Students in LITCs and the STCP.

A student who works in a Low Income Taxpayer Clinic (LITC) or a Student Tax Clinic Program (STCP) must receive permission to represent taxpayers before the IRS by virtue of their status as a law, business, or accounting student. Authorization requests must be sent to the Taxpayer Advocate Service. If granted, a letter authorizing the student's special appearance and detailing any conditions related to the appearance will be issued. Students receiving an authorization letter generally can represent taxpayers before any IRS function or office subject to any conditions in the authorization letter and must be under the direct supervision of an individual authorized to practice before the IRS. If you intend to have a student represent you, review the authorization letter and ask your student, your student's supervisor, or the Taxpayer Advocate Service if you have questions about the terms of the authorization.

Failure to meet requirements.

Enrolled individuals and AFSP Record of Completion holders who fail to comply with the requirements for eligibility for renewal will be notified by the IRS. The notice will explain the reason for ineligibility and provide the individual with a time-sensitive opportunity to furnish information for reconsideration.

Inactive roster.

An enrolled individual will be placed on the roster of inactive enrolled individuals for a period of three years, if he or she:

The enrolled individual must file an application for renewal within 3 years and satisfy all requirements for renewal after being placed in inactive status. Otherwise, at the conclusion of the next renewal cycle, he or she will be removed from the roster and the enrollment status will be terminated.

Inactive retirement status.

Enrolled individuals who request to be placed in an inactive retirement status will be ineligible to practice before the IRS. They must continue to adhere to all renewal requirements. They can be reinstated to active enrollment status by filing an application for renewal and providing evidence that they have completed the required continuing professional education hours for the enrollment cycle.

Suspension and disbarment.

All individuals practicing before the IRS are subject to disciplinary proceedings and may be censured, suspended, disbarred or monetarily penalized for violating any regulation in Circular 230. This includes engaging in acts demonstrating incompetence or disreputable conduct. For more information, see Incompetence and Disreputable Conduct under What Are the Rules of Practice , later.

Practitioners who are suspended or disbarred in a disciplinary proceeding are not allowed to represent taxpayers before the IRS during the period of suspension/disbarment. A practitioner can seek reinstatement from the Office of Professional Responsibility at the earlier of a specified period of suspension or after five years of disbarment. See What Is Practice Before the IRS , earlier.

If the practitioner seeks reinstatement, he or she may not practice before the IRS until the Office of Professional Responsibility grants reinstatement. The Office of Professional Responsibility may reinstate the practitioner:

Communications regarding corporate tax shelters.

This protection for tax advice communications does not apply to any written communications between a federally authorized tax practitioner and any person, including a director, shareholder, officer, employee, agent, or representative of a corporation if the communication involves the promotion of the direct or indirect participation of the corporation in any tax shelter.

Duty to advise.

An individual subject to Circular 230 who knows that his or her client has not complied with the revenue laws or has made an error or omission in any return, document, affidavit, or other required paper, has the responsibility to advise the client promptly of the noncompliance, error, or omission, and the consequences of the noncompliance, error, or omission.

General due diligence.

Individuals subject to Circular 230 must exercise due diligence when performing the following duties.

Reliance on others.

A presumption that due diligence has been exercised will apply in situations where there has been reliance on the work product of another person if reasonable care was used in engaging, supervising, training, and evaluating the person, taking proper account of the nature of the relationship between the Circular 230 individual and the person.

Delays.

Individuals subject to Circular 230 must not unreasonably delay the prompt disposition of any matter before the IRS.

Assistance from disbarred or suspended persons and former IRS employees.

Individuals subject to Circular 230 must not knowingly, directly or indirectly, do the following.

Performance as a notary.

Individuals subject to Circular 230 may not take acknowledgments, administer oaths, certify papers, or perform any official act as a notary public with respect to any matter administered by the IRS and for which he or she is employed as counsel, attorney, or agent, or in which he or she may be in any way interested.

