Form 2678 Employer/Payer Appointment of Agent

Form

2678 Employer/Payer Appointment of Agent

OMB No. 1545-0748

(Rev. August 2014) Department of the Treasury — Internal Revenue Service

Use this form if you want to request approval to have an agent file returns and make
deposits or payments of employment or other withholding taxes or if you want to
revoke an existing appointment.

For IRS use:

• If you are an employer or payer who wants to request approval, complete Parts 1
and 2 and sign Part 2. Then give it to the agent. Have the agent complete Part 3 and
sign it.
Note. This appointment is not effective until we approve your request. See the instructions
for filing Form 2678 on page 3.
• If you are an employer, payer, or agent who wants to revoke an existing appointment,
complete all three parts. In this case, only one signature is required.
Part 1: Why you are filing this form...
(Check one)
You want to appoint an agent for tax reporting, depositing, and paying.
You want to revoke an existing appointment.
Part 2:

Employer or Payer Information: Complete this part if you want to appoint an agent or revoke an appointment.

1 Employer identification number (EIN)

—

2 Employer’s or payer’s name
(not your trade name)
3 Trade name (if any)
4 Address
Number

Street

Suite or room number

City

State

Foreign country name

Foreign province/county

5 Forms for which you want to appoint an agent or revoke the agent’s
appointment to file. (Check all that apply.)

For ALL
employees/
payees/payments

ZIP code

Foreign postal code

For SOME
employees/
payees/payments

Form 940, 940-PR (Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return)*
Form 941, 941-PR, 941-SS (Employer’s QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return)
Form 943, 943-PR (Employer’s Annual Federal Tax Return for Agricultural Employees)
Form 944, 944(SP) (Employer’s ANNUAL Federal Tax Return)
Form 945 (Annual Return of Withheld Federal Income Tax)
Form CT-1 (Employer’s Annual Railroad Retirement Tax Return)
Form CT-2 (Employee Representative's Quarterly Railroad Tax Return)
*Generally you cannot appoint an agent to report, deposit, and pay tax reported on Form 940, Employer's Annual Federal
Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return, unless you are a home care service recipient.
Check here if you are a home care service recipient, and you want to appoint the agent to report, deposit, and pay FUTA
tax for you. See the instructions.
I am authorizing the IRS to disclose otherwise confidential tax information to the agent relating to the authority granted under this
appointment, including disclosures required to process Form 2678. The agent may contract with a third party, such as a
reporting agent or certified public accountant, to prepare or file the returns covered by this appointment, or to make any required
deposits and payments. Such contract may authorize the IRS to disclose confidential tax information of the employer/payer and
agent to such third party. If a third party fails to file the returns or make the deposits and payments, the agent and employer/
payer remain liable.

✗

Print your name here

Sign your
name here
Date

Print your title here

/

/

For Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see the instructions.

Best daytime phone
Now give this form to the agent to complete. ■▶
IRS.gov/form2678

Cat. No. 18770D

Form 2678 (Rev. 8-2014)

Page 2

Part 3:

Agent Information: If you will be an agent for an employer or payer, or want to revoke an appointment, complete this part.

6 Agent’s employer identification number (EIN)

—

7 Agent’s name (not trade name)
8 Trade name (if any)
9 Address
Number

Street

Suite or room number

City

Foreign country name

State

Foreign province/county

ZIP code

Foreign postal code

Check here if the employer is a home care service recipient receiving home care services through a program administered by a
federal, state, or local government agency.
Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined this form and any attachments, and to the best of my knowledge and belief, it
is true, correct, and complete.

✗

Print your name here

Sign your
name here
Date

Print your title here

/

/

Best daytime phone
Form 2678 (Rev. 8-2014)

Form 2678 (Rev. 8-2014)

Instructions for Form 2678
Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code.

Future Developments
For the latest information about developments related to Form
2678 and its instructions, such as legislation enacted after they
were published, go to www.irs.gov/form2678.

