How to fill out Form 8821

Who needs this form

Use Form 8821 when you want someone to look at your IRS records or get copies of your notices, without representing you. The designee can be any person or organization: an accountant who prepares your return, a bookkeeper, a lender checking your income, a school, or a relative helping you.

A designee can only inspect and receive information. They cannot argue your case, sign agreements or waivers, or name someone else in their place, and they can never cash your refund check or receive your refund by direct deposit.

Pick a different form if your goal is different:

• To let someone represent you or act for you before the IRS, use Form 2848.
• To get your own transcripts, use Form 4506-T. For a full copy of a return, use Form 4506, which has a fee.
• To tell the IRS you are a fiduciary, such as an executor or trustee, use Form 56.
• To change your address with the IRS, use Form 8822 (or 8822-B for a business). An address on Form 8821 does not update your records.

Spouses who filed a joint return each file their own Form 8821. A form signed by one spouse covers only that spouse.

What to have ready

• The taxpayer's name, street address and tax number: an SSN or ITIN for a person, an EIN for a business, trust or estate.
• A daytime phone number.
• Each designee's full name, mailing address, phone and fax, CAF number and PTIN if they have them. Ask them: the CAF number is a 9-digit IRS number, not their SSN or EIN.
• The exact tax information: the kind of tax, the form number and the years or periods.
• If you sign for a business, trust or estate, 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 a spouse or the designee. A business gives its name, EIN and business address. A trust enters the trustee's name, title and address, plus the trust's name and EIN. An estate with no EIN of its own uses the decedent's SSN or ITIN. An employee plan adds its three-digit plan number.

2. Name your designees Line 2

   The form has room for two. 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 box to send a designee copies of IRS notices and letters; no more than two designees can get copies for the same matter. Check the boxes if their address, phone or fax is new since their CAF number was issued. To name more than two, check the box on line 2 and attach a list.

3. Describe the tax information Line 3

   Each row has four columns: the type of tax information (such as Income or Employment), the form number (such as 1040 or 941), the years or periods (such as 2022 through 2025) and any limit on what the designee may see. Write "Not applicable" in the last column if you set no limit. Fiscal years use the format YYYYMM. Future periods are recorded only if they end within 3 years after December 31 of the year the IRS receives the form.

   Be specific. The IRS returns a form that says "All years" or "All taxes". For a penalty that is not tied to a return, write "Civil Penalty" as the type and "N/A" as the form number.

   Check the box on line 3 only if your designee asked to reach your records through an Intermediate Service Provider. Without it, they cannot use one.

4. Check line 4 for a lender, school or other outside use Line 4

   Check it when the form lets an outside party check your information, such as a loan company verifying your income, a school, or a background check. The IRS does not record these uses in its Centralized Authorization File (CAF). For a use like this that is not a tax matter, the IRS must receive the form within 120 days of the date you sign it. A form with line 4 checked goes by mail or fax to the IRS office handling that matter, and you skip line 5.

5. Keep or replace earlier authorizations Line 5

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

6. Sign and date Line 6

   The taxpayer signs, dates and prints their name. For an entity, enter your exact title. An officer with authority signs for a corporation; a person who was a partner during the period signs for a partnership; a trustee signs for a trust and an executor for an estate. A guardian or other person signing for someone else may need to attach proof, such as court papers or Form 56.

Common mistakes

Where it goes

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

Online. At IRS.gov/Submit8821, 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/Form8821 before you send. To revoke the form later, write "REVOKE" across the top of the form, sign and date it, and send it to the same place.