The IRS Employer Identification Number (EIN) is a standard format and length starting with 2 digits, a dash, and then 7 digits (XX-XXXXXXX).
If the EIN shown on your W-2 or other tax paperwork does not fit this format, then you may be looking at the wrong field or the employer or issuer may have made an error. Double-check that you are entering the correct number. If the EIN does not fit the standard format, contact your employer or issuer for a correction.
This answer is incorrect/outdated. Even the IRS From 2441 shown within TurboTax itself tells you to input the EIN (nn-nnnnnnn), allowing for 7 digits after the hyphen. IRS.gov says they are 9 digits, not 8 and a hyphen. My provider has an EIN that is that long (9 digits). TurboTax software does not allow you to input this many characters because it requires the hyphen, so you are stuck at smart check.
Please fix the software.
UPDATE:
Quirk of the software - selecting and deleting the entire line and just retyping the entire EIN worked. Editing what was present would not, because it would still cap at 9 total characters and give an error.
Thank you for that information. Backspacing over fields that have errors can clear out invisible formatting characters from copy and paste or stray typos. We don't want those transmitting on an e-file and doing unexpected things.
I was able to enter 9 characters in both TurboTax Online and Desktop, so that form seems to be working.