SECTION 18. PAPERWORK — Internal Revenue Bulletin 1997-1

REDUCTION ACT

Rev. Proc. 96–4 is superseded.

This revenue procedure is effective February 1, 1997.

The collections of information contained in this revenue procedure have been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. § 3507) under control number 1545–1520.

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless the collection of information displays a valid control number.

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The collections of information in this revenue procedure are in sections 7.07, 9.02, 9.03, 9.04, 9.05, 9.06, 10.02, 10.03, 11.03, 11.04(1)–(5), 11.06, 12.01, 12.06, 12.07, 13.09(1), 14.02(1), and in Appendix B. This information is required to evaluate and process the request for a letter ruling or determination letter. In addition, this information will be used to help the Service delete certain information from the text of the letter ruling or determination letter before it is made available for public inspection, as required by § 6110. The collections of information are required to obtain a letter ruling or determination letter. The more likely respondents are business or other for-profit institutions.

The estimated total annual reporting and/or recordkeeping burden is 12,650 hours.

The estimated annual burden per respondent/recordkeeper varies from 15 minutes to 16 hours, depending on individual circumstances and the type of request involved, with an estimated average burden of 6.01 hours. The estimated number of respondents and/or recordkeepers is 2,103.

The estimated annual frequency of responses is one request per applicant, except that a taxpayer requesting a letter ruling may also request a presubmission conference.

Books or records relating to a collection of information must be retained as long as their contents may become material in the administration of any internal revenue law. Generally, tax returns and tax return information are confidential, as required by § 6103.

DRAFTING INFORMATION The principal authors of this revenue procedure are Dave Flavin of the Exempt Organizations Division and Lynette McCleary of the Employee Plans Division. For further information regarding how this revenue procedure applies to employee plan matters, contact the Employee Plans Division telephone assistance service between the hours of 1:30 and 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Thursday, on (202) 622–6074/75 (not a toll-free call). Mrs. McCleary’s telephone number is (202) 622–6214 (not a toll-free call). For exempt organization matters, please contact Mr. Flavin at (202) 622–7922 (not a toll-free call).

INDEX

additional information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 9.02(9), 9.03, 11.03, 11.04 closing agreement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 3.03, 6.06(4), 9.02(4), 9.02(15), 13.04 conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .sec. 9.02(9), 9.03(5), 12.01–.08, 13.09(2), 14.02(2) disclose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 9.02(9) exempt organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 6.01 expeditious handling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 9.03(3) extension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 6.02, 6.04, 11.04, 12.01, 12.06 fax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 9.03(4), 11.04 fee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 9.02(14), 11.04(5) hand delivered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 9.04(1) information letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 3.07, 8.01, 15.03 no rule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 8, 15.02 perjury statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .sec. 9.02(13), 11.04, 11.06 power of attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 9.02(12), 9.03(2) reliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 3.09, 11.02, 12.07, 13, 14 representatives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 3.09, 9.02(10)–(11), 9.03(2) retroactive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 11.02, 12.04, 12.07, 13, 14 revenue ruling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .sec. 3.08, 6.07, 13.04, 13.09(1) section 6110 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 9.02(9), 13.02 status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 9.07 technical advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 7.08, 13.03, 13.09(1), 14 telephone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 9.02(1), 11.04, 12.01, 12.08 where to send . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 9.04 withdraw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sec. 9.08

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APPENDIX A

SAMPLE FORMAT FOR A LETTER RULING REQUEST

( Insert the date of request )

Internal Revenue Service Assistant Commissioner (EP/EO) Attention: CP:E:EP:T P.O. Box 14073 Ben Franklin Station Washington, DC 20044

Dear Sir or Madam:

( Insert the name of the taxpayer ) (the ‘‘Taxpayer’’) requests a ruling on the proper treatment of ( insert the subject matter of the letter ruling request ) under § ( insert the number ) of the Internal Revenue Code.

[ If the taxpayer is requesting expeditious handling, the letter ruling request must contain a statement to that effect. This statement must explain the need for expeditious handling. See section 9.03(3). ]

A. STATEMENT OF FACTS

Taxpayer Information

[Provide the statements required by sections 9.02(1)(a), (b), (c), and (d) of Rev. Proc. 97–4, 1997–1 I.R.B. 96. (Hereafter, all references are to Rev. Proc. 97–4 unless otherwise noted.)]

For example, a taxpayer that maintains a qualified employee retirement plan and files an annual Form 5500 series of returns may include the following statement to satisfy sections 9.02(1)(a), (b), (c), and (d):

The Taxpayer is a construction company with principal offices located at 100 Whatever Drive, Wherever, Maryland 12345, and its telephone number is (123) 456–7890. The Taxpayer’s federal employer identification number is 00–1234567. The Taxpayer uses the Form 5500 series of returns on a calendar year basis to report its qualified employee retirement plan and trust.

The key district director of Internal Revenue for the Baltimore, Maryland district has audit jurisdiction over the Taxpayer’s Federal tax returns.

Detailed Description of the Transaction.

