IRS Consent Form 4506-C: Line-by-Line Instructions and Signing

IRS Form 4506-C is the consent form you sign to let a mortgage lender or other approved third party pull your tax transcript directly from the IRS. It runs through the IRS Income Verification Express Service (IVES), a secure channel that delivers transcripts to enrolled participants once you authorize the request. You’ll usually see it during loan underwriting, and the lender pays the IRS fee, not you.¹²

Who Uses Form 4506-C and Why

Only enrolled IVES participants can submit Form 4506-C. That’s the “C.” Since March 1, 2021, the IRS has required all IVES transcript requests to come in on this form, replacing the older 4506-T for that purpose.¹

In practice, a lender fills in their own participant information, sends you the form, and asks you to complete your taxpayer sections and sign. The transcript then goes straight from the IRS to the lender’s secure mailbox, so the lender can verify your reported income against IRS records rather than trusting the pay stubs and returns you handed over.

Which Transcript to Request

Line 6 covers three transcript types, and you can check only one:

Line 6a, Return Transcript, shows most line items from your original return as filed. It’s the most common request in mortgage underwriting because it confirms adjusted gross income and other reported figures. It doesn’t reflect changes the IRS made after processing, and it’s available for the current year plus three prior processing years.
Line 6b, Account Transcript, shows basic data like filing status, taxable income, and payment types, plus any post-filing changes. If you amended your return or the IRS adjusted it, those changes show up here.³
Line 6c, Record of Account, combines the two into a single document.

Line 7 is separate. It’s for a Wage and Income Transcript, which reports data from W-2s, 1099s, and 1098s. The IRS can provide this information for up to ten years, well beyond the four-year window for return transcripts.⁴

Line-by-Line Instructions

Lines 1 and 2: Taxpayer Names and IDs

Line 1a takes your full legal name exactly as it appeared on the tax return for the year you’re requesting. Line 1b takes your Social Security Number or ITIN with dashes. If you filed jointly and both spouses’ transcripts are needed, the second spouse’s name goes on Line 2a and their SSN or ITIN on Line 2b. Both spouses must sign when both are listed.⁴

Lines 3 and 4: Addresses

Line 3 is your current address. Line 4 is the address shown on the last return you filed. If you’ve moved, these differ, and the IRS uses Line 4 to match the request against your account. Getting Line 4 wrong is one of the fastest ways to stall the request.

Line 5: IVES Participant Information

Your lender fills this in, but it’s worth knowing what has to be there because a blank field kills the submission. Line 5a needs the IVES participant’s name, Participant ID number, Secure Object Repository (SOR) mailbox ID, and mailing address. All of it is required.⁵

Line 5b is an optional customer file number (up to 10 digits) the participant uses for tracking. It can’t contain an SSN, ITIN, or EIN. Line 5c is an optional unique identifier for mailbox filing. Line 5d asks for the client company’s name, phone number, and address — the company that ultimately receives the transcript from the IVES participant. Line 5d cannot be blank. If the IVES participant is also the end client, they repeat their Line 5a information here.⁴

Line 6: Tax Form Number and Transcript Choice

Enter one tax form number (1040, 1065, 1120, and so on) in the designated field, then check exactly one of 6a, 6b, or 6c. Only one tax form number is allowed per Form 4506-C. If you need transcripts for a personal 1040 and a business 1065, that’s two separate forms.

Line 8: Tax Year or Period

Enter each tax year’s ending date in mm/dd/yyyy format. For a calendar-year 2025 individual return, that’s 12 31 2025. Fiscal-year filers use their fiscal year-end date. There’s room for up to four periods on one form.⁴

Signature and Date

Sign and date only after Lines 5 through 8 are complete. The IRS must receive the form within 120 days of your signature, or it will be rejected. Two checkboxes in the signature area matter: one confirms the form was electronically signed (leave it unchecked for a wet signature), and one confirms an authorized representative signed on the taxpayer’s behalf.⁴

Signing for a Business or Through a Representative

For a corporation, the form can be signed by an officer with legal authority to bind the company, anyone designated by the board of directors, or an employee authorized in writing by a principal officer and attested to by the secretary. A shareholder holding at least 1 percent of outstanding stock can also sign but must attach proof of ownership. For a partnership, any person who was a member during any part of the requested tax period can sign. Entity signers enter their title on the form, and the authorizing document (board resolution, letters testamentary for an estate, and so on) must be attached.⁴

A tax professional or other authorized representative can sign for you if you specifically delegated that authority on Form 2848, Line 5a. Attach the completed Form 2848 to the 4506-C and check the authorized representative box in the signature area. Forgetting that checkbox gets the form rejected.

