How to Fax the IRS International Accounts Unit
You live outside the United States, you still have a US tax obligation, and something has gone wrong with your account. Maybe a notice arrived at your foreign address. Maybe a payment was applied to the wrong year. Maybe you simply have a question nobody at a general help line can answer. Calling means an international toll call into a queue during Eastern time, which from most of the world means the middle of your night. The IRS runs a separate unit for exactly this situation, and it takes documents by fax.
📌 The number is 681-247-3101. The IRS publishes it on its Help with tax questions page for international taxpayers, alongside 267-941-1000 for international callers, which is not toll free. That page was last reviewed by the IRS in December 2025. Confirm it on irs.gov before you send anyway, because IRS routing changes without notice and a number copied from a blog post is a number that may already be dead.
What This Unit Is, in Plain Terms
The International Accounts unit handles account matters for taxpayers whose address is outside the United States. Individual correspondence routes to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and business correspondence routes to Ogden, Utah, and both are listed publicly on IRS.gov and repeated on US embassy websites around the world, which is a reasonable signal that the channel is real and stable rather than a rumour.
Worth knowing: IRS.gov itself describes the fax line as a way for overseas taxpayers to fax a tax question. Several US embassy pages describe the same number as being for international tax account issues only. Both descriptions come from official sources, and the practical reading is that the unit exists for questions and account problems tied to a foreign address, not for filing forms. That distinction matters, and it is the reason for the section below.
Why Fax Beats the Phone When You Are Abroad
The phone route asks you to hold on an international call, in a time zone that suits Washington rather than you, and then to describe a document you cannot show anyone. Fax inverts all three problems. You send the actual paperwork rather than describing it, you send it at whatever hour suits you, and you get a timestamp proving when it left your hands. For anyone dealing with a notice that carries a response window, that timestamp is the whole point.
There is a second, quieter reason. Written submissions create a record inside the case file. When a matter drags across months and passes between employees, the document you faxed is still sitting there, whereas a phone conversation with someone whose name you did not catch effectively did not happen.
What Belongs in the Packet
Keep it short and make it identifiable. A cover page carrying your full name as it appears on the return, your taxpayer identification number, the tax year at issue, your foreign address, an international phone number with country code, and one plain sentence saying what you want. Then the IRS notice if you received one, then only the pages that support your point.
Resist the urge to send everything. A three page packet that answers one question clearly gets handled faster than a forty page packet that buries it. Most submissions of this kind land comfortably inside ten pages, which is one dollar here.
What This Unit Is Not For
This is the part that saves people weeks. The international line is not a universal IRS inbox, and form filings have their own destinations. Sending a form to the wrong unit does not usually produce a rejection letter, it produces silence, which is worse.
If you are applying for an EIN, that is Form SS-4 and it has its own dedicated fax routing, including a separate number for applicants with no US state residence, covered in our guide to faxing Form SS-4. If you are chasing a refund that never arrived, that is Form 3911 and it routes by state to a Refund Inquiry Unit, with the numbers laid out in our Form 3911 guide. If you are electing S corporation status, that is Form 2553 and it routes by state group, explained in our Form 2553 guide. And if you are responding to a notice that printed its own fax number at the top, use that number, not this one, because the notice number routes to the specific team working your case. Our complete guide to faxing the IRS covers that pattern across notice types.
Which Number Applies to You
IRS.gov lists several help numbers side by side, and picking the wrong one costs an hour. Individual filers inside the United States use the general individual line. Business callers inside the United States use the business line. International callers and overseas taxpayers use the international line, which is not toll free. And there is a wrinkle worth catching: taxpayers in Guam, the Bahamas, the US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico are directed to the ordinary domestic individual line rather than the international one, so if you are in those places you are not an international caller for this purpose.
Realistic Expectations on Timing
Nothing about international account work is fast. A faxed submission is received far quicker than international post, which is the honest argument for it, but the response still arrives by mail to your foreign address and can take months. Send once, keep your confirmation, and give it real time before resending. Faxing the same packet repeatedly does not accelerate anything and can create duplicate case entries that slow it further.
This guide explains how to send a document. It is not tax advice, and for a complicated account problem a cross-border tax professional or the Taxpayer Advocate Service will serve you better than any web page.
Faxing It for $1.00, From Anywhere
1
Confirm the number on IRS.gov today
681-247-3101, but confirm it on the official page rather than trusting any list, including this one. IRS routing changes without announcement.
2
Build a cover page that identifies you
Name as filed, taxpayer identification number, tax year, foreign address, international phone number, and one sentence stating your question.
3
Attach the notice and the relevant pages only
The IRS notice if you received one, plus the specific supporting pages. Not the whole return.
