Part I. Rulings and Decisions Under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986

Section 146.—Volume Cap

What are the circumstances under which issuing authorities may obtain relief if they fail to make a timely carryforward election of unused private activity bond volume cap without requesting a private letter ruling? See Rev. Proc. 2005-30, page 1148.

Section 472.—Last-in, First-out Inventories

26 CFR 1.472–1: Last-in, first-out inventories.

LIFO; price indexes; department stores. The March 2005 Bureau of Labor Statistics price indexes are accepted

for use by department stores employing the retail inventory and last-in, first-out inventory methods for valuing inventories for tax years ended on, or with reference to, March 31, 2005.

Rev. Rul. 2005–34

The following Department Store Inventory Price Indexes for March 2005 were issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The indexes are accepted by the Internal Revenue Service, under § 1.472–1(k) of the Income Tax Regulations and Rev. Proc. 86–46, 1986–2 C.B. 739, for ap

propriate application to inventories of department stores employing the retail inventory and last-in, first-out inventory methods for tax years ended on, or with reference to, March 31, 2005.

The Department Store Inventory Price Indexes are prepared on a national basis and include (a) 23 major groups of departments, (b) three special combinations of the major groups - soft goods, durable goods, and miscellaneous goods, and (c) a store total, which covers all departments, including some not listed separately, except for the following: candy, food, liquor, tobacco, and contract departments.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DEPARTMENT STORE INVENTORY PRICE INDEXES BY DEPARTMENT GROUPS

(January 1941 = 100, unless otherwise noted)

Groups Mar 2004 Mar 2005

Percent Change

from Mar 2004

to Mar 2005 ¹

1. Piece Goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491.8 465.1 -5.4
2. Domestics and Draperies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537.6 536.8 -0.1
3. Women’s and Children’s Shoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643.4 685.9 6.6
4. Men’s Shoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840.1 849.9 1.2
5. Infants’ Wear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593.2 571.0 -3.7
6. Women’s Underwear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493.6 547.7 11.0
7. Women’s Hosiery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334.6 349.7 4.5
8. Women’s and Girls’ Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561.7 607.0 8.1
9. Women’s Outerwear and Girls’ Wear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379.7 375.9 -1.0
10. Men’s Clothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539.2 564.8 4.7
11. Men’s Furnishings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580.7 587.0 1.1
12. Boys’ Clothing and Furnishings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451.9 445.9 -1.3
13. Jewelry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 890.0 882.1 -0.9
14. Notions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798.5 777.7 -2.6
15. Toilet Articles and Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 982.7 991.4 0.9
16. Furniture and Bedding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620.3 604.2 -2.6
17. Floor Coverings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596.8 602.4 0.9
18. Housewares. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714.4 712.2 -0.3
19. Major Appliances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205.2 205.0 -0.1
20. Radio and Television. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43.1 39.5 -8.4
21. Recreation and Education ² . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.6 79.6 -2.5
22. Home Improvements ² . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127.8 137.3 7.4
23. Automotive Accessories ² . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.3 114.4 1.9

Groups 1–15: Soft Goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564.9 572.2 1.3 Groups 16–20: Durable Goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387.2 381.1 -1.6 Groups 21–23: Misc. Goods ² . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93.8 94.0 0.2

Store Total ³ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501.0 504.0 0.6

2005–22 I.R.B. 1098 May 31, 2005

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DEPARTMENT STORE INVENTORY PRICE INDEXES BY DEPARTMENT GROUPS

(January 1941 = 100, unless otherwise noted)

Groups Mar 2004 Mar 2005

Percent Change

from Mar 2004

to Mar 2005 ¹

1Absence of a minus sign before the percentage change in this column signifies a price increase. 2Indexes on a January 1986 = 100 base. 3The store total index covers all departments, including some not listed separately, except for the following: candy, food, liquor, tobacco and contract departments.

Mr. Burkom at (202) 622–7924 (not a toll-free call).

DRAFTING INFORMATION

The principal author of this revenue ruling is Michael Burkom of the Office

of Associate Chief Counsel (Income Tax and Accounting). For further information regarding this revenue ruling, contact

May 31, 2005 1099 2005–22 I.R.B.