Form 2848 (power of attorney)

On Form 2848, you can name an attorney, CPA or enrolled agent to represent you in any tax matter. That covers anything from a notice to an appeal. Part II of the form lists others you can name, such as a family member or a full-time employee.

An unenrolled return preparer, a paid preparer with no professional credential, has far narrower rights. They can represent you only in an examination of a return they prepared and signed. Even then, they deal only with revenue agents, customer service staff and similar IRS employees. For a return prepared after 2015, they also need an Annual Filing Season Program record. That record shows they completed the IRS’s voluntary yearly continuing education for preparers. It must cover the year they prepared the return and the year they represent you.

You can file Form 2848 online, by fax or by mail. A faxed or mailed form needs a handwritten signature. If you sign first, your representative must sign within 45 days, or 60 days if you live abroad. A representative can also start the request in the IRS Tax Pro Account. You then approve and sign it in your own IRS online account. Most of those requests are recorded right away on the Centralized Authorization File (CAF), the IRS record of who you have authorized.

Form 2848 is often confused with Form 8821. Form 8821 lets a person or firm see and receive your tax information, but not represent you. Filing Form 2848 does not revoke a Form 8821 already in effect. A power of attorney also does not relieve you of your own tax obligations. It lets your representative sign your return only in limited cases.