Another blurb on FEINs

So, based on the last post, a test-taker like yourself might conclude that sole proprietors don't receive FEINs. That's certainly what the folks who write test questions are hoping--they love assumptions that people bring to the testing center. They exploit them again and again. Do sole proprietors receive FEINs?
Not automatically, the way a corporation or an estate would.
But if you look closely at the questions the IRS asks in the previous post, you begin to see that it could easily include sole proprietors. A word like "excise" is easy to just skim over because it's boring and, let's face it, so is most of the Series 65/66 material. But a trucker would have to pay "excise" taxes and, therefore, need an FEIN. And a restaurant could be owned by a sole proprietor, but if he has 20 waitresses and 10 cocktail servers, he's going to either admit he has "employees" now or wait for the revenue collectors to issue a ruling plus penalties and interest. He needs an FEIN. So, as always, don't make assumptions. Think through your answer choices clearly--is this always the case? Are there exceptions to this general rule? Did anybody ever actually say that, or did I just sort of assume that?
That's what the test demands of you--an ability to think clearly, from many angles, using creative problem solving and solid reasoning.

FEINs

A federal employer identification number (FEIN) would probably be easier to understand if it were only issued to, you know, employers. But as you've probably noticed, things are never what they seem to be in connection to finance, taxation, and other testable points. An estate also receives an FEIN, which I learned when serving as executor several years ago. A trust receives an FEIN. Estates and trusts are legal entities/legal persons. Like corporations and partnerships, they receive FEINs from the IRS. If you go to the IRS website and type in "fein," you find a helpful table that determines if somebody needs to apply for an FEIN. If the answer to ANY of the following questions is "yes," then the person needs to get a federal employer identification number:
Do you have employees?
Do you operate your business as a corporation or partnership?
Do you have a Keogh plan?
Are you involved with: trusts, estates, REMICs, non-profit organizations, farmers' cooperatives, plan administrators

Is this informatoin testable?
Sure. If NASAA says that "taxation issues" are testable, they only give a couple of examples as to which items we should focus on. Everything is, apparently, testable. And, since business entities are a testable item, we have to assume that you might need to remember what an "FEIN" is and that trusts and estates have them, as do corporations and partnerships.