Last updated · Written for a new business that has been asked for a fax number and does not have one.
To get a fax number, sign up with an online fax service, choose a US area code or a toll-free prefix, and the number is live immediately. There is no hardware, no phone line and no waiting. On usfax.com a dedicated US fax number is included with every subscription plan, starting with Solo at $19 a month ($15 billed annually) with 300 pages, a 7-day free trial and no credit card.
Do you actually need a number?
Worth ten seconds, because it can save you $19 a month. A fax number exists so that people can fax you. Sending uses the recipient’s number, not yours.
- One form going out, nothing coming back. Skip the number. A single fax is $2.99 for up to 10 pages on Pay Per Fax — see how to send a fax.
- Something has to come back, or a form asks for your fax number. Get the number. That covers most agency registrations, most insurer and payer relationships, and any client who expects to fax you documents.
How to get a fax number, step by step
- Decide whether you need a number at all. A fax number is for receiving. If you only have to send a form to an agency, you use their number and need none of your own — a single fax on usfax.com is $2.99 for up to 10 pages. Get a number when someone has to fax something back to you, or when a form asks you to print one on it.
- Choose local or toll-free. A local number carries an area code and reads as a business in that place; a toll-free number (800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844, 833) reads as national and costs the sender nothing. For a new one-person business a local number in your own area code is the normal choice.
- Pick a plan. On usfax.com the Solo plan is $19 a month, or $15 a month billed annually, and includes one dedicated US fax number, 300 pages a month and no overage charges. It starts with a 7-day free trial and no credit card. Larger plans exist but a one-person business rarely needs one.
- Create the account and select the number. Sign up, search the available numbers by area code, and take one. The number is live immediately — there is no provisioning wait, no hardware to connect and no phone line to order.
- Test it, then publish it. Send yourself a one-page test fax and confirm the PDF arrives by email. Only then put the number on your forms, your letterhead and any agency registration, because that is the number people will hold for years.
Local or toll-free — which should a business pick?
| Local number | Toll-free number | |
|---|---|---|
| Looks like | A business in a specific place | A national business |
| Prefix | Your chosen area code | 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844 or 833 |
| Cost to the sender | An ordinary call | Nothing |
| Typical fit | A solo practice, a local firm, an agency registration in your state | Customers or referrers spread across the country |
| Available on | Every subscription plan | Practice and Multi-site |
Most one-person businesses should take a local number in their own area code. More detail on the alternative is on toll-free fax numbers.
What does it cost?
A dedicated US fax number is part of the plan, not a separate line item. Solo is $19 a month, or $15 a month billed annually, and includes one number, 300 pages a month, sending and receiving from the web or email, and no overage charges. It leads with a 7-day free trial that needs no card, and cancellation is one click. Practice ($29) adds a toll-free option and more pages; a new one-person business usually does not need it. Full detail on pricing.
What to do once you have the number
- Test it. Send a one-page fax to the number and confirm the PDF arrives by email. Do this during the trial.
- Write it the way everyone else does. Label it “Fax:” and give it in full with the area code. Nothing in the digits tells a reader it is a fax line.
- Register it consistently. Put the same number on your letterhead, your invoices, your agency filings and any payer or licensing record. Changing it later means chasing every one of them.
- Decide who watches it. An incoming fax is a PDF in an inbox. Make sure it is an inbox somebody reads.
Who is going to ask you for it?
More people than you expect, and usually at a deadline. The IRS publishes fax numbers for a number of forms a new business touches — Form 8655 at 855-214-7523 (fax or mail only) and Form 2553, the S-corporation election, at 855-887-7734 or 855-214-7520. State Medicaid programmes publish their own: the Oregon Health Authority at 503-378-3074 and Texas TMHP at 512-514-4214. Several of those processes also expect a fax number from you, which is the moment a number stops being optional.