Purpose of Form
Use Form 2678 if you want to:
• Request approval to have an agent file returns and make
deposits or payments of Federal Insurance Contributions Act
(FICA) taxes, Railroad Retirement Tax Act (RRTA) taxes, income
tax withholding (ITW), or backup withholding; or
• Revoke an existing appointment.
Do not use prior versions of this form. All prior versions are
obsolete. IRS will not accept them.

Can Employers Appoint Agents to Report,
Deposit, and Pay Federal Unemployment Tax
Act (FUTA) Tax?
Generally, employers cannot appoint an agent to report,
deposit, and pay FUTA tax. However, if you are an employer
who receives home care service, you may ask IRS to approve
an agent to act on your behalf for FUTA tax purposes. Check
the box in the footnote in Part 2, line 5.
To appoint an agent to act for FUTA tax purposes, you must
also appoint the agent to act for FICA taxes and ITW purposes.

How to Complete the Form
Part 1: Why You Are Filing This Form
In Part 1, you will check a box to indicate why you are filing
Form 2678.
• If you are an employer or payer and you want to appoint an
agent, check the box that says, “You want to appoint an agent
for tax reporting, depositing, and paying.”
• If you are an employer, payer, or agent and you want to

revoke an existing appointment, check the box that says,
“You want to revoke an existing appointment.”

Part 2: Employer or Payer Information
• If you are an employer or payer, enter your employer

identification number (EIN), name, trade name, and address.

• If you are an agent revoking an existing appointment, enter the
EIN, name, trade name, and address of the employer or payer
for whom you have been authorized to act. The employer's or
payer's signature is not required.
On line 5, check the boxes for all forms for which you want to:
• Request approval to appoint an agent to file on your behalf, or
• Revoke an agent's existing appointment.
If you are only appointing an agent for some employees,
payees, or payments, check the box under For SOME
employees/payees/payments.

Page

3

Example 1. You are an employer. You appoint an agent to file
returns and deposit FICA taxes and ITW related to biweekly
wage payments that you paid your employees. However, you
make bonus wage payments directly to your employees, not
through the agent. You should report the bonus payments on a
return filed using your EIN.
Example 2. You are an employer. You appoint an agent to file
returns and deposit FICA taxes and ITW for biweekly wage
payments that you paid to your employees. However, you make
biweekly wage payments directly to your company's executives.
You should report the wage payments to the executives on a
return filed using your EIN.
If you are an employer or payer and you are requesting
authorization to appoint an agent, sign and date Form 2678 in
Part 2. Then give the form to the agent to complete and sign
Part 3.
If you are an employer or payer and you want to revoke an
existing appointment, sign and date Form 2678 in Part 2.
Complete Part 3. Then send the form to the address for your
location under Where To File, later.

Part 3: Agent Information
• If you are an employer or payer and you are requesting

authorization to appoint an agent, have the agent complete and
sign Part 3.

• If you are an employer or payer and you want to revoke an

existing appointment, complete Part 3. The agent's signature is
not required. Then send the form to the address for your
location under Where To File, later.

• If you want to accept an appointment as an agent or you are
an agent who wants to revoke an existing appointment,
complete Part 3 with your information. Then sign and date the
form where indicated. Send the form to the address for the
employer's or payer's location under Where To File, later.
Note. If an agent is a corporate officer, partner, or tax matters
partner, the agent must have the authority to execute this
appointment of agent.

Filing Form 2678
Send Form 2678 to the address for the employer's or payer's
location under Where To File, later. We will send a letter to the
employer or payer and to the agent after we have approved the
request. For agents of home care service recipients, we will
send the approval letter only to the agent.
The authorization to act as an agent is effective on the date
shown in the letter. Until we approve the request, the agent is
not liable for filing any tax returns or making any deposits or
payments.
Only one signature is required to revoke an agent's
appointment. If an existing appointment is revoked, the IRS
cannot disclose confidential tax information to anyone other
than the employer or payer for periods after the appointment is
revoked.
If an agent's appointment is revoked, we will send both the
employer or payer and the agent a letter confirming the
revocation. For agents of home care service recipients, we will
send the letter confirming the revocation only to the agent. The
revocation is effective on the date shown in the letter.

