Form 8821 

(Rev. October 2012) 

Department of the Treasury 

Internal Revenue Service 

Tax Information Authorization 

▶ Information about Form 8821 and its instructions is at www.irs.gov/form8821.

▶ Do not sign this form unless all applicable lines have been completed. 

▶ To request a copy or transcript of your tax return, use Form 4506, 4506-T, or 4506T-EZ.

OMB No. 1545-1165 

For IRS Use Only 

Received by:

Name 

Telephone

Function

Date

1 Taxpayer information. Taxpayer must sign and date this form on line 7. 

Taxpayer name and address (type or print) Taxpayer identification number(s)

Daytime telephone number Plan number (if applicable) 

2 Appointee. If you wish to name more than one appointee, attach a list to this form. 

Name and address CAF No. 

PTIN 

Telephone No. 

Fax No. 

Check if new: Address Telephone No. Fax No. 

3 Tax matters. The appointee is authorized to inspect and/or receive confidential tax information for the tax matters listed on this 

line. Do not use Form 8821 to request copies of tax returns. 

(a)

Type of Tax

(Income, Employment, Payroll, Excise, Estate, 

Gift, Civil Penalty, etc.) (see instructions) 

(b) 

Tax Form Number 

(1040, 941, 720, etc.)

(c) 

Year(s) or Period(s) 

(see the instructions for line 3)

(d) 

Specific Tax Matters (see instr.)

4 Specific use not recorded on Centralized Authorization File (CAF). If the tax information authorization is for a specific 

use not recorded on CAF, check this box. See the instructions. If you check this box, skip lines 5 and 6 . . . . . . ▶

5 Disclosure of tax information (you must check a box on line 5a or 5b unless the box on line 4 is checked): 

a If you want copies of tax information, notices, and other written communications sent to the appointee on an ongoing 

basis, check this box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▶

Note. Appointees will no longer receive forms, publications and other related materials with the notices.

b If you do not want any copies of notices or communications sent to your appointee, check this box . . . . . . . ▶

6 Retention/revocation of tax information authorizations. This tax information authorization automatically revokes all prior 

authorizations for the same tax matters you listed on line 3 above unless you checked the box on line 4. If you do not want 

to revoke a prior tax information authorization, you must attach a copy of any authorizations you want to remain in effect 

and check this box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ▶

To revoke this tax information authorization, see the instructions. 

7 Signature of taxpayer. If signed by a corporate officer, partner, guardian, executor, receiver, administrator, trustee, or 

party other than the taxpayer, I certify that I have the authority to execute this form with respect to the tax matters and tax 

periods shown on line 3 above.

▶ IF NOT SIGNED AND DATED, THIS TAX INFORMATION AUTHORIZATION WILL BE RETURNED. 

▶ DO NOT SIGN THIS FORM IF IT IS BLANK OR INCOMPLETE. 

Signature Date 

Print Name Title (if applicable) 

PIN number for electronic signature 

For Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see instructions. Cat. No. 11596P Form 8821 (Rev. 10-2012) 
THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
Form 8821 (Rev. 10-2012) Page 3 

General Instructions 

Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code 

unless otherwise noted. 

Future developments. For the latest information about 

developments related to Form 8821 and its instructions, 

such as legislation enacted after they were published, go 

to www.irs.gov/form8821. 

Purpose of Form 

Form 8821 authorizes any individual, corporation, firm, 

organization, or partnership you designate to inspect 

and/or receive your confidential information for the type 

of tax and the years or periods you list on Form 8821. 

You may file your own tax information authorization 

without using Form 8821, but it must include all the 

information that is requested on Form 8821. 

Form 8821 does not authorize your appointee to 

advocate your position with respect to federal tax laws; to 

execute waivers, consents, or closing agreements; or to 

otherwise represent you before the IRS. If you want to 

authorize an individual to represent you, use Form 2848, 

Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative. 

Use Form 4506, Request for Copy of Tax Return, to get 

a copy of your tax return. 

Use Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax 

Return, to order: (a) transcript of tax account information 

and (b) Form W-2 and Form 1099 series information. 

Use Form 4506T-EZ, Short Form Request for Individual 

Tax Return Transcript, to request a tax return transcript 

for the current and three prior tax years that includes 

most lines of the original return. The transcript will not 

show payments, penalty assessments, or adjustments 

made to the originally filed return.

Use Form 56, Notice Concerning Fiduciary 

Relationship, to notify the IRS of the existence of a 

fiduciary relationship. A fiduciary (trustee, executor, 

administrator, receiver, or guardian) stands in the 

position of a taxpayer and acts as the taxpayer. 

