SECTION 1. TRADE — Internal Revenue Bulletin 1998-51

EXPENSES (§ 162)

.01 Advances made by a lawyer on be- half of clients — Description of change and scope. This change applies to a lawyer handling cases on a contingent fee basis that advances money to pay for costs of litigation or for other expenses on behalf of clients and that wants to change the method of accounting for such advances from treating them as deductible business expenses to treating them as loans. See Boccardo v. United States, 12 Cl. Ct. 184 (1987); Canelo v. Commis- sioner, 53 T.C. 217 (1969), aff’d per cu- riam, 447 F.2d 484 (9th Cir. 1971).

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which depreciation is determined under § 167 (other than § 167(f)) must be made prospectively ( see, for example, § 1.167(b)–2(c)). (In contrast, section 2.01 of this APPENDIX generally applies to a change in the recovery period of property for which depreciation is determined under § 168 or former § 168);

(viii) any depreciable property that changes use but continues to be owned by the same taxpayer (see, for example, § 168(i)(5));

(ix) any property for which depreciation is determined in accordance with § 1.167(a)–11 (regarding the Class Life Asset Depreciation Range System (ADR));

(x) any change in method of accounting involving a change from deducting the cost or other basis of any property as an expense to capitalizing and depreciating the cost or other basis;

(xi) any change in method of accounting involving a change from one permissible method of accounting for the property to another permissible method of accounting for the property. For example:

(A) a change from the straight-line method of depreciation to the income forecast method of depreciation for videocassettes. See Rev. Rul. 89–62, 1989-1 C.B. 78; or (B) a change from charging the depreciation reserve with costs of removal and crediting the depreciation reserve with salvage proceeds to deducting costs of removal as an expense (provided the costs of removal are not required to be capitalized under any provision of the Code, such as § 263(a)) and including salvage proceeds in taxable income (see section 2.02 of this APPENDIX for making this change for property for which depreciation is determined under § 167);

(xii) any change in method of accounting involving both a change from treating the cost or other basis of the property as nondepreciable property to treating the cost or other basis of the property as depreciable property and the adoption of a method of accounting for depreciation requiring an election under § 167, 168, former § 168, or § 13261(g)(2) or (3) of the 1993 Act (for example, a change in the treatment of the space consumed in landfills placed in service in 1990 from nondepreciable to depreciable property (assuming section 2.01(2)(c)(xiii) of the

APPENDIX does not apply) and the making of an election under § 168(f)(1) to depreciate this property under the unit-ofproduction method of depreciation under § 167);

(xiii) any change in method of accounting for an item of income or deduction other than depreciation, even if a taxpayer’s present method of accounting may have resulted in the taxpayer claiming less than or more than the depreciation allowable. For example, a change in method of accounting involving:

(A) a change in inventory costs (for example, when property is reclassified from inventory property to depreciable property, or vice versa) (but see section 3.02 of this APPENDIX for making a change from inventory property to depreciable property for unrecoverable line pack gas or unrecoverable cushion gas); or

(B) a change in the character of a transaction from sale to lease, or vice versa (but see section 2.03 of this APPENDIX for making this change); or

(xiv) a change from determining depreciation under § 168 to determining depreciation under former § 168 for any property subject to the transition rules in § 203(b) or 204(a) of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, 1986–3 (Vol. 1) C.B. 1, 60– 80. (3) Additional requirements. A taxpayer also must comply with the following:

(a) Permissible depreciation method. A taxpayer must change to a permissible method of accounting for depreciation for the item of property. This method is the same method that determines the depreciation allowable for the item of property (as provided in section 2.01(6) of this APPENDIX). (b) Statements required. A taxpayer must provide the following statements, if applicable, and attach them to the completed application:

(i) a detailed description of the former and new methods of accounting. A general description of these methods of accounting is unacceptable (for example, MACRS to MACRS or erroneous method to proper method);

(ii) to the extent not provided elsewhere on the application, a statement describing the taxpayer’s business or income-producing activities. Also, if the

taxpayer has more than one business or income-producing activity, a statement describing the taxpayer’s business or income-producing activity in which the item of property at issue is primarily used by the taxpayer;

