What Constitutes a Proper Change of Address?

A key procedural and administrative process of the IRS is ensuring the IRS has your most current or last known address in order to best serve you…and also to save you from penalties and interest in the event you miss a notification because it was delivered to a previous address.

A recent court case (Gregory, 152 Tax Court No. 7, 2019) sheds important light on this process:

Taxpayers Gregory and Gregory moved from Jersey City to Rutherford on June 30, 2015, but when they filed their 2014 return on October 15, 2015, they incorrectly used their Jersey City address. The Gregorys first used their Rutherford, NJ address on Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative in November 2015, and again when they submitted Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Tax Return.

In October 2016, the IRS sent a deficiency notice to the Jersey City address and was marked by the US Postal Service as Return to Sender / Unclaimed / Unable to Forward.

The Gregorys became aware of this deficiency on January 17, 2017 and filed a petition with the Tax Court (“TC”) the same day, taking the position that the notice was invalid because it was not sent to their last known address. The IRS countered that the notice was valid because it was sent to their last known address and the Gregorys therefore had not filed their TC petition in a timely manner.

The TC held that neither Form 2848, nor a Form 4868 updates a taxpayer’s last known address with the IRS because the forms are not tax returns and therefore did not constitute a “clear and concise notification of a different address”.

What Are the Requirements for a Tax Return?

Citing Beard, 82 TC 766 (1984), and aff’d, 793 F.2d 139 (6th Cir. 1986) the TC stated that a tax return must meet four elements:

1. Contain sufficient data to calculate a tax liability;

2. The document must purport to be a tax return;

3. Must be an honest attempt to comply with tax laws; and

4. Taxpayer must execute the return under penalty of perjury

The Court held that Forms 2848 and 4868 do not meet the requirements of a tax return. Further, instructions for both forms state that the respective forms may not be used to update a taxpayer’s address, thus they are not a clear and concise notification of change of address.

The Court also noted that in prior case law, Hunter, TC Memo. 2004-81, the Court and the Third Circuit held that the IRS is not compelled to ask for a change of address on Form 2848, and therefore did not support Gregory’s position.

How do I notify the IRS of a change of Address?

1. Submit Form 8222, Change of Address;

2. Submit a written statement (Form 8222 is NOT required) to the IRS; or

3. Provide a clear and concise notice of address change orally and directly with the IRS over the telephone.

So be sure keep your address changes (business or personal) as timely as possible to avoid a situation like the Gregorys.

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