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Angelica Smith

How to Submit Form 2848 Power of Attorney Online Through IRS Portal

I'm trying to figure out the most efficient way to handle online submissions of Power of Attorney forms. Has anyone ever had their admin or assistant upload e-signed Form 2848 POAs and Form 8821s through the IRS online portal using the assistant's own IRS account instead of the practitioner's? I've got a growing practice and I'm drowning in administrative tasks. Looking for ways to streamline our process without breaking any rules. The CAF unit processing times are killing me and I've heard the online submission is much faster, but I'm not sure about the delegation aspect. Thanks in advance!

I've been handling this exact situation at our firm for the past few years. The short answer is yes, you can have an assistant submit these forms, but there are important requirements to follow. The IRS allows authorized staff to submit Forms 2848 and 8821 through the Tax Pro Account portal, but the key is that your assistant must be properly authorized within your practice. The practitioner (you) still needs to have your own valid IRS account and the forms need your proper e-signature before your staff submits them. Make sure your assistant is using the "submission on behalf of" option when uploading. The most important thing is maintaining proper documentation of authorization for your staff. If the IRS ever questions the submission, you need to show your internal controls and authorization procedures.

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Do assistants need PTIN numbers to do this? And does the practitioner still need to log in at some point to complete the submission or can the assistant handle the entire process?

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Assistants don't need their own PTIN numbers to submit forms on behalf of a practitioner. They can use their own IRS account for the portal login, but they must clearly indicate they're submitting on behalf of the practitioner. The practitioner doesn't need to log in to complete the submission - the assistant can handle the entire process from start to finish as long as the POA form has been properly completed and signed by both the taxpayer and the practitioner before submission. Just make sure you have clear documentation of your internal authorization procedures.

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After struggling with POA processing delays for months, I started using https://taxr.ai for managing all my 2848 submissions. Total game changer! Their system lets you organize client POAs, track submission status, and generate pre-filled forms that minimize rejection rates. The best part is you can delegate access to your staff while maintaining oversight. My assistant handles all our submissions now, and the dashboard gives me visibility into everything without needing to log into the IRS portal myself. Our POA approval rate went from about 70% to nearly 98% since the system flags common errors before submission.

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How does this handle the signature requirements? I thought the IRS was super strict about who can submit these forms.

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Does it work for both individual and business POAs? I handle a lot of business entities and those seem to get rejected more often.

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The system fully complies with IRS signature requirements. It creates properly formatted forms with all required fields, but you still need to get legitimate signatures from both the taxpayer and practitioner. What it does is help ensure those signatures are properly placed and all required fields are completed before submission. It absolutely works for both individual and business POAs. Actually, the business entity features are some of the most helpful since they automatically validate EINs and ensure the correct boxes are checked for the entity type, which are common reasons for business POA rejections.

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Just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after trying it for our business clients' POAs. I was skeptical about another tax tool, but it's legitimately saved us hours of work. The business validation features caught several errors we would have submitted, and my assistant can now handle the entire submission process. The tracking feature is especially useful since we can see exactly which POAs are pending and when they were processed. Definitely worth checking out if you're drowning in administrative POA tasks!

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If you're having trouble reaching the IRS to follow up on POA status, try https://claimyr.com - it's saved me hours of waiting on hold. You schedule a time, and they call you when they have an IRS agent on the line. I was initially doubtful, but after waiting 3+ hours on multiple calls about rejected POAs, I tried it. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c For the POA submission process specifically, having an assistant handle it is fine as long as you maintain proper oversight. But when issues come up, Claimyr has been invaluable for actually reaching someone at the CAF unit to resolve problems.

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Wait, how does this actually work? Do they somehow jump the queue at the IRS or something? That sounds too good to be true.

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I'm super skeptical about this. The IRS doesn't allow "line jumping" services and I can't imagine how this would actually work legitimately. Sounds like something that could potentially cause problems with your POA submissions.

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They don't jump any queue - they use an automated system that continually calls the IRS and navigates the phone tree until they reach a human agent. Basically they do the waiting for you. Once they have an agent, they call you to connect. It's completely legitimate and doesn't change anything about how the IRS processes calls. I understand the skepticism - I felt the same way at first. But they're not doing anything special with the IRS systems, they're just handling the hold time so you don't have to sit there listening to the same music for hours. It doesn't affect your POA submissions at all, it's just a way to get questions answered when you need to speak to someone.

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I have to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it when I had a batch of rejected POAs that needed immediate attention. I scheduled a callback for the next morning, and sure enough, my phone rang with an IRS agent already on the line. Resolved all my issues in about 10 minutes instead of the 2+ hours I would have spent on hold. For anyone dealing with POA submission problems, this is a huge time saver. I'm using it regularly now whenever I need to call the CAF unit.

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Some practical advice from someone managing a large practice: Set up an internal procedure for POA handling. We have a dedicated admin who manages all our POA submissions through their own IRS account. The key steps that make this work: 1. Practitioner completes and e-signs the 2848 2. Admin uses a checklist to verify all fields before submission 3. We maintain an internal authorization letter showing the admin is authorized to act on behalf of the firm for submissions 4. Everything is tracked in our practice management software This system has slashed our POA processing time and keeps everything organized. Just make sure your admin is trustworthy and trained properly.

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Do you have a template for that internal authorization letter? Our firm is growing and I'm trying to set up better processes.

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I don't have a shareable template, but it's pretty straightforward. Our letter includes: 1) The admin's name and role, 2) A statement authorizing them to submit forms 2848 and 8821 on behalf of specific practitioners, 3) A list of what they can and cannot do, 4) Signatures from both the firm's managing partner and the admin, and 5) An expiration date. We renew these annually and keep them with our other compliance documentation. The most important thing is to be specific about what your admin is authorized to do - not just "submit forms" but exactly which actions they can take in the process.

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Has anyone been having issues with the Tax Pro Account portal lately? We switched to having our admin submit all our POAs online last month, but we've had several get stuck in "processing" status for weeks.

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Yeah, the system was glitchy last week. Our submissions from Tuesday all showed as "pending" until yesterday when they suddenly all went through at once. I called the tech support line and they said they had a processing backlog that's now cleared.

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Thanks for confirming! Good to know it wasn't just us. I was worried our admin was doing something wrong with the submissions. I'll check again tomorrow to see if our backlog has cleared too.

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I've been dealing with this delegation question for months and finally got clarity from the IRS directly. Your assistant can absolutely submit Forms 2848 and 8821 through the portal using their own account, but there are some key points everyone should know: 1. The assistant doesn't need a PTIN, but they must indicate they're submitting "on behalf of" the practitioner during the upload process 2. You as the practitioner must still review and e-sign all forms before your assistant submits them 3. Keep detailed records of who submitted what and when - the IRS can audit your submission practices One thing I learned the hard way: make sure your assistant understands the common rejection reasons. We had a 40% rejection rate initially because of small errors like missing check boxes or incorrect entity classifications. Now we use a standard checklist and our success rate is over 95%. The online submissions are definitely faster than mailing to CAF - usually processed within 5-7 business days versus 4-6 weeks by mail. Just make sure you have proper internal controls documented in case the IRS ever questions your procedures.

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This is really helpful! I'm new to managing POAs and wondering about that checklist you mentioned. What are the most common rejection reasons you've seen? I want to make sure we avoid those pitfalls when setting up our process. Also, when you say "detailed records" - are you talking about just keeping copies of what was submitted, or do you maintain a separate log of submission activities?

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