Effective January 1, 2014, U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Treasury Decision 9617 (T.D. 9617) required that “any person assigned an employer identification number” must “provide updated information to the IRS”. This means, if the person identified as the “responsible party” in field 7a of the Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number, filed to obtain your EIN changes, the information must be updated with the IRS. The form that must be used is Form 8822-B, Change of Address or Responsible Party – Business.
If information on file with the IRS has changed since your initial filing and you have not made a change filing in the past, you must make a filing prior to March 1, 2014. The new filing needs only provide the most current information. If any change occurs in the future, a new Form 8822-B must be filed within 60 days of the change.
What constitutes a “change of responsible party”? This is dependent on whether your company trades shares or interests on a “public exchange” or has its shares or interests “registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission” or is any other kind of entity. Both are defined in the instructions shown on the back of Form 8822-B, which should be referred to when completing the form.
Failure to update information may result in tax notices not being received.