Negotiation of taxpayer refund checks.

Individuals subject to Circular 230 may not endorse or otherwise negotiate any check (including directing or accepting payment by any means, electronic or otherwise, into an account owned or controlled by the practitioner or any firm or other entity with whom the practitioner is associated) issued to a client by the government in respect of a Federal tax liability.

Non-IRS powers of attorney.

The IRS will accept a non-IRS power of attorney, but a completed Form 2848 must be attached in order for the power of attorney to be entered on the Centralized Authorization File (CAF) system. For more information, see Processing a non-IRS power of attorney , later.

If you want to use a document other than Form 2848 to authorize the representation, it must contain the following information.

You also must attach to the non-IRS power of attorney a signed and dated statement made by your representative. This statement, which is referred to as the Declaration of Representative, is contained in Part II of Form 2848. The statement should read:

Required information missing.

The IRS will not accept your non-IRS power of attorney if it does not contain all the information listed above. You can sign and submit a completed Form 2848 or a new non-IRS power of attorney that contains all the information. If you cannot sign an acceptable replacement document, your attorney-in-fact may be able to perfect (make acceptable to the IRS) your non-IRS power of attorney by using the procedure described next.

Procedure for perfecting a non-IRS power of attorney.

Under the following conditions, the attorney-in-fact named in your non-IRS power of attorney can sign a Form 2848 on your behalf.

Processing a non-IRS power of attorney.

The IRS has a centralized computer database system called the CAF system. This system contains information on the authority of taxpayer representatives. Generally, when you submit a power of attorney document to the IRS, it is processed for inclusion on the CAF system. Entry of your power of attorney on the CAF system enables IRS personnel, who do not have a copy of your power of attorney, to verify the authority of your representative by accessing the CAF. It also enables the IRS to automatically send copies of notices and other IRS communications to your representative if you specify that your representative should receive those communications.

You can have your non-IRS power of attorney entered on the CAF system by attaching it to a completed Form 2848 and submitting it to the IRS. Your signature is not required; however, your attorney-in-fact must sign the Declaration of Representative (see Part II of Form 2848).

Line-by-line hints.

The following hints are summaries of some of the line-by-line instructions for Form 2848.

Line 1—Taxpayer information.

If a joint return is involved, the husband and wife each must file a separate Form 2848 if they both want to be represented, even if the representative is the same person. If only one spouse wants to be represented in the matter, that spouse files a Form 2848. For taxpayer individuals that are under 18 years of age and cannot sign, the individual's parent or court-appointed guardian (with court documents) may sign on their behalf. Other individuals may sign for the taxpayer if they have a Form 2848 that has been signed by the parent or court-appointed guardian authorizing them to sign on behalf of the taxpayer individual.

Line 2—Representative(s).

Only individuals may be named as representatives. If your representative has not been assigned a CAF number, enter "None" on that line and the IRS will issue one to your representative. If the representative's address or phone number has changed since the CAF number was issued, you should check the appropriate box. Enter your representative's fax number if available.

If you want to name more than four representatives, attach additional Form(s) 2848. The IRS will send copies of notices and communications to up to two of your representatives. You must, however, check the boxes on line 2 of the Form 2848 if you want the IRS to routinely send copies of notices and communications to your representatives. If you do not check the boxes, your representatives will not routinely receive copies of notices and communications.

Line 3—Acts authorized (Tax matters).

You may list the current year/period and any tax years or periods that have already ended as of the date you sign the power of attorney. You may also list future tax years or periods. However, the IRS will not record on the CAF system future tax years or periods listed that exceed 3 years from December 31 of the year that the IRS receives the power of attorney. Do not use general references such as "All years," "All periods," or "All taxes." The IRS will return any power of attorney with a general reference.

Line 4—Specific use not recorded on Centralized Authorization File (CAF).

Certain matters cannot be recorded on the CAF system. Examples of such matters include, but are not limited to, the following. (A more detailed list appears in the Form 2848 instructions.)

