Form 8822-B: Change Your LLC's Address or Responsible Party with the IRS

The IRS says Form 8822-B is for businesses and other entities with an Employer Identification Number application on file. You use it to notify the IRS if you changed:

• your business mailing address,
• your business location, or
• the identity of your responsible party.

The IRS defines a responsible party as someone who owns, controls or exercises effective control over the entity and directly or indirectly manages its funds and assets, and says it must be a person, not an entity, with an exception for government entities. The form's instructions send you to the instructions for Form SS-4 to see who can be the responsible party and which identification number to enter, so check them if you are not sure who qualifies for your LLC. If your LLC's members or managers are changing, our guide to adding or removing a member covers the wider checklist. The IRS also says to use this form to correct an EIN application that listed a nominee instead of a responsible party.

The IRS form page says changes in responsible parties must be reported to the IRS within 60 days. The instructions say any entity with an EIN is required to report a change in its responsible party on lines 8 and 9 within 60 days of the change, citing Treasury Regulations section 301.6109-1(d)(2)(ii). A separate IRS page on responsible parties words it more broadly, saying to use Form 8822-B to report changes to your responsible party, address or location within 60 days. The simple course is to file within 60 days of any of the three changes.

The instructions say that if your responsible party has changed, use of the form is mandatory, and that otherwise use is voluntary, with no penalty for failing to file the form. They add that if you do not give the IRS your current mailing address or the identity of your responsible party, you may not receive a notice of deficiency or a notice of demand for tax, and penalties and interest continue to accrue on any tax deficiencies even if you never receive those notices. The same instructions also say entities that change their address or responsible party must file Form 8822-B, so we treat filing as the safer course. If a specific deadline or penalty matters in your situation, ask a tax professional.

1. Check every box the change affects: employment, excise, income and other business returns; employee plan returns; or business location. Check the tax-exempt box only if you are a tax-exempt organization.
2. Enter your business name and EIN.
3. For an address change, enter the old and new mailing address, and a new business location if that changed. Include any suite or room number. The instructions say to enter a P.O. box only if your post office does not deliver mail to your street address.
4. For a responsible party change, enter the new responsible party's name and SSN, ITIN or EIN (lines 8 and 9). The form tells you to refer to the Form SS-4 instructions to see who may use an EIN there.
5. Sign it. The instructions list an officer, owner, general partner or LLC member manager, plan administrator, fiduciary or an authorized representative as the people who may sign.

The form's Where To File table gives an IRS mailing address by the location of your old business address. We do not reproduce the table, because addresses can change. Use the one on the current IRS Form 8822-B page. The IRS pages we read describe sending the form to that address and do not describe another way to submit it, so check the IRS page before you choose a method. The instructions say it generally takes 4 to 6 weeks to process the change. If you changed your home address too, the form says to use Form 8822 for that.

• It does not give you a new EIN. The IRS says you don't need a new EIN to change your business name, address or responsible party, but you generally need a new one when the entity's ownership or structure changes. See our EIN guide.
• It does not list a business name change. The form's purpose is the mailing address, business location and responsible party. The IRS has a separate business name change page, which says the action required varies by type of business and that in some situations a name change may require a new EIN or a final return. Read that page, or ask a tax professional, before you rely on a letter.
• It does not update your state. It is a notice to the IRS. What your state has on file for the LLC, such as the registered agent or principal office address, is changed with the state. See amending your LLC, registered agent changes and what each kind of business address can be used for.