space — plus the one case AIO never tells you: a brand-new EIN that has not reached the IRS verification database yet. Your name and EIN never leave your browser.

Open the tool How we research

Access: Free; no account wall
Privacy: Local; name + EIN never leave your browser
Use case: Fix the mismatch; not a filing service

The two names & your EIN

Legal business name as typed into Stripe Copy/paste EXACTLY what you entered in the Stripe Dashboard tax-ID field (case, spaces, punctuation all matter). Legal name on your IRS letter (CP-575 / SS-4 / 147C) Type it exactly as printed on the first name line of your IRS EIN confirmation letter, including LLC/INC suffix, &, hyphens, periods and capitalization. EIN (Employer Identification Number) 9 digits. Checked locally in your browser only — nothing is uploaded.

Entity & timing

Entity type Determines whether the IRS expects your personal name + SSN or the business name + EIN on the first name line. Was this EIN issued, or the name changed with the IRS, in the last ~4 weeks? Newly-issued EINs and recent name changes can fail Stripe verification simply because the IRS database has not propagated yet (avg 3-4 weeks). Did you type a DBA / trade name (not the legal name) into Stripe? A DBA / doing-business-as name alone is the single most common cause of a mismatch.

Workflow

How to use it

1 Paste the legal name exactly as you typed it into Stripe, the name from your IRS letter, and your EIN — all stay in your browser.
2 See the side-by-side character diff with the first offending token labelled (LLC vs L.L.C., & vs and, a trailing space, a stray period).
3 Check the EIN format and the entity-type first-name-line rule, and catch the brand-new-EIN propagation case the generic guides miss.
4 Copy the corrected name, save the report as a PDF, or print it — then retry Stripe verification.

Why this matters

Stripe checks your legal name against IRS records as an exact string — including upper/lower case, symbols and punctuation — so the difference between "Acme & Co" and "Acme and Co", or "LLC" and "L.L.C.", or a single trailing space, is enough to fail. The IRS internally reduces a name to a four-character "name control" where only "&" and "-" survive, which is exactly why "&" vs "and" and a stray period flip a match. The two silent traps: entering only a DBA / trade name (the IRS rule is "you may not enter only the DBA name"), and submitting a brand-new EIN before it has propagated to the IRS verification database — on average 3-4 weeks. This tool diffs the two strings, points at the first offending character, and separates "your spelling is wrong" from "your EIN is just too new" so you fix the right thing.

Questions founders ask

Why does Stripe say my tax ID and legal name were not recognized by the IRS?

It means the legal name + EIN you entered do not exactly match IRS records. Stripe compares the full legal name including upper/lower case, symbols and punctuation, so "Acme & Co" vs "Acme and Co", "LLC" vs "L.L.C.", a trailing space, or a DBA-only name will all fail. Match your entry to the first name line of your CP-575 / SS-4 / 147C letter character-for-character.

Does the EIN hyphen or its prefix matter?

An EIN is nine digits shown as XX-XXXXXXX; Stripe accepts it with or without the hyphen, so we never block on the hyphen — only on a digit count other than nine. The first two digits map to an IRS issuing campus, but that prefix check is advisory only: the IRS adds and retires prefixes, so an unusual prefix is a "double-check you copied it right" hint, never proof the EIN is invalid.

My name matches but Stripe still rejects it — why?

The one cause generic guides miss: a brand-new EIN, or a business name changed with the IRS in the last ~3 months, has not propagated to the IRS verification database yet. Stripe says this takes on average 3-4 weeks. If your entry already matches your SS-4 / CP-575 letter, wait and retry, or upload the letter via the Stripe Dashboard for manual verification.

Is this tool tax or legal advice?

No. It diffs two strings you paste in and surfaces IRS and Stripe documented facts. It does not decide your entity’s correct legal name, prepare or file anything, or resolve fact-specific questions like whether your single-member LLC is disregarded or taxed as a corporation — those it flags for you to confirm with a CPA or attorney. Your legal name and EIN are compared entirely in your browser and never uploaded or stored.

Keep going

Company setup report The full non-resident route: country, state, EIN, banking, and compliance in one report. Name compliance checker Check whether your LLC name meets state naming rules before you file or rename. LLC cost by state Filing and annual fees for all 50 states + DC, sorted side by side. Find your country Answer six questions and rank the best-fit jurisdictions for your situation.