Form 8879-PE is the IRS e-file signature authorization a partnership uses to let its Electronic Return Originator (ERO) transmit Form 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership Income. A general partner, LLC member manager, or partnership representative signs it and selects a five-digit PIN that serves as the electronic signature on the return. The IRS revised the form in December 2025 and moved it to continuous use, so it will now be updated only as needed rather than reissued each tax year.1Internal Revenue Service. Form 8879-PE (Rev. December 2025)
Who Signs Form 8879-PE
The correct signer depends on what is being filed. For an original e-filed Form 1065, the signer is a general partner or an LLC member manager with authority to act for the partnership. For an Administrative Adjustment Request (AAR), the signer is the partnership representative. If that representative is an entity rather than a person, the designated individual acting on the entity’s behalf signs instead.1Internal Revenue Service. Form 8879-PE (Rev. December 2025)
Confirm that the person signing actually has authority under the partnership agreement before executing the form. The signature is the legal basis for the entire electronic filing.
What Goes on the Form
The top of the form carries the partnership’s legal name, Employer Identification Number, and tax year, all of which must match Form 1065 exactly. Key financial figures from the completed return are entered so the IRS can verify that what the ERO transmits matches what the signer reviewed.
The ERO adds their own name and Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN). The authorized person then chooses a five-digit PIN — any combination other than all zeros — and signs the form. That signature is a declaration under penalties of perjury that the signer has reviewed the electronic return and that the information is true, correct, and complete. It also authorizes the IRS to disclose the partnership’s return information to the ERO as part of the e-file process.1Internal Revenue Service. Form 8879-PE (Rev. December 2025)
Signature Before Transmission
The ERO must have the completed, signed Form 8879-PE in hand before transmitting the return or releasing it for transmission. Collecting the signature after the return has already been sent to the IRS is not permitted under e-file procedures.1Internal Revenue Service. Form 8879-PE (Rev. December 2025)
The ERO transmits the Form 1065 data to the IRS. Form 8879-PE itself is not sent. It stays with the ERO as the record that the partnership authorized the filing.
How Long the ERO Must Keep It
The ERO retains the signed form for three years, measured from the return’s due date or the date the IRS received the return, whichever is later. An early filing does not shorten that period; the clock still runs from the original due date.1Internal Revenue Service. Form 8879-PE (Rev. December 2025)
Electronic storage is permitted, provided the ERO follows the recordkeeping guidelines in Revenue Procedure 97-22. The IRS can ask to see the signed form at any point during the retention period to verify the authorization.1Internal Revenue Service. Form 8879-PE (Rev. December 2025) The partnership should keep a copy for its own records.
Using Form 8879-PE for an Administrative Adjustment Request
The December 2025 revision expanded the form to cover AARs as well as original returns. When a partnership discovers an error on a previously filed Form 1065 and files an AAR to correct it under the centralized partnership audit regime, Form 8879-PE authorizes that electronic submission. The partnership representative — or the designated individual, if the representative is an entity — signs in place of a general partner.1Internal Revenue Service. Form 8879-PE (Rev. December 2025)
Older References to Form 1065-B
Some older guidance ties Form 8879-PE to Form 1065-B, U.S. Return of Income for Electing Large Partnerships. Those references are obsolete. Congress repealed the Electing Large Partnership regime under Internal Revenue Code Sections 771 through 777 in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, effective for partnership tax years beginning after December 31, 2017.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 771 to 777 – Repealed The last Form 1065-B was filed for 2017, and the IRS treats the form and its instructions as obsolete after that year.3Internal Revenue Service. 2017 Instructions for Form 1065-B Form 8879-PE was retained and now serves as the signature authorization for the standard Form 1065 that all partnerships file, along with AARs filed under the current audit rules.1Internal Revenue Service. Form 8879-PE (Rev. December 2025)