Certifying Acceptance Agent for ITIN: Keeping the Passport Home

An ITIN application sent by post ends up at a post office box in Austin, Texas, with the applicant’s passport or a copy certified by the issuing agency inside the envelope. Austin is where the IRS ITIN Operation sits. A certifying acceptance agent for ITIN is the IRS-approved way to skip that envelope, because the agent inspects the passport face to face and gives it back the same day.

I write from Lisbon, and for a founder in Portugal or Brazil the trade is easy to see. Mailed documents come back within 60 days, the IRS says, and a passport that sits in Texas for two months is a passport that cannot cross a border.

An agent charges a fee, and the IRS’s own counters are free.

That is the whole trade, and I think the rules deserve a close reading before anyone pays. An ITIN is a tax processing number for people with a federal tax purpose who cannot get a Social Security number, so the first question is always whether the application is needed at all.

I treat that question as step zero, before any agent.

What does a certifying acceptance agent for ITIN actually do?

A certifying acceptance agent, or CAA, is a person or firm the IRS has authorized to help foreign individuals get an ITIN and to vouch for their identity documents. The IRS program page describes acceptance agents in general as individuals or entities authorized to help alien individuals and other foreign persons obtain ITINs, and the certifying kind carries the most authority among them.

On the IRS page comparing agent types, the CAA column lists what such an agent does. It helps complete Form W-7, authenticates supporting documents, mails the full application package to the IRS, works with the IRS on problems and gets copies of the client’s ITIN notices.

I care most about one line in that table.

It reads “Returns authenticated documents immediately” and it sits only in the CAA column. That line keeps the passport at home.

The Form W-7 instructions say the same thing in a full sentence: “The CAA will return the documentation immediately after reviewing its authenticity.” Instead of the passport itself, the agent sends the IRS a certificate.

That certificate is Form W-7 (COA), the Certificate of Accuracy.

CAAs must attach one to every application they submit, according to the program page, and the page explains its job: “This serves as verification they have reviewed the original documentation or certified copies from the agency that issued them.”

Agents earn that trust through training and checks. Every responsible party on an agent’s own application has to complete the mandatory acceptance agent training, and CAAs also complete forensic document training before they apply to the program.

How is a CAA different from a plain acceptance agent?

The difference sits in one word, and it decides whether the passport travels. A plain acceptance agent, or AA, can help with the form and check the package, yet cannot certify anything, so the originals still go to Austin.

According to the W-7 instructions, an AA has to send the IRS original documents, or copies certified by the agency that issued them, for every applicant. The IRS FAQ on ITIN applications puts it even more bluntly: “Note that acceptance agents who are not CAAs cannot certify your documents.”

Telling them apart on the IRS list takes a second.

The agents page marks plain acceptance agents with an asterisk, and every name without that mark belongs to a certifying agent. I check the asterisk before I check the price.

The clearest summary I have seen is a comparison table on the IRS page about applying in person. Both kinds of agent are fee-based and both work in the US and abroad, but only the CAA authenticates most supporting documents, and only the CAA can hand a founder in Lisbon the passport back before the meeting ends.

Which Form W-7 documents does the agent need to see?

A valid passport is enough on its own, and that is the simplest case for any founder abroad. The IRS supporting documents page is short on this point: “A passport is the only stand-alone document.” For a founder from Colombia with a valid passport, that single booklet covers both identity and foreign status.

Without a passport, the applicant needs two documents from a list of thirteen.

One has to prove identity and one foreign status, and one of the pair has to carry a photo. A national identity card qualifies only if it shows the name, photo, address, birthdate and expiry date. A foreign driver’s license proves identity only, so it needs a partner document that shows foreign status.

Every document has to be current on the day the package goes in. An expired passport does not count, though the ITIN FAQ adds that a passport expiring while the IRS is still processing the application stays acceptable.

Copies follow a strict rule of their own. A certified copy has to come from the agency that issued the original, and the IRS supporting documents page says it outright: “We don’t accept notarized documents.”

I mention this because a notary sounds like the obvious answer.

A notarized copy only shows that a notary witnessed a signing and added a seal, the ITIN documentation FAQ explains, and it states plainly that such copies are refused for ITIN applications.

Condition matters too, because one damaged page can sink a package. The supporting documents page asks applicants to check that every document is complete and clear of blemishes, and it warns that a rejection can follow if it is not.

Documents are only part of the package, though. A first-time application normally goes in with a US federal tax return attached, Form 1040-NR for a nonresident, and the SSN space on that return stays blank for the IRS to fill in.

Some applicants can skip the return through an exception, and one of those exceptions matters to LLC owners with partners.

Since June 2026, a CAA filing under the partnership exception, Exception 1(a), must add “a copy of the portion of the partnership or LLC agreement displaying the partnership’s name, employer identification number (EIN) and the applicant’s name and signature”.

The exceptions carry their own warning in the W-7 instructions. Anyone required to file a federal tax return is not eligible for Exception 1, so a founder who files a 1040-NR uses the return, not the exception.

Can I get an ITIN without mailing passport originals from abroad?

Yes, and for someone living outside the US the CAA is the main way to do it in person. The IRS page on applying in person names three places, and two of them, the Taxpayer Assistance Centers and the volunteer VITA sites, operate only inside the United States.

