Introduction

The Internal Revenue Bulletin is the authoritative instrument of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for announcing official rulings and procedures of the Internal Revenue Service and for publishing Treasury Decisions, Executive Orders, Tax Conventions, legislation, court decisions, and other items of general interest. It is published weekly.

It is the policy of the Service to publish in the Bulletin all substantive rulings necessary to promote a uniform application of the tax laws, including all rulings that supersede, revoke, modify, or amend any of those previously published in the Bulletin. All published rulings apply retroactively unless otherwise indicated. Procedures relating solely to matters of internal management are not published; however, statements of internal practices and procedures that affect the rights and duties of taxpayers are published.

Revenue rulings represent the conclusions of the Service on the application of the law to the pivotal facts stated in the revenue ruling. In those based on positions taken in rulings to taxpayers or technical advice to Service field offices, identifying details and information of a confidential nature are deleted to prevent unwarranted invasions of privacy and to comply with statutory requirements.

Rulings and procedures reported in the Bulletin do not have the force and effect of Treasury Department Regulations, but they may be used as precedents. Unpublished rulings will not be relied on, used, or cited as precedents by Service personnel in the disposition of other cases. In applying published rulings and procedures, the effect of subsequent legislation, regulations, court decisions, rulings, and procedures must be considered, and Service personnel and others concerned are cautioned

against reaching the same conclusions in other cases unless the facts and circumstances are substantially the same.

The Bulletin is divided into four parts as follows:

Part I.—1986 Code. This part includes rulings and decisions based on provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

Part II.—Treaties and Tax Legislation. This part is divided into two subparts as follows: Subpart A, Tax Conventions and Other Related Items, and Subpart B, Legislation and Related Committee Reports.

Part III.—Administrative, Procedural, and Miscellaneous. To the extent practicable, pertinent cross references to these subjects are contained in the other Parts and Subparts. Also included in this part are Bank Secrecy Act Administrative Rulings. Bank Secrecy Act Administrative Rulings are issued by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of the Assistant Secretary (Enforcement).

Part IV.—Items of General Interest. This part includes notices of proposed rulemakings, disbarment and suspension lists, and announcements.

The last Bulletin for each month includes a cumulative index for the matters published during the preceding months. These monthly indexes are cumulated on a semiannual basis, and are published in the last Bulletin of each semiannual period.

The contents of this publication are not copyrighted and may be reprinted freely. A citation of the Internal Revenue Bulletin as the source would be appropriate.

April 12, 2021 Bulletin No. 2021–15

Actions Relating to Court Decisions

It is the policy of the Internal Reve­ nue Service to announce at an early date whether it will follow the holdings in cer­ tain cases. An Action on Decision is the document making such an announcement. An Action on Decision will be issued at the discretion of the Service only on un­ appealed issues decided adverse to the government. Generally, an Action on De­ cision is issued where its guidance would be helpful to Service personnel working with the same or similar issues. Unlike a Treasury Regulation or a Revenue Ruling, an Action on Decision is not an affirma­ tive statement of Service position. It is not intended to serve as public guidance and may not be cited as precedent.

Actions on Decisions shall be relied upon within the Service only as conclu­ sions applying the law to the facts in the particular case at the time the Action on Decision was issued. Caution should be

exercised in extending the recommenda­ tion of the Action on Decision to similar cases where the facts are different. More­ over, the recommendation in the Action on Decision may be superseded by new legislation, regulations, rulings, cases, or Actions on Decisions.

Prior to 1991, the Service published acquiescence or nonacquiescence only in certain regular Tax Court opinions. The Service has expanded its acquiescence program to include other civil tax cases where guidance is determined to be help­ ful. Accordingly, the Service now may acquiesce or nonacquiesce in the holdings of memorandum Tax Court opinions, as well as those of the United States District Courts, Claims Court, and Circuit Courts of Appeal. Regardless of the court decid­ ing the case, the recommendation of any Action on Decision will be published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin .

The recommendation in every Action on Decision will be summarized as ac­ quiescence, acquiescence in result only, or nonacquiescence. Both “acquiescence”

and “acquiescence in result only” mean that the Service accepts the holding of the court in a case and that the Service will fol­ low it in disposing of cases with the same controlling facts. However, “acqui­escence” indicates neither approval nor disapprov­ al of the reasons assigned by the court for its conclusions; whereas, “acqui­escence in result only” indicates disagree­ment or concern with some or all of those reasons. “Nonacquiescence” signifies that, although no further review was sought, the Service does not agree with the hold­ing of the court and, generally, will not follow the decision in disposing of cases involving other tax­ payers. In reference to an opinion of a cir­ cuit court of appeals, a “nonacquiescence” indicates that the Ser­vice will not follow the holding on a na­tionwide basis. Howev­ er, the Service will recognize the preceden­ tial impact of the opinion on cases arising within the venue of the deciding circuit.

The Commissioner does NOT ACQUI­ ESCE in the following decision:

Schieber v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2017-32, T.C. Docket No. 21690-14. ¹

1 Nonacquiescence to the holding that an interest in a defined benefit pension plan is not an asset for purposes of applying the insolvency exclusion in I.R.C. § 108.

Bulletin No. 2021–15 985 April 12, 2021