SECTION 3. ON WHAT

ISSUES MAY TAXPAYERS REQUEST WRITTEN ADVICE UNDER THIS REVENUE PROCEDURE?

Issues under the jurisdiction of the Associate Chief Counsel (Corporate)

Issues under the jurisdiction of the Associate Chief Counsel (Financial Institutions and Products)

(2) Discussion possible on substantive issues. At the discretion of the Service and as time permits, Service employees may also discuss substantive issues with taxpayers or their representatives. Such a discussion will not bind the Service or the Office of Chief Counsel, and it cannot be relied upon as a basis for obtaining retroactive relief under the provisions of § 7805(b).

Service employees who are not directly involved in the examination, appeal, or litigation of particular substantive tax issues will not discuss those issues with taxpayers or their representatives unless the discussion is coordinated with Service employees who are directly involved. The taxpayer or the taxpayer’s representative ordinarily will be asked whether an oral request for advice or information relates to a matter pending before another office of the Service or before a Federal court.

If a tax issue is not under examination, in appeals, or in litigation, the tax issue may be discussed even though the issue is affected by a nontax issue pending in litigation.

A taxpayer may seek oral technical guidance from a taxpayer service representative in a Field office or Service Center when preparing a return or report.

The Service does not respond to letters seeking to confirm the substance of oral discussions, and the absence of a response to such a letter is not a confirmation.

(3) Oral guidance is advisory only, and the Service is not bound by it. Oral guidance is advisory only, and the Service is not bound by it, for example, when examining the taxpayer’s return.

Taxpayers may request letter rulings, information letters, and closing agreements under this revenue procedure on issues within the jurisdiction of the Associate offices. Taxpayers uncertain as to whether an Associate office has jurisdiction with regard to a specific factual situation may call the telephone number for the Associate office listed in section 10.07(1) of this revenue procedure.

Except as provided in section 6.14 of this revenue procedure, taxpayers also may request determination letters from the Director in the appropriate operating division. See sections 7 and 12 of this revenue procedure. For determination letters from TE/GE, see Rev. Proc. 2015–4, Rev. Proc. 2015–5, and Rev. Proc. 2015–6, this Bulletin; Rev. Proc. 2015–9 and Rev. Proc. 2015–10, next Bulletin.

.01 Issues under the jurisdiction of the Associate Chief Counsel (Corporate) include those that involve consolidated returns, corporate acquisitions, reorganizations, liquidations, redemptions, spinoffs, transfers to controlled corporations, distributions to shareholders, corporate bankruptcies, the effect of certain ownership changes on net operating loss carryovers and other tax attributes, debt vs. equity determinations, allocation of income and deductions among taxpayers, acquisitions made to evade or avoid income tax, and certain earnings and profits questions.

.02 Issues under the jurisdiction of the Associate Chief Counsel (Financial Institutions and Products) include those that involve income taxes and changes in method of accounting of banks, savings and loan associations, real estate investment trusts (REITs), regulated investment companies (RICs), real estate mortgage investment conduits (REMICs), insurance companies and products, tax-exempt obligations, mortgage credit certificates, tax credit bonds (including specified tax credit bonds), build America bonds, and financial products.

Sec. 3.02 Bulletin No. 2015–1 9 January 2, 2015

Issues under the jurisdiction of the Associate Chief Counsel (Income Tax and Accounting)

Issues under the jurisdiction of the Associate Chief Counsel (International)

Issues under the jurisdiction of the Associate Chief Counsel (Passthroughs and Special Industries)

Issues under the jurisdiction of the Associate Chief Counsel (Procedure and Administration)

Issues under the jurisdiction of the Associate Chief Counsel (Tax Exempt and Government Entities)

For the procedures to obtain private letter rulings involving tax-exempt state and local obligations, see Rev. Proc. 96–16, 1996–1 C.B. 630.

.03 Issues under the jurisdiction of the Associate Chief Counsel (Income Tax and Accounting) include those that involve recognition and timing of income and deductions of individuals and corporations, sales and exchanges, capital gains and losses, installment sales, equipment leasing, long-term contracts, inventories, amortization, depreciation, the alternative minimum tax, net operating losses generally, including changes in method of accounting for these issues, and accounting periods. (Note that certain issues involving individual retirement accounts (IRAs) are under the jurisdiction of the Commissioner, Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division. See section 4.02, this revenue procedure).

.04 Issues under the jurisdiction of the Associate Chief Counsel (International) include the tax treatment of nonresident aliens and foreign corporations, withholding of tax on nonresident aliens and foreign corporations, foreign tax credit, determination of sources of income, income from sources outside the United States, subpart F questions, domestic international sales corporations (DISCs), foreign sales corporations (FSCs), exclusions under § 114 for extraterritorial income (ETI), international boycott determinations, treatment of certain passive foreign investment companies, income affected by treaty, U.S. possessions, and other matters relating to the activities of non-U.S. persons within the United States or U.S.-related persons outside the United States, and changes in method of accounting for these persons.

For the procedures to obtain advance pricing agreements under § 482, see Rev. Proc. 2006–9, 2006–1 C.B. 278, as modified by Rev. Proc. 2008–31, 2008–1 C.B. 1133.

For competent authority procedures related to bilateral and multilateral advance pricing agreements, see Rev. Proc. 2006–54, 2006–2 C.B. 1035.

.05 Issues under the jurisdiction of the Associate Chief Counsel (Passthroughs and Special Industries) include those that involve income taxes of S corporations (except accounting periods and methods) and certain noncorporate taxpayers (including partnerships, common trust funds, and trusts), entity classification, estate (excluding § 6166), gift, generation-skipping transfer, and certain excise taxes, depletion, and other engineering issues, cooperative housing corporations, farmers’ cooperatives under § 521, the low-income housing, disabled access, and qualified electric vehicle credits, research and experimental expenditures, shipowners’ protection and indemnity associations under § 526, and certain homeowners associations under § 528.

.06 Issues under the jurisdiction of the Associate Chief Counsel (Procedure and Administration) include those that involve Federal tax procedure and administration, disclosure and privacy law, reporting and paying taxes (including payment of taxes under § 6166), assessing and collecting taxes (including interest and penalties), abating, crediting, or refunding overassessments or overpayments of tax, and filing information returns.

.07 Issues under the jurisdiction of the Associate Chief Counsel (Tax Exempt and Government Entities) include those that involve the application of employment taxes and taxes on selfemployment income, exemption requirements for tax-exempt organizations, tax treatment (including application of the unrelated business income tax) of tax-exempt organizations (including federal, state, local, and Indian tribal governments), political organizations described in § 527, qualified tuition programs described in § 529, and trusts described in § 4947(a), certain excise taxes, disclosure obligations and information return requirements of tax-exempt organizations, employee benefit programs (including executive compensation arrangements, qualified retirement plans, deferred compensation plans, and health and welfare benefit programs) and IRAs, issues

Sec. 3.07 January 2, 2015 10 Bulletin No. 2015–1