Therefore, a fiduciary does not act as an appointee and 

should not file Form 8821. If a fiduciary wishes to 

authorize an appointee to inspect and/or receive 

confidential tax information on behalf of the fiduciary, 

Form 8821 must be filed and signed by the fiduciary 

acting in the position of the taxpayer. 

When To File 

Form 8821 must be received by the IRS within 120 days 

of the date it was signed and dated by the taxpayer. 

Where To File 

Generally, mail or fax Form 8821 directly to the IRS. See 

the Where To File Chart, below. Exceptions are listed 

next. 

If Form 8821 is for a specific tax matter, mail or fax it to 

the office handling that matter. For more information, see 

the instructions for line 4. 

Where To File Chart 

IF you live in . . . THEN use this address . . . Fax Number* 

Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District 

of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, 

Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, 

Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New 

Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, 

Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, 

Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, or West Virginia 

Internal Revenue Service 

Memphis Accounts Management Center 

PO Box 268, Stop 8423 

Memphis, TN 38101-0268 

855-214-7519 

Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, 

Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, 

Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, 

Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, 

Washington, Wisconsin, or Wyoming 

Internal Revenue Service 

1973 N. Rulon White Blvd. MS 6737 

Ogden, UT 84404 

855-214-7522 

All APO and FPO addresses, American Samoa, 

nonpermanent residents of Guam or the U.S. Virgin 

Islands**, Puerto Rico (or if excluding income under 

section 933), a foreign country, U.S. citizens and 

those filing Form 2555, 2555-EZ, or 4563. 

Internal Revenue Service 

International CAF 

2970 Market St. MS 3-E08.123 

Philadelphia, PA 19104 

855-772-3156

*These numbers may change without notice. For updates to these fax numbers, go to www.irs.gov/form8821.

**Permanent residents of Guam should use Department of Taxation, Government of Guam, P.O. Box 23607, GMF, GU 

96921; permanent residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands should use: V.I. Bureau of Internal Revenue, 6115 Estate Smith 

Bay, Suite 225, St. Thomas, V.I. 00802. 
Form 8821 (Rev. 10-2012) Page 4 

Your appointee may be able to file Form 8821 

electronically with the IRS from the IRS website. For more 

information, go to IRS.gov. Under the for Tax Pros tab, go 

to Other Tools & Information and click on Use e-Services 

for Tax Pros. If you complete Form 8821 for electronic 

signature authorization, do not file a Form 8821 with the 

IRS. Instead, give it to your appointee, who will retain the 

document. 

Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) 

A TIN is used to confirm the identity of a taxpayer and 

identify the taxpayer's return and return information. It is 

important that you furnish your correct name, social 

security number (SSN), individual taxpayer identification 

number (ITIN), and/or employer identification number 

(EIN).

Partnership Items 

A Tax Matter Partner is authorized to perform certain acts 

on behalf of an affected partnership. Rules governing the 

use of Form 8821 do not replace any provisions of law 

concerning the tax treatment of partnership items. 

Appointee Address Change 

If your appointee's address changes, a new Form 8821 is 

not required. The appointee can provide the IRS with the 

new information by sending written notification of the new 

address to the location where the Form 8821 was filed. 

Your appointee must sign and date the written notice.

Specific Instructions 

Line 1. Taxpayer Information 

Individual. Enter your name, TIN, and your street 

address in the space provided. Do not enter your 

appointee’s address or post office box. If a return is a 

joint return, the appointee(s) identified will only be 

authorized for you. Your spouse, or former spouse, must 

submit a separate Form 8821 to designate an appointee.

Corporation, partnership, or association. Enter the

name, EIN, and business address. 

Employee plan or exempt organization. Enter the 

name, address, and EIN or SSN of the plan sponsor/plan 

name, exempt organization or bond issuer. Enter the 

three-digit plan number when applicable. If you are the 

plan's trustee and you are authorizing the IRS to disclose 

the tax information of the plan's trust, see the instructions 

relating to trust.

Trust. Enter the name, title, and address of the trustee, 

and the name and EIN of the trust. 

Estate. Enter the name and address of the estate. If the 

estate does not have an identification number, enter the 

decedent’s SSN or ITIN. 

Line 2. Appointee 

Enter your appointee’s full name. Use the identical full 

name on all submissions and correspondence. Enter the 

nine-digit CAF number for each appointee. If an 

appointee has a CAF number for any previously filed 

Form 8821 or power of attorney (Form 2848), use that 

number. If a CAF number has not been assigned, enter 

“NONE,” and the IRS will issue one directly to your 

appointee. The IRS does not assign CAF numbers to 

requests for employee plans and exempt organizations. 