(iii) to the extent not provided elsewhere on the application, a statement of the facts and law supporting the new method of accounting, new classification of the item of property, and new asset class in, as appropriate, Rev. Proc. 87-56 or Rev. Proc. 83-35. If the taxpayer is the owner and lessor of the item of property at issue, the statement of the facts and law supporting the new asset class also must describe the business or income-producing activity in which that item of property is primarily used by the lessee;

(iv) to the extent not provided elsewhere on the application, a statement identifying the year in which the item of property was placed in service;

(v) if the item of property is depreciated under former § 168, a statement identifying the asset class in Rev. Proc. 83-35 that applies under the taxpayer’s former and new methods of accounting (if none, state and explain);

(vi) if any item of property is public utility property within the meaning of § 168(i)(10) or former § 167(l)(3)(A), as applicable, a statement providing that the taxpayer agrees to the following additional terms and conditions:

(A) a normalization method of accounting (within the meaning of former § 167(l)(3)(G), former § 168(e)(3)(B), or § 168(i)(9), as applicable) will be used for the public utility property subject to the application;

(B) as of the beginning of the year of change, the taxpayer will adjust its deferred tax reserve account or similar reserve account in the taxpayer’s regulatory books of account by the amount of the deferral of federal income tax liability associated with the § 481(a) adjustment applicable to the public utility property subject to the application; and

(C) within 30 calendar days of filing the federal income tax return for the year of change, the taxpayer will provide a copy of the completed application to any regulatory body having jurisdiction over the public utility property subject to the application;

(vii) if the taxpayer is changing

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the classification of an item of § 1250 property placed in service after August 19, 1996, to a retail motor fuels outlet under § 168(e)(3)(E)(iii), a statement containing the following representation: “For purposes of § 168(e)(3)(E)(iii) of the Internal Revenue Code, the taxpayer represents that (A) 50 percent or more of the gross revenue generated from the item of § 1250 property is from the sale of petroleum products (not including gross revenue from related services, such as the labor cost of oil changes and gross revenue from the sale of nonpetroleum products such as tires and oil filters), (B) 50 percent or more of the floor space in the item of property is devoted to the sale of petroleum products (not including floor space devoted to related services, such as oil changes and floor space devoted to nonpetroleum products such as tires and oil filters), or (C) the item of § 1250 property is 1,400 square feet or less.”; and

(viii) if the taxpayer is changing the classification of an item of property from § 1250 property to § 1245 property under § 168 or former § 168, a statement of the facts and law supporting the new § 1245 property classification, and a statement containing the following representation: “Each item of property that is the subject of the application filed under section 2.01 of the APPENDIX of Rev. Proc. 98-60 for the year of change beginning

[Insert the date], and that is reclassified from [Insert, as appropriate: nonresidential real property, residential rental property, 19-year real property, 18-year real property, or 15-year real property] to an asset class of [Insert, as appropriate, either: Rev. Proc. 87–56, 1987–2 C.B. 674, or Rev. Proc. 83–35, 1983–1 C.B. 745] that does not explicitly include § 1250 property, is § 1245 property for depreciation purposes.”

(4) Section 481(a) adjustment. Because the adjusted basis of the property is changed as a result of a method change made under section 2.01 of this APPENDIX (see section 2.01(5) of this APPENDIX), items are duplicated or omitted. Accordingly, this change is made with a § 481(a) adjustment. This adjustment may result in either a negative § 481(a) adjustment (a decrease in taxable income) or a positive § 481(a) adjustment (an increase in taxable income). This § 481(a) adjustment equals the difference between the

total amount of depreciation taken into account in computing taxable income for the property under the taxpayer’s former method of accounting, and the total amount of depreciation allowable for the property under the taxpayer’s new method of accounting (as determined under section 2.01(6) of this APPENDIX), for open and closed years prior to the year of change. However, the amount of the § 481(a) adjustment must be adjusted to account for the proper amount of the depreciation allowable that is required to be capitalized under any provision of the Code (for example, § 263A) at the beginning of the year of change.

(5) Basis adjustment. As of the beginning of the year of change, the basis of depreciable property to which section 2.01 of this APPENDIX applies must reflect the reductions required by § 1016(a)(2) for the depreciation allowable for the property (as determined under section 2.01(6) of this APPENDIX).

(6) Meaning of depreciation allow- able.

(a) In general. Section 2.01(6) of this APPENDIX provides the amount of the depreciation allowable, determined under § 167, 168, 197, or former § 168. This amount, however, may be limited by other provisions of the Code (for example, § 280F).

