PART III. PROCEDURES FOR LETTER RULING REQUESTS

PART IIIA. REQUESTING LETTER RULINGS

SECTION 24. UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES DOES EMPLOYEE PLANS RULINGS AND

AGREEMENTS ISSUE LETTER RULINGS?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 .01 Scope limited to issues specified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 .02 Generally not in employee plans qualification matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 .03 Request to Employee Plans Rulings and Agreements for extension of time for making an election or for

other relief under § 301.9100-1.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 .04 Issuance of a letter ruling before the issuance of a regulation or other published guidance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 .05 Issues in prior return. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 .06 Generally not to business associations or groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 .07 Generally not to foreign governments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 .08 Generally not on federal tax consequences of proposed legislation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

SECTION 25. UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES DOES EMPLOYEE PLANS RULINGS AND

AGREEMENTS HAVE DISCRETION TO ISSUE LETTER RULINGS?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 .01 Ordinarily not in certain areas because of factual nature of the problem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 .02 No “comfort” letter rulings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 .03 Not on alternative plans or hypothetical situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 .04 Ordinarily not on part of an integrated transaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 .05 Not on partial terminations of employee plans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 .06 Law requires a letter ruling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 .07 Issues under consideration by the PBGC or the DOL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 .08 Domicile in a foreign jurisdiction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

SECTION 26. WHAT IS THE PROCEDURE FOR REQUESTING A LETTER RULING FROM

EMPLOYEE PLANS RULINGS AND AGREEMENTS?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 .01 General procedures for requesting a letter ruling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 .02 Specific additional procedures apply to certain letter ruling requests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

PART IIIB. PROCESSING LETTER RULING REQUESTS

SECTION 27. HOW DOES EMPLOYEE PLANS RULINGS AND AGREEMENTS HANDLE LETTER

RULING REQUESTS?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 .01 In general. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 .02 Is not bound by informal opinion expressed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 .03 Will return any letter ruling request mistakenly sent to wrong address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 .04 Tells taxpayer if request lacks essential information during initial contact. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 .05 Information must be submitted within 30 calendar days. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 .06 Requires prompt submission of additional information requested after initial contact. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 .07 Encourages use of fax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 .08 Address to send additional information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

January 2, 2024 164 Bulletin No. 2024–1

.09 Number of copies of additional information to be submitted. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 .10 Extension of 30-day or 21-day period may be granted if justified. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 .11 Case closed if taxpayer does not submit additional information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 .12 Near the completion of the ruling process, advises taxpayer of conclusions and, if Employee Plans Rulings and

Agreements will rule adversely, offers the taxpayer the opportunity to withdraw the letter ruling request . . . . . . . . . . 232 .13 May request draft of proposed letter ruling near the completion of the ruling process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

SECTION 28. HOW DOES EMPLOYEE PLANS RULINGS AND AGREEMENTS SCHEDULE

CONFERENCES WITH TAXPAYERS?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 .01 Schedules a conference if requested by taxpayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 .02 Permits taxpayer one conference of right. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 .03 Disallows verbatim recording of conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 .04 Makes tentative recommendations on substantive issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 .05 May offer additional conferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 .06 Requires written confirmation of information presented at conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 .07 May schedule a pre-submission conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 .08 May schedule a conference to be held by telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

SECTION 29. WHAT EFFECT WILL A LETTER RULING HAVE?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 .01 Has same effect as a determination letter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 .02 Will not apply to another taxpayer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 .03 Will be used by the Service in examining the taxpayer’s return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 .04 May be revoked or modified if found to be in error. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 .05 Letter ruling revoked or modified based on material change in facts applied retroactively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 .06 Not otherwise generally revoked or modified retroactively. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 .07 Will not apply to a similar transaction in same year or any other year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 .08 Retroactive effect of revocation or modification applied to a continuing action or series of actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 .09 May be retroactively revoked or modified if the transaction is completed without reliance on the letter ruling. . . . . . . 237 .10 Taxpayer may request that retroactivity be limited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237