Utah Just Raised the Bar on POA Notarization — And It Reaches Further Than Tax Filings

Starting June 1, 2026, the Utah State Tax Commission updated its laws to require notarization on every Power of Attorney form it receives — no exceptions for forms that used to slide through unnotarized, including the IRS’s own Form 2848. Existing POAs already on file remain valid; anything filed from that date forward has to clear the new bar.

Most of the early coverage framed this as a tax-preparer issue. It’s that, but the scope is broader than the headlines suggested — and the part that matters most may not be income tax paperwork at all.

The rule covers more ground than “tax POA”

Utah’s DMV isn’t a separate agency — it’s the Motor Vehicle Division of the Utah State Tax Commission. Title work, duplicate title requests, registration, and lien processing all run through the same commission that just made notarization mandatory on “all POA forms.” That scope was built into the policy from the start; it just wasn’t the angle most coverage led with.

Where it shows up: vehicle title and registration POAs

Utah law has required a notarized signature on motor vehicle powers of attorney for some time (Utah Code § 75A-2-105). Enforcement around that requirement has historically had some give to it, and a fair amount of vehicle-related POA paperwork has moved through channels — including from the institutions that handle the most title volume: banks, credit unions, and auto finance companies.

Those lenders use vehicle POAs regularly — to request duplicate titles, process lien releases, complete registration renewals, and handle title transfers on behalf of borrowers who financed or leased through them. It’s routine back-office volume, often involving borrowers who are out of state or simply not available to visit a notary in person over a title formality.

With the Tax Commission’s policy now applying agency-wide, that paperwork gets the same scrutiny as everything else moving through the commission. For lenders processing vehicle title actions at scale, that’s a meaningful shift in how this work needs to get done — and a natural point to look at how the notarization step fits into the process going forward.

Part of a wider, uneven pattern

It’s tempting to describe this as “states are cracking down on POA notarization” as one unified trend, and it’s worth being precise about what’s actually happening: it isn’t uniform. Missouri has required notarization on its state tax POA for years — Utah is joining an existing group here, not starting one. Georgia moved the other direction, formally accepting e-signatures and remote online notarizations on POAs from any state where RON is legal. New York is loosening its own signature rules separately.

The common thread isn’t direction — it’s that notarization continues to be an important mechanism agencies rely on, whichever way a given state is moving. Utah adds it. Georgia builds a formal path for its remote form. Either way, the practical answer for anyone submitting these documents looks the same.

An opening for a remote-first process

Utah has permitted remote online notarization since 2020, well ahead of this policy. For lenders processing vehicle title POAs across a geographically scattered borrower base, or preparers with clients who can’t easily get to a notary before a deadline, RON lets the signer complete notarization from a phone or laptop with a live, commissioned notary and a tamper-evident electronic certificate — typically in minutes and completed in the same day it’s requested.
For institutions moving meaningful volume through this process — a bank or credit union with hundreds of title actions across its loan portfolio, or a firm with clients spread across the state — this is less a new obstacle than a reason to modernize a step that was probably due for it anyway. Building remote notarization into the workflow now means the next state that tightens (or reshapes) its POA rules is a non-event rather than a scramble.

OneNotary provides remote online notarization built for high-volume, deadline-driven paperwork — from vehicle title actions to tax powers of attorney.

Sources

• Utah Tax Commission Implements Notarization Requirement for Power of Attorney Forms — Bloomberg Tax
• Utah State Tax Commission press release, May 26, 2026
• Utah TC-737, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Agent — Utah State Tax Commission
• Utah Motor Vehicle Power of Attorney Form — signing requirements (Utah Code § 75A-2-105)
• DMV Services — Utah.gov (Motor Vehicle Division of the Utah State Tax Commission)
• Essential Guide to the Missouri Power of Attorney Form 2025
• ADMIN-2025-03 — Acceptance of E-Signatures, Remote Notaries, and Electronic Filings — Georgia Department of Revenue
• New York Authorizes E-Signatures on Tax Powers of Attorney — Sales Tax