Before you start
You'll need:
- An active Tax Pro Account at tax.irs.gov/pro with ID.me / Login.gov verification completed
- Your CAF number (or "NONE" if this is your first authorization)
- Your PTIN
- The client's full legal name, address, SSN or EIN, and date of birth (for individuals)
- The client willing and able to sign electronically in their own IRS Online Account — they must set one up if they haven't
Open Tax Pro Account
Navigate to tax.irs.gov/pro (or from IRS.gov → "Tax Pros" → "Tax Pro Account"). Sign in with your ID.me or Login.gov credentials.
If you haven't completed ID.me verification, the portal will walk you through it on first sign-in. Have your driver's license or passport handy.
Select "Submit a Power of Attorney Authorization"
From the dashboard, find the authorization actions panel. Click "Submit Power of Attorney" (or the equivalent 2848 option). You'll see a short intro screen explaining the 2848 flow.
Tax Pro Account presents 2848 and 8821 as separate flows — make sure you pick the right one. If you only need transcript access, back out and choose the 8821 flow instead.
Enter your representative info
Your profile info is pre-filled from your Tax Pro Account identity. Verify and complete:
- CAF number (write "NONE" if this is your first authorization)
- PTIN
- Designation (Attorney / CPA / EA / other) and jurisdiction
- Licensing number if applicable
- Contact info — update if it's stale
Common mistakes
- Leaving CAF blank instead of entering "NONE" — form bounces
- Picking the wrong designation dropdown value (e.g., "Attorney" when you're an EA)
- Using an old firm address — update it here, not after the fact
Enter the taxpayer info
Full legal name, address, SSN (for individuals) or EIN (for businesses), and date of birth for individuals. The name and TIN must match the IRS's records exactly — a misspelling or mismatched address triggers an identity verification failure.
Common mistakes
- Using the client's current address when their IRS address of record is older (common after a move)
- Putting owner SSN for a business that has an EIN
- Not including a middle initial when the client's return shows one
- For joint returns: attempting to put both spouses on one 2848 — you cannot, one form per spouse
Enter acts authorized — tax form + periods
For each matter, pick a tax form number and the year(s) or period(s). Tax Pro Account lets you add multiple rows for multi-form engagements (e.g., 1040 for personal years plus 941 for payroll periods on a related entity 2848).
Common mistakes
- "All years" or "all taxes" text — auto-reject
- Year ranges extending more than 3 years into the future
- Leaving quarterly periods as annual years for 941 / 940 matters
- Omitting "Civil Penalty" as a separate matter when the case involves TFRP or assessed penalties
Client signs in their own IRS Online Account
When you submit, the taxpayer receives a notification to sign in their own IRS Online Account at irs.gov/payments/your-online-account. They'll see the pending authorization, review it, and click to approve.
Pro tip: call or text the client immediately after you submit. The IRS email is easy to miss (it looks like a generic notification), and the authorization sits in pending status until they act.
Common mistakes
- Client doesn't have an IRS Online Account yet — they need to set one up first (ID.me verification)
- Client signs into the wrong account (spouse's vs their own)
- Authorization expires in pending — re-submit after ~10 days if client hasn't signed
Confirmation — save the reference number
After client approval, Tax Pro Account shows a confirmation screen with a submission reference number. Copy this into your case notes. You'll need it if you have to follow up with PPS or the CAF unit.
Wait for CAF sync
Typical Tax Pro Account → CAF sync is 1–3 business days, though same-day does happen. You don't receive a "CAF posted" notification; you'll know by trying to pull a transcript.
Some reps report faster turnarounds than others — don't panic at 24 hours. If you're still in "Pending" at day 5, call PPS with the reference number from step 7.
Verify in TRH — pull a transcript
In TRH's Transcript Request module, queue a single Account Transcript for the client for one of the authorized years. Click Start Dispatch. A successful pull is your confirmation that CAF has posted and TDS recognizes your authority.
If the pull succeeds, you're done — the 2848 is live and TRH can bulk-pull every authorized period from here. If it fails with "No current authorization," proceed to step 10.
Troubleshooting — "No current authorization"
The most common reasons TRH gets "No current authorization" on a freshly filed 2848, in order of likelihood:
- CAF hasn't synced yet. Give it another 24 hours. If it's been more than 5 business days, escalate.
- The year you're pulling isn't on line 3. Double-check the authorized period list. You can't pull 2018 under a 2848 that only covers 2019–2024.
- Taxpayer name spelling mismatch. Pull the transcript from the Tax Pro Account's own transcript-viewer to compare — if that works but TRH fails, it's a TRH config issue. If neither works, the 2848 has a spelling or TIN mismatch.
- Prior rep silently revoked you. If someone else filed a 2848 for the same matters and didn't check the retention box, your authorization is gone. Refile.
- Line 4 checked by mistake. If you accidentally marked "specific use not recorded on CAF," your form didn't post to CAF. Refile with the box unchecked.
If you've exhausted the checklist, call the Practitioner Priority Service (PPS) with your CAF number and the submission reference from step 7. They can look up the CAF record directly and tell you what's missing.
After you're live
Once transcripts pull cleanly for one client, every authorized period for that client will pull without further action. TRH's Bulk Transcript module will fan-out across all authorized years, modules, and periods per the parameters you set.
For the next client, repeat. Tax Pro Account supports batching multiple 2848s back to back — the first submission is slow because of verification, but after that each 2848 takes 2–3 minutes of your time.