by Randy Carey: Refer to Page 4 of the W-9 instructions for sole proprietorships:
by John Burnett: Older systems were designed so that they would send the first line of the name and address record on any IRS return, such as a 1099 or 1098. For those systems, it's important that the first line of the name and address record match whatever TIN is being sent on such forms.
Since the only way to correctly style a sole proprietorship's account is in the name of the individual who is the sole proprietor, his or her SSN belongs in the record as the TIN to be used for any tax reporting.
Use of the individual's SSN is also important if you search records using TINs for things like cash aggregation for CTR filings or for responding to legal documents such as levies, garnishments or subpoenas.
More sophisticated processing systems provide a separate field for the name of the party to be reported on IRS returns. That provides some limited flexibility in styling. But it doesn't change the underlying fact that your styling should always reflect true ownership of the account, and for a sole proprietorship, that is always the individual.
by Ken Golliher: Jane's Jeans does not have an EIN. Jane does. Jane is the employer. Jane is the taxpayer. If Jane has 3 operating DBA's, she still only needs one EIN and she only needs it for wage withholding, not interest reporting or income taxes.
You put the name of the individual in the account title so 1) the IRS can "match" the SSN to the customer's name and 2) help your co-workers identify the account as subject to a third party claim in the name of the individual. You put the name of the DBA also in the account title to 1) humor Jane, 2) let your tellers know that it is appropriate to accept checks payable to the DBA for deposit to this account. The IRS could care less if you left the DBA name out entirely.
Banks that open accounts for sole proprietorships should only use the SSN of the individual. It is the individual who is both the customer and the taxpayer.