New Form 2848 Requires Jointly Filing Couples to File Separate Powers of Attorney

The IRS will now only accept the version of Form 2848 released in October 2011. The October 2011 version requires jointly filing husbands and wives to file separate powers of attorney on separate Forms 2848 to designate thier—even if the designations are the same. The new Form also requires representatives to provide their tax preparer tax identification number (PTIN) and contains a new category of representatives—registered tax return preparer.

See Sally P. Schreiber, Couples Who File Joint Returns Must Now File Separate Powers of Attorney, Journal of Accountancy, Feb. 6. 2012. 

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.