IRS Expands Business Tax Account Access to Government, Nonprofit Entities

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is expanding its Business Tax Account access to federal, state, and local governments; Indian tribal governments; tax-exempt organizations; and partnerships.

“The newly eligible entities join sole proprietors, S corporations, and C corporations that are already able to access the platform,” the IRS announced on April 6. “The expansion supports the agency’s ongoing service improvement effort by broadening digital access to more segments of the business community.”

The Business Tax Account is a centralized platform that allows users to manage their federal tax responsibilities online. An entity can use the account to check tax balances, make payments, review payment history, view transcripts such as income and payroll online, and download certain digital notices.

Moreover, users will be able to request a tax compliance check via the account.

“By opening the Business Tax Account to partnerships, tax-exempts, and other organizations, we’re giving millions more entities secure, convenient access to their tax information,” IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano said.

“Digital access will reduce the burden on these taxpayers because they no longer will be limited to paper and phone interactions to perform simple tasks with the IRS.”

Opening a Business Tax Account also enables entities to speed up the lending process when applying for loans, the IRS stated back in December 2024.

Designated Officials can use their Business Tax Accounts (BTA) to approve or reject a tax transcript authorization request from lenders made via the IRS’s Income Verification Express Service (IVES). IVES allows loan providers to access taxpayers’ records to verify their income, enabling quicker lending decisions.

“Tax records include transcripts of a taxpayer’s tax returns, as well as 1099s and other forms filed by banks and other payors reporting business income to the IRS. Through BTA and IVES, business taxpayers can now quickly and easily approve or reject these authorization requests from lenders,” the agency said.

“The IRS can only provide a lender access to this information if a taxpayer authorizes it,” it noted.

Designated Officials

A Business Tax Account can register a designated official who will be able to access all account details, act on behalf of the entity through the account, and remove another designated official from the account.

All designated officials must revalidate their role every year to maintain access to the account.

“For all entities except partnerships, the revalidation period is 6 weeks starting June 15th. All partnership Designated Officials must revalidate during the revalidation period of 6 weeks starting October 15th. The Designated Official will get a notification in the business tax account during this period,” the agency said.

“If they don’t revalidate, the Designated Official will need to request access to the account again.”

Partnerships can open a Business Tax Account when they file Form 1065, U.S. Return of Partnership Income. An individual partner can then register to access the account if they have an individual taxpayer identification number or a Social Security Number, and receive Schedule K-1 (Form 1065), Partner’s Share of Income Deductions, Credits, etc., according to the agency.

A designated official for a partnership must either be a general partner or managing partner of the LLC.

For federal, state, or local government entities, a designated official must be the director of Taxation, an elected official, or an appointed official.

If an Indian Tribal government signs up for a Business Tax Account, it can add the following people as designated officials—governor, chairperson, tribal leader, chief executive officer, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, treasurer, secretary, president, or vice president.

As for tax-exempt organizations, a designated official must be a trustee of a trust, a board chairperson, or an officer of the organization, such as president, vice president, treasurer, or chief executive officer.