SECTION 16. WHAT ARE THE

GENERAL PROCEDURES APPLICABLE TO INFORMATION LETTERS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL OFFICE?

Sec. 15.11 January 2, 2001 56 2001–1 I.R.B.

Will be made available to the public .01 Information letters that are issued by the national office to members of the public will be made available to the public. These documents provide general statements of welldefined law without applying them to a specific set of facts. See section 2.04 of this revenue procedure. Information letters that are issued by the field or a director, however, will not be made available to the public.

The following documents also will not be available for public inspection as part of this process:

(1) letters that merely transmit Service publications or other publicly available material, without significant legal discussion;

(2) responses to taxpayer or third party contacts that are inquiries with respect to a pending request for a letter ruling, technical advice memorandum, or Chief Counsel Advice (whose public inspection is subject to § 6110); and

(3) responses to taxpayer or third party communications with respect to any investigation, audit, litigation, or other enforcement action.

Deletions made under the .02 Before any information letter is made available to the public, the national office will Freedom of Information Act delete any name, address, and other identifying information as appropriate under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) (for example, FOIA personal privacy exemption of 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6) and tax details exempt pursuant to § 6103, as incorporated into FOIA by 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(3)). Because information letters do not constitute written determinations (including Chief Counsel Advice) as defined in § 6110, these documents are not subject to public inspection under § 6110.

Effect of information letters .03 Information letters are advisory only and have no binding effect on the Service. See section 2.04 of this revenue procedure. If the national office issues an information letter in response to a request for a letter ruling that does not meet the requirements of this revenue procedure, the information letter is not a substitute for a letter ruling.

SECTION 17. WHAT .01 The offices and titles in this revenue procedure are based on the current organizaSIGNIFICANT CHANGES tion of the Service. The operating divisions of the Service are described in section 1. HAVE BEEN MADE TO REV. PROC. 2000–1? .02 Section 3 is updated to reflect the jurisdiction of the associate chief counsel offices under the current organization of the Office of Chief Counsel.

.03 Section 5.01(4) of Rev. Proc. 2000–1 has been deleted because the two-year effective period of Rev. Proc. 98–17 has expired.

.04 Sections 5.11 through 5.14 of Rev. Proc. 2000–1 have been redesignated as sections 5.12 through 5.15 in this revenue procedure. New section 5.11 is added to provide the circumstances under which the Office of Division Counsel/Associate Chief Counsel (Tax Exempt and Government Entities) issues determinations recognizing a tribal entity as an Indian tribal government or as a political subdivision of an Indian tribal government.

.05 Section 5.14 is amended to provide that the national office ordinarily does not issue letter rulings on matters involving the federal tax consequences of any proposed federal, state, local, municipal, or foreign legislation.

.06 Section 7.06 is added to provide that a letter ruling or determination letter ordinarily will not be issued on which of two entities, under common law rules applicable in determining the employer-employee relationship, is the employer, when one entity is treating the worker as an employee.

.07 Sections 8.01(6) through 8.01(16) of Rev. Proc. 2000–1 have been redesignated as sections 8.01(8) through 8.01(18) in this revenue procedure. New section 8.01(6) is added

Sec. 17 2001–1 I.R.B. 57 January 2, 2001

to require the submission of a written statement regarding the interpretation of a substantive provision of an income or estate tax treaty.

.08 New section 8.01(7) is added to advise taxpayers that a letter from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (“BIA”) regarding a tribe’s status will expedite action on a letter ruling request for recognition of Indian tribal government status or status as a political subdivision of an Indian tribal government. The BIA address to send a request to verify tribal status is also provided.

.09 Section 8.01(18) is amended to provide the IRS web site for obtaining a copy of the checklist in Appendix C of this revenue procedure.

.10 Section 8.02(4) is amended to clarify the circumstances under which expedited handling of letter ruling and determination letter requests will be granted. To accommodate genuine business exigencies, the Service may grant a request for expedited handling provided the taxpayer demonstrates that the deadline or business emergency, and the need for expedited handling, resulted from circumstances that could not reasonably have been anticipated or controlled by the taxpayer. Examples have been provided.

.11 Section 8.03(1)(b)(i) of Rev. Proc. 2000–1 has been deleted because of security concerns regarding, and the lack of use of, the drop box at the IRS main building. Accordingly, requests for letter rulings may no longer be delivered to the drop box.

.12 Section 8.03(2) is amended to provide the offices to which requests for determination letters should be sent. New Appendix D also is added to provide a listing of the SB/SE offices.

.13 Section 9 is updated to reflect the revenue procedures and notices effective as of December 31, 2000.

.14 Section 11.07 is amended to clarify that pre-submission conferences are held only if the identity of the taxpayer is provided to the national office.

.15 Section 11.07 also is amended to provide that when a letter ruling request is not submitted following a pre-submission conference, the national office may notify, by memorandum, the appropriate Service official in the operating division that has examination jurisdiction over the taxpayer’s tax return and may give its views on the issues raised during the pre-submission conference. This memorandum may constitute Chief Counsel Advice, subject to disclosure.

.16 Section 15.08 is amended to clarify that the check or money order in payment of the user fees must be in U.S. dollars.

.17 The user fees in Appendix A for letter ruling requests, letter ruling requests for extensions of time to file change in accounting period or change in accounting method forms, and closing agreement requests are increased.

.18 The availability of the $500 reduced user fee in Appendix A for a request involving a personal tax issue is expanded. This reduced fee will apply to such a request from a person with gross income of less than $250,000.