IRS transcripts for our clients are one of the most powerful tools we as tax preparers can have. They allow us to see what the IRS has on record for you and often allow us to fix problems very quickly. Due to the trials and tribulations surrounding the pandemic, our office now requests that all clients complete a Form 2848 Power of Attorney that aids us in acquiring these transcripts for you.
What’s a Power of Attorney (POA) do?
The Power of Attorney form is a limited POA that is strictly for tax purposes and basically gives us three super powers to help our clients.
- Transcript pulls. With a signed POA on file with the IRS, Matt and Ryan can pull your transcript for you. They can see previously filed tax returns that the IRS has in their database, as well as, seeing income documents that have been submitted under your Social Security number – such as W2s, 1099-R Retirement Statements, Interest Statements, Mortgage Interest Paid, and more. This becomes very useful if your any reason you haven’t received one of those documents.
- Any letters or notices sent to you are also sent to us too! In some instances we actually receive the notices before our clients do and can contact them ahead of time to let them know what to expect or how to resolve the issue – before they even know there is one!
- We can call the IRS on your behalf! This is probably our most powerful tool. As preparers, we have “top secret” phone number we can call the IRS on and speak to an agent for you. If you’ve ever had to wait on hold for over an hour with the IRS only to receive a “courtesy” hang-up you know how valuable this is.
What if I don’t have a POA on file yet?
If you don’t have a POA with us on file yet, there’s still time to do so. But if it’s an emergency issue, taxpayers can create an account on the IRS.gov website and pull their own transcripts at any time. You can do that by going to their site here: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript