New Guidance: IRS Updates Process for FAQs on New Legislation & Reliance Concerns.

• Author: Josephs, Stuart R.
• Position: FedTax

This issue's "Tax Season Toolkit," Page 18. discusses the new IRS FAQguidance. Additional information follows.

General Overview

Guidance Published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin

The Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB) is the authoritative instrument of the Internal Revenue Commissioner to announce official IRS rulings and procedures and for publishing Treasury decisions, executive orders, tax conventions, legislation, court decisions and other general interest items.

It is the IRS' policy to publish in the IRI5 all substantive rulings necessary to promote uniform application of the tax laws, including all rulings that supersede, revoke, modify or amend any rulings previously published in the IRB. All published rulings apply retroactively unless otherwise indicated.

Procedures relating solely to internal management matters are not published. However, statements of internal practices and procedures affecting taxpayers' rights and duties are published.

Revenue rulings represent the IRS' conclusions on application of the law to pivotal facts stated in a revenue ruling. In those based on positions taken in rulings to taxpayers or in technical advice to IRS field offices, identifying details and confidential information are deleted to prevent unwarranted privacy invasions and to comply with statutory requirements.

Rulings and procedures reported in the IRB do not have the force and effect of regulations, but may be precedents. Unpublished rulings will not be precedents for IRS personnel in resolving other cases.

In applying published rulings and procedures, the effect of subsequent legislation, regulations, court decisions, rulings and procedures must be considered. IRS personal and others are cautioned against reaching the same conclusions in other cases--unless the facts and circumstances are substantially the same.

FAQs

FAQs are a valuable alternative to guidance published in the IRB because they allow the IRS to quickly communicate information to the public on topics of frequent inquiry and general applicability. FAQs typically respond to general inquiries rather than applying the law to taxpayer-specific facts and may not reflect various special rules or exceptions that could apply in any particular case.

FAQs not published in the IRB will not be precedents for IRS personnel in disposing of cases. Similarly, if an FAQ turns out to be an inaccurate statement of the law as applied to a particular taxpayer's case, the law will control the...