Here's how the process generally works:

Taxpayer's Consent:

The taxpayer must provide written consent to you to access the transcripts. You must obtain authorization from the IRS, granted by the taxpayer. This includes the taxpayer agreeing to defined terms regarding data access and usage. Throughout the consent process, you'll gather taxpayer information and send it to Compliancely. This consent can be obtained through an electronic consent process provided the necessary details for IRS authorization if you use the Compliancely consent collection process. Taxpayer just need to agree the IRS terms and electronically sign.

Ways to Retrieve Tax Transcripts

Option 1: IRS 8821 Form (Using Zenwork CAF)

Form 8821 is an IRS tax form titled "Tax Information Authorization." This form allows individuals or entities to designate a representative (such as a tax professional or financial advisor) to access and receive taxpayer's tax information, including transcripts, on the taxpayer's behalf. It grants permission for the designated individual to communicate with the IRS regarding the specific tax matters outlined in the form. The IRS accepts electronic signatures on Form 8821, provided that certain criteria are met. This allows taxpayers to authorize representatives to access taxpayer's tax information conveniently and securely online.

Option 2: IRS Tax Pro (Using Zenwork CAF)

Fast & Recommended

IRS TaxPro allows taxpayers to authorize access to their IRS tax information by signing in to their own IRS Tax Pro account and providing consent electronically. Instead of completing and uploading an IRS Form 8821, taxpayers authenticate with the IRS and submit the authorization directly through the IRS Tax Pro portal.

Once the taxpayer successfully provides authorization through their IRS Tax Pro account, Compliancely receives the authorization status and proceeds with retrieving the requested IRS tax transcripts on the customer's behalf. This method eliminates the need to manage paper forms, reduces manual processing, and provides a faster and more streamlined consent experience.

Option 3: IRS 8821 Form (Using your Own CAF)

This option is intended for customers who already have their own Centralized Authorization File (CAF) number and manage the IRS authorization process independently. The customer obtains a signed IRS Form 8821 from the taxpayer, submits it to the IRS using their own CAF, and is responsible for obtaining authorization.

Once the authorization is approved by the IRS, the customer can use Compliancely's Tax Transcript APIs to request and retrieve the taxpayer's transcripts. Since the authorization is managed outside of Compliancely, Compliancely does not participate in the consent collection or IRS authorization process for this option.

Consent Collection Methods

Choose the option that best fits your workflow.

Compliancely supports multiple modes of collecting taxpayer consent, allowing customers to choose the approach that best fits their business workflow.

1. Customer-Provided Information -

   In this mode, the customer provides all the required taxpayer information when creating the request. Compliancely generates a secure consent link containing the pre-filled details and sends it to the taxpayer (or the customer may share the link directly).

   The taxpayer reviews the information, signs in to their IRS account (or completes the applicable authorization process), provides the required consent, and submits the request. Since the information is already populated, the taxpayer only needs to verify the details and complete the authorization.

   Best suited for: Customers who already have the taxpayer's information and want a faster consent process with minimal taxpayer effort.

2. Taxpayer Invite Link -

   In this mode, the customer provides only the taxpayer's basic details, such as their name and email address. Compliancely sends an invitation email containing a secure link to the taxpayer.

   The taxpayer uses the link to provide the remaining required information, signs in to their IRS account (or completes the applicable authorization process), and submits their consent. This approach allows the taxpayer to enter and verify their own information, reducing the amount of data the customer needs to collect upfront.

   Best suited for: Customers who do not have all the taxpayer's information or prefer the taxpayer to complete the information themselves.

3. Option 3. IRS Form 8821 (Using Your Own CAF)

   This option is designed for customers who already have their own Centralized Authorization File (CAF) number and manage IRS authorizations independently.

   The customer obtains a signed IRS Form 8821 from the taxpayer, submits it to the IRS using their own CAF, and completes the authorization process outside of Compliancely.

   Once the IRS authorizes access, the customer can use Compliancely's Tax Transcript APIs to request and retrieve transcripts.

Status Lifecycle

The status lifecycle is applicable to transcript requests processed through Compliancely.

Rejection Handling

If authorization is rejected, the rejection reason is returned in the API response.

Depending on the option used:

• Option 1 & Option 2: Update the existing request using update API (Individual , Business) and generate a new consent link after correcting the information.

  A consent request may be rejected for several reasons. The specific reason for the rejection is returned in the reason field of the API response and can also be communicated via email.

  After addressing the identified issue, you can use the Update API to resubmit the consent using the request_id returned in the initial POST API request. There is no additional charge for re-submitting a rejected consent request.

  This functionality is available only for 8821 requests.

• Option 3: Correct the IRS Form 8821 or authorization details and resubmit through your existing IRS authorization process before requesting transcripts again.

Webhooks

When configured, Compliancely sends webhook notifications as the request progresses.

Typical webhook events include:

• Consent Collected
• Consent Submitted (If it is via TaxPro)
• Consent Rejected
• Consent Rejected by IRS
• Completed

This allows integrations to react automatically without continuously polling the Retrieve API.

Retrieving Results

After transcript processing is complete, retrieve the request using the Retrieve API.

The response contains:

• Authorization details
• Transcript metadata
• Transcript ZIP download link
• Individual transcript PDF links
• Transcript JSON links (where applicable)

All download links require authentication using your API access token and should be treated as authenticated API endpoints rather than public URLs. Please refer to the API details here

The response contains two main components: the consent key, which holds consent details, and the transcript key, which contains the transcript information. The transcript includes an output_link pointing to a zip file containing one or more requested transcript PDFs, and the output_details may provide specifics about each transcript type and the corresponding individual PDF links.

It's important to note that any links, whether they are labeled as output_link, consent_link, or pdf_link within the response, are not public and have a Response Content-Type of application/octet-stream. As a result, these links should be treated as additional API endpoints, and they require an access_tokenfor access. Using the access_token, triggering the pdf/zip link as an API endpoint is necessary. The resulting data from the response should be stored in a file. Below is an example in cURL & Python illustrating how to save this data. Users who wish to open these links in a web browser while logged into the Compliancely portal can download the files directly.

curl -X GET "<pdf/zip file link>" -H "Authorization: Token <Authtoken>" -o "<dir>/<filename>.pdf/zip"

import requests
import os

headers = {
  'Authorization': f'Token <Authtoken>'
}
response = requests.get('<pdf/zip file link>', headers=headers)
destination_file_name = "{}.pdf/zip".format(<filename>)
destination_file_path = os.path.join(<dir>, destination_file_name)
with open(destination_file_path, 'wb') as file:
    file.write(response.content)

Ensure to replace <pdf/zip file link>, <filename>, and <Authtoken> with the actual link/data, and ensure that the <dir> variables are correctly defined in your code.