How to let your preparer talk to the IRS for you
Form 2848 lets someone act for you, Form 8821 only lets them look. How to approve a request in your own account, the years it covers, and how to revoke it.
Quick answers
- What is the difference between Form 2848 and Form 8821?
- Form 2848 lets someone represent you before the IRS and act on your behalf. Form 8821 only lets someone inspect or receive your information for the matters and periods you name.
- Can my preparer get authorization without a paper form?
- Yes. A preparer can send a request through Tax Pro Account, and it appears in your own IRS online account for you to read and sign electronically.
- How do I cancel an authorization I already gave?
- Either authorize someone new for the same matters and periods, which cancels the earlier one automatically, or send the IRS a revocation following the instructions on the form you signed.
Form 2848 lets a representative act for you before the IRS; Form 8821 only lets a designee see your information. Both can now be approved inside your own IRS online account instead of on paper.
The difference in one line each
A power of attorney is authority to represent you. The person you name can speak and act for you on the tax matters and periods written on the form, and can also receive and inspect your confidential tax information. It can only be given to someone eligible to practice before the IRS.
A tax information authorization is permission to look, not to act. It appoints a designee to review or receive your confidential information for the tax matters and years you specify, and it can be given to any individual, company, firm, organization or partnership. That is the one to use when the purpose is not to resolve a tax matter at all: income verification for a lender, or a background check.
Who can hold a power of attorney
Attorneys, certified public accountants and enrolled agents have unlimited rights to represent you before the IRS. Enrolled actuaries and enrolled retirement plan agents may also hold one, and a few other people qualify in narrow circumstances tied to how the return was prepared.
If cost is the obstacle, low income taxpayer clinics are independent of the IRS and can represent eligible taxpayers before it and in court. Choosing who to use in the first place is a different question, and Free ways to file covers it.
Approve a request in your online account
- Ask your preparer to send the request through Tax Pro Account rather than on paper. Give them the name and address the IRS has on file for you, because the address they enter has to match the IRS record.
- Sign in to your IRS online account, or create one first. Creating an IRS online account covers the identity check.
- Open View authorizations in the account.
- Read what the request covers: the tax matter, the tax years or periods, and whether it is a power of attorney or a tax information authorization.
- Sign it electronically to approve it. Leaving it unsigned is how you refuse.
- Come back to the same place later to see what is still active in your name.
Do it on paper instead
- Choose the form. Form 2848 for representation, Form 8821 for access to information only.
- Fill in the representative or designee, and the tax matters and the years or periods the authorization covers.
- Sign it. A power of attorney takes effect only with your signature.
- Submit it online, by fax or by mail, following the form's own instructions.
- Keep a copy. The authorization is recorded on the IRS's Centralized Authorization File, which is what lets an IRS assistor confirm that the person on the phone may discuss your tax information.
Which years it covers
An authorization reaches the tax matters and the periods written on it, and nothing else. A representative authorized for one year cannot ask about another, which is usually the reason a request comes back a second time.
Through the online route, the IRS accepts requests from calendar-year filers for periods running from the last twenty years through the current year, plus three future years, for a defined list of tax matters. On paper, the form's own instructions govern.
The trap: a new authorization wipes the old one
Approving a new authorization for the same tax matters, periods and authorization type revokes the earlier one automatically. Nobody warns you at the moment you sign, and the effect is not partial: the previous representative is simply no longer on file.
That matters when you want to keep both, which is common enough. A long-standing accountant and a specialist brought in for one dispute can easily be authorized for the same year. Keeping the earlier one has to be done on paper, by filing Form 2848 or Form 8821, checking the retention box and attaching a copy of the authorization you want to keep.
If it doesn't work
- The address does not match. The address the preparer enters has to match the one the IRS holds, so check it against a notice or a transcript before they try again.
- You have no online account. That is the blockage more often than the authorization itself, and it is worth fixing first.
- The preparer cannot hold a power of attorney. If they are not eligible to practice before the IRS, Form 8821 is the form that fits, and it lets them see the file even though they cannot argue it.
- The request covers years you did not expect. Read the periods before signing rather than after, because signing is what makes them live.
- The request never appears in the account. Usually it was not submitted, or it went to a different taxpayer record; ask the preparer to check what they sent.
What you'll need
- An IRS online account, for the electronic route.
- The name and address the IRS has on file for you.
- The preparer's details, and their credential if a power of attorney is the goal.
- The list of tax years and tax matters you are willing to cover.
How to take it back
An authorization stays in effect until you revoke it or the representative withdraws. It does not lapse because you changed preparers, and it does not lapse because the matter was resolved.
There are two ways to end one. Authorize someone new for the same matters and periods, which revokes the earlier one automatically, or send a revocation following the instructions on the form you signed. Either way, check the account afterwards to confirm that what is on file is what you meant to leave there.