IRS Treasury Regulations
Federal Register and Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations
- Proposed Regulations: Require notice and comments as other federal administrative regulations.
- Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Advance Notices indicate that the IRS is considering proposed rules and invite comments.
- Final Regulations: Regulations become final and effective as law after notice and comment period and any modifications by the agency.
- Temporary Regulations: Issued by the IRS to provide guidance to taxpayers on new tax provisions. Temporary regulations do not require a comment period and are effective immediately after publication.
- Treasury Decisions: Final and Temporary Regulations are published as Treasury Decisions (T.D.). Treasury Decisions have four-digit citations, e.g. T.D. 8860. Once codified, a prefix is added with the corresponding tax code section. NOTE this is not the same as a “decision” in other regulatory contexts where that term refers to a decision by an administrative law judge or other hearing officer.
IRS Publications and Documents
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Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB)Weekly publication; contains treasury decisions and other regulations; revenue rulings, revenue procedures, announcements, notices, etc.
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Cumulative Bulletin (CB)bound version of the IRB up until 2008 issued twice per year. The CB was the official publication of the IRS and the Treasury Department. It is still published but only sold on a per copy basis. Print publication of the IRB is behind (only through July 2012) but the online version at www.irs.gov is current.
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Revenue Rulings (Rev. Rul.)official declarations made by the IRS stating its view of how the tax law applies to a specific set of facts. These rulings have precedential values for taxpayers with analogous fact patterns to the ones in the revenue ruling. Prior to the 1954 tax code, various names for revenue rulings were Appeals and Review Memorandum (ARM), General Counsel’s Memorandum (GCM), and Office Decisions (OD).
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Revenue Procedures (Rev. Proc)IRS practices and procedures that may or may not affect the rights or duties of taxpayers under the Internal Revenue Code. Procedures are used to disseminate information that should be a matter of public knowledge. Published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin.
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Letter Rulings, aka Private Letter RulingsA written statement issued by the IRS National Office that interprets/applies the law to the taxpayer’s specific set of facts. Letter rulings are similar to revenue rulings but they may be relied on as precedent only by the taxpayer to whom the ruling is issued. Not published in the compilations with other documents, e.g. IRB/CB, and taxpayer’s name is expunged.
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Actions on Decisions (AOD)Statements by the IRS clarifying its decision of whether or not to appeal an adverse case. AODs either acquiesce – state that the IRS will follow the decision of the court in future/similar situations or nonacquiesce –the IRS disagrees with the court’s ruling and will not follow it going forward.
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Announcements (Ann.)Public IRS announcements from the office of Chief Counsel announcing information of immediate value.
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Field Service Advice Memorandum (F.S.A.)Come from IRS national office. Provide nonbinding advice/guidance to IRS agents, attorneys and appeals officers to help them determine litigation hazards for both substantive and procedural matters. Not precedent. Can be either formally written or summaries of phone inquiries. (ceased 2004)
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General Council Memorandum (GCM)Statements from the IRS Chief Counsel that explain reasoning used for revenue rulings, private letter rulings and technical advice memorandum. These have no precedential authority but can be used as guides to understand the intent behind IRS positions. (only 2 issued since 1997)
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NoticesPublic IRS statements from the Chief Council announcing new provisions of law that may affect taxpayers.
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Technical Advice Memorandum (T.A.M., Tech. Adv. Mem., T.A. Memo)Written advice provided by the national IRS to local offices by request of an IRS district director or an IRS area director. A TAM responds to a technical or procedural question that arises during the examination of a taxpayer’s return. Similar to letter rulings, but relate to completed taxpayer transactions and rely on previously established authority, e.g. revenue rulings, regulations.
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Technical Memorandum (T.M., Tech. Mem.)From the IRS Chief Counsel office, these provide background on newly released regulations. Like preambles, TMs may reveal the agency’s intent and purpose behind a regulation. (very few issued since the 1990’s)
