What Form 2848 Does
IRS Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, authorizes a tax professional to represent you before the IRS. Once filed, your representative can receive your confidential tax information, talk to the IRS about your account, negotiate on your behalf, and sign agreements. The IRS contacts your representative instead of contacting you directly.
Who Can Represent You
Only certain professionals can represent you before the IRS. Attorneys, CPAs, and enrolled agents have unlimited representation rights. They can represent you at all administrative levels of the IRS, including audits, collections, and appeals. Annual filing season program participants have limited representation rights restricted to certain situations.
What the Form Covers
Form 2848 must specify the tax matters and tax periods covered. A power of attorney for your 2022 individual income tax does not cover your 2023 return or your payroll taxes. Your representative needs separate authorization for each type of tax and each tax period. A good tax attorney files a comprehensive power of attorney covering all relevant tax matters.
Revoking or Replacing a Power of Attorney
You can revoke a power of attorney at any time by filing a new Form 2848 or by sending a written revocation to the IRS. Filing a new power of attorney automatically revokes the prior one for the same tax matters unless you check the box indicating that you want to add the new representative without revoking the existing one.
If you are unhappy with your current representative, you have every right to change. File a new Form 2848 with your new attorney and the old one is out. The transition should be seamless because the IRS records will update to show the new authorized representative.