(b) Section 167 property. Generally, for any taxable year, the depreciation allowable for property for which depreciation is determined under § 167, is determined either:

(i) under the depreciation method adopted by a taxpayer for the property; or

(ii) if that depreciation method does not result in a reasonable allowance for depreciation or a taxpayer has not adopted a depreciation method for the property, under the straight-line depreciation method. For determining the estimated useful life and salvage value of the property, see §§ 1.167(a)–1(b) and (c), respectively. The depreciation allowable for any taxable year for property subject to § 167(f) (regarding certain property excluded from § 197) is determined by using the depreciation method and useful life prescribed in § 167(f).

for property for which depreciation is determined under § 168, is determined by using either:

(i) the general depreciation system in § 168(a); or

(d) Section 197 property. The depreciation allowable for any taxable year for an amortizable § 197 intangible (including any property for which a timely election under § 13261(g)(2) of the 1993 Act was made) is determined by using the straight-line method over a 15-year period.

(e) Former § 168 property. The depreciation allowable for any taxable year for property subject to former § 168 is determined by using either:

(i) the accelerated method of cost recovery applicable to the property (for example, for 5-year property, the recovery method under former § 168(b)(1)); or

(ii) the straight-line method applicable to the property if the property is required to be depreciated under the straight-line method (for example, property described in former § 168(f)(12) or former § 280F(b)(2)) or if the taxpayer elected to determine the depreciation allowance under the optional straight-line percentage (for example, the straight-line method in former § 168(b)(3)).

.02 Permissible to permissible method of accounting for depreciation.

(1) Description of change. This change applies to a taxpayer that wants to change from a permissible method of accounting for depreciation under § 167 to another permissible method of accounting for depreciation under § 167. Pursuant to §§ 1.167(a)–7(a) and (c), a taxpayer may account for depreciable property either by treating each individual asset as an account or by combining two or more assets in a single account and, for each account,

(ii) the alternative depreciation system in § 168(g) if the property is required to be depreciated under the alternative depreciation system pursuant to § 168(g)(1) or other provisions of the Code (for example, property described in § 263A(e)(2)(A) or 280F(b)(1)). Property required to be depreciated under the alternative depreciation system pursuant to § 168(g)(1) includes property in a class (as set out in § 168(e)) for which the taxpayer made a timely election under § 168(g)(7).

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(i) the change is applied to all items in the account for which the change is being made; and

(ii) the removal costs are not required to be capitalized under any provision of the Code (for example, § 263(a), 263A, or 280B); (i) a change from crediting the depreciation reserve with the salvage proceeds realized on normal retirement sales to computing and recognizing gains and losses on such sales ( see Rev. Rul. 70– 165, 1970–1 C.B. 43); (j) a change from crediting ordinary income (including the combination method of crediting the lesser of estimated salvage value or actual salvage proceeds to the depreciation reserve, with any excess of salvage proceeds over estimated salvage value credited to ordinary income) with the salvage proceeds realized on normal retirement sales, to computing and recognizing gains and losses on such sales ( see Rev. Rul. 70–166, 1970–1 C.B. 44); or (k) a change from item accounting for specific assets to multiple asset accounting for the same assets, or vice versa.

(4) Additional requirements. A taxpayer also must comply with the following:

(a) Basis for depreciation. At the beginning of the year of change, the basis for depreciation of property to which this change applies is the adjusted basis of the property as provided in § 1011 at the end of the taxable year immediately preceding the year of change (determined under the taxpayer’s present method of accounting for depreciation). If applicable under the taxpayer’s proposed method of accounting for depreciation, this adjusted basis is reduced by the estimated salvage value of the property (for example, a change to the straight-line method).

(b) Rate of depreciation. The rate of depreciation for property changed to:

(i) the straight-line or sum-ofthe-years-digits method of depreciation must be based on the remaining useful life of the property as of the beginning of the year of change; or

(ii) the declining-balance method of depreciation must be based on the useful life of the property measured from the placed-in-service date, and not the expected remaining life from the date the change becomes effective.

depreciation allowances are computed separately.

(2) Scope.

