Form 2848 Instructions: Representatives, Signatures, and Filing

IRS Form 2848 is the power of attorney that lets an eligible representative speak and act for you before the Internal Revenue Service, and these instructions walk through the lines where filings most often go wrong, who can sign as your representative, how to submit the form, and how to revoke it. Federal law under 26 U.S.C. § 6103 bars the IRS from discussing your account with anyone who lacks written authorization, so a correctly completed Form 2848 is what opens that door.¹

One quick check before you start. If you only need someone to inspect your transcripts or receive copies of your tax information, Form 8821 is the right form, not 2848. Form 2848 is for representation: signing agreements, responding to notices, negotiating with examiners, agreeing to extend deadlines.²

Line 3: Describe Every Tax Matter Specifically

Line 3 is where most Forms 2848 get rejected. For each matter you want your representative to handle, you must list three things: the type of tax (income, employment, estate, excise, gift, and so on), the IRS form number that goes with it (1040, 941, 706), and the specific year or period.³

Vague entries do not work. The instructions state that the IRS will return any power of attorney that uses general references like “All years,” “All periods,” or “All taxes.”⁴ List each year separately. For quarterly filings on Form 941, list each quarter-ending date, such as “03/31/2025” and “06/30/2025.” If you need more room, attach a continuation sheet carrying the same detail.

Read Line 3 literally, because the IRS does. A POA covering 2024 income tax gives your representative no authority over your 2025 return, even if nothing else changes.

Line 5a: Additional Acts You Must Opt Into

A standard Form 2848 gives broad representation authority for the matters on Line 3, but several significant actions require you to check specific boxes on Line 5a. Skip the box and your representative cannot do these things, regardless of what Line 3 says.

Signing your return. Your representative can sign only if you authorize it on Line 5a, and only under limited circumstances such as disease, injury, or continuous absence from the United States.
Substituting or adding another representative.
Accessing your tax data through third-party intermediary service providers.
Consenting to the IRS disclosing your return information to third parties.⁴

One restriction applies to every representative and cannot be overridden. No representative may endorse or negotiate any refund check issued by the government for a federal tax liability, and that prohibition includes electronic payments directed to an account the representative controls.⁴

Line 5b runs the other direction. If you want to carve back some authority your representative would otherwise have, list those specific restrictions there.

Who You Can Name as Your Representative

The person signing Part II has to fit a recognized category of people eligible to practice before the IRS. The professional categories are attorneys, certified public accountants, enrolled agents, and enrolled actuaries.³ Each representative checks the matching designation box in Part II and lists the jurisdiction where they’re licensed.

Several non-professional categories also qualify. A corporate officer can represent the corporation, a general partner can represent the partnership, and a full-time employee can represent the employer. Family members can represent you under designation (f): spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, or step-relative.⁵

Unenrolled return preparers have the most restricted authority. They can only represent you before revenue agents, customer service representatives, and similar IRS personnel during an examination of a return they personally prepared and signed. They cannot appear before appeals officers, revenue officers, or Chief Counsel attorneys, and cannot sign closing agreements, extend assessment or collection deadlines, file refund claims, or sign documents for you.⁶

The CAF Number

Every representative needs a Centralized Authorization File number, a nine-digit identifier the IRS uses to track authorizations. A representative who has never filed an authorization with the IRS enters “None” in the CAF field, and the IRS assigns one and mails it to them.⁷ It is not an SSN, EIN, or PTIN. It exists only to track authorizations.

Signatures and the 45-Day Timing Rule

You and your representative both sign and date the form. Usually you sign first to grant the authority, then your representative signs to accept it. The timing rule that catches filers: if you sign first, your representative must sign within 45 days of your signature date. For taxpayers abroad, that window extends to 60 days. If the representative signs first, there is no deadline for your signature.⁶

Electronic signatures work only for online submissions. The IRS accepts typed names in a signature block, scanned images of handwritten signatures, stylus input on a screen, and signatures created by third-party software, but only through the online channel. Forms sent by fax or mail need original wet ink signatures.⁸

If you are a trustee, executor, administrator, or guardian, you sign in place of the taxpayer because you legally stand in the taxpayer’s position. You are not a representative. The IRS also requires you to file Form 56 (Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship) to establish that fiduciary relationship on the record.⁴ For any entity, the person signing must have legal authority to bind it, and their title must appear below the signature.

Where to Send Form 2848

You have three submission options, and the one you pick affects how fast the authorization posts.

Online Through Tax Pro Account

The fastest route is the IRS Tax Pro Account, which processes individual power of attorney requests in real time. Your representative initiates the authorization through their Tax Pro Account rather than mailing paper into a queue.⁸

Fax or Mail

If online isn’t an option, send the form to the CAF unit for your state:⁴

Memphis unit, fax 855-214-7519: eastern states from Maine to Florida, the Great Lakes region, and the mid-South.
Ogden unit, fax 855-214-7522: western and central states from Alaska to Wyoming, including Texas and the Plains.
International unit in Philadelphia, fax 855-772-3156: taxpayers outside the United States, including APO/FPO addresses and U.S. territories.

Fax numbers can change, so verify them on the IRS website before sending. If your form relates to a case already being worked by a specific IRS office, such as an audit in progress, you can also fax it straight to the examiner or officer handling the case.

Processing time for faxed and mailed forms is currently about 7 business days after receipt.⁹ The IRS does not send a notification when the form is posted, so check the processing status page or have your representative confirm through their Tax Pro Account.⁸

Line 6: Filing a New Form Can Wipe Out an Old One

Filing a new Form 2848 automatically revokes any earlier power of attorney on file for the same tax matters and periods. If one CPA was authorized for your 2023 and 2024 income tax and you file a new Form 2848 naming a different CPA for those same years, the first CPA’s authority is gone.³

To keep an existing representative and add a new one, check the box on Line 6 of the new form. That tells the IRS not to revoke the earlier authorization. Missing this box is a common and quiet mistake: your original representative loses access with no notice.

Revoking or Withdrawing the Authorization

A Form 2848 stays in effect until the matter is resolved or someone formally ends it. There is no automatic expiration.

You can revoke in one of two ways. File a new Form 2848 for the same matters (which revokes the prior one as described above), or submit an explicit revocation: write “REVOKE” across the top of the first page of a copy of the original Form 2848, add your current signature and date below that, and send it to the appropriate IRS office.⁶

No copy of the original? Send a signed and dated written statement that identifies you, lists the tax matters and periods, and names each representative whose authority you’re pulling. For a complete revocation of everything on file, write “revoke all years/periods” rather than listing each one.⁶

A representative who wants out submits a signed and dated statement to the IRS identifying the taxpayer, the representative, and the tax matters being terminated. Those using Tax Pro Account can withdraw directly through the portal.⁸ Either way, the revocation or withdrawal takes effect when the IRS receives the documentation. Until that moment, the prior authorization is still live on IRS records.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6103 – Confidentiality and Disclosure of Returns and Return Information
2
Internal Revenue Service. Forms 2848 and 8821 for Tax-Advantaged Bonds
3
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form 2848 – Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
4
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2848
5
Internal Revenue Service. 1.25.1 Rules Governing Practice Before the IRS
6
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2848
7
Internal Revenue Service. What Is a CAF Number
8
Internal Revenue Service. Submit Forms 2848 and 8821 Online
9
Internal Revenue Service. Processing Status for Tax Forms