Authorizing a representative becomes a little bit more time consuming: Taxpayers who file joint returns needing assistance in dealing with IRS matters will no longer be allowed to sign a single joint return authorization.
Theoretically, when U.S. combat troops finally withdraw from Afghanistan in December 2014, the authorization should simply expire, and the nation will no longer be at war.
That would mean Congressional authorization to add trillions more to the national debt, with no cuts in future planned spending of any sort, or any other limitations on future spending, such as a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
No registered person should ever initial or sign on behalf of a customer without first securing prior written authorization from both the employer firm and the customer.