(a) Applicability. This change applies to any taxpayer wanting to make a change in method of accounting for depreciation specified in section 2.02(3) of this APPENDIX for the property in an account:

(i) for which the present and proposed methods of accounting for depreciation specified in section 2.02(3) of this APPENDIX are permissible methods for the property under § 167; and

(ii) that is owned by the taxpayer at the beginning of the year of change.

(b) Inapplicability. This change does not apply to:

(i) any taxpayer that is subject to § 263A and that is required to capitalize the costs with respect to which the taxpayer wants to change its method of accounting under section 2.02 of this APPENDIX, if the taxpayer is not capitalizing the costs as required;

(ii) any property to which § 1016(a)(3) (regarding property held by a tax-exempt organization) applies;

(iii) any intangible property; (iv) any property described in § 167(f) (regarding certain property excluded from § 197);

(v) any property subject to § 167(g) (regarding property depreciated under the income forecast method);

(vi) any property for which depreciation is determined under § 168 or § 168 prior to its amendment in 1986 (former § 168);

(vii) any property that the taxpayer elected under § 168(f)(1) or former § 168(e)(2) to exclude from the application of, respectively, § 168 or former § 168;

(viii) any property for which depreciation is determined in accordance with § 1.167(a)-11 (regarding the Class Life Asset Depreciation Range System (ADR)); or

(ix) any depreciable property for which the taxpayer is changing the depreciation method pursuant to § 1.167(e)– 1(b) (change from declining-balance method to straight-line method), § 1.167(e)–1(c) (certain changes for § 1245 property), or § 1.167(e)–1(d) (certain changes for § 1250 property). These

changes must be made prospectively and are not permitted under the cited regulations for property for which the depreciation is determined under § 168 or former § 168.

(3) Changes covered. Section 2.02 of this APPENDIX only applies to the following changes in methods of accounting for depreciation:

(a) a change from the straight-line method to the sum-of-the-years-digits method, the sinking fund method, the unit-of-production method, or the declining-balance method using any proper percentage of the straight-line rate;

(b) a change from the decliningbalance method using any percentage of the straight-line rate to the sum-of-theyears-digits method, the sinking fund method, or the declining-balance method using a different proper percentage of the straight-line rate;

(c) a change from the sum-of-theyears-digits method to the sinking fund method, the declining-balance method using any proper percentage of the straight-line rate, or the straight-line method;

(d) a change from the unit-of-production method to the straight-line method;

(e) a change from the sinking fund method to the straight-line method, the unit-of-production method, the sum-ofthe-years-digits method, or the decliningbalance method using any proper percentage of the straight-line rate;

(f) a change in the interest factor used in connection with a compound interest method or sinking fund method;

(g) a change in averaging convention as set forth in § 1.167(a)–10(b). However, as specifically provided in § 1.167(a)–10(b), in any taxable year in which an averaging convention substantially distorts the depreciation allowance for the taxable year, it may not be used ( see Rev. Rul. 73–202, 1973–1 C.B. 81);

(h) a change from charging the depreciation reserve with costs of removal and crediting the depreciation reserve with salvage proceeds to deducting costs of removal as an expense and including salvage proceeds in taxable income as set forth in § 1.167(a)–8(e)(2). See Rev. Rul. 74–455, 1974–2 C.B. 63. This change, however, may be made under this revenue procedure only if:

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(c) Regulatory requirements . For changes in method of depreciation to the sum-of-the-years-digits or declining-balance method, the property must meet the requirements of § 1.167(b)–0 or 1.167(c)– 1, as appropriate. (d) Public utility property . If any item of property is public utility property within the meaning of former § 167(l)(3)(A), the taxpayer must attach to the application a statement providing that the taxpayer agrees to the following additional terms and conditions:

(ii) a taxpayer that holds assets for sale or lease, if any asset so held is not the subject of a sale or lease transaction as of the beginning of the year of change.

(2) Manner of making the change.

provides that the expenditures to which § 174 applies may relate either to a general research program or to a particular project.

(c) If a taxpayer has not treated research and experimental expenditures as expenses under § 174(a), §§ 174(a)(2)(B) and 1.174–3(b)(2) provide that the taxpayer may, with consent, adopt the expense method at any time.

(d) If a taxpayer has treated research and experimental expenditures as expenses under § 174(a), §§ 174(a)(3) and 1.174–3(b)(3) provide that the taxpayer may, with consent, change to a different method of treating research and experimental expenditures.

