Mail IRS Form 56 to the Internal Revenue Service Center where the taxpayer you represent is required to file their tax returns. There is no single address that works for every fiduciary. If you need to receive notices for more than one type of return and one of them is Form 1040, use the address for Form 1040.1Internal Revenue Service. Where to File – Forms Beginning with the Number 5 Form 56 cannot be filed electronically, so paper is your only option, and the destination depends on the taxpayer’s state.
How the Address Is Determined
The IRS routes Form 56 to the service center that handles the taxpayer’s returns. For most fiduciaries handling an individual’s estate, that means looking up where the decedent would file their 1040 based on the state where they lived. For a trust or estate that files Form 1041, the same rule applies to that return’s service center.
The IRS periodically reassigns states between processing centers, so confirm the current address on the IRS website before sealing the envelope. As of the most recent IRS guidance, Form 1040 filings route to three service centers.2Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Paper Tax Returns With or Without a Payment
Kansas City, MO 64999
Use this address if the taxpayer resides in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, or Wisconsin.
Ogden, UT 84201
Use this address for Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Austin, TX 73301
Use this address for Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas.
Receivers and Assignees File Elsewhere
If you were appointed as a receiver in a receivership proceeding or as an assignee for the benefit of creditors, do not mail Form 56 to the service center as your primary filing. File it with the Advisory Group Manager of the IRS area office with jurisdiction over the taxpayer, and do so within 10 days of your appointment. You may also send a separate copy to the service center listed above to satisfy the notice requirement under Section 6903.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 56 (12/2024)
Bankruptcy trustees are treated separately. Their notice obligations fall under Title 11 of the U.S. Code rather than the standard Form 56 rules, so the 10-day deadline that binds other receivers does not apply to them.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 56 (12/2024)
How to Send It
Send Form 56 by USPS Certified Mail with return receipt requested. This gives you dated proof that the IRS received your notice, which protects you if a dispute later arises about when you established the fiduciary relationship. The IRS does not offer electronic filing for this form, so a paper envelope going through the mail is the only path.
Do not use Form 56 to update the taxpayer’s address on file with the IRS. Address changes require Form 8822 for individuals or Form 8822-B for businesses, filed separately.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 56 (12/2024)
What to Include in the Envelope
Form 56 by itself is often not enough. Depending on your role, the IRS requires or may request documentation proving your appointment, and a form that arrives without required identification information can have its processing suspended.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 56 (Rev. December 2024)
- Executors of testate estates should attach current letters testamentary or a court certificate proving the appointment.
- Administrators of intestate estates with a court appointment should attach letters of administration or an equivalent court certificate.
- Guardians, conservators, and trustees should be ready to furnish the trust instrument, guardianship order, or other evidence substantiating their authority.
- Assignees for the benefit of creditors should attach a brief description of the assigned assets and an explanation of the action they plan to take, including any scheduled hearings, creditor meetings, or asset sales.
If you’re acting for a decedent’s estate and the estate will file Form 1041, the estate needs its own Employer Identification Number. The decedent’s Social Security number is not usable for the estate’s returns. The EIN identifies the estate as a tax entity, and Form 56 tells the IRS who speaks for it.5Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form SS-4 (Rev. December 2025) Co-fiduciaries do not share a filing; each one must send in a separate Form 56.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 56 (Rev. December 2024)
Why the Address and Timing Matter
Until the IRS processes your Form 56, the taxpayer’s last known address is where statutory notices go, and those notices count as properly delivered even if the taxpayer is deceased, incapacitated, or dissolved. The regulation under Section 6903 is explicit: without a fiduciary notice on file, the IRS has no obligation to send anything to you.6eCFR. 26 CFR 301.6903-1 – Notice of Fiduciary Relationship
The stakes of that gap are real. If a 90-day deficiency notice (150 days if addressed outside the U.S.) arrives at a decedent’s old address and nobody petitions the Tax Court, the IRS assesses the tax and sends a demand for payment once the window closes. An executor who mailed Form 56 to the wrong service center, or who waited too long to send it at all, may find the estate holding a bill that could have been contested. Paper processing at the IRS is not fast, so mail the form to the correct center as soon as your authority takes effect, and watch the taxpayer’s old address for IRS envelopes during the weeks it takes for the change to register.
Processing can also stall if the form is incomplete. The IRS may suspend a Form 56 that omits required identifying information, which leaves you without the protection of proper notification even though you tried to file. Confirm every identifier, sign under penalty of perjury with a title describing your role, and attach the supporting documents your category requires before the envelope goes out.4Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 56 (Rev. December 2024)