4
Send at faxforadollar.com for $1.00
Works from any country in a browser. Up to 10 pages for a dollar, delivered in 1 to 3 minutes, with a timestamped email confirmation.
💡 Keep the confirmation email somewhere you will still find it in six months. International account cases move slowly, and the single most useful thing you can say on a follow-up call is the exact date and time your document was transmitted.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the IRS fax number for international taxpayers?
681-247-3101. The IRS publishes it on the Help with tax questions page for international taxpayers on irs.gov, alongside 267-941-1000 for international callers, on a page the IRS last reviewed in December 2025. Verify it on that page the day you send anyway, because IRS routing changes without announcement and a stale number means your document lands nowhere with no bounce-back to warn you.
I live overseas and got an IRS notice, what do I actually do?
Look at the notice first. If it prints its own fax number or response address at the top, use that, because it routes straight to the team holding your case. Only if the notice gives you nothing does the international line make sense. Either way, respond in writing with a cover page carrying your name as filed, taxpayer identification number, and the tax year, and keep proof of when you sent it.
Is there an IRS phone number I can fax to if I live abroad?
The fax line and the phone line are different numbers serving the same population, both listed together on IRS.gov. You cannot fax to the phone number. Fax the fax number, and note that the phone line for international callers is not toll free, which is a large part of why people prefer to send paper.
What is the cheapest way to fax the IRS from another country?
$1.00 at faxforadollar.com, covering up to 10 pages, with no account and no subscription. It runs entirely in a browser, so it works from any country, and international payment cards are accepted. Hotel business centres and copy shops abroad routinely charge several dollars per page for an international transmission.
Can I fax the IRS from outside the United States without a fax machine?
Yes. Nothing needs to be installed and no phone line is involved. You upload your PDF or photos in a browser, type the IRS number, and pay. The destination is a US number, which is what this service sends to, and your own location is irrelevant to whether it works.
What is the difference between the Philadelphia and Ogden addresses?
Individual taxpayers outside the US are directed to International Accounts in Philadelphia, and business taxpayers outside the US are directed to International Accounts in Ogden. Both appear on IRS.gov and on US embassy pages. Sending an individual matter to the business address, or the reverse, is a common way to lose several weeks.
Does the IRS confirm it received my fax?
No. The IRS does not send acknowledgements for faxed correspondence. Your evidence is the transmission confirmation from the service that sent it, which is why you should keep that email. It records the destination number, the page count, and the exact date and time, which is what you cite if the submission is ever disputed.
How long does the IRS take to respond to an international account issue?
Plan on months rather than weeks, and remember the reply travels by international post on top of the processing time. Faxing removes the outbound mail delay, which is genuinely worth something, but it does not change the queue on the other end. Resist resending after a few weeks, since duplicates can create parallel case entries that slow the whole thing down.
Can I fax Form SS-4 to the international accounts number to get an EIN?
No, and this is a common and costly mix-up. Form SS-4 has its own dedicated fax routing, including a specific number for applicants with no legal residence or principal office in a US state. Our guide to faxing Form SS-4 covers the numbers, the four business day turnaround, and the reference 101 error that pushes many foreign founders onto the fax route in the first place.
Can I fax Form 3911 here if my refund never arrived overseas?
No. Form 3911 routes to a Refund Inquiry Unit determined by where you filed from, and there is specific guidance for filers abroad. Our Form 3911 guide sets out the routing and the timelines for a trace, which run six weeks for a paper check and considerably longer for a direct deposit.
My notice has a fax number on it, should I use that or the international one?
Use the one printed on your notice, every time. That number routes to the specific team and the specific case, whereas a general number routes to a general queue where someone has to work out what your document relates to. The number on the notice is the single most valuable piece of routing information you will get from the IRS.
What should the cover page say?
Your full name exactly as it appears on the return, your taxpayer identification number, the tax year in question, your foreign address, an international phone number with country code, the notice number if you have one, and one sentence stating what you are asking for. Then a page count so the receiving clerk knows whether anything went missing in transmission.
Is it safe to fax a document with my Social Security number on it?
A fax goes point to point to the number you dial rather than sitting on a mail server, which is a large part of why government agencies still use it. Type the number carefully, since the real risk here is transposition sending your identity details to a stranger. On this service the uploaded file is deleted from the servers once the fax has been sent.
How many pages can I send for a dollar?
Up to 10 pages for $1.00, which covers the great majority of account correspondence. Beyond that it is $1.99 for 11 to 25 pages, $2.99 for 26 to 50, and $4.99 for 51 to 100. A tight three page packet is usually more effective than a thick one anyway.
Can I fax the IRS on a weekend or a holiday?