[The ruling request must contain a complete statement of the facts relating to the transaction that is the subject of the letter ruling request. This statement must include a detailed description of the transaction, including material facts in any accompanying documents, and the business reasons for the transaction. See sections 9.02(1)(c), 9.02(1)(d), and 9.02(2).]

B. RULING REQUESTED

[The ruling request should contain a concise statement of the ruling requested by the taxpayer.]

C. STATEMENT OF LAW

[The ruling request must contain a statement of the law in support of the taxpayer’s views or conclusion, including any authorities believed to be contrary to the position advanced in the ruling request. This statement must also identify any pending legislation that may affect the proposed transaction. See sections 9.02(6), 9.02(7), and 9.02(8).]

D. ANALYSIS

[The ruling request must contain a discussion of the facts and an analysis of the law. See sections 9.02(3), 9.02(6), 9.02(7), and 9.02(8).]

E. CONCLUSION

[The ruling request should contain a statement of the taxpayer’s conclusion on the ruling requested.]

F. PROCEDURAL MATTERS

Rev. Proc. 97–4 Statements a. [The statement required by section 9.02(4).] b. [The statement required by section 9.02(5).] c. [The statement required by section 9.02(6) regarding whether the law in connection with the letter ruling request is

uncertain and whether the issue is adequately addressed by relevant authorities.] d. [The statement required by section 9.02(7) when the taxpayer determines that there are no contrary authorities.]

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e. [If the taxpayer wants to have a conference on the issues involved in the letter ruling request, the ruling request should

contain a statement to that effect. See section 9.03(5).] f. [If the taxpayer is requesting the letter ruling to be issued by fax, the ruling request should contain a statement to that

effect. This statement must also contain a waiver of any disclosure violations resulting from the fax transmission. See section 9.03(4).] g. [If the taxpayer is requesting separate letter rulings on multiple issues, the letter ruling request should contain a statement

to that effect. See section 9.03(1).]

Administrative a. A Power of Attorney is enclosed. [See sections 9.02(12) and 9.03(2).] b. The deletions statement and checklist required by Rev. Proc. 97–4 are enclosed. [See sections 9.02(9) and 9.02(17).] c. The required user fee is enclosed. [See section 9.02(14).]

Very truly yours,

( Insert the name of the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s authorized representative)

By:

Signature Date

Typed or printed name of person signing request

DECLARATION : [See section 9.02(13).]

Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined this request, including accompanying documents, and to the best of my knowledge and belief, the request contains all the relevant facts relating to the request and such facts are true, correct, and complete.

( Insert the name of the taxpayer )

By:

Signature Title Date

Typed or printed name of person signing declaration

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APPENDIX B

CHECKLIST IS YOUR RULING REQUEST COMPLETE?

INSTRUCTIONS

The Service will be able to respond more quickly to your letter ruling request if it is carefully prepared and complete. To ensure that your request is in order, use this checklist. Complete the five items of information requested before the checklist. Answer each question by circling ‘‘Yes,’’ ‘‘No,’’ or ‘‘N/A.’’ When a question contains a place for a page number, insert the page number (or numbers) of the request that gives the information called for by a yes answer to a question. Sign and date the checklist (as taxpayer or authorized representative) and place it on top of your request.

If you are an authorized representative submitting a request for a taxpayer, you must include a completed checklist with the request, or the request will either be returned to you or substantive consideration of it will be deferred until a completed checklist is submitted. If you are a taxpayer preparing your own request without professional assistance, an incomplete checklist will not be cause for returning your request or deferring substantive consideration of the request. However, you should still complete as much of the checklist as possible and submit it with your request.

TAXPAYER’S NAME

TAXPAYER’S I.D. No.

DISTRICT HAVING AUDIT JURISDICTION

ATTORNEY/P.O.A.

PRIMARY CODE SECTION CIRCLE ONE ITEM

Yes No N/A 1. Does your request involve an issue under the jurisdiction of the Assistant Commissioner (Employee Plans and

Exempt Organizations)? See section 5 of Rev. Proc. 97–4, 1997–1 I.R.B. 96, for issues under the jurisdiction of other offices. (Hereafter, all references are to Rev. Proc. 97–4 unless otherwise noted.)

Yes No N/A 2. If your request involves a matter on which letter rulings are not ordinarily issued, have you given compelling

reasons to justify the issuance of a private letter ruling? Before preparing your request, you may want to call the branch in the Office of the Assistant Commissioner (Employee Plans and Exempt Organizations) responsible for substantive interpretations of the principal Internal Revenue Code section on which you are seeking a letter ruling to discuss the likelihood of an exception. The appropriate branch to call for this information may be obtained by calling (202) 622–8400 (Employee Plans matters), or (202) 622–8200 (Exempt Organizations matters) (not toll-free calls).

Yes No N/A Page

If the request involves an employee plans qualification matter under § 401(a), § 409, or § 4975(e)(7), have you demonstrated that the request satisfies the three criteria in section 6.03 for a national office ruling?
If the request deals with a completed transaction, have you filed the return for the year in which the transaction was completed? See sections 6.01 and 6.02.

