A couple of months ago the IRS announced that they were “retiring” Disclosure Authorization from IRS e-Services. For the laypeople who read this blog, this means that if you come to my office and we need to print a transcript and I do not currently have a Power of Attorney on file, we can’t immediately obtain a transcript. Instead, I can call the IRS and be put on hold (average hold time recently is about 45 minutes), I’ll then fax the completed POA to the IRS (average time to do this, about 15 minutes), and then within 72 hours I’ll obtain the transcripts. Alternatively, I can just fax the POA to the IRS CAF unit, and then within a promised three four days, the transcript will be entered into the IRS’s computer system. I’ll then be able to obtain the transcript. (If anyone believes that this standard won’t slip again–it already has once–I have a bridge to sell.)
As the NAEA said today, how can this be considered an improvement? Perhaps the IRS wants e-Services when it helps them, and not tax professionals. Of course, as I’ve noted before the loss of Disclosure Authorization will also impede the IRS: They will have more phone calls to handle, more paperwork to handle, etc.
In any case, the retirement is official:
There is a planned power outage scheduled this weekend from Saturday, Aug. 31 at 5 p.m. EDT through Tuesday, Sept. 3 at 12:00 p.m. All e-Services products, including the Transcript Delivery System, e-file Application, Registration, Disclosure Authorization, Electronic Account Resolution and TIN Matching will be unavailable during this time.
There will be several changes made to e-services while the system is unavailable including the retirement of Disclosure Authorization (DA) and Electronic Account Resolution (EAR) and TIN Matching reengineering. Additional information for TIN Matching Re-engineering is available on the e-services page under Tax Professionals.
As with any upgrade, users could experience intermittent downtime for the first few days following implementation. If you experience problems, you may contact the e-help Desk at 866-255-0654.
Tags: IRS.eServices