Does a Custodianship Need a Tax ID (EIN) Number?

13 Feb 2020

It is easy to confuse a Custodianship with a Guardianship, but the two are quite different. Guardians take care of assets for individuals, usually an older family member taking care of a younger family member’s assets. Custodianship is when an entity, often a financial enterprise such as a bank, takes control over an individual’s assets (or their Trust) to better help them avoid risk or loss.

A bank, financial enterprise, or wealth management firm is going to be considered a custodianship. A custodianship does need a separate Tax ID or EIN Number, and may need to acquire separate EIN for many of their accounts, as they are holding money apart from the individual who initially granted it. Custodianships themselves are businesses, and therefore will also have their own EIN. But the EINs that a grantor will be concerned with have to do with their own accounts, for instance, irrevocable trust accounts that are managed by the custodian. Since EINs are applied on a case-by-case basis to accounts (some accounts will fall under an SSN, such as a checking account), whether the custodianship needs to apply for an EIN is going to be determined when new money management accounts are opened. If you have a Custodianship, you will need to obtain a Tax ID Number online using the official Trust Tax ID Number Application.