Electronic Signatures

Most lenders collect signatures electronically. The IRS allows this, doesn’t endorse any specific vendor, and requires the platform to meet all of the following:⁶

Identity authentication before the signing ceremony, using methods like two-factor authentication, knowledge-based authentication, or single sign-on.
Explicit consent from the signer to sign electronically before viewing the document.
Sole control of the signature, tied uniquely to the individual.
A tamper-proof seal after signing, using industry-standard encryption.
A full audit log capturing creation date and time, IP address, lifecycle notifications, authentication result, consent confirmation, and signature outcomes.

If you sign electronically, the electronic signature checkbox must be checked. If you sign in ink, it must be unchecked. Mixing those up triggers automatic rejection.

Reasons the IRS Rejects the Form

Almost every rejection traces back to a short list of errors:

Only one spouse signed when both were listed on Lines 1 and 2.
Electronic signature checkbox marked when the form was actually signed in ink, or the reverse.
Authorized representative signed without the representative box checked.
Any field under Line 5a left blank.
Line 5d left blank or marked “Not Applicable.”
More than one tax form number entered on a single form.
Signature more than 120 days old by the time the IRS receives it.
Anything written on Line 7 when you don’t want a Wage and Income transcript. Leave it fully blank; the IRS’s scanning software reads “NA” as a real entry.⁵

What Happens After You Sign

Hand the signed form back to your lender. They submit it through IVES channels, not general IRS mail or fax lines. Legacy fax submissions run roughly two to three business days, excluding weekends and holidays.⁷ Electronic submissions through the IVES Web User Interface or Application-to-Application portal deliver transcripts in real time after the taxpayer approves the request.⁵

The IRS delivers the transcript to the participant’s SOR mailbox, not to you. You won’t receive a copy from the IRS.⁸

If you have an IRS online account, you can authorize an IVES transcript request through the account instead of on paper. This avoids the 120-day signature window entirely.¹

How Form 4506-C Differs From 4506-T and 4506

These three forms are easy to confuse and not interchangeable.

Form 4506-C is only for IVES participants requesting transcripts electronically with your consent. It’s the standard form in mortgage lending.

Form 4506-T is the general-purpose transcript request form for non-IVES situations. Since July 2019, the IRS has stopped mailing transcripts requested through 4506-T to third parties; masked transcripts now go only to the taxpayer’s address of record. A third party that can’t work with a transcript you received in the mail has to join IVES or route the request through an existing IVES participant using 4506-C.⁹

Form 4506 requests a full photocopy of the actual return, attachments and all. The IRS charges $30 per copy, and processing takes considerably longer than a transcript request.¹⁰ Most lenders don’t need that; a transcript through 4506-C gives them the income data they need without the cost or wait.

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Internal Revenue Service. Income Verification Express Service (IVES)
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Internal Revenue Service. Income Verification Express Service for Participants
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Internal Revenue Service. Transcript Types for Individuals and Ways to Order Them
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 4506-C IVES Request for Transcript of Tax Return
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Internal Revenue Service. IRS Income Verification Express Service (IVES) FAQs
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Internal Revenue Service. How to Get Started Using IVES Electronic Signature
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Internal Revenue Service. Income Verification Express Service Faxing for Participants
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Internal Revenue Service. 3.5.20 Income Verification Express Service (IVES) – Processing Requests for Tax Return/Return Information
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Internal Revenue Service. Request for Transcript of Tax Return
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 4506 – Request for Copy of Tax Return