What an ITIN Actually Costs
The full price list fits in three lines. Filing the W-7 directly with the IRS costs nothing in filing fees.
Filing services publish prices from 160 to 497 dollars. First Class Citizen's done-for-you route is 1,000 dollars, valid three years, renewal at the same price.
So the honest question is not what an ITIN costs. It is what the gap between zero and 1,000 dollars actually buys, and when each answer is the right one.
That is this page, with every number taken from the published price of the company charging it.
The IRS charges nothing, and that is not the whole cost
The W-7 application itself carries no government fee. Anyone can download the form, assemble the documents and file. For a person who enjoys paperwork and has time to absorb a mistake, this is a real option and nobody should pretend otherwise.
The costs of the free route are simply not on the price tag. Your passport, or a certified copy you arrange, travels with the application.
The form has to be right the first time, because the price of a bounce is not money, it is months: the rejection notices and the redo are their own page.
Free is the right price for someone with time, confidence in the paperwork, and no date the number needs to exist by. The further your situation sits from that sentence, the more the paid routes start to make sense.
If the number is for one filing, the small routes fit, and the call will say so. That is what qualified means.
Book Your Assessment CallFiling services: 160 to 497 dollars, published
Two named competitors publish their prices, and both are on the full comparison page. ITIN Services publishes 160 dollars standard and 170 priority. ITIN.com publishes 497 dollars for a new application and 397 for a renewal.
What this tier buys, in one sentence: someone who has seen many W-7s checks yours before it goes in the mail.
That is real value against the bounce risk, and for a person whose whole goal is the number itself, it can be the sensible middle.
What it does not buy is everything that comes after the number. The application is prepared; the plan is still yours to figure out.
1,000 dollars, valid three years, renewal at the same price
First Class Citizen publishes 1,000 dollars for the done-for-you ITIN: applied remotely, a passport scan rather than your passport in the mail, and the published 45 to 60 day path from application to the number in your inbox.
The gap between 160 dollars and 1,000 is not a filing fee. It is the difference between buying a prepared form and buying an outcome inside a larger plan: the same firm that files the W-7 is the one that opens the US banking step and the credit file the number exists for, in the right order, with the timelines already known.
Whether that gap is worth it depends entirely on what the number is for. A person who needs an ITIN once, for one filing, is not the buyer.
A person building the American side of their life, on a clock, usually is: the real turnarounds are published here.
Renewal: the cost that surprises people
An ITIN is not forever. Left unused on a federal return for three consecutive years, it expires, and the IRS's own assignment letter says so. The renewal guide covers who actually needs to act and when.
The published renewal prices: ITIN.com charges 397 dollars for a renewal against its 497 new application. First Class Citizen renews at the same 1,000 dollar price as the original, with the same three year validity. Budget for the number's lifetime, not just its birth.
Price the plan, not the form. The call works out which tier your situation actually needs.
Book Your Assessment CallWhat no price on this page includes
No route, at any price, buys the IRS's decision or its clock. The approval is the government's, the queue is the government's, and the honest timelines page shows what the wait really looks like at every tier.
Cheapest is also not the same product three times. One tier hands you a form, one hands you a checked form, one hands you a number inside a sequence.
Comparing them on price alone is comparing a map, a guide, and a driver by the paper they are printed on.
And if the number is for one tax filing and nothing more, say so on the call and expect to hear that the smaller routes fit.
An assessment that cannot say "you do not need us" is a pitch, and the free, qualified call exists precisely to sort that honestly.
ITINs from the record
Real client wins, straight from the Hall of Wins.
The full ITIN series
The rest of the picture
- Find your routeTell it what you are trying to do and it maps the guides to read in order.
- ITIN document checklistPick your situation, get the exact list the IRS accepts.
- What it costsPublished prices and timelines, service by service.
- US credit calculatorWhat your spend returns at the rates issuers publish today.
FAQ
How much does an ITIN cost?
Is it really free to get an ITIN from the IRS directly?
What does the 1,000 dollar route include that cheaper ones do not?
What does an ITIN renewal cost?
Can paying more make the IRS faster?
Find out which route your situation needs
The assessment call is free and qualified: it goes through what the ITIN is for, whether the done-for-you route earns its price for you, and what the realistic clock looks like. If a smaller route fits, you will hear that too.
Book Your Assessment Call
Founder & CEO, The First Class Citizen