Question 1

Private letter rulings by the Internal Revenue Service are only made available by an oﬃcial court order.

Accepted Answer

Under the Freedom of Information Act and under the Tax Reform Act of 1976, the IRS is required to make public all private rulings and other written determinations issued to taxpayers concerning the tax treatment of speciﬁc transactions. However, names, addresses of taxpayers, etc
 will be deleted

Question 2

The Citator Service outlines the history of a court case, from inception, through appeals and tells which later cases or rulings have cited it.

Accepted Answer

A citator does not look at any events preceding a case

Question 3

Tax Court decisions that involve issues not previously decided by the Court are released as Memorandum decisions.

Accepted Answer

Issues not previously decided by the Court are issued as Regular Tax Court decisions, whereas decisions that rest on federal determinations or on previously decided legal issues are known as Memorandum decisions.

Question 4

Information Releases (IRs) usually are not published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin, but are distributed via a practitioners' mailing list.

Accepted Answer

IRs are sent to media, including tax publications. Frequently, the substance of an IR may ﬁnd its way into an IRb

Question 5

Current tax law dates back only to post-1986 Internal Revenue Code developments.

Accepted Answer

The current law of federal taxation is found in the 1986 Code, as amended by post-1986 tax acts. The Code was ﬁrst enacted in 1939 and a revised Code was enacted in 1954. The 1986 Code incorporates the 1954 Code

Question 6

Since regulations, revenue rulings, and acquiesced Tax Court decisions all lack judicial authority, an IRS agent would more easily be persuaded by reference to District Court and Circuit Court decisions.

Accepted Answer

An agent must follow all IRS pronouncements, whereas the IRS (through its agents) will often dispute, or interpret in its own way, decisions of the courts.

Question 7

"Closed Fact" tax research relates to the various procedures involved in "before-the-facts planning" situations.

Accepted Answer

Closed fact research relates to "after-the-facts compliance" or ex post facto research.

Question 8

Title 26 of the United States Code contains the statutes that authorize the Treasury Department, speciﬁcally, the Internal Revenue Service, to collect taxes for the federal government.

Accepted Answer

See especially Sections 1 and 11, both entitled "Tax Imposed," also Section 6301-Collection Authority; Section 7805-Rules and Regulations.

Question 9

In a Court of Appeals dispute between the 5th and 8th Circuits, the U.S. Tax Court operating within the 5th Circuit will usually refer the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Accepted Answer

The Tax Court operating within the 5th Circuit will usually follow the precedent of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Question 10

The Mertens tax service is a tax service that is sometimes cited by the courts.

Accepted Answer

The Mertens tax service is a well-known and respected tax research service that is frequently cited by courts in tax cases. It is considered a reliable source of information on tax law and is often used by tax professionals and lawyers.

Question 11

Tax "evasion" and "avoidance" are almost identical concepts, both relating to the willful failure to comply with tax laws.

Accepted Answer

Tax evasion relates to sham transactions, schemes, or willful failure to comply with tax laws. In contrast, "tax avoidance" relates to the legal tax planning ideas that may be employed to minimize taxes.

Question 12

The Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is arranged as follows: Chapter, Subtitle, Subchapter, Part, Section, Subpart, Subsection.

Accepted Answer

The correct arrangement is: Subtitle, Chapter, Subchapter, Part, Subpart, Section, Subsection.

Question 13

A thorough legislative history and background of a Section of the Internal Revenue Code is generally found in the CCH and RIA tax services.

Accepted Answer

Occasionally these services will carry an excerpt of legislative history. Legislative history may be found in reports of the Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee or the Joint Conference Committee, all of which may be found in the Cumulative Bulletins. Discussions on the ﬂoor of Congress are reported in the Federal Register. CCH and RIA will frequently publish special booklets with legislative reports. Extracts of reports for pre-1954 Codes may be found in Seidman's Legislative History.

Question 14

Committee reports of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and the conference committees are published by the Government Printing Oﬃce and are also reprinted in the Internal Revenue Bulletin and Cumulative Bulletin.

Accepted Answer

Committee reports of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and the conference committees are published by the Government Printing Office and are also reprinted in the Internal Revenue Bulletin and Cumulative Bulletin.

Question 15

The IRS must follow the precedents set by decisions of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Accepted Answer

While decisions of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims can be persuasive, the IRS is not bound by them and can make its own determinations based on the tax code and regulations. The IRS is, however, bound by decisions of higher courts, such as the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals.

Question 16

Section numbers run consecutively through the entire Code, but with occasional breaks in their sequence.

Accepted Answer

Occasionally, because the section numbers do run consecutively, a lettered section number, for example 44A, 50A, 50B, may have to be interspersed among existing sections.

Question 17

The IRS might issue an Acquiescence or a Nonacquiescence to a Regular Tax Court decision, but not to a Memorandum decision.

Accepted Answer

The IRS might issue an Acquiescence or a Nonacquiescence to either type of decision.

Question 18

The CCH "Citator," outlines current amendments to the Code.

Accepted Answer

The "Citator" indicates which later cases or rulings have cited the relevant case

Question 19

All Revenue Rulings are published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and eventually in the Cumulative Bulletin.

Accepted Answer

However, sometimes delays will occur and a ruling with a later number may be published before one with an earlier number.

Question 20

If the IRS revokes or modiﬁes a published ruling, open tax years can be retroactively aﬀected for all taxpayers.

Accepted Answer

The IRS does have the power to retroactively revoke rulings for open years (see Code Sec
 7805(b)). Letter rulings, which directly aﬀect only the taxpayers who requested them, are rarely revoked retroactively.

Quiz 2: Tax Research, Practice and Procedure