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Quick answer: Fax Form 8655 to the IRS Reporting Agent File (RAF) team in Ogden on 855-214-7523. Send no more than 25 forms in one transmission. The IRS also asks you to fax from a computer rather than a fax machine where you can.
Form 8655, Reporting Agent Authorization, is how a business lets a payroll provider or other reporting agent file its employment tax returns, make its tax deposits and get copies of its IRS notices. The business signs it, and the IRS caps each fax at 25 forms, so a provider with several new clients sends them in batches.
What each line authorises
Tick only the lines you want the agent to have. Related forms are included, such as amended returns, payment vouchers and the non-English versions.
| Line | Authority | Forms covered |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Sign and file returns | 940, 941, 943, 944, 945, 1042, CT-1 |
| 16 | Make deposits and payments | 720, 940, 941, 943, 944, 945, 990-PF, 990-T, 1041, 1042, 1120, CT-1 |
| 17 | Receive duplicate copies of IRS notices | The forms you list |
| 18 | Receive confidential information to respond to certain IRS notices | The forms you list |
| 19 | Sign and file state or local returns | The state or local returns you list |
What stays with the business
Hiring a reporting agent doesn’t hand over the legal responsibility. The form’s agreement says it does not relieve the taxpayer “of the responsibility to ensure that all tax returns are filed”, and the same goes for deposits and payments. The agent has to remind you of that in writing when you sign up, and at least once a quarter after that, and has to recommend that you enrol in EFTPS.
The agent’s side has rules too: returns generally have to be filed electronically, under Rev. Proc. 2012-32, and deposits made through EFTPS.
Start dates, and switching payroll providers
Each line takes a starting period. For quarterly returns, write it as YYYY/MM, where MM is the last month of the quarter the authority starts in; for annual returns, just the year. The authority then runs until it’s revoked or withdrawn, and it never covers periods before the start you entered.
Switching providers is the common case. A new Form 8655 naming a new agent ends the old agent’s authority from the period on the new form. The old agent keeps the disclosure authority it already had for earlier periods unless you revoke that specifically.
Batch limit: 25 forms per fax. A provider onboarding a lot of clients should split them into several transmissions. The IRS adds: “If possible, please send faxes from your computer instead of a fax machine.”
Who signs
- Sole proprietorship: the owner.
- Corporation (including an LLC taxed as one): an officer with legal authority to bind it, or another person the form allows, such as someone designated by the board.
- Partnership, or an LLC taxed as one: generally anyone who was a member during the period covered.
- Single-member LLC treated as disregarded: the owner.
- Trust or estate: the fiduciary.
Electronic signatures are allowed, using the methods in IRS Publication 1474.
How to fax Form 8655
- Complete lines 1 to 14 and tick the authority lines (15 to 19) the agent needs, with a start period for each.
- Get the business’s signature from the right person for its entity type.
- Add a cover sheet with the agent’s name, “Form 8655” and the number of forms and pages. Our fax cover sheet generator makes one.
- Fax to 855-214-7523, no more than 25 forms per transmission.
- Keep the transmission report with the signed form.
Since the IRS prefers faxes sent from a computer, an online service fits. EveryFax sends straight from your email, which suits a payroll team sending batches, and has a two-week trial. Municorn Fax does it from a phone or computer and keeps every confirmation; your first single-page test fax is free.
Adding, reducing or ending an authorisation
- To add authority, file another signed Form 8655 with lines 1 to 14 and the new lines filled in.
- To reduce it, send a signed, written request to the same RAF team. Everything else in the earlier form stays in place.
- To revoke it, send a copy of the form you signed, signed again, with “REVOKE” written across the top. No copy? Send a signed statement naming each agent you’re revoking and their address.
- An agent withdrawing sends a written request naming the business and the authority it’s giving up, or uses the delete process in Publication 1474.
Does Form 8655 cancel a Form 2848 or 8821 we already have on file?
Can a reporting agent represent the business before the IRS?
Can we use our own version of the form?
Faxing another IRS form? See our list of IRS fax numbers, including the forms sent by businesses and tax professionals.
Sources and IRS references
- Form 8655 (Rev. 1-2024), with its instructions: the authority lines, start periods, signatures, revocation, the fax number and the 25-form limit. Checked 9 October 2026. irs.gov
