Which of the following is not required to obtain a federal employer identification number (EIN)?

The correct choice indicates that a S Corporation with five or more employees is not required to obtain a federal employer identification number (EIN), which is misleading. In reality, any business entity, including a sole proprietorship, partnership, S Corporation, or LLC, is required to obtain an EIN if it meets certain criteria, such as having employees or being involved in specific types of business activities.

A sole proprietorship typically does not require an EIN unless it has employees or meets other requirements, but a partnership is generally needed to obtain one for reporting purposes. An LLC also needs an EIN if it has employees. The same applies to an S Corporation, which must have an EIN if it has employees, regardless of the number. Therefore, all of these types of entities would indeed require an EIN once they meet those conditions.

This suggests that option C is misleadingly framed since the need for an EIN is not contingent upon whether the entity is an S Corporation with a specific number of employees but rather on whether the business has employees at all or meets other IRS criteria. Thus, the statement about the S Corporation not requiring an EIN if it has five or more employees is incorrect.