If you want to name more than one appointee, indicate 

so on this line and attach a list of appointees to Form 

8821. If more than two appointees are listed and you 

request copies of notices and communications be sent to 

your new appointees (see line 5), copies of notices and 

communications will be sent only to the first two 

appointees. 

Note. Because the IRS will send copies of notices and 

communications to no more than two persons, if you 

previously filed a Form 2848, Power of Attorney and 

Declaration of Representative, for the same tax matters 

and periods and you requested copies of notices and 

communications be sent to your representative(s) at that 

time, requesting your new appointee(s) receive copies of 

notices and communications may stop notices and 

communications from being sent to your authorized 

representative(s).

Check the appropriate box to indicate if either the 

address, telephone number, or fax number is new. 

Line 3. Matters 

Enter the type of tax, the tax form number, the years or 

periods, and the specific matter. Enter “Not applicable,” 

in any of the columns that do not apply. 

For example, you may list “Income, 1040” for calendar 

year “2010” and “Excise, 720” for “2010” (this covers all 

quarters in 2010). Multiple years or a series of inclusive 

periods, including quarterly periods, you may list 2008 

through (thru or a hyphen) 2010. For example, “2008 thru 

2010” or “2nd 2009-3rd 2010.” For fiscal years, enter the 

ending year and month, using the YYYYMM format. Do 

not use a general reference such as “All years,” “All 

periods,” or “All taxes.” Any tax information authorization 

with a general reference will be returned. 

You may list the current year or period and any tax 

years or periods that have already ended as of the date 

you sign the tax information authorization. However, you 

may include on a tax information authorization only future 

tax periods that end no later than 3 years after the date 

the tax information authorization is received by the IRS. 

The 3 future periods are determined starting after 

December 31 of the year the tax information authorization 

is received by the IRS. You must enter the type of tax, the 

tax form number, and the future year(s) or period(s). Only 

tax forms directly related to the taxpayer may be listed on 

line 3. If the matter relates to estate tax, enter the date of 

the decedent's death instead of the year or period. 

If you appoint someone only with respect to a penalty 

and interest due on that penalty, enter “civil penalty” in 

the description of matters column. If applicable, enter the 

tax year(s) for the penalty. Enter “NA” (not applicable) in 

the tax form number column. You do not have to enter 

the specific penalty.

Column (d). Enter any specific information you want the 

IRS to provide. Examples of column (d) information are: 

lien information, a balance due amount, a specific tax 

schedule, or a tax liability. Enter “not applicable” in 

column (d) if you are not limiting your appointee's 

authority to inspect and/or receive confidential tax 

information described in columns (a), (b), and (c). 
Form 8821 (Rev. 10-2012) Page 5 

For requests regarding Form 8802, Application for 

United States Residency Certification, enter “Form 8802” 

in column (d) and check the specific use box on line 4. 

Also, enter the appointee’s information as instructed on 

Form 8802. 

Note. If the taxpayer is subject to penalties related to an 

individual retirement account (IRA) (for example, a 

penalty for excess contributions) enter, “IRA civil penalty” 

on line 3, column a. 

Note. If Form W-2 is listed on line 3, then the appointee 

may receive information regarding any civil penalties 

charged that relate to that Form W-2.

A Form 8821 that lists a particular tax return will also 

entitle the appointee to receive the taxpayer notices 

regarding any return-related civil penalties and a specific 

reference to penalties is not required. However, any civil 

penalty that is not return-related is not covered by the 

Form 8821 unless it references “civil penalties” or a 

specific penalty is stated.

Line 4. Specific Use Not Recorded on CAF 

Generally, the IRS records all tax information 

authorizations on the CAF system. However, 

authorizations relating to a specific issue are not 

recorded. 

Check the box on line 4 if Form 8821 is filed for any of 

the following reasons:

(a) requests to disclose information to loan companies or 

educational institutions,

(b) requests to disclose information to federal or state 

agency investigators for background checks, 

(c) application for EIN, or

(d) claims filed on Form 843, Claim for Refund and 

Request for Abatement. 

If you check the box on line 4, your appointee should 

mail or fax Form 8821 to the IRS office handling the 

matter. Otherwise, your appointee should bring a copy of 

Form 8821 to each appointment to inspect or receive 

information. A specific-use tax information authorization 

will not revoke any prior tax information authorizations. 

Line 6. Retention/Revocation of Tax 

Information Authorizations 

Check the box on this line and attach a copy of any tax 

information authorization you do not want to revoke. The 

filing of Form 8821 will not revoke any Form 2848 that is 

in effect. 

