California FTB Notice Power of Attorney – Active Representatives on File (FTB 3912)

The FTB 3912 is a notice from the California Franchise Tax Board informing you that a Power of Attorney (POA) is active on your account and listing who your authorized representatives are. You receive this when someone — a CPA, an enrolled agent, an attorney, or another tax professional — has filed a POA with the FTB to represent you. The FTB sends this notice as a confirmation and transparency measure so you always know who has access to your account.

California FTB POAs are filed using Form 3520 (individual) or Form 3520-PIT. Once accepted, the authorized representative can access your FTB account information, receive copies of notices, discuss your tax matters with FTB staff, and in some cases make decisions on your behalf. The FTB 3912 lists the specific representative’s name, their PTIN or license number, the tax years covered, and the scope of authority granted.

If you receive an FTB 3912 and don’t recognize the representative listed, that’s a serious red flag. It could indicate identity theft or an unauthorized filing — contact the FTB immediately at 800-852-5711 to revoke the POA and report potential fraud.

The scope of an FTB POA depends on what was specified in the Form 3520 when it was filed. At minimum, an authorized representative can receive confidential tax information, discuss your account with FTB representatives, and receive copies of notices and correspondence. With expanded authority checked on the POA form, they can also sign returns on your behalf, execute closing agreements, and consent to disclosure of your tax information to third parties.

an FTB POA doesn’t authorize the representative to receive tax refund checks in your name — the FTB won’t send refund payments to a representative’s address based solely on a POA. It also doesn’t give them unlimited access to future tax years unless the POA specifically covers those years. Most POAs filed for audit or collection matters are limited to specific tax years to keep the scope appropriate for the engagement.

When The Reed Corporation files a POA on behalf of a client, we explain exactly what authority we’re taking and why. Clients get a copy of Form 3520 before it’s filed, and we limit the scope to what’s necessary for the specific matter. Blanket multi-year POAs with broad authority aren’t necessary for most situations, and limiting scope protects the client.

Revoking an FTB POA requires submitting a written revocation to the California FTB. You can do this by sending a letter — or filing a new Form 3520 with the revocation box checked — to the FTB’s POA unit at PO Box 2828, Rancho Cordova, CA 95741. Your written revocation should include your name, SSN, the representative’s name and PTIN, and the tax years covered. The FTB will acknowledge the revocation in writing once processed.

Alternatively, you can revoke a specific representative by filing a new Form 3520 naming different representatives for the same tax years — the new filing supersedes the old POA for those years. This is useful when you’re switching from one CPA to another and want to ensure the new representative has authority while the old one’s access is cut off simultaneously.

Revocations take time to process — the FTB can take 2-4 weeks to update their system. In urgent situations where you need access blocked immediately (suspected fraud, a contentious split with a prior representative), call the FTB directly and request an emergency hold on the existing POA while the written revocation is processed. Document that phone call with the date, time, and representative’s ID number.

Yes, the FTB allows multiple active POAs on the same account simultaneously. This is common when a CPA handles general tax matters while a tax attorney handles a specific audit or collection issue. The FTB 3912 will list all currently active representatives. Each POA on file can potentially access your account information independently, so you want to make sure every listed representative is someone you trust and actively want representing you.

Multiple POAs can also create coordination challenges. If two representatives give conflicting instructions to the FTB on the same matter, the FTB may delay action pending clarification from you. In practice, we coordinate with other professionals who may also be on a client’s FTB account to prevent conflicting communications that slow things down.

When you end a relationship with one representative, revoke their POA explicitly — don’t assume it expires automatically. POAs don’t expire unless they include a specific expiration date (which is optional on Form 3520) or are revoked. An old POA from a tax professional you used years ago might still be on file and visible in the FTB 3912 notice. Cleaning up stale POAs is something we do as a standard part of onboarding new clients.

Generally, yes — when an active POA is on file, the FTB should direct copies of notices and correspondence to your authorized representative. The FTB 3912 itself is one of those courtesy notifications sent to keep you informed. However, some FTB notices are still sent to you personally regardless of POA status, particularly those related to jeopardy assessments, fraud determinations, or certain collection actions that require personal service.

This doesn’t mean you should ignore notices that arrive at your home. Forward every FTB notice you receive to your representative immediately, even if you think they already have it. Duplicate notices happen because of the FTB’s system, and occasionally a notice sent to a representative gets lost before it reaches them. The underlying deadline on that notice doesn’t care about delivery issues.

When we’re on POA for a client, we set up FTB MyFTB account monitoring to catch notices electronically before they even arrive in the mail. That typically gives us several extra days to respond. Even so, we tell every client to forward any paper FTB notice they receive, the same day they receive it. No exceptions.