If the tax matter described on line 3 of Form 2848 concerns one of these matters specifically, check the box on line 4. If this box is checked, the representative should mail or fax the power of attorney to the IRS office handling the matter. Otherwise, the representative should bring a copy of the power of attorney to each meeting with the IRS.

FAX copies.

The IRS will accept a copy of a power of attorney that is submitted by facsimile transmission (fax). If you choose to file a power of attorney by fax, be sure the appropriate IRS office is equipped to accept this type of transmission.

Updating a power of attorney.

Submit any update or modification to an existing power of attorney in writing. Your signature (or the signature of the individual(s) authorized to sign on your behalf) is required. Do this by sending the updated Form 2848 or non-IRS power of attorney to the IRS office(s) where you previously sent the original(s), including the service center where the related return was, or will be filed.

A recognized representative may substitute or delegate authority if you specifically authorize your representative to substitute or delegate representation in the original power of attorney. To make a substitution or delegation, the representative must file the following items with the IRS office(s) where the power of attorney was filed.

Revocation by taxpayer.

If you want to revoke a previously executed power of attorney and do not want to name a new representative, you must write “REVOKE” across the top of the first page of the Form 2848 with a current signature and date immediately below this annotation. Then, you must mail or fax a copy of the power of attorney with the revocation annotation to the IRS, using the Where To File Chart in the Instructions for Form 2848, or if the power of attorney is for a specific matter, to the IRS office handling the matter.

If you do not have a copy of the power of attorney you want to revoke, you must send the IRS a statement of revocation that indicates the authority of the power of attorney is revoked, lists the matters and years/periods, and lists the name and address of each recognized representative whose authority is revoked. You must sign and date this statement. If you are completely revoking authority, write "remove all years/periods" instead of listing the specific matters and years/periods.

Withdrawal by representative.

If your representative wants to withdraw from representation, he or she must write “WITHDRAW” across the top of the first page of the Form 2848 with a current signature and date immediately below the annotation. Then, he or she must provide a copy of the power of attorney with the withdrawal annotation to the IRS in the same manner described in Revocation by taxpayer above. If your representative does not have a copy of the power of attorney he or she wants to withdraw, he or she must send the IRS a statement of withdrawal that indicates the authority of the power of attorney is withdrawn, lists the matters and years/periods, and lists the name, TIN, and address (if known) of the taxpayer. The representative must sign and date this statement.

Incomplete document.

If Form 2848 is incomplete, the IRS will attempt to secure the missing information either by writing or telephoning you or your representative. For example, if your signature or signature date is missing, the IRS will contact you. If information concerning your representative is missing and information sufficient to make a contact (such as an address and/or a telephone number) is on the document, the IRS will try to contact your representative.

In either case, the power of attorney is not considered valid until all required information is entered on the document. The individual(s) named as representative(s) will not be recognized to practice before the IRS, on your behalf, until the document is complete and accepted by the IRS.

Complete document.

If the power of attorney is complete and valid, the IRS will take action to recognize the representative. In most instances, this includes processing the document on the CAF system. Recording the data on the CAF system enables the IRS to direct copies of mailings to authorized representatives and to readily recognize the scope of authority granted.

Documents not processed on CAF.

Specific-use powers of attorney are not processed on the CAF system (see Preparation of Form — Helpful Hints , earlier). For example, a power of attorney that is a one-time or specific-issue grant of authority is not processed on the CAF system. These documents remain with the related case files. In this situation, you should check the box on line 4 of Form 2848. In these situations, the representative should bring a copy of the power of attorney to each meeting with the IRS.

Notices and other correspondence.

If you want to authorize your representative to receive copies of all notices and communications sent to you by the IRS, you must check the box that is provided under the representative's name and address. No more than two representatives may receive copies of notices and communications sent to you by the IRS. Do not check the box if you do not want copies of notices and communications sent to your representative(s).