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For tax preparers sharing return information

There is no Form 7216. Here is the consent the IRS requires

People search for "Form 7216" because every preparer has been told they need one. The IRS never numbered a form. What exists is a criminal statute, section 7216, and a regulation that says exactly what the consent must contain.

A section 7216 consent is a client's signed permission for their tax preparer to disclose or use return information for something other than preparing the return, such as sending a copy to a mortgage lender. There is no IRS Form 7216: Treasury Regulation §301.7216-3 sets what the consent contains, and Rev. Proc. 2013-14 adds mandatory wording for Form 1040 filers. The template below carries that wording, free in Word and PDF.

Last reviewed against 6 primary sources.

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Section 7216 consent to disclose

The consent to disclose Form 1040 information to a third party, with the mandatory Rev. Proc. 2013-14 statements and the optional offshore paragraph. In Word and PDF.

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Next step: send it to the client through FirmHello, where it stays on their record beside everything else they send you.

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Section 7216 of the Internal Revenue Code makes it a misdemeanor for a tax return preparer to knowingly or recklessly disclose or use information furnished for a return, and section 6713 adds a civil penalty for each disclosure or use. Treasury Regulation §301.7216-3 says when a written consent lifts that bar, and what the consent must contain. For clients filing a return in the Form 1040 series, Rev. Proc. 2013-14 adds mandatory wording, a minimum type size and the ways an electronic consent may be signed. Rev. Proc. 2013-19 only moved its effective date, and since January 1, 2014 every such consent has had to carry the 2013-14 wording.

You do not need a consent to prepare and file a client's return. Rev. Proc. 2013-14 changed the mandatory text to say so. You need one when return information leaves the preparation work: a copy of the return sent to a mortgage lender, figures passed to your firm's wealth or bookkeeping arm, or a return worked on by a preparer outside the United States. If the request that prompted this search is from a lender, see also the CPA letter for a mortgage, which cannot go out without one.

The template below is the common case: a consent to disclose Form 1040 information to a named third party, for a purpose other than preparing the return.

What a valid 7216 consent contains

The regulation sets the elements for every consent. Rev. Proc. 2013-14 adds its own rules for Form 1040 series filers. Miss one and the consent does not protect you.

  1. 1

    Both names, the recipient and the purpose

    The preparer's name and the taxpayer's name, the purpose of the disclosure, and the specific recipient or recipients. "Third parties we work with" does not meet it. For a business client not filing in the 1040 series, the regulation allows a descriptive class of recipients in narrow cases, and the consent may sit inside an engagement letter.

  2. 2

    Exactly which information

    The consent must specify the tax return information to be disclosed, for example "Forms 1040 for 2024 and 2025 as filed". A consent to disclose the whole return must tell the taxpayer they can ask for a more limited disclosure.

  3. 3

    The mandatory statements, in order

    For 1040 series filers, the paragraphs in section 5.04 of Rev. Proc. 2013-14 go in word for word and in sequence, plus the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) complaint paragraph. You may put your firm's name where the text says "we" or "our", and change nothing else.

  4. 4

    One document for disclosure, another for use

    A single document cannot authorize both. Several disclosures may share one consent, and several uses another, but the taxpayer must be able to select each one affirmatively. Pre-ticked boxes and opt-out designs are not permitted.

  5. 5

    Signed, dated, and copied to the client

    The taxpayer signs and dates it before you disclose anything. On paper that means a handwritten signature. You give the taxpayer a copy when it is signed; for an electronic consent, letting them print or save it at that moment is enough. A practice with no paper file can keep the signed consent on the client's record in a tax client portal for virtual tax firms, beside the return it covers.

  6. 6

    A duration, or one year by default

    The consent can state how long it lasts. If it does not, it runs for one year from the date the taxpayer signed it. Fill in the date before signing: the Rev. Proc. forbids presenting a consent with blanks to complete afterwards.

The consent

Written for United States. Print it on its own sheet, in 12-point type or larger, with nothing on the page that is not about this disclosure: Rev. Proc. 2013-14 requires both for a paper consent.

[Firm name]
[Firm address]

Consent to disclose tax return information

Federal law requires this consent form be provided to you. Unless authorized by law, we cannot disclose your tax return information to third parties for purposes other than the preparation and filing of your tax return without your consent. If you consent to the disclosure of your tax return information, Federal law may not protect your tax return information from further use or distribution.

You are not required to complete this form to engage our tax return preparation services. If we obtain your signature on this form by conditioning our tax return preparation services on your consent, your consent will not be valid. If you agree to the disclosure of your tax return information, your consent is valid for the amount of time that you specify. If you do not specify the duration of your consent, your consent is valid for one year from the date of signature.

What we would disclose, to whom, and why

You have asked [Firm name] to provide tax return information to [Recipient name, address] for the purpose of [purpose, for example: supporting your application for a mortgage loan]. If you would like us to make this disclosure, please check the box below, and sign and date this consent.

[Include where the disclosure is of an entire return:] You may ask us to disclose less than your entire return, and we will disclose only the information you direct.

☐ I, [Taxpayer name(s)], authorize [Firm name] to disclose to [Recipient name] the following tax return information: [for example, copies of my Form 1040, with all schedules, for tax years [year] and [year], as filed], for the purpose of [purpose].

