What a Section 7216 consent form must say for a Form 1040 client

A consent that is close to the required wording is not good enough. The IRS fixed the text, the order and the format for Form 1040 clients, and a consent that misses any of it is not valid. This guide walks through what Rev. Proc. 2013-14 requires, quoting the mandatory statements as the IRS wrote them.

What are the mandatory statements for a disclosure to another preparer?

When a firm asks a client to consent to disclosure to another preparer who will help prepare the return, the consent must contain three statements in a set sequence. The firm may substitute its own name where the text says “we” or “our” (Rev. Proc. 2013-14, section 5.04(1), retrieved October 12, 2026).

The first statement tells the client that federal law requires the form and warns that the protection may not follow the information. The IRS text reads as follows.

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 those related to 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.

The second statement says the client is not required to sign, and it explains what happens if they don’t. The IRS text reads as follows.

You are not required to complete this form. Because our ability to disclose your tax return information to another tax return preparer affects the tax return preparation service(s) that we provide to you and its (their) cost, we may decline to provide you with tax return preparation services or change the terms (including the cost) of the tax return preparation services that we provide to you if you do not sign this form. 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.

For a disclosure outside the preparation and auxiliary-services context, the second statement differs. It says that if the firm conditions its services on consent, the consent will not be valid.

What statement does a consent to a preparer outside the United States need?

Every consent must carry a complaint statement. It tells the client how to contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The IRS text reads as follows.

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.

A disclosure to a preparer located outside the United States then needs one more statement. If the number is fully masked or redacted, or the information does not include it, the statement is short.

This consent to disclose may result in your tax return information being disclosed to a tax return preparer located outside the United States.

If the information includes the Social Security number, the longer statement applies.

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.

The long statement is a representation, so it only belongs in the form if it is true for both preparers on the day the client signs.

What format rules apply to the form itself?

The consent has to look like a consent, not like a paragraph in a longer document. Each separate disclosure or use goes on its own written document, which can be paper or electronic. All text on a page has to relate solely to the disclosure or use the consent authorizes (Rev. Proc. 2013-14, section 5.01 and 5.02).

How does a client sign?

A paper consent needs the taxpayer’s handwritten signature. An electronic consent uses one of three methods (Rev. Proc. 2013-14, section 6.02):

• The taxpayer types in a PIN of at least five characters that the firm assigned, and the software does not supply it for them.
• The taxpayer types their own name and presses enter, and the software does not supply it.
• The taxpayer enters five or more characters unique to them that the firm uses to verify identity, such as the answer to a shared-secret question.

In each case the taxpayer has to act. A pre-ticked box or a single “I agree” button that does not capture a typed entry fails the test, because the procedure requires affirmative, knowing consent to each disclosure or use.

What are the common ways a consent goes wrong?

Most defects fall into a few patterns. The mandatory statements get paraphrased instead of quoted. The consent sits inside an engagement letter with unrelated text on the same page. The firm leaves the recipient blank and fills it in later. The form lists the Social Security number among the disclosed items but omits the longer statement. The consent is signed after the information has already moved.

A short review before busy season catches most of these. Print the form, hold it against the statements above, and check that nothing on the page is unrelated to the disclosure. For the rule that makes consent necessary in the first place, see the guide to consent for offshore preparers.

This article is general information about US tax-return rules. It is not tax or legal advice, and your firm should confirm how the rules apply to its own engagements.