(e) If a taxpayer has treated research and experimental expenditures as deferred expenses under § 174(b), §§ 174(b)(2) and 1.174–4(b)(2) provide that the taxpayer may, with consent, change to a different method of treating research or experimental expenditures or to a different period of amortization for deferred expenses.

(i) a normalization method of accounting within the meaning of former § 167(l)(3)(G) will be used for the public utility property subject to the application; and

(ii) within 30 calendar days of filing the federal income tax return for the year of change, the taxpayer will provide a copy of the completed application to any regulatory body having jurisdiction over the public utility property subject to the application.

(5) Section 481(a) adjustment. Because the adjusted basis of the property is not changed as a result of a method change made under section 2.02 of this APPENDIX, no items are being duplicated or omitted. Accordingly, the § 481(a) adjustment is zero.

(a) The change in method of accounting under section 2.03 of this APPENDIX is made using a cut-off method and applies to transactions entered into on or after the beginning of the year of change. See section 2.06 of this revenue procedure.

(b) If a taxpayer wants to change its method of accounting for existing sale or lease transactions, the taxpayer must file an application with the Commissioner in accordance with the requirements of 1.446–1(e)(3)(i) and Rev. Proc. 97–27. A change involving existing sale or lease transactions will require a § 481(a) adjustment. Consent to change a method of accounting for an existing sale or lease transaction is granted only in unusual and compelling circumstances.

(3) No audit protection. A taxpayer does not receive audit protection under section 7 of this revenue procedure in connection with this change.

SECTION 2A. RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTAL EXPENDITURES (§ 174)

(2) Scope.

.03 Sale or lease transactions.

(1) Description of change and scope.

.01 Changes to a different method or different amortization period.

(a) Applicability. This change applies to a taxpayer that wants to change its method of accounting from:

(i) improperly treating property as sold by the taxpayer to properly treating property as leased by the taxpayer;

(ii) improperly treating property as leased by the taxpayer to properly treating property as sold by the taxpayer;

(iii) improperly treating property as purchased by the taxpayer to properly treating property as leased by the taxpayer; and

(iv) improperly treating property as leased by the taxpayer to properly treating property as purchased by the taxpayer.

(b) Inapplicability. This change does not apply to:

(i) a rent-to-own dealer that wants to change its method of accounting for rent-to-own contracts described in section 3 of Rev. Proc. 95–38, 1995–2 C.B. 397; or

(a) This change applies to a taxpayer that wants to change the treatment of expenditures that qualify as research and experimental expenditures under § 174.

(b) Section 174 and the regulations thereunder provide the specific rules for changing a method of accounting under § 174 for research and experimental expenditures. Under § 174, a taxpayer may treat research and experimental expenditures that are paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable year in connection with the taxpayer’s trade or business as expenses under § 174(a) or as deferred expenses amortizable ratably over a period of not less than 60 months under § 174(b). Pursuant to § 1.174–1, research and experimental expenditures that are not treated as expenses or deferred expenses under § 174 must be treated as capital expenditures. Further, § 1.174–1

(1) Description of change.

(a) Applicability. This change applies to any taxpayer that is changing:

(i) from treating research and experimental expenditures for a particular project or projects as expenses under § 174(a) to treating such expenditures as deferred expenses under § 174(b), or vice versa;

(ii) to a different period of amortization for research and experimental expenditures for a particular project or projects that are being treated as deferred expenses under § 174(b); or

(iii) from treating research and experimental expenditures for a particular project or projects as expenses under § 174(a) or deferred expenses under § 174(b) to treating such expenditures as a capital expenditure under § 263(a), or vice versa.

(b) Scope limitations clarified. The scope limitation under section 4.02(6) of this revenue procedure is applied on a project by project basis.

(i) a portion of the research and experimental expenditures paid or incurred for a particular project during the year of change or in subsequent taxable years (that is, the change must apply to all

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of such expenditures; see §§ 1.174–3(a) and 1.174–4(a)(5));

(ii) a change in the treatment of computer software costs under Rev. Proc. 69–21, 1969-–2 C.B. 303; or (iii) a change in the treatment of Year 2000 costs under Rev. Proc. 97–50, 1997–2 C.B. 525 (but see section 1.02 of this APPENDIX for making this change).

.02 Reserved.