This consent is valid until [date].

[Include only if the recipient or any preparer assisting is outside the United States]

[Where your Social Security number is fully masked or redacted:] This consent to disclose may result in your tax return information being disclosed to a tax return preparer located outside the United States.

[Where it is not, and only if both preparers maintain an adequate data protection safeguard:] This consent to disclose may result in your tax return information being disclosed to a tax return preparer located outside the United States, including your personally identifiable information such as your Social Security Number ("SSN"). Both the tax return preparer in the United States that will disclose your SSN and the tax return preparer located outside the United States that will receive your SSN maintain an adequate data protection safeguard (as required by the regulations under 26 U.S.C. section 7216) to protect privacy and prevent unauthorized access of tax return information. If you consent to the disclosure of your tax return information, federal agencies may not be able to enforce United States laws that protect the privacy of your tax return information against a tax return preparer located outside of the United States to whom the information is disclosed.

Signature

Taxpayer: [Name]

Signature ______________________ Date ____________

[Second taxpayer, where the information is from a joint return: Name]

Signature ______________________ Date ____________

If you believe your tax return information has been disclosed or used improperly in a manner unauthorized by law or without your permission, you may contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) by telephone at 1-800-366-4484, or by email at complaints@tigta.treas.gov.

Before you use this

Supplied as-is, with no guarantee. These templates are general information, not legal advice, and not a substitute for it. Have your own legal adviser review and adapt one to your practice and your jurisdiction before you put it in front of a client. FirmHello accepts no responsibility or liability for any use made of them.

Where 7216 consents go wrong

The consent that is a condition of the engagement

"Sign all of these or we cannot start" makes the consent involuntary and void. The one exception is a disclosure to another preparer who assists with the return, where Rev. Proc. 2013-14 has its own wording allowing you to decline the work.

An approval taken for a signature

An electronic consent is signed only by one of the Rev. Proc.'s methods: a pre-assigned PIN of at least five characters, the typed name, or five or more characters unique to the taxpayer, entered by the taxpayer, never filled in by the software. A click-through does not qualify, and neither does a portal approval.

Asking after the return is done

You cannot request consent to use return information to solicit business unrelated to tax preparation once you have handed over the completed return for signature. A client who declines cannot be asked again for a substantially similar purpose.

Other letters a firm sends

Tax preparation Tax preparation What it is Engagement letters Form 1041 Form 1041 Penalty abatement letter IRS penalty relief

Questions about the 7216 consent

Is there an IRS Form 7216?

No. "Form 7216" is shorthand for a consent under section 7216 of the Internal Revenue Code. The IRS publishes the required elements in Treas. Reg. §301.7216-3 and the mandatory wording for Form 1040 series filers in Rev. Proc. 2013-14, and each firm drafts its own consent from them. The AICPA publishes sample consent forms for its Tax Section members.

Do I need a 7216 consent to prepare a client's return?

No. The mandatory wording itself tells the client they are not required to complete the form to engage your tax return preparation services. The consent is for disclosures and uses outside preparing and filing the return.

What does a consent to use look like?

It is a separate document. For 1040 series filers it opens with: "Federal law requires this consent form be provided to you. Unless authorized by law, we cannot use your tax return information for purposes other than the preparation and filing of your tax return without your consent." It continues with the same statements on voluntariness and duration, names the particular use and each type of product or service you may offer, and ends with the TIGTA paragraph. Section 5.04(1)(c) of Rev. Proc. 2013-14 has the full text.

Can the consent go in the engagement letter?

For a Form 1040 series filer, it must be a separate document; the Rev. Proc. gives attaching it to the engagement letter as an example. For other taxpayers, such as a corporation, the regulation allows the consent in any format, including the engagement letter, as long as it has the required elements. See the tax preparation engagement letter.

How do clients sign it electronically?

Through your own e-signature provider, set up to use one of the Rev. Proc. 2013-14 section 6 methods, or on paper with a handwritten signature. FirmHello does not capture signatures: a client portal for accountants like ours can request the signed consent from the client with the rest of the year's paperwork and keep it on the record beside the return.

Should someone review our consent before we use it?

Yes. This is a template supplied as-is. Section 7216 carries criminal penalties, and the right wording depends on whether the disclosure is to a third party, to a preparer who assists you, or offshore. Have your own adviser check the version you adopt.

Sources

The primary sources this page is written against, last read against it on . Check them before relying on a detail; rules and thresholds change.

  1. Cornell Law School LII 26 CFR 301.7216-3
  2. IRS Rev. Proc. 2013-14
  3. IRS Rev. Proc. 2013-19 modifies Rev. Proc. 2013-14 only to extend its effective date
  4. IRS Section 7216 information center
  5. IRS IRS Section 7216 FAQs (reviewed 2026-06-28)
  6. AICPA AICPA "Section 7216 Guidance and Sample Consent Forms"

What changed

  • Added an editable Word (.docx) copy of the letter beside the PDF.

The consent goes out with everything else

Put it on the request list with the year's documents. The client signs it through your own signing provider or on paper and uploads the signed copy, which stays on the record beside the return. The portal holds the consent; it does not sign it.

No card and no sales call. If you would rather tell us about your firm first, use the longer form.