Treasury regulations are formal interpretations of the Code issued by the Treasury Department. Courts have generally found regulations authoritative to the extent they adhere to Congressional intent. There are three types of treasury regulations: proposed, temporary, and final regulations. The Administration Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 553, requires that administrative agencies allow for notice and comment from the public on regulations before they can be finalized, so the Treasury Department issues proposed regulations alerting the public to possible changes in the law before any final regulations. The Treasury Department issues temporary regulations to interpret new Code provisions. These regulations are effective immediately and can be finalized through the same process as a proposed regulation.
Regulations under the 1986 and 1954 versions of the I.R.C. are listed by a prefix number corresponding to the type of tax treated (“1” corresponds to income tax, “20” to estate tax, “25” to gift taxes, and “301” to procedural and administrative regulations) followed by a decimal point, and then the relevant section of the Code (e.g. 1.351-1(a) deals with § 351-1(a) of the Code, the issue being income tax). Proposed regulations are published in the Federal Register [U.S. Reference for the past two years, older in the ALF, also on HeinOnline] under the title “Notices of Proposed Rulemaking.” Final and Temporary Regulations are issued as Treasury Decisions (T.D.s), which will be codified in Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations (26 C.F.R.) [U.S. Reference for the current, Fourth Floor for the superseded]. Both the Federal Register and the C.F.R. are available on Bloomberg, Lexis, and Westlaw. They can also be found from inception on HeinOnline [Restricted Access], and FDsys www.gop.gov/fdsys/, from the “Browse Government Publications” link.
Before codification, T.D.s are cited by a four digit number and contain a helpful preamble discussing the intent and purpose behind the regulation. T.D.s are reprinted in the Internal Revenue Bulletin [Reference], which is published twice a year and eventually rebound as the Cumulative Bulletin [Fourth Floor]; both are official publications of the IRS. The Internal Revenue Bulletin is available at the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/businesses/lists/0,,id=98230,00.html. The Cumulative Bulletin can also be found on HeinOnline [Restricted Access]. However, as of 2008, the IRS has announced that it will not be issuing the Cumulative Bulletin for the foreseeable future, so use the Internal Revenue Bulletin. Regulations can also be conveniently accessed in the looseleaf tax services (for which, see Section VI-A below) after the relevant Code section.
1. Procedural Regulations
The Statement of Procedural Rules provides information about the IRS's internal operations and is codified in Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations (26 C.F.R.) [U.S. Reference for the current, Fourth Floor for the superseded]. Procedural regulations are marked by the prefix “601” in the same manner as treasury regulations. Procedural regulations are also available in the loose leaf services, for which see below.
2. Internal Revenue Manual
The Internal Revenue Manual (I.R.M.) is an internal document of the IRS written for its employees and contains information on corporate and individual audits, the appeals process, collection procedures, etc. The Looseleaf Collection contains a copy of the Internal Revenue Manual (Looseleafs, KF 6301 .A6 C6) in binders from CCH. The I.R.M. is also available on the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/irm/index.html.
3. Revenue Rulings and Revenue Procedures
Revenue Rulings apply the Internal Revenue Code to certain sets of facts. They have precedential weight for tax payers dealing with the IRS, although they may be less authoritative for the courts. Revenue Procedures describe IRS procedures and practices for specific issues. Both Revenue Rulings and Revenue Procedures can be found in the Internal Revenue Bulletin [Periodicals] if current, or in the bound volumes of the Internal Revenue Cumulative Bulletin [Fourth Floor, T 22.25] from 1953 to 2008. Both can also be found on Lexis and Westlaw, on HeinOnline, and in various looseleaf tax services.
4. Letter Rulings
Like revenue rulings, letter rulings apply tax laws to certain sets of facts, but unlike revenue rulings, they are responses to the questions of individual taxpayers. They function only as precedent for the taxpayer who made the request and are therefore known as “private letter rulings.” Lexis, Westlaw, CCH Intelliconnect, and Bloomberg all contain letter rulings. The Law Library also has letter rulings on microform from 1986 to 1993. Letter rulings from 1994 to 2009 can be found in Full Text IRS Technical Advice Memorandums, Field Service Advice Memos, Letter Rulings, Service Center Advice, and Other Forms of Chief Counsel Advice, which is held in the Auxiliary Library Facility.
Private letter ruling citations are numbered chronologically. Citations start with PLR, and are then followed by the year, the week, and the serial number for that week. Thus, PLR 200139025 represents the 25th letter ruling of the 39th week of 2001.
5. Other IRS Pronouncements
The IRS issues a number of other documents:
a. Technical Advice Memoranda (TAM) are like letter rulings, except the taxpayer has made the request during the appeals process, rather than before filing the return. The best place to look for TAMs is on Lexis and Westlaw; select TAMs are also available in Full Text IRS Technical Advice Memorandums, Field Service Advice Memos, Letter Rulings, Service Center Advice, and Other Forms of Chief Counsel Advice [Auxiliary Library Facility]. Another good source in print is the IRS Positions Reporter [Looseleafs KF6301.A6 C67], current from 1982.
b. General Counsel Memoranda (GCM) are issued by the Office of Chief Counsel as further explanations of revenue rulings, letter rulings, and TAMs. Since 1982, new ones are very rarely published. GCMs are available on Lexis and Westlaw as well as in the IRS Positions Reporter.
c. Actions on Decisions (AODs) are issued by the Office of Chief Counsel. The IRS is bound by the US Supreme Court, but may decide whether to acquiesce to the opinions of other courts. AODs are memoranda from the Chief Counsel advising the IRS whether to acquiesce or not. They are available on Lexis and Westlaw and in the IRS Positions Reporter.
d. Chief Counsel Advice (CCA) includes a miscellany of documents from the Office of Chief Counsel. CCAs are on Lexis and Westlaw and are numbered like private letter rulings.
e. Field Service Advice (FSA) arises from the same situation as TAMs, except it represents a request from an IRS representative rather than a taxpayer. FSAs are available on Lexis and Westlaw and in the IRS Positions Reporter. They are also numbered like letter rulings.
f. Service Center Advice (SCA) is disseminated from the National Office to Service Centers on various administrative matters. SCAs are numbered like letter rulings and are available on Westlaw and Lexis.
6. IRS Forms
The IRS Issues tax forms to aid taxpayers in filing their taxes. Copies of IRS forms and instructions can be found on the IRS website, www.irs.gov, under the “Forms & Pubs” tab.
