Form 8822 cannot be filed electronically. To change your home address with the IRS, you need to print the form, complete it, sign it, and mail it to the IRS service center that handles returns from your old address. The IRS online account for individuals does not offer a digital alternative and directs taxpayers to the paper form for address changes.
What You Need to Complete the Form
Have three things in front of you: your Social Security number or ITIN, your old address exactly as it appeared on your last filed return, and your new mailing address. On Line 1, check the box if the change applies to your individual income tax returns. Check Line 2 if it applies to gift, estate, or generation-skipping transfer tax returns. Check both if both apply.
Joint filers need to read the signature instructions carefully. If your last return was joint and you and your spouse are both moving to the same new address, both of you must sign. If you’re separating and establishing a different residence from the spouse on your last joint return, check the box indicating separate residences; in that case only the spouse who is moving signs.
Where to Mail Form 8822
The mailing address depends on your old home address, not your new one. The form’s “Where To File” chart divides the country into groups of states, each assigned to a service center in Kansas City, MO, Ogden, UT, or Austin, TX. A taxpayer whose old address was in New York, Illinois, or Virginia, for example, sends the form to the Department of the Treasury in Kansas City, MO. Always confirm the routing against the current version of the form’s instructions, because sending it to the wrong service center delays processing.
If your old address was already outside the United States, or in American Samoa, Puerto Rico, or at an APO or FPO address, mail the form to the IRS service center in Austin, TX 73301-0023. The same Austin address applies if you file Form 2555 for the foreign earned income exclusion.
How Long It Takes
The IRS says processing generally takes four to six weeks from receipt. If you’re moving close to filing season, filing your next return with the new address will update your record automatically when the return is processed, which can be simpler than mailing a standalone form.
Other Ways to Notify the IRS
Form 8822 is the most common method, but not the only one.
- File your next tax return with the new address. The IRS updates your address of record when it processes a return showing a different address.
- Send a signed written statement to the service center where you filed your last return. Include your full name, old address, new address, and SSN or ITIN. If your last return was joint and you still live with your spouse, both of you must sign.
- Call the IRS. You’ll need to verify your identity, so have your full name, SSN or ITIN, and both addresses ready. Expect additional verification questions.
- Have an authorized representative submit the change. A tax professional with a valid Form 2848 power of attorney can file on your behalf and must attach a copy of the power of attorney. The IRS will not accept address changes from unauthorized third parties.
A change of address filed with the U.S. Postal Service is not a substitute. The IRS cross-references the USPS National Change of Address database and may update your record from it, but not all post offices forward government checks, and USPS forwarding typically expires after 12 months. File with the IRS directly.
Why Updating Your Address Matters
Federal law authorizes the IRS to send a notice of deficiency to your “last known address,” and that notice is legally valid whether or not you actually receive it. Your last known address is the address on your most recently filed and properly processed federal tax return, unless you’ve given the IRS clear notification of a different address through Form 8822, a written statement, a phone call, or a new return.
Once the IRS mails a notice of deficiency to your last known address, you have 90 days to file a petition with the Tax Court, or 150 days if the notice is sent to an address outside the United States. If the notice goes to an apartment you moved out of and you never see it, the clock still runs. After the deadline passes, the IRS assesses the tax and you lose the right to challenge it in Tax Court before paying. Your remaining option is to pay in full and sue for a refund in federal district court or the Court of Federal Claims, a far more expensive path. Penalties and interest continue to accrue on any deficiency regardless of whether you received the notice.
If You’re Moving Overseas
Form 8822 accommodates foreign addresses. Lines 6a, 6b, and 7 include dedicated fields for the foreign country name, province or county, and postal code. Follow the destination country’s format for the postal code and spell out the country name in full rather than abbreviating it.
Taxpayers abroad who receive a notice of deficiency get 150 days to petition the Tax Court instead of the standard 90 days. The extra time helps, but it doesn’t rescue you from a notice sent to a U.S. address you no longer use.
Businesses Use a Different Form
Form 8822 is for individuals. Any entity with an Employer Identification Number, whether a corporation, partnership, LLC, or tax-exempt organization, must use Form 8822-B to report a new business mailing address or location. Form 8822-B is also paper-only and is mailed to a service center determined by the business’s old address. It additionally reports a change in the business’s “responsible party,” which the IRS requires within 60 days of the change.