The Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB) is the official publication for announcing Revenue Rulings, Revenue Procedures, Notices & Announcement. These are directed to all taxpayers and may be relied upon. The IRB is published weekly and through 2008 was consolidated into semi-annual Cumulative Bulletins (CB). IRS guidance/rulings requested by individual taxpayers (e.g., Private Letter Rulings, Technical Advice Memoranda, and Chief Counsel Advice) may not be relied upon by others and are not published in the IRB. Nevertheless, they may provide insight regarding the IRS's views on various matters. They may be obtained by the public via FOIA requests and can often be found on the IRS.gov (see the IRS's FOIA Library) or by using commercial legal research platforms.
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INSTITUTION |
DOCUMENT |
REPORTED IN |
BINDING UPON/WHO'S IT FOR |
| TREASURY | Treasury Regulations1, aka Treasury Decision or TDs (Final Regs) | Federal Register (FR) & Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Final regulations are also published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin (which is bound as the Cumulative Bulletin). | Treasury (IRS) interpretation of tax code (:general regulations") or law-making function ("legislative regulations") delegated by code. Difficult to challenge in court. Legislative regulations bear the greatest precedential value of any IRS pronouncement |
| Temporary Regulations | Issued for immediate guidance to tax papers as a result of new legislation. Issued without hearing or comment period. Three year expiration date. Must issue proposed regulations at the same time. Not binding if court finds to be an incorrect interpretation of tax code. | ||
| Proposed Regulations | No binding effect until made final (after hearings and comment period). Does give guidance as to IRS’ interpretation. | ||
| IRS National Office | Revenue Ruling2 - public information | Internal Revenue Bulletin (which is bound as the Cumulative Bulletin). | An official position as to application of the Code or Regulations to a specific situation (usually submitted by taxpayer and IRS found it to be of general interest). “Second in importance to regulations.” IRS bound by these until officially revoked. |
| Revenue Procedure3 - public information | Internal Revenue Bulletin (which is bound as the Cumulative Bulletin). | Official procedures for IRS and practitioners making filings or seeking rulings or information from the IRS. | |
| Private Letter Ruling (PLR)4 - internal document | Westlaw | Nonbinding ruling (except between IRS and applicant) requested by taxpayer on a specific issue from the IRS National Office | |
| Determination Letter - internal document | FOIA | Same as Private Letter Ruling except issued by a local office. | |
| Technical Advice Memoranda (TAM)5 - internal document | Westlaw | Requested by IRS agent with respect to prior event or a completed transaction (which local office couldn't resolve). | |
| General Counsel Memo - internal document | Westlaw | Requested by IRS from its own legal counsel with respect to preparing letter or revenue rulings. |
Title 26 U.S. Code (Internal Revenue Code of 1986) - contains the vast majority of statutes covering federal taxes
1 Treasury Regulations - Regulations interpreting the tax code issued primarily by the Treasury Department, though drafted by the IRS. Regulations can be interpretive (issued pursuant to Code section 7805(a)) or legislative (in instances where Congress has specifically authorized the IRS to write rules). You will see proposed, temporary, and final regulations. Proposed regs offer only guidance, temporary regs are actually binding, but those issued since 1988 are subject to the notice and comment procedure and expire no later than 3 years after issuance.
2 Revenue Rulings (Commissioner of the IRS) Official public interpretation of tax law, but of lesser authority than Regulations. Revenue Rulings are primarily issued at the request of a specific taxpayer or as technical advice to district IRS offices. Their authority is intended to cover only a specific fact situation.
3 Revenue Procedures (National Office of the IRS) An official statement of IRS procedure. For instance, the IRS issues a revenue procedure at the beginning of each tax year detailing the tax areas in which the IRS will or will not issue letter rulings. Also, depreciation guidelines and tables are issued as revenue procedures.
4 Letter Rulings (LTRs or PLRs) (National Office of the IRS) - An interpretation of tax law issued directly to a taxpayer who formally requests advice about the tax consequences of a proposed transaction. Each ruling applies only to the taxpayer who requested it; however, letter rulings may be cited as authority to minimize penalties assessed against another taxpayer.
5 Technical Advice Memoranda (TAMs) (National Office of the IRS) An interpretation of tax law usually issued at the request of either an individual taxpayer or an IRS agent or appeals officer about a completed transaction that is under dispute. TAMs are not binding, even within the given dispute; however, they are generally followed in the case for which they are issued. A Determination Letter is a similar document, though issued by an IRS district office. Usually determination letters are issued only when the district office can cite to clearly established rules.