Pennsylvania Form REV-677 is the Department of Revenue’s power of attorney and declaration of representative, and it lets someone you name discuss your confidential tax matters with the department, attend hearings, sign waivers, and settle assessments on your behalf. Complete it once you know the specific tax type, period, and issue involved, sign it (with a witness or notary if your representative is not an attorney, CPA, or enrolled agent), and then hold it in your records. The department only accepts REV-677 when one of its own employees asks for it during a specific interaction such as an audit, appeal, or account inquiry.1Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Once the Power of Attorney Is Signed, Where Do I File It?
What the Form Authorizes
REV-677 gives your representative the ability to receive confidential tax information and perform most actions you could perform yourself on the tax matters listed. That includes discussing your account with department staff, attending administrative hearings before the Board of Appeals, and appealing decisions to the Board of Finance and Revenue.2Pennsylvania Treasury Department. Board of Finance and Revenue Your representative can execute waivers that extend deadlines for assessment or collection and sign settlement agreements or closing documents that bind you financially.3Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Form REV-677 – Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
Two limits matter. Your representative cannot sign your tax return unless you specifically grant that power on the form. And even if you initial the separate line authorizing your representative to receive refund checks, they still cannot endorse or cash those checks; they may only physically receive them.3Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Form REV-677 – Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
The authority is strictly limited to the tax type, tax period, and specific issue you identify. A REV-677 covering your 2023 personal income tax audit gives your representative no access to your sales tax account or any other year’s filings. The department calls this “limited authority”: broad enough to be useful, narrow enough to keep your representative out of unrelated matters.
Who Can Serve as Your Representative
Part II of the form, “Declaration of Representative,” lists seven categories. Your representative checks the box that applies and signs under penalty of perjury.3Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Form REV-677 – Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
- An attorney in good standing with the bar of the highest court in their jurisdiction.
- A certified public accountant qualified to practice in their jurisdiction.
- A bona fide officer of the business entity that is the taxpayer.
- A current full-time employee of the taxpayer.
- An immediate family member: spouse, parent, child, brother, or sister.
- A trustee, executor, or other fiduciary acting on your behalf.
- Anyone else, with a written explanation of their relationship to you.
One rule surprises people: an organization, firm, or partnership cannot be your representative. Name a specific individual. If your accounting firm handles your taxes, you name the individual CPA at that firm, not the firm.3Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Form REV-677 – Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
If your representative is not an attorney, CPA, or enrolled agent, your signature must be witnessed or notarized. The form has a separate signature block for it. Skip that block when it applies and the department will reject the authorization.3Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Form REV-677 – Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
How to Fill Out the Form
REV-677 is a single page with two main parts and a signature section. Gather the details before you start so you do not leave blanks.
Taxpayer and Appointee Information
Enter your full legal name, mailing address, and taxpayer identification number. For individuals that is your Social Security Number; for businesses it is the Employer Identification Number. The number must exactly match what the department has on file, since that is how the form gets tied to your account.3Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Form REV-677 – Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
Then fill in the appointee section with your representative’s full name, mailing address, and telephone number. Include their Preparer Tax Identification Number if they have one; a PTIN belongs to the individual preparer, not their firm.4Internal Revenue Service. PTIN Application Checklist: What You Need to Get Started
Tax Matters and Acts Authorized
This is where most mistakes happen. Three things need precision: the type of tax (personal income tax, sales and use tax, employer withholding, corporate net income tax, inheritance tax, and so on), the exact tax years or periods, and the specific purpose. The form itself says the authority is “limited to the tax period, tax type and the specific issue/purpose identified herein.”3Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Form REV-677 – Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
Write something concrete, like “Personal Income Tax, tax year 2023, regarding assessment notice dated March 15, 2026.” Vague entries like “all taxes” or “all years” invite rejection. For multiple tax types or periods, list each separately. If you want your representative to receive refund checks (they still cannot endorse or cash them), initial the designated line. Do not assume general authorization covers it.
Signatures
Sign and date the form. For a joint tax return matter, both spouses must sign. One signature is not enough. For a business entity, an authorized officer signs and lists their official title to confirm authority to bind the company.3Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Form REV-677 – Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
Your representative signs Part II under penalties of perjury, declaring which category applies. Do not overlook the separate witness or notary block when your representative is not an attorney, CPA, or enrolled agent.
When and How to Submit
This is where REV-677 breaks from the federal habit. You do not proactively file it. There is no central mailing address, no fax number, and no email for submitting it. The department’s guidance is unambiguous: “An REV-677 Power of Attorney form should ONLY be submitted to an individual within the department upon an agent’s request for such authorization.”1Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Once the Power of Attorney Is Signed, Where Do I File It?
In practice, a department representative contacts you or your representative about a specific tax matter and asks for proof of authorization. You then return the completed REV-677 to that individual, not to a general intake office. The department also warns that unsolicited forms submitted in bulk “will be disregarded,” so practitioners should not send stacks of REV-677s for all their clients at the start of tax season.1Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Once the Power of Attorney Is Signed, Where Do I File It?
The department does encourage practitioners to keep signed REV-677 forms on hand in their own files, ready to respond the day a request arrives instead of chasing a signature while a deadline runs.
Revocation and Duration
A signed REV-677 does not expire on its own. It stays in effect until you revoke it or until a new REV-677 covering the same tax matters and periods replaces it. Filing a new power of attorney automatically revokes earlier ones on file for the same matters and years, unless you specifically list the earlier authorizations you want to keep in the designated section of the new form.3Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Form REV-677 – Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative
Switching CPAs or attorneys? Watch this automatic revocation. Your new representative’s REV-677 will wipe out the old one. That is usually what you want. But if you have a second representative handling a different aspect of the same tax year, say one for the income tax assessment and another for a penalty abatement, attach a copy of the earlier authorization to the new form and note it as an exception.
How REV-677 Differs From IRS Form 2848
If you are used to IRS Form 2848, the Pennsylvania version looks familiar but works differently in one critical way. The IRS maintains a Centralized Authorization File where your Form 2848 is stored and tracked with a unique nine-digit CAF number.5Internal Revenue Service. Tax Pro Account Pennsylvania has no equivalent central database. Instead, REV-677 lives with the specific department employee who requested it and in the file for that particular matter.
The IRS form limits representation to practitioners authorized under Treasury Department Circular 230, generally attorneys, CPAs, and enrolled agents.6Internal Revenue Service. Office of Professional Responsibility and Circular 230 Pennsylvania’s form is broader. You can name a family member, an employee, or essentially anyone, though naming someone outside the attorney, CPA, or enrolled agent categories triggers the witness or notarization requirement. Neither form substitutes for the other. A federal Form 2848 on file with the IRS gives your representative no authority with the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, and a REV-677 gives none with the IRS.7Internal Revenue Service. About Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative