To protect your privacy, IRS employees won't talk to just anyone about your taxes. To give them permission to discuss your taxes with someone other than yourself, the IRS will need a power of attorney (POA) designation through Form 2848 that we'll provide you with.
You may have heard the term "power of attorney" in the context of giving someone the legal right to make medical or financial decisions on your behalf. Using Form 2848, "Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative", doesn't grant the IRS such broad powers. It only authorizes another individual to deal with the IRS for you. This can include:
- negotiating a payment plan,
- signing on your behalf,
- receiving copies of IRS notices,
- responding to notices on your behalf,
- accessing transcripts from your IRS account and
- appealing a dispute with the IRS.
When do you need Form 2848?
Not just anyone can be granted power of attorney with the IRS. While you can authorize immediate family members to act on your behalf, this form is most often used to authorize a tax professional to deal with the IRS for you. This includes:
- Attorneys
- CPAs
- Enrolled agents
- Enrolled actuaries
- Unenrolled return preparers (only if they prepared the tax return in question)
- Corporate officers or full-time employees (for business tax matters)
- Enrolled retirement plan agents (for retirement plan tax matters)
- Representatives who work in a qualified Low Income Taxpayer Clinic or Student Tax Clinic Program
There are several reasons you might want to appoint an IRS power of attorney. For example,
- If you're being audited by the IRS, giving your tax resolution professional power of attorney allows them to work directly with the auditor.
- If you have a medical condition that makes it difficult for you to communicate with the IRS, you can give a family member the authority to call the IRS to discuss your tax issues.
- If you have an unresolved tax debt, a power of attorney allows your tax lawyer to negotiate payment arrangements.
You can list up to three representatives on the form. By checking a box under the person's name, you can authorize the IRS to send copies of any confidential tax information to them. This includes copies of tax return transcripts and IRS notices. We'll take care of all of this for you, doing all the paperwork, and only needing your authorization and signature.
Form 2848 also allows you to define the scope of authority you wish to give your representative, depending on how line 3 in Part I is filled out. When completing this section, the specific issue(s), the types of forms involved, and the year(s) to which this authority applies need to be provided properly; otherwise they'll reject the request. Remember, we'll take care of all the issues and designations needed once we understand your specific tax debt situation.
Why give power of attorney to Tax Problem Solver?
We like to say, 'we speak fluent IRS.' That's true. We deal directly with them on a daily basis and we know how they think and how they'll respond to the solutions we negotiate. You definitely want our team of tax debt solution experts negotiating on your behalf. We've been doing it for 40 years and we know what we're doing.
Filing an IRS power of attorney
Once Form 2848 is filled out, you (and your spouse, if you're married) need to sign it and it will also need our signature. Then it's ready for us to submit to the IRS.
An IRS power of attorney stays in effect for seven years, or until you or your representative rescinds it. To revoke an IRS power of attorney, you either file a new form naming someone else as power of attorney or write "REVOKE" across the top of the first page. Then sign and date below the annotation and mail the form to the address listed in the instructions. At the appropriate time, we'll take care of that for you as well.
The Tax Problem Solver team has you covered
With power of attorney, we'll take care of handling your tax debt matter directly with the IRS, you won't have to worry about a thing. We'll keep you posted every step of the way, and arrive at the best solution that works for you! We're expert negotiators with the IRS and it shows in the results we get for our clients. Talk to us today, let's get things taken care of for you
Contact me by one of the methods below in the blue box, or email me at Larry@TaxProblemSolver.com and we can dive into your specific tax matters and solve them. You can also click here to book a free consultation.
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