IRS Form 8878 is the signature authorization your tax preparer needs from you before electronically filing an extension request on your individual return. Its full title is “IRS e-file Signature Authorization for Form 4868 or Form 2350,” and it links your written consent to the electronic transmission of that extension. The form stays with your Electronic Return Originator (ERO); it is not sent to the IRS unless the agency asks for it.1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form 8878 – IRS e-file Signature Authorization for Form 4868 or Form 2350
When You Have to Sign Form 8878
Not every e-filed extension needs one. The form is triggered by two things: who enters the PIN that serves as your electronic signature, and whether you’re authorizing the IRS to pull a payment from your bank account.
You need to sign Form 8878 in these situations:
- Your ERO enters or generates your PIN on Form 4868 and you’re authorizing an electronic funds withdrawal. Parts I and II apply.
- Your ERO enters or generates your PIN on Form 2350. Parts I and II apply.
- Your ERO uses the Practitioner PIN method for Form 4868 together with an electronic funds withdrawal. Parts I, II, and III apply.
You don’t need Form 8878 if you enter your own five-digit PIN on Form 4868 (outside the Practitioner PIN method) and no bank withdrawal is involved. You also don’t need it if you’re filing the extension without authorizing any electronic payment from your account.1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form 8878 – IRS e-file Signature Authorization for Form 4868 or Form 2350
The simple test: if your ERO is handling the PIN, or if money is coming out of your bank account with the extension, you’re probably signing one.
Which Extensions It Covers
Form 8878 authorizes the electronic filing of two forms, and only two:
- Form 4868, the automatic extension most individual filers use to push their Form 1040 deadline from April 15 to October 15.2Internal Revenue Service. Form 4868 – Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return
- Form 2350, a narrower extension for U.S. citizens and resident aliens abroad who need more time to meet the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test for the foreign earned income exclusion or foreign housing exclusion.3Internal Revenue Service. About Form 2350, Application for Extension of Time to File U.S. Income Tax Return
Without a completed Form 8878 in the situations above, your ERO cannot lawfully transmit either extension to the IRS.4Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8878, IRS e-file Signature Authorization for Form 4868 or Form 2350
Form 8878 Is Not Form 8879
These two look alike and get confused constantly. Form 8878 covers extensions only. Form 8879 is the signature authorization for the actual return, meaning your Form 1040 itself.5Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8879, IRS e-file Signature Authorization If your preparer files an extension in April and then your return in October, you’ll sign both, at different times. They are not substitutes.
What Your Signature Authorizes
Signing Form 8878 does two things. First, it gives your ERO permission to transmit the extension electronically using the PIN that stands in for your signature. Second, if you’re paying with the extension, it authorizes the IRS to pull the amount you specify from the bank account listed on the form, on the date you request.
Part II is where the bank information lives: routing number, account number, payment amount, and requested withdrawal date. Joint filers each sign. You can sign electronically, either by entering a PIN or using an electronic signature pad; the IRS made that option permanent through Section 10.10.1 of the Internal Revenue Manual after allowing it temporarily during the pandemic.6PwC. IRS Permanently Extends Electronic Signatures for Certain Forms You do not have to appear in your preparer’s office.
Whatever the signing method, your ERO must have the signed form before transmitting the extension. Submitting without your signature violates IRS e-file provider rules.7Internal Revenue Service. Self-select PIN Method for Forms 1040 and 4868 Modernized e-File (MeF)
What Signing Does Not Do
An extension buys time to file, not time to pay. Any tax you owe is still due by the original April deadline, and Form 8878 contains language making that explicit.8Internal Revenue Service. Get an Extension to File Your Tax Return
Miss the payment deadline and the failure-to-pay penalty runs at 0.5% of your unpaid balance per month or part of a month, capped at 25%, with interest on top.9Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Pay Penalty The electronic funds withdrawal option on Form 8878 exists so you can pay as much as you reasonably can when the extension is filed and keep those penalties from stacking up. That is also why the IRS expects the estimated tax liability on the extension to be a good-faith figure rather than a placeholder.
Where the Form Goes After You Sign It
Nowhere, in most cases. The header on Form 8878 says it plainly: the ERO retains the form and does not submit it to the IRS unless asked. Only the underlying Form 4868 or Form 2350 gets transmitted.1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form 8878 – IRS e-file Signature Authorization for Form 4868 or Form 2350
Your ERO must keep the signed form in a secure, tamper-proof, access-controlled system for three years from the return’s due date or three years from the date the IRS received the filing, whichever is later.10Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions for IRS e-file Signature Authorization
Once the IRS accepts the extension, both you and your ERO get an electronic acknowledgment. Save it. That acknowledgment is your proof of a timely filing if anything about the extension is questioned later.2Internal Revenue Service. Form 4868 – Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return