Avoiding POA Problems with the IRS.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Date: 01 October 2000
• Author: Ely, Mark H.

Practitioners frequently encounter difficulties regarding the processing of Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative. An Austin Service Center focus group has developed a list of the six most frequent errors encountered in processing power of attorney (POA) forms. The list is provided below in an effort to help practitioners minimize future problems.

Form 2848 consists of two parts. Part I is signed by the taxpayer and authorizes the representative to act on behalf of, or receive information with respect to, the taxpayer. Part II (Declaration of Representative) is signed by the representative and indicates the representative's status (attorney, CPA, enrolled agent, etc.).

Failure to Correctly Specify Type of Tax or Specific Matter

Item 3 of page 1 of Form 2848 asks for the "type of tax." The IRS cannot process a Form 2848 with a general reference to "all taxes" or "specific issues" The correct reference should be to "income" "estate" "excise" or other specific type of tax as appropriate. If the matter does not fit within one of these recognized categories, the matter should be specifically described. The Service does not enter all POAs into the...