SECTION 10. WHEN SHOULD

A TAM OR A TEAM NOT BE REQUESTED?

TAMs and TEAMs will not be issued on frivolous issues

.04 Although taxpayer participation during all stages of the process is preferred, it is not required in order to request technical advice. In the event that a taxpayer chooses not to participate in a request for a TEAM, the request will usually be treated as a request for a TAM. (See section 11.02 of this revenue procedure, which provides that all parties must agree that the TEAM procedures are appropriate, with two exceptions.)

.01 For purposes of this revenue procedure, a “frivolous issue” is one without basis in fact or law, or that espouses a position which has been held by the courts to be frivolous or groundless. Examples of frivolous or groundless issues include, but are not limited to:

(1) frivolous “constitutional” claims, such as claims that the requirement to file tax returns and pay taxes constitutes an unreasonable search barred by the Fourth Amendment; violates Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment protections of due process; violates Thirteenth Amendment protections against involuntary servitude; or is unenforceable because the Sixteenth Amendment does not authorize nonapportioned direct taxes or was never ratified;

(2) claims that income taxes are voluntary, that the term “income” is not defined in the Internal Revenue Code, or that preparation and filing of income tax returns violates the Paperwork Reduction Act;

(3) claims that tax may be imposed only on coins minted under a gold or silver standard or that receipt of Federal Reserve Notes does not cause an accretion to wealth;

(4) claims that a person is not taxable on income because he or she falls within a class entitled to “reparation claims” or an extra-statutory class of individuals exempt from tax, for example, “free-born” individuals;

Sec. 8.03 January 6, 2003 84 2003–1 I.R.B.

A director may not request a TAM or a TEAM on an identical issue for the same taxpayer that an area office is currently considering