How to fill out Form 2848

Who needs this form

Use Form 2848 when you want someone to speak and act for you with the IRS: handle an audit, answer a notice, work out a payment plan or argue a penalty. The person you name must be eligible to practice before the IRS, such as an attorney, a CPA, an enrolled agent, an officer or full-time employee of the taxpayer, or a listed family member.

Pick a different form if your goal is narrower:

• To let someone only see or receive your tax information, without acting for you, use Form 8821.
• To tell the IRS you are a fiduciary, such as an executor or trustee who acts as the taxpayer, use Form 56.
• To change your address with the IRS, use Form 8822 (or 8822-B for a business). An address on Form 2848 does not update your records.

Form 2848 covers the IRS only. A bank, a state tax agency or a court needs its own document. Naming a representative does not take away your own duty to file and pay.

Each taxpayer files a separate form. Spouses who filed a joint return each sign their own Form 2848.

What to have ready

• The taxpayer's name, address and tax number: an SSN or ITIN for a person, an EIN for a business, trust or estate. A sole proprietor gives both the SSN and the business EIN.
• A daytime phone number.
• Each representative's full name, mailing address, phone and fax, CAF number and PTIN. Ask them: the CAF number is a 9-digit IRS number, not their SSN, EIN or PTIN.
• The exact tax matters: the kind of tax, the form number and the years or periods.
• For an entity, your title and proof that you can sign for it.

Step by step

1. Enter the taxpayer Line 1

   Write the taxpayer's name, tax number, street address and daytime phone. For a person, do not add anyone else, not even a spouse. For a corporation or partnership, use its name, EIN and business address. An employee plan also gives the three-digit plan number. Never put the representative's address here.

2. Name your representatives Line 2

   List up to four people. For each, give the full name and mailing address, the CAF number (or "None" if they have never had one), the PTIN, phone and fax. Check the boxes if their address, phone or fax is new since their CAF number was issued. Check the box to send a representative copies of IRS notices; no more than two can get copies for the same matter.

3. Describe the tax matters Line 3

   Each row needs a description (such as Income, Employment or Civil Penalty), a tax form number (such as 1040 or 941) and the years or periods (such as 2022 through 2025). Fiscal years use the format YYYYMM. You may list future periods, but the IRS records only those ending within 3 years after December 31 of the year it receives the form.

   Be specific. The IRS returns a form that says "All years" or "All taxes". Penalties and interest tied to a listed return are included; a penalty that is not tied to a return must be described on its own.

4. Check line 4 only for a specific use Line 4

   Most people leave it blank. Check it only for a one-time matter the IRS does not record in its Centralized Authorization File (CAF), such as a private letter ruling or a request under the Freedom of Information Act. A form with line 4 checked goes by mail or fax to the IRS office handling that matter.

5. Choose any extra acts Line 5a and Line 5b

   Your representative can already receive your information and act on the line 3 matters. On Line 5a, check only what else you allow: access through an Intermediate Service Provider, substituting or adding representatives, disclosing your information to third parties, or signing a return for you. Signing a return is allowed only for disease or injury, an absence from the United States of at least 60 days before the due date, or IRS permission for another good reason. List anything you forbid on Line 5b.

6. Keep or replace earlier powers of attorney Line 6

   A new form recorded on the CAF revokes earlier ones for the same matters and periods. To keep an earlier one in effect, check the box and attach a copy of it. Filing Form 2848 does not revoke a Form 8821.

7. Sign and date Line 7

   The taxpayer signs and dates line 7, prints their name and, for an entity, gives an exact title. An officer signs for a corporation; a partner with authority signs for a partnership; a parent or court-appointed guardian may sign for a minor. If you sign first, your representative must sign Part II within 45 days (60 days if you live abroad).

8. Your representative completes Part II

   Each representative signs Part II in the order listed on line 2, with their designation (for example "a" for an attorney or "c" for an enrolled agent), licensing jurisdiction and license or bar number. An unenrolled return preparer may represent you only in an examination of a return they prepared and signed.

Common mistakes

Where it goes

The form goes to the IRS. Pick one way to send it.

Online. At IRS.gov/Submit2848, with an IRS Secure Access account. This is the only way a form with an electronic signature is accepted. Tax professionals can also start an authorization from their Tax Pro Account, which you approve in your own IRS Online Account.

Fax or mail, by where the taxpayer lives:

• Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia: fax 855-214-7519, or mail to Internal Revenue Service, 5333 Getwell Road, Stop 8423, Memphis, TN 38118.
• Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming: fax 855-214-7522, or mail to Internal Revenue Service, 1973 Rulon White Blvd., MS 6737, Ogden, UT 84201.
• Outside the United States, APO or FPO addresses, Puerto Rico and the US territories: fax 855-772-3156 (304-707-9785 from outside the US), or mail to Internal Revenue Service, International CAF Team, 2970 Market Street, MS:4-H14.123, Philadelphia, PA 19104.

If you checked line 4, send the form to the IRS office handling that matter instead. The IRS says fax numbers can change without notice, so check IRS.gov/Form2848 before you send. To revoke the form later, write "REVOKE" across the top of page 1, sign and date it, and send it to the same place.