How to Fill Out and Submit the California CDTFA-82 Form

The CDTFA-82 form is a one-page authorization that lets the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration send you confidential tax information through unencrypted email. Without it on file, CDTFA staff cannot email your workpapers, schedules, or liability calculations in the clear; they have to encrypt the message or mail you paper instead. Signing takes a few minutes, but because the form waives a privacy protection written into state law, the fields and signature rules matter.

When You Need It

California Revenue and Taxation Code Section 7056 makes it unlawful for CDTFA to disclose your business affairs, income, or tax return details to unauthorized parties.¹ Because unencrypted email can be intercepted in transit, the agency treats sending it as a potential disclosure. Your signed CDTFA-82 acknowledges the risk and gives consent.

The usual trigger is a sales-and-use-tax audit, where the auditor needs to trade documents with you or your representative quickly. The form is also required for cigarette-and-tobacco-products online filing and any other matter where CDTFA needs to email you sensitive material.²

You don’t have to sign it. CDTFA can still communicate electronically using encrypted email, but some employers block the software needed to open those messages. If encryption isn’t workable on your end and you don’t sign the CDTFA-82, you’ll receive everything on paper.³

Filling Out the Form

Download the PDF from cdtfa.ca.gov/formspubs/cdtfa82.pdf. A Spanish version sits at the same location with an “-s” suffix. There is no filing fee.

Enter your taxpayer name as it appears on your CDTFA permit or registration, along with your CDTFA account number from your returns or billing notices. Then fill in the email addresses. The form has four slots:⁴

Your own or your company’s primary contact email.
A representative’s name and email, such as an outside accountant, attorney, or enrolled agent.
Two more slots for additional taxpayers or representatives who should also receive the transmissions.

CDTFA will send confidential information only to the addresses listed. Check each one carefully. The agency is not responsible for data intercepted or misdirected during unencrypted transmission, and a single typo can route financial records to the wrong person.⁴

Who Can Sign

Three categories of signer are allowed: the taxpayer (a sole proprietor or individual account holder), a corporate officer or partner, or an authorized representative with a power of attorney.⁴ If the signer isn’t an owner, partner, or officer, they certify under penalty of perjury that they hold a valid power of attorney. That authority is established separately through CDTFA-392, Power of Attorney, which has to be on file with the department already.⁵ If your CPA or tax attorney is signing, confirm their CDTFA-392 is current first. An expired or missing power of attorney will invalidate the authorization.

The signer also enters a title or position and the date.

Where to Submit It

The completed form goes to the CDTFA representative handling your matter. In an audit, that’s your assigned auditor. For a billing dispute or compliance check, it’s the tax technician on your case. The form itself just says to “provide it to a CDTFA representative,” so there is no single central address.⁴

Cigarette-and-tobacco-products online filing has its own published channels:²

Fax: 1-916-323-9352
Email: CDTFACTeFile@cdtfa.ca.gov
Mail: California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, Special Taxes and Fees, P.O. Box 942879, Sacramento, CA 94279-0030

If you don’t know who your assigned representative is, call the statewide customer service line at 1-800-400-7115 or reach the nearest field office listed in the CDTFA directory at cdtfa.ca.gov.⁶

Keep proof of what you sent. There is no automated acknowledgment, so hold onto your fax confirmation, email receipt, or mail tracking number. Your CDTFA representative will usually confirm receipt with a test email or a phone call, which also verifies the listed addresses work.

How Long the Authorization Lasts

The form says the authorization stays in effect “until rescinded in writing.”⁴ In practice, the CDTFA Audit Manual limits its scope to the current assignment, not prior or future ones.³ If a new audit opens two years from now, expect to sign a fresh CDTFA-82 for it.

Revoking Your Consent

You can cancel the authorization at any time, but it has to be in writing. A phone call or verbal request won’t do it. Send the written revocation to the same CDTFA representative or field office that received the original form, include your CDTFA account number, and state clearly whether you’re pulling consent for a specific email address or for the entire authorization.

Common triggers for revocation include changing accounting firms, a representative leaving your company, or a change in business ownership. Until the revocation is processed, CDTFA staff may keep emailing confidential information to every address on file, so a former employee or outside advisor could still receive sensitive records. Submitting the written notice promptly when people change avoids that gap.

1
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Sales And Use Tax Law – Section 7056
2
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Cigarette and Tobacco Products Online Filing Resources
3
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Audit Manual Chapter 1 General Information
4
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. CDTFA-82 Authorization for Electronic Transmission of Data
5
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. CDTFA-392 Power of Attorney
6
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Organization Directory Field Operations Division