How to Complete IRS Form 2848 Power of Attorney

To fill out IRS Form 2848 correctly, you complete Part I with your identifying details, your representative’s details, the exact tax matters and periods covered, any additional powers you want to grant, and your signature — then each representative you named completes Part II with their professional designation, jurisdiction, license or enrollment number, and signature. The IRS rejects forms for small errors on this form more often than most, so the details on Line 3 and Part II deserve the most attention.

Before you start, confirm you actually need Form 2848. It grants a power of attorney: your representative can speak for you, negotiate, sign agreements, and act on your tax matters. Form 8821 only lets someone view your records. If all you need is access, Form 8821 is the right form. Form 2848 already includes the access Form 8821 would grant, so you don’t file both.¹

Who You Can Name as Your Representative

You can’t name just anyone. The IRS restricts representation to specific credentialed professionals: attorneys, certified public accountants, and enrolled agents.² Enrolled retirement plan agents can handle retirement plan issues, and enrolled actuaries can handle actuarial matters.

Return preparers without one of those credentials have narrower authority. A preparer who holds a Record of Completion from the IRS Annual Filing Season Program can represent clients before revenue agents, customer service representatives, and the Taxpayer Advocate Service, but only for returns they personally prepared and signed.³ Unenrolled preparers without that credential have even less authority. Family members, corporate officers, and full-time employees can represent a taxpayer in certain narrow circumstances, but this is uncommon.

Line 1: Your Information

Enter your full legal name, current mailing address, and taxpayer identification number. Individuals use a Social Security number; businesses use their employer identification number. Add a daytime phone number.⁴

If you file jointly and both spouses want the same representative, put both names and both Social Security numbers on one form. If each spouse wants a different representative, file separate forms.

Line 2: Representative Information

For each representative, enter their full name, mailing address, phone, fax, and designation (attorney, CPA, enrolled agent, and so on). Each one also needs a Centralized Authorization File number, the identifier the IRS uses to track authorizations. If it’s their first time being named on any power of attorney, they write “None” and the IRS assigns a number during processing.⁵ You can list more than one representative on a single form.

A representative who has lost their CAF number can call the IRS Practitioner Priority Service at 866-860-4259, weekdays 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time, to retrieve it.⁶

Line 3: Tax Matters and Periods

This is where most rejections happen. Each tax matter needs three pieces of information listed separately: a description of the matter, the tax form number, and the specific year or period. A typical entry looks like “Income” for the description, “1040” for the form number, and “2024” for the period. For quarterly filings, you can use ranges such as “1st 2024–4th 2025.”⁴

Do not write “All years,” “All periods,” or “All taxes.” The IRS rejects any form that uses those phrases.⁷ Spell out each matter and each period. Your representative’s authority only reaches what appears on Line 3, so any year you leave off is a year the IRS won’t discuss with them.

You can include future tax years, but the IRS won’t record any future period more than three years past December 31 of the year the form is received.⁴ A form received in 2026 can cover future periods through 2029 at the latest. For estate tax matters, enter the decedent’s date of death in place of a year.

Line 5a and 5b: Additional Powers and Exclusions

By default your representative can receive your confidential tax information and handle most routine work: signing agreements, responding to IRS notices, and the like. Several powers are excluded unless you specifically grant them on Line 5a using the checkboxes provided:⁵

Signing a tax return on your behalf. This is separate from the general authority to represent you, and your representative cannot do it unless you check the box.
Substituting or adding representatives. Without this, your representative cannot bring in a colleague or hand your case to another professional.
Accessing records through an Intermediate Service Provider, which allows electronic access through third-party systems.
Authorizing disclosure to third parties, such as a mortgage lender.

Line 5b works in the opposite direction. If there are specific acts you want to exclude from the general authority your representative would otherwise have, list them there.

Line 6: Keeping Prior Authorizations

Filing a new Form 2848 automatically revokes any earlier power of attorney covering the same tax matters and periods.⁸ If you want to keep an existing representative and add another, check the box on Line 6 and attach a copy of the earlier power of attorney. Miss that attachment and the IRS rejects the form.⁷ If you’re replacing one representative with another, leave Line 6 alone and file the new form on its own.

Line 7: Your Signature

Sign and date the form. For mail or fax submissions, the signature has to be handwritten in ink; typed or digital signatures don’t count on paper submissions.⁴

If a business is the taxpayer, the person signing must be authorized to act for the entity, such as a corporate officer or general partner, and their title has to appear on the form. Leaving off the title is a common cause of rejection.⁷

One boundary worth knowing: if you’re signing for someone else as a fiduciary (executor, trustee, administrator, guardian), you sign Line 7 as the taxpayer, not in Part II. Executors for a deceased taxpayer’s estate should also file Form 56 separately to establish the fiduciary relationship with the IRS.⁴

Part II: What Each Representative Signs

Every representative you named on Line 2 has to complete and sign Part II. Each one enters:

The designation letter that matches their credential (“a” for attorney, “b” for CPA, “c” for enrolled agent, and so on).
The jurisdiction where they hold that credential.
Their bar number, license number, or enrollment number, depending on the designation.
A signature and date.

Missing any of these fields will get the form rejected.⁷ By signing Part II, the representative affirms they are eligible to practice before the IRS and are not currently suspended or disbarred.

The 45-Day Signature Rule

The two signatures on the form have a timing rule between them. When the taxpayer signs first, the representative has 45 days to sign for a domestic authorization, or 60 days if the taxpayer lives abroad.⁴ If the representative signs first, that constraint doesn’t apply.⁹ Once both signatures are on the form, there’s no separate deadline to send it in.

Signatures: When Electronic Is Allowed

Handwritten signatures are required for mail and fax. If you submit through the IRS online portal instead, several forms of electronic signature are acceptable:¹⁰

A typed name in the signature block.
A scanned image of a handwritten signature.
A signature drawn on a touchscreen with a stylus.
A signature captured on an electronic signature pad.
A signature produced through third-party signing software.

When a taxpayer signs electronically in a remote transaction and the tax professional doesn’t already have a personal or business relationship with them, the professional has to verify the taxpayer’s identity. That means inspecting a government-issued photo ID by video call or through a photo the taxpayer takes of themselves, recording the taxpayer’s name and identification number, and cross-checking against secondary documentation such as a prior tax return or Social Security card.⁴ For business taxpayers, the professional also has to confirm the signer’s authority to act for the entity.

Where to Send the Completed Form

The IRS accepts Form 2848 through three channels, and the processing speed varies.

Tax Pro Account is the fastest. Tax professionals who submit individual power of attorney requests through this portal get real-time processing, and the authorization posts to the Centralized Authorization File immediately.¹⁰

Submit Forms Online lets you upload a signed Form 2848 digitally. It accepts electronic or handwritten signatures, but forms are processed in the order received, same as fax and mail.¹¹

Fax and mail remain available, both requiring handwritten signatures. The IRS routes paper submissions geographically: states west of the Mississippi generally go to Ogden, and states east of the Mississippi go to Memphis. International authorizations go to Philadelphia.¹² Fax is faster than mail but doesn’t skip the queue.

Processing times outside Tax Pro Account have historically varied and can stretch to several weeks during backlogs. Until the authorization posts to the CAF system, the IRS won’t discuss the taxpayer’s account with the representative. If you’re responding to a specific IRS notice, attaching a copy of the completed Form 2848 to that response lets the assigned agent see the authorization directly, even before CAF processing finishes.

Rejection Checklist Before You Send

Walk through these before submitting. Each one is a frequent cause of rejection:⁷

Both the taxpayer and every representative have signed and dated the form. A missing date alone is enough to trigger a return.
Line 3 lists each tax matter, form number, and specific period. No “All years” or “All future periods.”
If Line 6 is checked, a copy of the prior power of attorney is attached.
Part II shows the designation letter and licensing jurisdiction for each representative.
Part II shows each representative’s bar number, CPA license number, or enrollment number.
If a business officer signed for the taxpayer, their title appears on the form.
If the taxpayer signed first, the representative signed within 45 days (or 60 days for taxpayers abroad).

A rejection resets the processing clock, so it’s worth the few minutes to check each item before the form leaves your desk.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Forms 2848 and 8821 for Tax-Advantaged Bonds
2
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 947 – Practice Before the IRS and Power of Attorney
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Internal Revenue Service. Annual Filing Season Program
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2848
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 2848 – Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
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Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your CP547 Notice
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Internal Revenue Service. Common Reasons for Power of Attorney (POA) Rejection
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2848
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Internal Revenue Service. IRM Procedural Update WI-21-1012-1703
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Internal Revenue Service. Submit Forms 2848 and 8821 Online
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Internal Revenue Service. Submit Power of Attorney and Tax Information Authorizations
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Internal Revenue Service. The Centralized Authorization File (CAF) – Authorization Rules