Form 2678 (Rev. 8-2014)

Page

4

Where To File
If you are in...

Send your form to...

Connecticut
Delaware
District of
Columbia

Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana

Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts

Michigan
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York

North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island

South Carolina
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California

Colorado
Hawaii
Idaho
Iowa
Kansas

Louisiana
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana

Nebraska
Nevada
New Mexico
North Dakota

Oklahoma
Oregon
South Dakota
Tennessee

Texas
Utah
Washington
Wyoming

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Cincinnati, OH 45999
Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Ogden, UT 84201

No legal residence or place of business in any state

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Ogden, UT 84201

Exempt organization or government entity

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Ogden, UT 84201-0046

Agent Responsibilities After
Appointment
Reporting, Depositing, and Payment
Requirements
Agents must follow the procedures for employment taxes in
Rev. Proc. 2013-39, 2013-52 I.R.B. 830, available at
www.irs.gov/irb/2013-52_IRB/ar15.html and for backup
withholding in Rev. Proc. 84-33. Agents for employers who are
home care service recipients receiving home care services
through a program administered by a federal, state, or local
government agency may also use this form. These agents may
be referred to as fiscal/employer agents, household employer
agents, and home care service recipient agents.
All agents, employers, and payers remain liable for filing all
returns and making all tax deposits and payments while this
appointment is in effect. If an agent contracts with a third party,
such as a reporting agent or certified public accountant, to
prepare or file the returns covered by this appointment or to
make any required tax deposits or payments and the third party
fails to do so, the agent, employer, and payer remain liable.

Filing Schedule R (Form 940) and Schedule R
(Form 941)
An agent for a home care service recipient that files an
aggregate Form 940, Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment
(FUTA) Tax Return, must complete Schedule R (Form 940),
Allocation Schedule for Aggregate Form 940 Filers, and file it
with the aggregate Form 940.
An agent who files an aggregate Form 941, Employer's
QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return, must complete Schedule R
(Form 941), Allocation Schedule for Aggregate Form 941 Filers,
and file it with the aggregate Form 941.
Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We ask
for the information on Form 2678 to carry out the Internal
Revenue laws of the United States. The principal purpose of this
information is to permit you to appoint an agent to act on your
behalf. You do not have to appoint an agent; however, if you
choose to appoint an agent, you must provide the information
requested on Form 2678. Our authority to collect this
information is section 3504. Section 6109 requires you and the
agent to provide your identification numbers. Failure to provide
this information could delay or prevent processing your
appointment of agent. Intentionally providing false information
could subject you and the agent to penalties.

You are not required to provide the information requested on
a form that is subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act unless
the form displays a valid OMB control number. Books or
records relating to a form or its instructions must be retained as
long as their contents may become material in the
administration of any Internal Revenue law.
Generally, tax returns and return information are confidential,
as required by section 6103. However, section 6103 allows or
requires the IRS to disclose or give the information shown on
this form to others as described in the Code. For example, we
may disclose your tax information to the Department of Justice
for civil and criminal litigation, and to cities, states, the District of
Columbia, and U.S. commonwealths and possessions for use in
administering their tax laws. We may also disclose this
information to other countries under a tax treaty, to federal and
state agencies to enforce federal nontax criminal laws, or to
federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to combat
terrorism.
The time needed to complete and file Form 2678 will vary
depending on individual circumstances. The estimated average
time is:
Recordkeeping

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1 hr., 5 min.

Learning about the law or the form .

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. 54 min.

Preparing, copying, assembling, and
sending the form to the IRS . . . .

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. 13 min.

If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of these
time estimates or suggestions for making Form 2678 simpler,
we would be happy to hear from you. You can send us
comments from www.irs.gov/formspubs. Click on More
Information and then click on Give us feedback. Or you can
send your comments to Internal Revenue Service, Tax Forms
and Publications Division, 1111 Constitution Ave. NW, IR-6526,
Washington, DC 20224. Do not send Form 2678 to this
address. Instead, see Where To File above.