For years, dealing with the IRS meant hold music and certified mail. That has quietly changed. The IRS now offers online accounts that let a business view balances, read notices, make and schedule payments, pull transcripts, and verify its own EIN — without a phone call. Setting these up before you need them means that when a notice or a deadline appears, you can actually see what the IRS sees.
This is general information, not individual tax advice — the right treatment depends on your specific situation.
Business Tax Account: What It Now Does
The Business Tax Account is the IRS's self-service portal for entities, and its features have expanded significantly. Depending on your entity type, you can view and pay a balance due from a bank account, schedule payments up to a year ahead, store multiple bank accounts in a payment "wallet," see recently processed payments and whether any were returned, and view the details of an existing payment plan and pay toward it. You can also access a growing library of digital IRS notices, download an EIN verification notice (the CP575) to give to a bank instead of requesting a 147C letter, request a tax-compliance check, view the business name and address on file, grant access to eligible employees, and download transcripts for payroll, income, and excise tax returns.
Who Can Open a Business Tax Account
Eligibility has widened to include sole proprietors with an EIN, individual partners and shareholders who meet the documentation requirements, S corporations, C corporations, tax-exempt organizations, and government and tribal entities. Access is tied to a verified identity, so each authorized individual signs in through the IRS's identity-verification process.
Your Individual IRS Online Account
Most owners also need a personal IRS Online Account. It shows your individual balance, estimated-tax payments applied, prior-year returns and transcripts, economic and advance-payment records, and any authorizations you have granted to a representative. For pass-through owners, this is where you confirm that quarterly estimates actually landed where they were supposed to.
EFTPS: Still the Backbone for Federal Deposits
The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System is the free government system for scheduling federal tax deposits — payroll taxes, corporate estimated taxes, and more. Enrollment takes a few days because a confirmation is mailed, so do it well before your first deposit is due. EFTPS keeps a payment history and lets you schedule deposits in advance, which is the safest way to never miss a payroll-tax deadline.
Authorizing Your Accountant
A Form 2848 (power of attorney) or Form 8821 (information authorization) lets your CPA pull transcripts, receive copies of notices, and speak to the IRS on your behalf. These can now be submitted and managed digitally, and you can see and revoke active authorizations from your online account. Setting this up early means your accountant can respond to a notice the day it appears rather than waiting on a mailed copy.
Lock Down Access Before Someone Else Does
Identity verification protects these accounts, but treat the credentials like banking logins: unique password, multi-factor authentication, and access limited to people who genuinely need it. If your business or personal identity has ever been involved in a data breach, consider requesting an Identity Protection PIN, which blocks a fraudulent return filed in your name or your business's.
How VarStan Helps
We help clients stand up the right mix of IRS accounts, get authorizations in place so we can act quickly on notices, and set up EFTPS so payroll and estimated payments run on schedule. If a notice has already arrived, account and transcript access usually tells us what is really going on faster than a phone call ever would.