How to Change Responsible Party on EIN: Form 8822-B in 60 Days

To change the responsible party on an EIN, file IRS Form 8822-B within 60 days of the change and mail it to the IRS service center that covers your state.¹ There is no electronic filing option and no fee. The form itself is one page, but getting the details wrong or missing the deadline can cause real problems, including missed IRS notices while penalties and interest keep piling up on the entity.

Confirm You Need Form 8822-B and Not a New EIN

Form 8822-B is the right form when the entity stays the same and only the person in charge changes. If the entity’s ownership or legal structure itself changes, the IRS generally requires a brand-new EIN instead.²

Use Form 8822-B when:

A corporation’s president retires and a new officer takes over.
An LLC’s managing member sells their interest to another individual who assumes control.
A partnership adds or removes partners without terminating the partnership itself.
The entity simply changes its name or location.

Apply for a new EIN instead when a sole proprietor incorporates, forms a partnership, or declares bankruptcy; when a corporation receives a new charter from the secretary of state, converts to a partnership or sole proprietorship, or merges to form a new corporation; when a partnership incorporates, dissolves and reforms, or one partner takes over as a sole proprietor; or when an LLC terminates and reforms as a corporation or partnership.²

Who Can Be Listed as the New Responsible Party

The responsible party must be a real person who controls or directly manages the entity’s funds and assets, not another business, holding company, or nominee.³ For a corporation, this is typically an officer or principal shareholder. For a partnership, a general partner. For an LLC, the managing member.

A registered agent does not qualify, because that role is limited to receiving legal documents and carries no authority over finances. Ordinary employees and outside contractors also don’t qualify unless they’ve been granted actual control over the entity’s funds and decisions. If your entity was originally set up with a nominee listed as responsible party, filing 8822-B is how you correct that record and put the actual controlling person on file.³

Information to Gather Before You File

Pull everything together before you start writing on the form. Chasing down a missing number is how forms sit half-finished and blow past the 60-day window.

The entity’s exact legal name as it appears on your formation documents and original EIN application. The IRS EIN confirmation letter (Notice CP 575) is the fastest way to verify the name and number on file.
The nine-digit EIN.
The outgoing responsible party’s full legal name and SSN, ITIN, or EIN.
The incoming responsible party’s full legal name and SSN, ITIN, or EIN.

If you can’t locate the outgoing party’s information, prior federal tax returns can help. Corporate returns (Form 1120) and partnership returns (Form 1065) list the signing officer or partner, which often corresponds to the responsible party on file.⁴

If the New Responsible Party Is Foreign

If the incoming responsible party is a foreign individual with no SSN or ITIN and no eligibility for one, enter “foreign” or “N/A” in the taxpayer identification field.⁵ The field can’t be left blank, but the IRS will accept the form with that entry.

Filling Out the Form

Download the current version of Form 8822-B from the IRS website.⁶ The form handles both address changes and responsible party changes on a single page, so make sure you complete the correct sections.

At the top, enter the entity’s legal name and EIN. Then check the boxes indicating which type of return this change affects. If you are changing only the responsible party and not the address, check the box for the type of tax returns your entity files (employment, excise, income, and so on) and skip the address lines.

The responsible party fields are lines 8 and 9:¹

Line 8: the new responsible party’s full legal name.
Line 9: the new responsible party’s SSN, ITIN, or EIN. A caution on the form directs you to the Form SS-4 instructions to confirm who may use an EIN here rather than an SSN.

The lines directly above these ask for the previous responsible party’s name and identification number. Fill in both the old and new information completely. At the bottom, an authorized person must sign and date the form. That signer can be an officer, owner, general partner, LLC member-manager, or authorized representative.

Updating the Address at the Same Time

If the business address has also changed, report both updates on the same form. Line 5 is the old mailing address, line 6 the new mailing address, and line 7 a new physical business location if it differs from the mailing address.¹ Include apartment, suite, or room numbers. For a foreign address, complete the country name, province, and postal code fields below the standard lines.

Where to Mail Form 8822-B

The mailing address depends on where the business is located.⁷

Businesses in Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, or Wisconsin send the form to:

Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service Center, Kansas City, MO 64999

Businesses 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 send the form to:

Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service Center, Ogden, UT 84201

Because there is no electronic acknowledgment for this form, send it by certified mail with a return receipt. That gives you proof of the mailing date and delivery if the IRS later questions whether you met the 60-day deadline.⁸

What Happens After You Mail It

Processing typically takes four to six weeks.¹ The IRS generally does not send a formal confirmation unless something is wrong with the submission or the change affects the entity’s tax liability, so silence isn’t a bad sign.

If nothing has arrived within 60 days of mailing, send a copy of the form to the same address with “Second Request” written on it.³ Keep copies of everything you send, including the certified mail receipt.

Why the 60-Day Deadline Still Matters

The IRS does not impose a penalty for failing to file Form 8822-B itself. The consequences show up elsewhere. If the IRS doesn’t have your current responsible party or mailing address on file, the entity may never receive notices of deficiency or demands for payment. Those notices don’t pause because you didn’t get them, and penalties and interest keep accruing on any unpaid tax regardless of awareness.¹ The IRS can assess a deficiency by default if a notice of deficiency goes to an old address and the 90-day window to petition Tax Court expires with no response.⁹

In practice, a business can owe thousands in penalties it never knew about because the person listed as responsible party left years ago and IRS mail has been going to someone with no current connection to the entity. That’s the real exposure the 60-day rule is designed to prevent.

If the Responsible Party Dies or Becomes Incapacitated

For a sole proprietorship, the IRS generally requires a new EIN if the business continues under the estate or a surviving spouse; the existing EIN does not simply transfer.²

For corporations, partnerships, and LLCs, the entity survives the death of its responsible party, so file Form 8822-B to name a successor rather than applying for a new EIN. The IRS performs a date-of-death check on responsible parties for many entity types, including corporations, LLCs, and partnerships, and a flagged deceased responsible party can block future EIN-related transactions until the record is updated.¹⁰ Filing promptly avoids that.

If the responsible party is incapacitated rather than deceased, whoever holds legal authority over the entity, such as a court-appointed conservator, should file Form 8822-B to designate a new responsible party. Every EIN needs a living, competent individual on file, and leaving an incapacitated person on the record produces the same missed-notice risk described above.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Form 8822-B, Change of Address or Responsible Party — Business
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Internal Revenue Service. When To Get a New EIN
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Internal Revenue Service. Responsible Parties and Nominees
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1120 (2025)
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form SS-4
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Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8822-B, Change of Address or Responsible Party – Business
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Internal Revenue Service. Where To File Form 8822-B
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TAS: Taxpayer Advocate Service. Taxpayer Mails Return
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Internal Revenue Service. 4.8.9 Statutory Notices of Deficiency
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Internal Revenue Service. Assigning Employer Identification Numbers (EINs)