To tell the IRS your business has moved, file Form 8822-B, Change of Address or Responsible Party — Business, and mail it to the IRS service center in Kansas City or Ogden depending on where your old address was located. The form is free, paper-only, and takes the IRS about four to six weeks to process.1Internal Revenue Service. Address Changes File it promptly. Once you’ve moved, any notice the IRS mails to your last address on file is legally delivered whether you see it or not.
Which Form Your Business Files
Form 8822-B is the form for any business that has its own Employer Identification Number: corporations, partnerships, multi-member LLCs, tax-exempt organizations, trusts, and estates. It covers the full range of business returns, including Forms 1120, 1065, 940, 941, and 990.2Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8822-B, Change of Address or Responsible Party – Business
Sole proprietors are the exception. Because Schedule C income flows through your personal Form 1040, your business address is tied to your individual address in IRS records, and you use Form 8822 (the individual version) instead.3Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 157, Change Your Address – How to Notify the IRS If you’re a sole proprietor who also holds a separate EIN — for payroll, say — you may need to file both: Form 8822 for your personal returns and Form 8822-B for anything tied to the EIN.
What Goes On the Form
The form itself is short, but the IRS will reject it if the identifying information doesn’t match their records. Enter the entity’s legal name exactly as it appears on your most recently filed return, along with your EIN.4Internal Revenue Service. Form 8822-B, Change of Address or Responsible Party – Business Small discrepancies cause delays: an ampersand where the return used “and,” a missing “Inc.,” a swapped comma.
You’ll also enter the old address, the new mailing address, and the date the change took effect. That effective date tells the IRS how to route correspondence generated around the transition. At line 1, check the box for the type of returns the change applies to — employment, excise, income, or other business returns — matching what your business actually files.
Do not attach Form 8822-B to your tax return. It’s a standalone filing with its own mailing address.
Who Can Sign
The signature has to come from someone authorized to bind the entity: a corporate officer, an owner, a general partner, an LLC member-manager, a plan administrator, a fiduciary, or an authorized representative with a valid power of attorney.4Internal Revenue Service. Form 8822-B, Change of Address or Responsible Party – Business A bookkeeper or office manager who handles the mail doesn’t qualify. The signer prints their name, title, and a daytime phone number alongside the signature.
Where to Mail It
Form 8822-B goes to one of two IRS service centers, based on the location of your old business address, not the new one and not the center where you filed your last return.5Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Form 8822-B
Kansas City, MO 64999 — if your old address was in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, or Wisconsin.
Ogden, UT 84201 — if your old address was 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, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, or Wyoming, or if it was outside the United States.
Sending it to the wrong center won’t void it, but it will add weeks to an already slow process. Send it certified mail with return receipt requested. If you later need to prove the IRS was notified before a particular notice was issued, that receipt may be your only evidence.
Processing Time and Confirmation
Plan on four to six weeks from the date the IRS receives the form.1Internal Revenue Service. Address Changes During that window, mail can still go to your old address. If you’re expecting time-sensitive correspondence — a response to an audit, for instance — call the IRS in addition to mailing the form.
For address changes tied to employment tax returns (Forms 940 and 941), the IRS sends two confirmation notices once the change is processed: Notice 148A to the new address and Notice 148B to the old one.1Internal Revenue Service. Address Changes For other return types, don’t expect a confirmation letter. Your certified mail receipt may be the only record you have.
Why Filing Quickly Matters
The IRS operates on a legal concept called the “last known address,” which is the address on your most recently filed and properly processed return unless you’ve given the IRS clear notification of a different one.6eCFR. 26 CFR 301.6212-2 – Definition of Last Known Address A notice mailed there is legally valid, received or not.
This is where businesses get hurt. If you moved six months ago and never filed Form 8822-B, the IRS can mail a statutory notice of deficiency to the old address. You don’t see it. The Tax Court petition deadline runs out. Penalties and interest keep accruing.4Internal Revenue Service. Form 8822-B, Change of Address or Responsible Party – Business By the time you learn what happened, the options are narrower and more expensive.
The IRS does periodically pull address updates from USPS National Change of Address data, which reflects forwarding requests for up to 36 months.6eCFR. 26 CFR 301.6212-2 – Definition of Last Known Address That’s a partial safety net, not a substitute. USPS forwarding isn’t guaranteed for government mail, and telling the post office is not “clear and concise notification” to the IRS. Filing Form 8822-B is.
The Responsible Party Update on the Same Form
Form 8822-B does double duty. It also reports a change in the entity’s responsible party, meaning the individual who controls the business’s funds and assets.7Internal Revenue Service. Responsible Parties and Nominees Any entity with an EIN must report a change in responsible party within 60 days, whether or not the address also changed.2Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8822-B, Change of Address or Responsible Party – Business
The responsible party has to be an individual, not another entity. Who that is depends on the structure: a principal officer for a corporation or tax-exempt organization; a general partner for a partnership; a grantor, owner, or trustor for a trust; and an executor, administrator, or other fiduciary for an estate.7Internal Revenue Service. Responsible Parties and Nominees Someone with only a financial interest, like a minor beneficiary of a trust, doesn’t qualify if they lack authority to manage operations. Ownership transitions trip businesses up here: a new majority owner may assume the role has transferred before actual management authority has.
The IRS won’t assess a specific penalty for filing this update late.4Internal Revenue Service. Form 8822-B, Change of Address or Responsible Party – Business The practical exposure is the same as a stale address: notices go to the wrong person, and penalties and interest keep running.
What Filing With the IRS Does Not Cover
Form 8822-B updates the IRS and nothing else. Most businesses also need to notify their state department of revenue and, for registered entities like corporations and LLCs, their secretary of state. Requirements vary by state, but the pattern is typically an amendment or change form filed with the secretary of state, plus a separate update to state tax accounts. Some states charge a filing fee for address amendments, generally around $25 to $60.
Professional licenses, local business tax certificates, and state unemployment insurance registrations each need their own notification. Build a list of every government entity your business files with and work through it. The IRS form is one piece.