Form 2848 Instructions: Line-by-Line Guide and How to Submit

To fill out Form 2848, you enter your identifying information on Line 1, name your representative on Line 2, specify each tax matter and year separately on Line 3, opt into any special powers on Line 5, decide on Line 6 whether to keep prior authorizations, and then sign. Your representative signs Part II, and the whole form has to reach the IRS within 45 days of your signature. The lines look simple, but Line 3 and the signing window are where most forms get rejected.

Line 1: Taxpayer Information

Line 1 identifies who is granting the power of attorney. Enter your full legal name, current mailing address, and taxpayer identification number. Individuals use a Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number; business entities use their Employer Identification Number.¹ Include your date of birth if you’re filing as an individual, and a daytime telephone number.

Joint returns need extra care. If the authorization covers a jointly filed Form 1040, list both spouses as taxpayers on Line 1, and both must sign. If only one spouse signs, the representative can act only for the spouse who signed.²

For a corporation, the name and EIN on Line 1 must match what the IRS already has on file. Trusts and estates use the entity’s legal name and EIN. If the estate does not yet have an EIN, use the decedent’s SSN.¹

Filing for a Deceased Taxpayer

For a decedent’s final Form 1040, enter the decedent’s name and SSN, along with the name, title, and address of the executor or personal representative. For Form 706 (estate tax), use the decedent’s SSN. For all other estate-related forms, use the estate’s EIN.¹

Line 2: Naming Your Representative

For each representative, enter their full name, mailing address, telephone number, and fax number. The form has space for four. If you need more, write “See attached for additional representatives” next to Line 2 and attach additional copies of the form.¹

Each representative should enter their Centralized Authorization File (CAF) number, the nine-digit number the IRS assigns the first time someone files a third-party authorization. A representative who has never filed a Form 2848 or Form 8821 before writes “None” in the box, and the IRS assigns one during processing.³

The Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) field is marked “if applicable” and is not required for every representative. It is required for unenrolled return preparers, who must hold a valid PTIN to represent anyone before the IRS.¹

One quiet limit: no matter how many representatives you list, only two of them can receive copies of IRS notices and communications on the same tax matter. You designate which two by checking the box next to their names on Line 2.⁴

Line 3: Tax Matters and Periods

Line 3 is where most rejections happen. List each tax matter on its own row, and for each row specify three things: the type of tax, the IRS form number, and the exact tax year or period. For 2023 individual income tax, that reads “Income,” “1040,” and “2023.”²

Blanket phrases like “All years,” “All periods,” or “All taxes” are not allowed. The IRS will return any form that uses them. You can list future years, but the CAF system will not record any future period more than three years past December 31 of the year the IRS receives the form.¹ A form received in 2026 can therefore reach 2029 at the outside.

Everything you list on Line 3 comes with broad default authority. Your representative can receive and inspect confidential tax information, sign agreements, consents, and waivers, and generally do anything you could do yourself on those matters.¹ Anything beyond that default belongs on Line 5.

Line 5: Special Authorizations and What’s Off-Limits

Line 5 handles powers the IRS does not grant automatically. You opt into each one by checking the corresponding box on Line 5a or writing the authorization on Line 5b. Skip this section and your representative gets the Line 3 defaults, nothing more.

Signing Your Return

A representative can sign an income tax return for you only in narrow situations under Treasury Regulations: you are unable to sign because of disease or injury, you have been continuously absent from the United States for at least 60 days before the filing deadline, or the IRS grants specific permission for other good cause. Note the applicable regulation on Line 5a.¹

Substituting or Adding Representatives

Your representative cannot bring in someone new or substitute themselves out unless you check the box authorizing it. With that box checked, they can file a new Form 2848 to add or replace representatives without your additional signature.¹

Third-Party Disclosure and Electronic Access

Two other powers require explicit authorization on Line 5a. Your representative cannot consent to the IRS disclosing your return information to a third party unless you delegate that authority. And your representative cannot access your tax records through an Intermediate Service Provider (an electronic system that connects to IRS databases) unless you check that box.¹

Refund Checks You Cannot Authorize

A representative is never authorized to endorse or negotiate any government-issued check for a federal tax liability. This is absolute and cannot be overridden by writing anything on Line 5b. It covers direct payment, electronic payment into the representative’s account, and any other method of routing funds to the representative or their firm.¹

Line 6: Prior Powers of Attorney

By default, recording your new Form 2848 on the CAF system automatically revokes any earlier power of attorney on file for the same tax matter and periods. Many filers assume the old authorization stays active alongside the new one. It does not.⁵

To keep an existing representative in place while adding a new one, check the box on Line 6 and attach a copy of the earlier power of attorney you want to preserve. Without the checkbox and the attachment, the earlier authorization disappears from the system.