If you want to revoke an existing tax information 

authorization and do not want to name a new appointee, 

send a copy of the previously executed tax information 

authorization to the IRS, using the Where To File Chart,

earlier. The copy of the tax information authorization must 

have a current signature of the taxpayer and date under 

the original signature on line 7. Write “REVOKE” across 

the top of Form 8821. 

If you do not have a copy of the tax information 

authorization you want to revoke, send a statement to the 

IRS. In the statement:

(a) indicate that the authority of the appointee is 

revoked,

(b) list the name and address of each recognized 

appointee whose authority is revoked,

(c) list the tax matters and tax periods, and

(d) sign and date the statement.

If you are completely revoking the authority of the 

appointee, state “remove all years/periods” instead of 

listing the specific tax matters, years, or periods.

To revoke a specific use tax information authorization, 

send the tax information authorization or statement of 

revocation to the IRS office handling your case, using the 

above instructions. 

Line 7. Signature of Taxpayer 

Individual. You must sign and date the authorization. If 

a joint return has been filed, your spouse must execute 

his or her own authorization on a separate Form 8821 to 

designate an appointee.

Corporation. Generally, Form 8821 can be signed by:

(a) an officer having authority under applicable state law 

to bind the corporation, 

(b) any person designated by the board of directors or 

other governing body, 

(c) any officer or employee on written request by any 

principal officer and attested to by the secretary or 

other officer, and

(d) any other person authorized to access information 

under section 6103(e)(1)(D), except for a person 

described in section 6103(a)(1)(D)(ii) (bona fide 

shareholders of record owning 1% or more of the 

outstanding stock of the corporation). 

Partnership. Generally, Form 8821 can be signed by 

any person who was a member of the partnership during 

any part of the tax period covered by Form 8821. See 

Partnership Items, earlier. If the Form 8821 covers more 

than one tax year or tax period, the person must have 

been a member of the partnership for all or part of each 

tax year or period covered by Form 8821. 

Employee plan. If the plan is listed as the taxpayer on 

line 1, a duly authorized individual having authority to bind 

the taxpayer must sign and that individual's exact title 

must be entered.

If the trust is the taxpayer, listed on line 1, a trustee 

having the authority to bind the trust must sign with the 

title of trustee entered. If the trust has not previously 

submitted a completed Form 56, Notice Concerning 

Fiduciary Relationship, identifying the current trustee, the 

trust must submit a Form 56 to identify the current 

trustee.

Estate. If there is more than one executor, only one 

executor having the authority to bind the estate is 

required to sign. See regulations section 601.503(d). 

All others. See section 6103(e) if the taxpayer has died, 

is insolvent, is a dissolved corporation, or if a trustee, 

guardian, executor, receiver, or administrator is acting for 

the taxpayer. 
Form 8821 (Rev. 10-2012) Page 6 

Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act 

Notice 

We ask for the information on this form to carry out the 

Internal Revenue laws of the United States. Form 8821 

authorizes the IRS to disclose your confidential tax 

information to the person you appoint. This form is 

provided for your convenience and its use is voluntary. 

The information is used by the IRS to determine what 

confidential tax information your appointee can inspect 

and/or receive. Section 6103(c) and its regulations require 

you to provide this information if you want to designate 

an appointee to inspect and/or receive your confidential 

tax information. Under section 6109, you must disclose 

your identification number. If you do not provide all the 

information requested on this form, we may not be able to 

honor the authorization. Providing false or fraudulent 

information may subject you to penalties.

We may disclose this information to the Department of 

Justice for civil or criminal litigation, and to cities, states, 

the District of Columbia, and U.S. commonwealths and 

possessions for use in administering their tax laws. We 

may also disclose this information to other countries 

under a tax treaty, to federal and state agencies to 

enforce federal nontax criminal laws, or to federal law 

enforcement and intelligence agencies to combat 

terrorism.

You are not required to provide the information 

requested on a form that is subject to the Paperwork 

Reduction Act unless the form displays a valid OMB 

control number. Books or records relating to a form or its 

instructions must be retained as long as their contents 

may become material in the administration of any Internal 

Revenue law. 

The time needed to complete and file this form will vary 

depending on individual circumstances. The estimated 

average time is: Recordkeeping, 6 min.; Learning about 

the law or the form, 12 min.; Preparing the form, 24 

min.; Copying and sending the form to the IRS, 20 min. 

If you have comments concerning the accuracy of 

these time estimates or suggestions for making Form 

8821 simpler, we would be happy to hear from you. You 

can write to Internal Revenue Service, Individual and 

Specialty Forms and Publications Branch, 

SE:W:CAR:MP:T:I, 1111 Constitution Ave. NW, IR-6526, 

Washington, DC 20224. Do not send Form 8821 to this 

address. Instead, see the Where To File Chart, earlier.