Form 2848 access follows the authorized examination year

Plain-English summary

Chief Counsel advised that a representative authorized by Form 2848 for a particular tax year may receive taxpayer return information associated with the examination for that year. This can include documents from other years if they were actually requested and used in the authorized examination. The representative cannot obtain documents from another year merely by asserting that they are relevant, and the revenue agent should resolve uncertainty about what belongs in the examination file. The same limit applies to third-party corporate or partnership returns. A person with broader attorney-in-fact authority may make requests under IRC § 6103(e)(6), but the IRS should verify that authority through signed taxpayer documentation.

Ruling snapshot

• Question: What return information may a Form 2848 representative obtain for an authorized examination year?
• Outcome: Advice given, access covers material properly within that year's examination file, while broader requests require verified attorney-in-fact authority
• Key authorities: IRC § 6103(e), including § 6103(e)(6); Form 2848

Full text (IRS public release)

ID: CCA_2016060810244832
UILC: 9999.92-01

Number: 201631011
Release Date: 7/29/2016
From:
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2016 10:24:48 AM
To:
Cc:
Bcc:
Subject: FW: Form 14441 POA

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With respect to the first question below, a POA with authority to represent the taxpayer for tax year -------
-can request and receive return information of the taxpayer associated with the exam for that year. If the
exam file for ------- contains documents from other years that were requested for, and used in, the -------
exam, they could be given to the POA. (At one point, the referral refers to “documents provided for -------
-----” which is a little ambiguous since if the documents were provided by the taxpayer in connection
with a ------- return or ------- exam, then they would not be available to the POA unless they were actually
used to support a ------- adjustment.)

Disclosure need not be making any independent judgments as to whether particular documents were
used in an exam for a particular year. The revenue agent assigned to the exam should be consulted if
there is any ambiguity as to whether any specific documents are properly within an exam file for a
particular year. But certainly a POA cannot request documents from another year just on the POA’s
representation that they are somehow relevant to an exam for which the POA has authorization.

Similarly, with respect to the second question, a POA acting under the authority of Form 2848 does not
have the authority to request third party documents outside the context of an exam of the tax year of
his/her authority such as those available to the taxpayer pursuant to section 6103(e) (e.g. partnership or
corporate returns). If third party documents are properly within an exam file for a year within the POA’s
authority, the POA can request and have access to those documents. But the POA cannot request
corporate or partnership returns on behalf of the taxpayer pursuant to section 6103(e) based simply on
the theory that those documents are relevant to the exam.

Section 6103(e)(6) does allow persons specifically authorized as “attorney-in-fact” to make requests under
section 6103(e). An “attorney-in-fact” has general authority to act for another person, as opposed to the
limited authority conveyed by a Form 2848 to represent someone before the Service. Any request under
6103(e)(6) from a person purporting to have “attorney-in-fact” authority should be verified with signed
documentation from the taxpayer, whether specified on a Form 2848 itself or in some other document.

Let me know if you have any further questions on this.