Just became an executor, trustee, or guardian? File IRS Form 56 to get the IRS sending their tax mail to you.
56 Filing
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Until You File, the IRS Doesn't Know You Exist

  • Tax notices keep going to the old address. The IRS validly sends all correspondence for the person you represent, including statutory notices of deficiency, to their last known address until a Form 56 is on file. Deadlines can pass and assessments can happen without you seeing a single letter.
  • Receivers and assignees are on a 10-day clock. A receiver or an assignee for the benefit of creditors is required to notify the IRS within 10 days of appointment.

IRS Form 56 Preparation and Filing Service

We prepare IRS Form 56 (Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship) for executors, administrators, trustees, guardians, conservators, receivers, and assignees. Form 56 is paper only and must be signed by the fiduciary personally, so our service works in three steps: we prepare your notice and the attachment checklist and determine the correct IRS mailing address for your situation; you sign the prepared form; and we mail it to the IRS by USPS Certified Mail and send you the tracking number together with a copy of the form exactly as mailed. One notice covers one person you act for; an executor handling both a deceased person's final taxes and the estate needs two.

Why Filing Form 56 Matters

  • Until notice is given, the IRS keeps sending a deceased or incapacitated person's tax mail to their last known address, including deficiency notices, and can assess without the fiduciary ever seeing the letters
  • Filing Form 56 puts your authority on record so IRS correspondence about the person's tax matters reaches the person now responsible: you
  • The IRS instructions direct a fiduciary who seeks to act on someone's behalf to file this notice, and receivers and assignees are required to file within 10 days of appointment
  • Getting it right takes care: one form per person you act for, evidence of authority attached, and a mailing address that depends on the person's return type and state
File Your Form 56
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File when your role begins. Estate administration checklists put Form 56 first because everything the IRS sends afterward depends on the IRS knowing who you are.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about IRS Form 56: who files it, when, what to attach, and how proof of filing works.

Form 56, Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship, tells the IRS that you have been created as (or have stopped being) the fiduciary of another person or entity, under Internal Revenue Code sections 6903 and 6036. Once it is on file, IRS correspondence about that person's tax matters is directed to you. It is a paper form; there is no electronic filing option.

Form 56 Resources

Detailed guidance on who files IRS Form 56, the two-filings rule for executors who also administer the estate, and how Form 56 differs from a power of attorney (Form 2848).

Who Counts as a Fiduciary

Executors, administrators, trustees, guardians, conservators, receivers, and assignees: who files Form 56, when, and what to attach.

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What Happens If You Don't File

The honest answer: no fine, but the IRS keeps mailing the person's tax notices to their old address, and the two-filings rule for executors.

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