You can send at any hour and the machine on the other end will receive it, which is exactly why this beats the phone from a distant time zone. Processing only begins on the next business day, so a Saturday transmission is worked on Monday. Your confirmation still records the Saturday timestamp.
What if my fax to the IRS fails to go through?
IRS lines are heavily used and a busy signal is normal rather than a sign of a wrong number. If a send fails here it is refunded automatically, so a failed attempt costs nothing. Wait an hour and try again, and try outside US business hours, which is often easier from abroad than it is domestically.
Do I need a US phone number or a US address to use this?
No. You need a browser, a document, and a payment card. There is no account to register and nothing that asks for a US address. The only US element required is the destination fax number, which is the IRS.
Can my accountant fax this for me?
Anyone can transmit the pages, but authority to act on your behalf before the IRS is a separate question governed by Form 2848 or Form 8821, not by who pressed send. If your representative is corresponding for you, the authorisation needs to be on file, otherwise the IRS will decline to discuss your account with them regardless of who sent the paper.
Can I send a photo of the notice from my phone, or does it have to be a PDF?
Either works. PDF, Word, and images including JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, WEBP, and TIFF are all accepted, and a phone photo is fine provided it is legible. Shoot it flat in daylight rather than at an angle, because fax transmits in black and white and a grey shadow falling across an IRS notice can swallow the very digits the clerk needs to route it.
Should I fax and also mail the same document?
Generally no. Duplicates can generate duplicate case entries, and two records of the same issue moving separately through a large agency is the opposite of helpful. Pick one channel, keep the proof, and give it time. From overseas, fax is the channel that arrives in minutes instead of weeks.
I am in Puerto Rico, do I use the international number?
No. IRS.gov specifically directs taxpayers in Guam, the Bahamas, the US Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico to the ordinary domestic individual line rather than the international one. It is a genuinely easy thing to get wrong, since it feels international, and the guidance says otherwise.
Can I fax an amended return or a tax return to this number?
No. Returns have their own filing routes and are not filed through an account help line. Our complete guide to faxing the IRS explains what the agency does and does not accept by fax, which is a shorter list than most people expect and does not include ordinary return filing.
What is the best way to contact the IRS from another country overall?
Read the notice first, since it usually names its own route. Failing that, written correspondence to the international unit gives you a document in the file and a timestamp in your inbox, which beats an expensive call you cannot prove happened. If the matter is causing genuine financial hardship, the Taxpayer Advocate Service is a separate and free escalation path worth knowing about.
Do I need an account or subscription to send one fax?
No. There is nothing to register, no monthly fee, and no trial that quietly renews. You pay for the one transmission and that is the end of the relationship, which is the point of the service for people who need to fax once every three years.
How do I prove I responded before a deadline?
Keep the confirmation email. It records the destination number, the page count, and the exact date and time of transmission, and it is the single piece of evidence worth having if the IRS later says nothing was received. Save it outside your inbox too, since international cases outlive most people's email housekeeping.
Can I fax a power of attorney form to the international number?
Form 2848 has its own centralised fax routing, including a dedicated international destination, and it should go there rather than to a general account line. Our complete IRS guide covers the routing pattern for authorisation forms.
What if I do not have a printer to sign the document?
If the document needs a wet signature, you still need to print, sign, and photograph or scan it. What you do not need is a printer for the sending step, or a fax machine at all. Many people abroad print a single page at a hotel desk or a copy shop, sign it, photograph it, and send from their phone.
Does the time zone difference matter for faxing?
Not for sending, since the receiving equipment runs continuously. It matters only for when a human picks the document up, which will be during US business hours regardless of when you sent it. That is precisely the advantage over calling, where the time zone dictates whether you can participate at all.
Is my document stored anywhere after it is sent?
It is deleted from the servers once the fax has been sent. You keep your own copy, and you keep the confirmation email as your record of transmission. Nothing about your tax matter remains on this side afterwards.
What happens if I never hear back from the IRS?
Give it several months given international post, then follow up citing the exact transmission date from your confirmation. If it has gone badly stale or you are facing hardship, the Taxpayer Advocate Service is an independent office inside the IRS that exists for cases that have stopped moving, and contacting them costs nothing.
Does this replace talking to a cross-border tax professional?
No. It explains how to send a document to a published IRS destination and what usually goes in the packet. It does not tell you what to put on a return or how to resolve a dispute. For cross-border tax positions, speak to a professional who practises in both jurisdictions, because the interaction between US rules and your country of residence is where the real money is won and lost.
Cover page written and notice attached?
Confirm the number on IRS.gov, upload your pages, and send from any country for $1.00, with a timestamped confirmation in your inbox.
Send a Fax, $1