What a Certifying Acceptance Agent does

What BKS provides

• A review of your documents against the IRS requirements before you pay for anything beyond the review.
• A required interview with every applicant, including each dependent.
• Authentication of your original documents or issuing-agency certified copies, and immediate return of the originals.
• Preparation of Form W-7 and the Form W-7-COA Certificate of Accuracy, signed by an approved Responsible Party.
• Mailing the application to the IRS, tracking it, and recording any IRS notices.

What BKS cannot do

• BKS is not an agent of the IRS. The IRS issues ITINs, and the IRS decides every application.
• We cannot authenticate foreign military identification cards.
• For dependents, a CAA can authenticate only passports and civil birth certificates. Other dependent documents, such as school or medical records, must go to the IRS as originals or issuing-agency certified copies.
• We cannot accept a notarized copy in place of an original or an issuing-agency certified copy. The only notarized-copy allowance in the IRS instructions is for certain military spouses and dependents applying from overseas or an APO or FPO address, and our CAA will tell you if it applies.
• We do not give tax or immigration advice, and we cannot promise an outcome or a processing time.

The required CAA interview

The IRS requires a Certifying Acceptance Agent to interview each applicant: the primary applicant, a secondary applicant, and each dependent. The IRS allows video conferencing for the interview only. It also requires that the CAA have the original identification documents, or certified copies from the issuing agency, in their possession during the interview so they can see the security features.

What that means for you

• You will get a link to a private video room at your scheduled time. Every applicant joins the video call, and a parent or guardian can be with a child.
• Your original documents must already be in our possession, or you present them to us in person. Photos and scans you upload help us review early, but they cannot stand in for the originals.
• We will give you delivery instructions after your documents are accepted. We return your originals as soon as the interview is complete.
• We check that each document is current, appears authentic and unaltered, and matches the person we are speaking to.
• We do not record the video call.

After the interview

We prepare Form W-7 and the Certificate of Accuracy, finish a final review, and mail the package to the IRS. The IRS says to allow about 7 weeks, and 9 to 11 weeks from mid-January through the end of April or from overseas. If the IRS writes to you or to us, we log it and help you respond.