Power of Attorney (POA) – Best Practices December 2020 Tax News

When CalCPA posed a question to us about POAs at the October CalCPA Liaison meeting, we took the opportunity to share our POA best practices, which we summarize below. In addition, when your client would like you to have online access to their information, we now recommend that you check the “Yes” box to Authorize MyFTB Full Online Account Access in Part V of the POA form. When using the MyFTB POA Wizard to upload the POA form, select the “Full” access box.

Our top 3 reasons for rejection of POA forms are:

  1. Submission errors
  2. No response from the client when we request relationship verification
  3. Electronic signature used when an original or “wet” signature is required

Submission errors stem from keying information into the MyFTB POA Wizard that is different from the uploaded POA document.

To avoid rejection and ensure that POA forms and Taxpayer Information Authorizations (TIAs) are submitted without issues, we encourage representatives and taxpayers to observe the following best practices when uploading a POA or a TIA form using MyFTB:

  • Make sure that only one POA is included in the uploaded attachment; we will not accept multiple declarations uploaded for a single taxpayer.
  • Submit separate POA declarations for each spouse or registered domestic partner.
  • Key information from the POA declaration exactly, as written, into the MyFTB POA Wizard including names, authorizations, and additional representatives.
  • Upload the POA declaration only with the taxpayer’s original or “wet” signature, and review both the signature and date for completeness and legibility.

Other tips: If there is an error on the POA declaration, complete a new form and obtain your client’s original signature, and then upload to MyFTB.

We offer 4 ways for taxpayers or tax professionals to submit a POA Declaration:

  1. A tax professional may file a taxpayer’s POA form electronically through the MyFTB POA Wizard without uploading a paper form. While this method does not require an original or “wet” signature, it requires the taxpayer to have their own MyFTB account, log into their account and approve the POA within 45 days of submission. 
  2. The tax professional may instead file a taxpayer’s POA form electronically through the MyFTB POA Wizard and upload a signed and completed paper POA Declaration with the original taxpayer signature. The signed original POA Declaration serves as the taxpayer’s authorization.
  3. A taxpayer may submit and authorize a POA form electronically through their own MyFTB account, which does not require a “wet” signature.
  4. Mail the signed and completed paper POA Declaration with original signature to FTB for processing.

Currently, we do not accept electronic signatures on our POA declarations. We will inform you if this changes.

For more information, visit our website and search POA.