No, you cannot fax Form 8822-B to the IRS. The IRS accepts this form by physical mail only, and there is no electronic filing option either. If you fax it, the change will not be processed. To update your business’s mailing address, physical location, or responsible party, you have to send the signed form through the U.S. Postal Service or an IRS-approved private delivery service to one of two processing centers.
Where to Mail Form 8822-B
The correct address depends on where your business was previously located, not where it is moving to. The IRS splits filings between two centers:1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form 8822-B – Change of Address or Responsible Party – Business
- Internal Revenue Service, Kansas City, MO 64999 — for old business addresses in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, or Wisconsin.
- Internal Revenue Service, Ogden, UT 84201-0023 — for old business addresses in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, or any location outside the United States.
Sending the form to the wrong center will delay processing. Make sure an authorized person has signed and dated the form before it goes out.
How to Send It So You Can Prove It
Keep a complete copy of the signed form. Then think about how you ship it, because with no fax option and no confirmation letter coming back, your mailing proof is the only record you have that the IRS was notified.
USPS certified mail with return receipt requested is the standard choice. It gives you a postmark date and a delivery confirmation. Under federal law, a timely postmark is treated as timely filing, so that date can matter if the IRS ever disputes when you notified them.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 7502 – Timely Mailing Treated as Timely Filing and Paying
You can also use an IRS-designated private delivery service in place of USPS. The approved list covers specific service tiers from DHL Express, FedEx, and UPS. Not every service level qualifies. FedEx Priority Overnight and UPS Next Day Air are approved; standard ground shipping from either carrier is not. Check the IRS list before shipping.3Internal Revenue Service. Private Delivery Services (PDS)
How Long Processing Takes
The IRS generally takes four to six weeks to process Form 8822-B after receiving it.1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form 8822-B – Change of Address or Responsible Party – Business During that window, the processing center updates your business’s electronic account. The IRS does not send a confirmation letter. The practical signal that the change went through is when IRS correspondence starts arriving at the new address.
If you are expecting time-sensitive notices — for example, during an audit or after filing an amended return — plan around the lag. The IRS will keep mailing to your old address until the update clears, and those notices do not pause while your change catches up.
The 60-Day Deadline for Responsible Party Changes
One reason people ask about faxing is urgency. If your business has a new responsible party, you have 60 days from the date of the change to file Form 8822-B, and the form is mandatory for that purpose.1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form 8822-B – Change of Address or Responsible Party – Business Faxing is still not an option, so if you are close to the deadline, send the form by certified mail or an approved overnight service and rely on the postmark date. There is no specific IRS penalty for filing late, but outdated responsible party information can create problems with EIN verification, correspondence delivery, and account access.
What Happens If You Skip It
An outdated address on file with the IRS is not just an inconvenience. The IRS is legally allowed to send a notice of deficiency to your “last known address,” and the notice is valid whether or not you actually receive it. Deadlines triggered by that notice, including the 90-day window to petition the Tax Court, start running on the day the IRS mails it.4Taxpayer Advocate Service. Taxpayer Advocate Service 2012 Annual Report to Congress
If you have moved and never filed Form 8822-B, a deficiency notice could land at an empty office or a new tenant, come back undeliverable, and still cost you the right to challenge the assessment. A USPS forwarding order helps with routine mail, but the IRS determines your “last known address” from its own records, which get updated primarily through tax returns and Form 8822-B filings.5Internal Revenue Service. Address Changes That is why mailing the form, with proof, is worth the extra step even though faxing would be faster.