IRS Business Tax Accounts are a Valuable Resource
The IRS continues to expand its online capabilities with its Business Tax Account tool, giving a growing number of eligible business taxpayers a quicker and easier way to access tax information online and meet their tax obligations.
Sole proprietors, individual partners of partnerships, individual shareholders of S corporations and C corporations have for a time now been generally eligible to have and use an IRS Business Tax Account. Recently, the IRS announced it was expanding eligibility to millions of entities, including partnerships, Indian tribal governments, tax-exempt organizations, and government bodies, that did not previously have access to the online, self-service platform.
IRS CEO Frank Bisignano said in a recent news release, "Digital access will reduce the burden on these taxpayers because they no longer will be limited to paper and phone interactions to perform simple tasks with the IRS."
The features of and access to a Business Tax Account ultimately depend on the business structure and the individual's role in the business. Business taxpayers can make electronic payments, set up a future payment or cancel a scheduled payment. They can also do things like access:
- Balances due.
- Payment history.
- Authorization requests from a lender submitted through Income Verification Express Service.
- Transcripts for the business's tax return, tax account, record of return and entity, including payroll accounts.
- Digital copies of select IRS notices.
- Business name and address on file.
- Tax compliance report or a tax certificate for award use.
- A Business Tax Account can be used by someone whom the IRS deems a "Designated Official", or DO, and there can be more than one per organization. The following qualify as a DO for their respective businesses:
For S corporations and C corporations, a DO must be ALL of these:
- An officer (president, vice president, CEO, CFO, COO, secretary, treasurer) or managing member of the entity
- A current employee who received a W-2 for the most recent tax filing year
- Authorized to legally bind the business or entity
For Partnerships, a DO must be ONE of these:
- A general partner
- A managing partner of the LLC
For a Government entity, a DO must be ONE of these:
- An elected official
- The Director of Taxation
- An appointed official
For a Tax-exempt organization, a DO must be ONE of these:
- An officer of the organization (president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Operating Officer (COO))
- A Board chairperson
- A trustee of a trust
Also, a DO can grant access and authority on a limited basis to others, called Designated Users, to perform certain functions on behalf of the business.
For more information, go to www.irs.gov/businesses/business-tax-account. Put to use, IRS Business Tax Accounts, once established, can make dealing and communicating with the IRS more efficient, productive and much less taxing (see what I did there?)!
