SECTION 5. PROCESSING THE

RULING REQUEST

.01 Taxpayers not under examination or before appeals office. A letter ruling request submitted under section 4.01 of this revenue procedure generally will be processed under the procedures set forth in Rev. Proc. 98–1. Thus, the procedures for requesting additional information, conferences, withdrawal of requests, etc. are the same as those provided in Rev. Proc. 98–1. The original letter ruling will be issued to the taxpayer that requested it, and a copy of the letter ruling, whether favorable or adverse, will be sent to the district director that has jurisdiction over the taxpayer’s return.

.02 Taxpayers under examination or before appeals office. A letter ruling request submitted under section 4.02 of this revenue procedure generally will be processed under the procedures set forth in Rev. Proc. 98–2 for a taxpayer-initiated request for technical advice, except as provided in this section.

(1) Contacting the taxpayer. Usually, within 21 calendar days after the national office receives a taxpayer’s letter ruling request, a Service representative will contact both the taxpayer (or the taxpayer’s authorized representative) and the examining or appeals officer to discuss the substantive or procedural issues in the letter

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ruling request and to ask for any additional information necessary in order to process the request.

(2) Coordination with district and ap- peals office. During the processing of a taxpayer’s letter ruling request, the national office will continuously coordinate the evaluation of the request with the district or appeals office having jurisdiction over the case. If the district or appeals office either determines that the national office should not consider the taxpayer’s request or disagrees with the taxpayer’s statement of facts and issues, then the district or appeals office will notify the taxpayer in writing. For these purposes, the Service will follow the procedures set forth in section 10.04 of Rev. Proc. 98–2, except that the district or appeals office will, in all cases, forward the taxpayer’s request, with any additional statements, to the national office as provided in section 4.02 of this revenue procedure. (3) Withdrawing the ruling request. The district director or chief, appeals office, may not withdraw a request for a letter ruling submitted under section 4.02 of this revenue procedure. However, a taxpayer may withdraw such a request at any time before the letter ruling is signed by the national office, provided that the district director or the chief, appeals office, consents to the withdrawal. If the district director or the chief, appeals office, consents to this withdrawal, the national office will send its views to the district director or the chief, appeals office. If the district director or the chief, appeals office, does not consent to the withdrawal, then the letter ruling request will be processed as a request for technical advice under Rev. Proc. 98–2 and the scope of the technical advice memorandum will be limited to years under examination. Pursuant to the principles of Rev. Proc. 98–1, including but not limited to section 15.10 thereof, the user fee generally will not be refunded if the taxpayer withdraws its request for a letter ruling under this section.

(4) Reply by national office. Replies to letter ruling requests issued under section 4.02 are made in two parts. Each part identifies the taxpayer by name, address, taxpayer identification number, and the years under examination by the district director or under consideration by an appeals office. The first part is a transmittal

memorandum addressed to the district or appeals office. The second part is a letter ruling as defined in section 2.01 of Rev. Proc. 98–1 that covers the project years addressed in the taxpayer’s request. The national office will forward the transmittal memorandum and a copy of the letter ruling to the district director or the chief, appeals office, having jurisdiction over the taxpayer’s return. At the same time, the national office will issue the original letter ruling to the taxpayer that requested it.

.03 Coordination with industry special- ization program. Prior to issuance of a letter ruling to a taxpayer under this revenue procedure, the national office will coordinate review of the proposed letter ruling with a representative of the environmental cleanup costs issue specialization team.

.04 Disclosure. The text of a letter ruling issued under this revenue procedure is open to public inspection under § 6110. The Service will make appropriate deletions from the text before it is made available for inspection. To help the Service make the deletions required by § 6110, a request made under this revenue procedure must be accompanied by the statement described in section 8.01(9) of Rev. Proc. 98–1.