Yes No 5. Are you requesting a letter ruling on a hypothetical situation or question? See section 8.02.

Yes No 6. Are you requesting a letter ruling on alternative plans of a proposed transaction? See section 8.02.

Yes No 7. Are you requesting the letter ruling for only part of an integrated transaction? See section 8.03.

Yes No 8. Have you submitted another letter ruling request for the transaction covered by this request?

Yes No 9. Are you requesting the letter ruling for a business, trade, industrial association, or similar group concerning the application of tax law to its members? See section 6.07.

Yes No 10. Have you included a complete statement of all Pages the facts relevant to the transaction? See section 9.02(1).

Yes No N/A 11. Have you submitted with the request true copies of all wills, deeds, plan documents, and other documents

relevant to the transaction, and labelled and attached them in alphabetical sequence? See section 9.02(2).

Yes No Pages

Have you included, rather than merely by reference, all material facts from the documents in the request? Are they accompanied by an analysis of their bearing on the issues that specifies the document provisions that apply? See section 9.02(3).

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CIRCLE ONE ITEM

Yes No Page

Yes No Pages

Yes No N/A Pages

Yes No N/A Page

Have you included the required statement regarding whether the same issue in the letter ruling request is in an earlier return of the taxpayer or in a return for any year of a related taxpayer? See section 9.02(4).
Have you included the required statement regarding whether the Service previously ruled on the same or similar issue for the taxpayer, a related taxpayer, or a predecessor? See section 9.02(5).
Have you included the required statement regarding whether the taxpayer, a related taxpayer, a predecessor, or any representatives previously submitted the same or similar issue but withdrew it before the letter ruling was issued? See section 9.02(5).
Have you included the required statement regarding whether the law in connection with the request is uncertain and whether the issue is adequately addressed by relevant authorities? See section 9.02(6).
Have you included the required statement of relevant authorities in support of your views? See section 9.02(6).
Does your request discuss the implications of any legislation, tax treaties, court decisions, regulations, notices, revenue rulings, or revenue procedures you determined to be contrary to the position advanced? See section 9.02(7), which states that taxpayers are encouraged to inform the Service of such authorities.
If you determined that there are no contrary authorities, have you included a statement to this effect in your request? See section 9.02(7).
Have you included in your request a statement identifying any pending legislation that may affect the proposed transaction? See section 9.02(8).

Yes No 21. Is the request accompanied by the deletions statement required by § 6110? See section 9.02(9).

Yes No N/A Page

Have you (or your authorized representative) signed and dated the request? See section 9.02(10).

Yes No N/A 23. If the request is signed by your representative, or if your representative will appear before the Service in

connection with the request, is the request accompanied by a properly prepared and signed power of attorney with the signatory’s name typed or printed? See section 9.02(12).

Yes No N/A Page

Have you included, signed and dated, the penalties of perjury statement in the form required by section 9.02(13)?

Yes No N/A 25. Have you included the correct user fee with the request and made your check or money order payable to the

Internal Revenue Service? See section 9.02(14) and Rev. Proc. 97–8, page 187, this Bulletin, for the correct amount and additional information on user fees.

Yes No N/A 26. Are you submitting your request in duplicate if necessary? See section 9.02(15).

Yes No N/A Pages

If you are requesting separate letter rulings on different issues involving one factual situation, have you included a statement to that effect in each request? See section 9.03(1).

Yes No N/A 28. If you want the original of the ruling to be sent to a representative, does the power of attorney contain a

statement to that effect? See section 9.03(2).

Yes No N/A 29. If you do not want a copy of the letter ruling to be sent to any representative, does the power of attorney

contain a statement to that effect? See section 9.03(2).

Yes No N/A Page

If you have more than one representative, have you designated whether the second representative listed on the power of attorney is to receive a copy of the letter ruling? See section 9.03(2).

Yes No N/A 31. If you want your letter ruling request to be processed ahead of the regular order or by a specific date, have

you requested expeditious handling in the form required by section 9.03(3) and stated a compelling need for such action in the request?

Yes No N/A Page

If you are requesting that a copy of the letter ruling be issued by facsimile (fax) transmission, have you included a statement containing a waiver of any disclosure violations resulting from the fax transmission? See section 9.03(4).
If you want to have a conference on the issues involved in the request, have you included a request for conference in the ruling request? See section 9.03(5).

Yes No N/A 34. If your request is covered by any of the guideline revenue procedures or other special requirements listed in

section 10 of Rev. Proc. 97–4, have you complied with all of the requirements of the applicable revenue procedure? Page

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CIRCLE ONE ITEM

If you are requesting relief under § 7805(b) (regarding retroactive effect), have you complied with all of the requirements in section 13.09?

Yes No N/A 36. Have you addressed your request to the appropriate office listed in section 9.04? Improperly addressed

requests may be delayed (sometimes for over a week) in reaching the appropriate office for initial processing.

Signature Title or Authority Date

Typed or printed name of person signing checklist

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26 CFR 601.201: Rulings and determination letters.

Rev. Proc. 97–5

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