Even inside the US the free route is slow to book: “It may take several weeks to get an appointment at a Taxpayer Assistance Center.”

The list of approved agents abroad has a separate page for each country or territory.

I counted 67 such pages in October 2026. The same IRS page names five international accounting firms with agents in the US and abroad. The page for Portugal, last updated in July 2026, shows two entries, one in Lisbon and one in Braga, and neither carries the asterisk of a plain acceptance agent.

A second path exists on paper and narrows quickly in practice. Copies certified by the issuing agency are accepted, and the IRS adds that officers at US embassies and consulates abroad offer certification and authentication services.

The embassy pages are stricter than that sentence suggests. The US Embassy in Ireland writes that “U.S. Embassies and Consulates are able to certify copies of foreign passports in relation to ITIN applications, but only for non-resident aliens applying for ITINs for the purpose of claiming tax treaty benefits”.

That page also notes that notary fees apply.

If the embassy in Madrid uses the same wording, the door is closed for a founder there who needs an ITIN to file a return. The IRS documentation FAQ admits that embassy services vary from country to country. I would phone the local embassy before booking anything.

Plain post with a better envelope is the last option. The W-7 instructions let applicants include a prepaid Express Mail or courier envelope for the return trip, and that helps the passport come home safely, yet it still spends the processing time in Texas.

What happens at the appointment?

Every applicant meets the agent, either across a desk or on a screen. The program page says AAs and CAAs must interview each ITIN applicant in person, primary, secondary and dependent, before the application is complete.

Video helps founders who live far from the nearest agent, with a catch. In the IRS’s own words, “Video conferencing maybe used for the interview only.”

Identity papers cannot be checked over a video link, though. The same page continues: “However, CAAs must have the original identification documents or certified copies from the issuing agency in their possession during the interview.”

So a remote interview still means the passport reaches the agent somehow.

I would ask any agent how that handover works before agreeing to a video call, and a CAA in the applicant’s own city avoids the question entirely.

Families have to plan the meeting as a group. The IRS application page says to bring family members who are applying along with their documents, and for dependents a CAA can authenticate only passports and birth certificates.

Everything else for a dependent, a school or medical record for example, still goes to the IRS in original or certified form. Foreign military identity cards are the one document a CAA cannot authenticate for anyone.

Two lines on the form deserve a minute at the appointment. Line 2 is the mailing address the IRS uses for returning originals and for its letters, and an applicant filing as a nonresident with a US return has to give a complete foreign address on line 3.

Above the applicant’s signature, the form authorizes the IRS to share information with the acceptance agent so the agent can perfect the application. The agent then signs in a box of its own.

How long does the ITIN take once the agent sends it?

The agent saves the passport, not the processing time. The IRS asks applicants to allow seven weeks for a notice about the ITIN, and nine to eleven weeks during tax season, from January 15 to April 30, or when the application comes from overseas.

Right now the IRS queue for Form W-7 looks current. The IRS page on processing status lists Form W-7 applications received in October 2026 as the ones in work, and I checked it this month.

A new ITIN also comes with a filing limit. The W-7 instructions warn: “You can’t electronically file (e-file) a return using an ITIN in the calendar year the ITIN is assigned.”

For a founder who files a 1040-NR with the application, that rule rarely bites.

That return travels on paper with the Form W-7 anyway, so the limit matters mostly for anyone who planned to e-file a second return later in the same calendar year.

A CAA has one practical edge after submission, and it is about letters. Because the agent sees the ITIN notices too, a request for more information does not depend only on the applicant’s mailbox abroad.

For missing originals there is a phone number too. The documentation FAQ gives 267-941-1000 for callers outside the US, a number that is not toll free.

Agents answer to the IRS for the quality of their work. The program page says the IRS conducts physical and correspondence compliance reviews, and an agent who refuses to cooperate with them can be terminated from the program.

What do the IRS lists and pages not tell me?

I have not found any IRS figure for what a CAA charges. The agents page says only “Fees for service may vary.” and leaves the rest to the market.

Two agents in one city can quote very different prices.

The country lists show names and addresses, not capacity. I cannot tell from the Portugal page how quickly either agent books an appointment, whether they offer video interviews, or whether they prepare the tax return that goes with the Form W-7.

Nor do the IRS and embassy pages line up neatly. The IRS pages mention embassy certification without any limit on who may use it, and the Ireland embassy limits it to treaty claims and even suggests applying from inside the US with an acceptance agent.

I don’t know whether every embassy in the EU applies the same rule. The IRS itself says services vary between countries, and no single page lists them.

Where does that leave a founder abroad?

A note before booking anything: a tax adviser who works with nonresidents can confirm whether a given person needs an ITIN at all, and which reason box on Form W-7 fits. A rejected package costs weeks, and the processing times above show how many.

My view at Stateside Journal is that a certifying acceptance agent for ITIN is worth its fee for anyone who travels, works with clients abroad, or simply cannot spare a passport for the two months the post can take. For someone who stays put and holds a second valid ID for daily life, the free post with a courier return envelope is a fair alternative.

My own first step would be the IRS list and its asterisk.

I will keep watching the IRS program page, since the partnership rule from June 2026 shows that the requirements for agents still move. The next change could touch the very documents a founder brings to the appointment, and the agent usually hears about it first.