IRS Change of Address Notification

Every nation or state has its own agency or department of revenue that does the job of collecting taxes from citizens. In United States of America, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is an agency that does the duty of collecting taxes for the federal government. An important tool that is used by IRS, to communicate with the citizens and taxpayers is their postal address. The IRS has issued some very important guidelines to citizens and taxpayers for change of address notification. It is important that you go through the following paragraphs because, it is not just the IRS that you would need to inform, you will also need to forward the same change of address notification to other people and organizations.

Communication by the IRS

As mentioned above, your address, or more appropriately, your postal address is the only channel of communication that helps IRS to get in touch with you. Many people may wonder aloud that why does one have to notify IRS about the change of address. Simple answer, the IRS relies on postal services in order to mail the taxpayers their annual tax packages, tax relief checks and the tax debt forgiveness checks. Thus, it becomes extremely important to mail your change of address notification to IRS. The IRS change of address notification formalities and procedures have been specified in Topic 157 of IRS interface. Now, there are 2 basic ways with the help of which you can convey the notification:

• The first way is a simple one. When you receive your annual tax package, you will have to change the address on the mailing label and write the appropriate one. In addition to that, you will also have to put in your new address while filing the return. When the return is processed, the new address is automatically updated in the IRS database.
• The second way is to fill in Form 8822, which notifies the IRS about change of address. Online notification is available on the website of the IRS. You can also order it through the post by calling the helpline.

It must be noted that while filing a joint return, both the husband and wife are supposed to notify their change of address.

5 Tips For Address Change Notification

For the benefit and ease of the taxpayer, the IRS has prescribed some effective guidelines to the taxpayers, in order to avoid delays in filing of income tax returns.

• It is important to file your IRS change of address form as soon as you move due to the fact that the update procedure requires a considerable amount of time, once you have filed your notification.
• The second job is to notify your employer. W-2 Forms of the IRS are an important part of the process of filing an income tax return. These forms are generated by the employer. Hence, it becomes necessary to inform the employer in such a situation.
• The postal office of your new and old locality should also be informed about the change of address, as the postal system is the only channel of communication between you and the IRS. Now, it is absolutely essential to inform the old postal office of your new address, so that it scan divert any haywire delivery that has been mistakenly addressed to your old home.
• Some taxpayers also make estimated tax payments during the ongoing year. Thus, it becomes necessary to mention these payments in the Form 8822.
• Some taxpayers prefer to write to the IRS instead to using the forms. In such a scenario, the letter must contain both addresses in a clean and legible handwriting. The letter must also contain some identification number such as a social security number.

It is always advisable that you fill in the Form 8822, to give an instant notification to IRS. It is better that you start the process as quickly as possible, as the IRS database has to be updated, which is quite time-consuming.