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Quick answer: Form 3115 has two fax numbers, one for each route. For an automatic change, the original goes with your tax return and the signed duplicate copy can be faxed to 844-249-8134 (IRS Ogden). For a non-automatic change, the whole application goes to the IRS National Office by secure fax on 877-773-4950, with a user fee. Sending a form to the wrong number for its route is the mistake to avoid.
Form 3115, Application for Change in Accounting Method, asks the IRS for consent to change either your overall method of accounting (cash to accrual, say) or how you treat a single item, such as depreciation. If the change is on the IRS’s list of automatic changes and you’re eligible, you must use the automatic route. Everything else goes through the non-automatic route, which needs advance consent and a fee.
Which route, which fax number
Both numbers come from the Form 3115 instructions. They accept different things, so check your route first.
| Route | What you fax | Fax number | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic | The signed duplicate copy (the original is attached to your return) | 844-249-8134 | No earlier than the first day of the year of change, and no later than the date you file the original |
| Non-automatic | The full application | 877-773-4950 (secure) | During the tax year you want the change to take effect |
Automatic changes: the duplicate copy
An automatic change is filed in two places at once. The original Form 3115 is attached to your timely filed return for the year of change, extensions included, and the original doesn’t need a signature. A signed duplicate copy goes to the IRS in Ogden, either by fax to 844-249-8134 or by post to Internal Revenue Service, Ogden, UT 84201, M/S 6111. A photocopy of the signed form is fine as the duplicate.
The IRS’s fax procedure for the duplicate copy, in place until further notice, adds its own rules: send only one Form 3115 per fax, up to 100 pages, and use the number only for the duplicate copy and its accompanying materials. The cover sheet carries the subject (“Form 3115”), the sender’s name, title, phone number and address, the taxpayer’s name, the date and the number of pages including the cover sheet, and no EIN or SSN.
There’s no user fee for an automatic change, and the IRS doesn’t send an acknowledgement. Your fax transmission report is the only record you’ll get that the duplicate arrived, so file it with the return.
The timing window has two ends. The duplicate can’t go before the first day of the year of change, and it can’t go after the date you file the original with your return. Outside that window, the duplicate isn’t filed the way the instructions require, and they say a late Form 3115 won’t get an extension except in unusual and compelling circumstances.
The section 481(a) adjustment
Most accounting method changes come with a section 481(a) adjustment, the catch-up amount for switching methods, and it changes when the tax hits. The instructions set the usual spread: a negative adjustment is generally taken in the year of change, while a positive one is generally spread over the year of change and the next three tax years, or two years if you’re under examination.
Non-automatic changes
A non-automatic request goes to the IRS National Office during the tax year you want the change to take effect, and early enough for the IRS to answer before your return is due. It needs a user fee for each applicant, paid through Pay.gov. The fee amounts are set in the annual revenue procedure on user fees, which the IRS links from its Form 3115 page.
You can send it three ways:
- Secure fax: 877-773-4950.
- Encrypted email: Userfee@irscounsel.treas.gov.
- Post: Internal Revenue Service, Attn: CC:PA:LPD:TSS, P.O. Box 7604, Benjamin Franklin Station, Washington, DC 20044. A private delivery service goes to Room 5336, 1111 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20224.
The IRS normally acknowledges a non-automatic request within 60 days.
Who signs
- A corporation (including an S corporation): an officer who knows the facts and has authority to bind it.
- A partnership or LLC: a general partner or member with personal knowledge of the facts.
- Individuals filing jointly: both spouses.
- The preparer signs too, with the firm’s name. If the return is e-filed, the preparer doesn’t sign the original, but still signs the duplicate copy of an automatic change.
- A representative who’ll talk to the IRS about the filing needs a Form 2848 attached if they aren’t authorised to sign.
How to fax the duplicate copy of an automatic change
- Check the change is on the current list of automatic changes and note its designated change number (DCN).
- Complete Form 3115, attach the original to the return, and have the signed duplicate ready.
- Add a cover sheet with the subject “Form 3115”, your name, title, phone number and address, the taxpayer’s name, the date and the page count, and no EIN or SSN. Our fax cover sheet generator makes one.
- Fax it to 844-249-8134 inside the timing window above: one Form 3115 per fax, 100 pages or fewer.
- Keep the transmission report with the return; it’s your proof of filing.
Firms sending several of these a season can fax straight from email with EveryFax, which has a two-week trial. For the odd one from a phone, Municorn Fax sends the PDF and keeps the confirmation, and your first single-page test fax is free.
Which revenue procedure lists the automatic changes?
Do I need to send a copy to an IRS examiner?
Can I fax the original Form 3115?
Faxing another IRS form? See our list of IRS fax numbers, including the forms sent by businesses and tax professionals.
Sources and IRS references
- Procedure to fax the duplicate copy of Form 3115: one form per fax, 100 pages and the cover sheet, in place until further notice. IRS page last reviewed 14 September 2026; checked 10 October 2026. irs.gov
- Instructions for Form 3115 (Rev. 12/2022): both routes, the fax numbers, addresses, timing, user fees and signatures. Checked 9 October 2026. irs.gov
- About Form 3115: links to the current list of automatic changes (Rev. Proc. 2025-23) and the user-fee revenue procedure. IRS page last reviewed 30 March 2026; checked 9 October 2026. irs.gov