To revoke a power of attorney without naming anyone new, write “REVOKE” across the top of the first page of the original Form 2848, sign and date below the annotation, and fax or mail it to the appropriate IRS office. If you no longer have the original, send a signed and dated written statement identifying you, naming the representative whose authority is being terminated, and listing the specific tax matters and periods. To revoke everything, write “revoke all years/periods” instead of listing each one.⁵

Filing a new Form 2848 does not revoke any Form 8821 (Tax Information Authorization) on file for the same tax matters.⁵

Who You Can Name as a Representative

Not everyone is eligible. Part II lists designations by letter, and your representative must check the one matching their status and enter any required license or enrollment number.¹ The categories:

(a) Attorney: member in good standing of the bar of any U.S. state, territory, or possession. Enter the state abbreviation and bar number.
(b) Certified Public Accountant: licensed to practice in any U.S. state. Enter the state abbreviation and license number.
(c) Enrolled Agent: passed all three parts of the IRS Special Enrollment Examination or qualified through prior IRS employment. Enter the enrollment card number.
(d) Officer of the taxpayer entity, such as president or treasurer. Enter the title.
(e) Full-time employee of the taxpayer. Enter the title or position.
(f) Family member: spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, or step-relative in one of those categories. Enter the relationship.
(g) Enrolled Actuary. Enter the enrollment card number from the Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries.
(h) Unenrolled return preparer holding a valid PTIN. Enter the PTIN.
(k) Qualifying student or law graduate. Enter “LITC” or “STCP” as applicable.
(r) Enrolled Retirement Plan Agent. Enter the enrollment card number.

Unenrolled return preparers carry the most restrictions. They can represent you only during an examination of a return they personally prepared and signed, and only before revenue agents, customer service representatives, and similar frontline employees, not appeals officers, revenue officers, or Office of Chief Counsel attorneys. They also cannot execute closing agreements, extend the statutory period for assessments or collections, execute waivers or refund claims, or sign anything on your behalf.⁵ For returns prepared and signed after 2015, the preparer must also hold a valid Annual Filing Season Program Record of Completion for both the year the return was prepared and the year representation occurs.

Signing the Form

Form 2848 needs two signatures: yours, and your representative’s on Part II (Declaration of Representative). By signing Part II, the representative declares under penalty of perjury that they are authorized to practice before the IRS and that the information on the form is true.²

Who signs on the taxpayer side depends on the entity. Individuals sign for themselves. Both spouses sign for a joint return. For a corporation, an authorized officer signs, typically the president, vice president, treasurer, or secretary. For a partnership subject to the centralized audit regime (tax years beginning after December 31, 2017), the designated partnership representative signs using the title “Partnership Representative.” For a trust or estate, the fiduciary (trustee, executor, or personal representative) signs.¹

The 45-Day Window

When you sign first, which is the typical sequence, the representative must sign within 45 days of your signature date. Taxpayers residing abroad have 60 days. If the representative signs first, there is no time limit for your signature.¹ Miss the window and the form gets rejected. Coordinate the signing dates before you submit.

Submitting the Completed Form

Three channels are available, and the difference in speed between them is large.

Tax Pro Account

The fastest option is the IRS Tax Pro Account, which processes authorization requests in real time without any paper form. The tax professional initiates the request in their Tax Pro Account, and you approve it through your IRS Online Account. Once you approve, the authorization posts to the CAF system immediately. You do not need an IRS Online Account before the professional submits; you can create one afterward to approve. One current limit: Tax Pro Account handles only individual taxpayer authorizations, not business entities.⁶

Online Upload

When Tax Pro Account is not available (for a business entity, for example), a tax professional can upload the completed Form 2848 through the IRS online submission portal. These uploads are processed manually on a first-in, first-out basis alongside faxes and mail.⁷

Fax or Mail

You can fax or mail the completed form. The correct fax number or mailing address depends on your state of residence or the IRS office handling your matter; the “Where to File” chart in the Form 2848 instructions has the current list. Faxed and mailed forms are processed on the same first-in, first-out basis as online uploads. As of early 2026, the IRS reports processing non-real-time submissions within seven business days of receipt.⁸

Form 8821 Is a Different Form

If you only need someone to view your transcripts or receive tax information, Form 2848 is the wrong form. Form 8821 (Tax Information Authorization) authorizes inspection or receipt of confidential tax information, but it does not authorize representation.⁹ A Form 8821 designee cannot speak for you, negotiate, or sign anything. Use Form 2848 when you need someone to handle an audit, respond to notices, or resolve a tax debt.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2848
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Internal Revenue Service. About Form 2848 Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
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Internal Revenue Service. What Is a CAF Number
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Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form 2848 – Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2848 (09/2021)
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Internal Revenue Service. Tax Pro Account
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Internal Revenue Service. Submit Power of Attorney and Tax Information Authorizations
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Internal Revenue Service. Processing Status for Tax Forms
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Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization