What Is IRS Form 8822-B and When Do You Need to File?

IRS Form 8822-B is the paper form a business files to tell the IRS that its mailing address, physical location, or responsible party has changed. Any entity with an Employer Identification Number uses it, including corporations, partnerships, LLCs, trusts, nonprofits, and sole proprietors who hold an EIN. One filing can cover all three types of changes at once. The deadline that actually bites is for responsible-party changes: 60 days from the date the new person takes control.¹

When You Need to File It

Three events trigger the form: a new business mailing address, a new physical location, or a new responsible party. Check the box for each change that applies and indicate whether the change affects your general business returns or your employee plan returns.²

Tax-exempt organizations have to do a little more. An exempt organization that moves still has to report the address change on its next Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N, even if it already sent in Form 8822-B. Filing 8822-B updates the IRS database sooner, but it doesn’t replace the annual return requirement.³

If you also moved personally and file your own individual return, Form 8822-B doesn’t cover you. That’s Form 8822. You need both when the home and the business both change.¹

Who Counts as a Responsible Party

The responsible party is the person who actually controls the entity and can direct the use of its funds and assets. For publicly traded corporations, that’s a principal officer. For partnerships, a general partner. For a disregarded entity, the owner. For everyone else, it’s whoever has enough practical control over the entity’s funds to direct the business.⁴

Being entitled to receive money from the entity, on its own, isn’t the test. The question is control over the assets, not benefit from them.⁴ When that person changes, whether through a buyout, a leadership transition, or a new general partner, the 60-day clock starts on the date control transfers, not the date the paperwork closes internally.

What to Gather Before You Fill It Out

You’ll need the entity’s legal name exactly as it appears on prior returns and its nine-digit EIN. For address changes, have both the old and new mailing address and, if different, the old and new physical location. For a responsible-party change, you need the full legal name and identifying number of both the outgoing and the incoming responsible party.¹

The identifying number for the new responsible party is usually a Social Security Number or ITIN. An EIN is accepted only in limited circumstances; the Instructions for Form SS-4 spell out when.¹

Who Can Sign

The IRS accepts signatures from an officer (president, vice president, treasurer, chief accounting officer), an owner, a general partner, an LLC member-manager, a plan administrator, or a fiduciary. An authorized representative can sign on the entity’s behalf, but a copy of a power of attorney such as Form 2848 has to be attached.¹

Check the signer’s authority against your bylaws, partnership agreement, or operating agreement before mailing. A rejection for a bad signature means starting over, and that delay hurts when the 60-day responsible-party deadline is running.

Where to Mail It

There is no e-file option. Form 8822-B is paper only, and it goes to one of two IRS processing centers based on your old business address.¹

Internal Revenue Service, Kansas City, MO 64999: Connecticut, Delaware, 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, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Internal Revenue Service, Ogden, UT 84201-0023: 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, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and any location outside the United States.

Do not staple the form to a tax return. It goes in its own envelope.

Send it certified mail, ideally with a return receipt. The IRS doesn’t send a confirmation when it processes the form, so certified mail is how you prove the filing happened. Under federal law, a properly mailed certified receipt is prima facie evidence of delivery even if the IRS later says it has no record of receiving the document.⁵

Deadlines and Processing Time

Responsible-party changes: 60 days from the date the new person takes control.¹

Address-only changes: no statutory deadline. You can also report a new address on your next business tax return, and the IRS will update its records when it processes that return.⁶ If your next return is months out, though, filing 8822-B now gets the database updated faster.

Processing generally takes four to six weeks once the form arrives.⁷ During that window, some IRS mail may still go to your old address. Keep access to the old mailbox, or set up USPS forwarding, until you’re sure the new address is live in IRS systems.

What Happens If You Skip It

The IRS does not charge a specific penalty for failing to file Form 8822-B.¹ The real damage comes from the “last known address” rule. When the IRS sends a notice, including a notice of deficiency or a demand for payment, to the address it has on file, that notice is legally effective whether or not you actually receive it.⁸ A notice of deficiency mailed to the last known address is sufficient for all purposes under federal law.⁹

The practical result: a deficiency notice can land in your old mailbox, your window to challenge the assessment in Tax Court can expire, and penalties and interest can compound on tax you never knew was assessed.¹ Businesses that skip the filing because there’s no direct fine often find out months later when the balance has grown.

State Filings Are Separate

Form 8822-B only updates the IRS. Most states require their own notification when a business’s registered address or principal office changes, with their own fees and forms. Check with your state’s secretary of state or department of revenue so the same missed-notice problem doesn’t play out at the state level.

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Internal Revenue Service. Form 8822-B Change of Address or Responsible Party — Business
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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. Change of Address – Exempt Organizations
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Internal Revenue Service. Updating of Employer Identification Numbers
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7502 – Timely Mailing Treated as Timely Filing and Paying
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Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 157, Change Your Address – How to Notify the IRS
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Internal Revenue Service. Address Changes
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Internal Revenue Service. Definition of Last Known Address
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6212 – Notice of Deficiency