Do I have to sign Form 872 if the IRS asks?

No. IRC 6501(c)(4)(B) requires the IRS to notify you of your right to refuse to extend the assessment period or to limit the extension to particular issues or a particular period, every time it asks.

What is the difference between Form 872 and Form 872-A?

Form 872 extends the assessment deadline to a specific date. Form 872-A is open-ended and generally ends 90 days after the IRS receives or mails Form 872-T, or after a notice of deficiency is mailed plus the additional suspension periods described in IRM 25.6.22.

How do I end an open-ended Form 872-A consent?

File Form 872-T, Notice of Termination of Special Consent to Extend the Time to Assess Tax. Under IRM 25.6.22, the consent then ends 90 days after the IRS office considering the case receives it.

What happens if I refuse to extend the statute?

The IRS will typically issue a statutory notice of deficiency or take other appropriate action before the deadline. The notice suspends the assessment statute and gives you the right to petition the Tax Court.

Form 872 Consents: Your Right to Refuse or Limit an IRS Statute Extension

Somewhere near the end of a long audit, the examiner asks you to sign a form giving the IRS more time. It is presented as routine paperwork. It is not. A consent to extend the assessment statute is a voluntary waiver of one of the most valuable protections in tax law, and Congress requires the IRS to tell you that you can say no.

This guide covers the consent rules in IRC 6501(c)(4), the forms the IRS uses, your statutory rights and the strategy behind signing, limiting or refusing.

What the statute allows

Section 6501(c)(4)(A) says that where, before the expiration of the time prescribed for assessment of any tax (other than estate tax), both the IRS and the taxpayer have consented in writing to assessment after that time, the tax may be assessed at any time before the agreed period expires. The agreed period can be extended again by later written agreements made before the earlier period expires.

Three requirements stand out. The consent must be in writing. Both sides must sign. And it must be made before the existing deadline expires. A consent signed after the statute already ran does not revive a closed year under this provision.

Notice the estate tax carve-out. Section 6501(c)(4)(A) excludes the estate tax under chapter 11 from the consent rule.

Your rights, in the statute itself

Section 6501(c)(4)(B) requires the IRS to notify you of your right to refuse to extend the period of limitations, or to limit the extension to particular issues or to a particular period of time, on each occasion when you are asked to consent.

The Internal Revenue Manual implements this in IRM 25.6.22.3. It lists three rights the IRS must tell you about every time it asks: the right to refuse, the right to request that the extension be limited to particular issues and the right to request that the period be limited to a particular time, such as a specific date. The IRM says these rights are printed on the consent forms and explained in Publication 1035, Extending the Tax Assessment Period, and that the examiner should provide the publication along with Letter 907 or, in Appeals, Letter 967.

For joint returns, IRM 25.6.22.3.1 calls for separate notification of each spouse, except where it is documented that both live at the same address.

The forms: fixed date or open-ended

The two forms you are most likely to see for income tax are Form 872, Consent to Extend the Time to Assess Tax, and Form 872-A, Special Consent to Extend the Time to Assess Tax.

Form 872 is a fixed-date consent. It names a new expiration date. When that date passes, the period ends unless you sign another consent before then.
Form 872-A is open-ended. IRM 25.6.22 explains that it holds the period open to an unspecified date: generally until 90 days after the IRS receives your Form 872-T, Notice of Termination of Special Consent to Extend the Time to Assess Tax; 90 days after the IRS mails you a Form 872-T; or, if the IRS mails a notice of deficiency, 90 days after that mailing plus 60 days after the period in which assessment is prohibited. Certain assessments reflecting a final determination and Appeals consideration also end it.

The difference matters. A fixed-date consent puts pressure on both sides to finish. An open-ended consent removes the pressure from the IRS until someone ends it. If you have signed a Form 872-A, you have the power to end it by filing Form 872-T, which starts a 90-day countdown.

Restricted consents

You can ask that a consent be limited to specific issues. A restricted consent keeps the year open only for the adjustments the examiner is actually working on and closes everything else when the original period would have expired.

The IRS position, stated in IRM 25.6.22, is that your right is the right to request a restriction. The IRS is not required to agree in every case; a consent is a mutual agreement. But the request is worth making whenever the audit has narrowed to identifiable issues. There is no good reason to leave the whole return open for an argument about one deduction.

Any restriction has to be on the form or clearly referenced on it. The IRM notes that Form 872 and Form 872-A state they contain the entire terms of the consent, so side agreements that are not written into the form are not binding.

What happens if you refuse

Refusing is lawful and sometimes smart, but it is not free. The IRM says that if a taxpayer declines, it will be explained that a statutory notice of deficiency may be issued, or other appropriate action taken where a notice is not required before assessment.

In plain terms: if you will not extend, the examiner will likely close the case on what the file shows and mail a 90-day letter. That letter suspends the assessment statute under IRC 6503(a) and gives you the right to petition the Tax Court. You lose the chance to keep working things out at the examination level, and you may lose the chance to take the case to the IRS Independent Office of Appeals before the notice issues.

That trade-off is the decision. If the examiner's position is weak and the file is thin, a rushed notice may be the best outcome you can get. If you need more time to document your side, a limited consent may serve you better than a refusal. The guide to how a notice of deficiency stops the clock covers what follows a refusal.

Consents also move your refund deadline

A consent works in your favor in one respect. Under IRC 6511(c), if an agreement under section 6501(c)(4) is made within the period for filing a refund claim, the period for filing a claim does not expire before six months after the extended assessment period ends. The amount of the refund is subject to the special limits in section 6511(c)(2).

So if you sign a consent and later discover the IRS owes you money for that year, you may still have time to file a claim. The guide to the refund claim deadline explains the general rule.

A practical checklist before you sign

Confirm the current expiration date from your transcript and the facts. You cannot evaluate an extension without knowing what you are extending. The three-year guide explains how the date is set.
Ask which issues remain open, and request a restricted consent tied to those issues.
Prefer a fixed date on Form 872 that gives a realistic amount of time, rather than an open-ended Form 872-A.
If you already signed a Form 872-A, decide whether to file Form 872-T and start the 90-day clock.
Keep copies of every consent. IRM 25.6.22 instructs the IRS to keep them too, because each later consent is only valid if the earlier one kept the period open.
If the case is in Appeals, the same rights apply; the request will come with Letter 967 instead of Letter 907.

The bottom line

An assessment statute extension is optional. IRC 6501(c)(4)(B) requires the IRS to tell you, every time, that you can refuse or limit it. Use that right deliberately: limit the issues, set a fixed date and know how to end an open-ended consent with Form 872-T.

The IRS asks for consents because time matters to the IRS. It matters to you too. Do not give it away by reflex.

If you are represented, let your representative handle the request. IRM 25.6.22.3 says copies of the request and consent form go to the authorized representative as well as to you, and the conversation about scope and length is easier to have between professionals who both know what the form does.