Weekly IRS Roundup October 4 – October 8, 2021 | McDermott Will & Emery

Below is our round-up of key Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of October 4, 2021 through October 8, 2021.

October 4, 2021: The IRS has published a practice unit that provides tax laws and audit steps for reviewing a reseller’s uniform capitalization cost calculations under Section 263A. The lab focuses on the simplified manufacturing process and does not cover the final section 263A Treasury Regulations, which came into effect on November 20, 2018.

October 4, 2021: The IRS issued a press release announcing 18 self-study seminars available online through the IRS Nationwide Tax forums. The seminars cover topics such as the gig economy and virtual currency.

October 4, 2021: The IRS issued instructions for the Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting (Individuals) Form W-8BEN regarding:

• Guidelines under Section 1446 (f) (Retention of Equity)
• New lines 6a and 6b (addressing foreign tax identification numbers (FTIN))
• Entitlements to benefits under the double taxation agreement (required)
• Section 6050Y notification (for life insurance contracts and notifiable death benefits)
• Electronic signatures (updated to reflect new guidelines)

October 5, 2021: The IRS released a press release announcing that Free File will remain available through October 15 for taxpayers who have yet to file their 2020 tax returns. Free File is the IRS’s public-private partnership with industry leaders in tax preparation software to make their branded products available for free.

October 5, 2021: The IRS issued a memorandum expanding the criteria for due debt collection cases that qualify for a rapid appeal process under IRM 8.22.6.2 and related subsections.

October 5, 2021: The IRS released a memorandum of preliminary guidance on the steps and procedures used by the independent IRS Complaints Office for its nationwide pilot program: The Appeals Electronic Case Files Initiative for Large Business & International (LB&I) Report Generation Software (RGS) audit cases. These instructions only apply to LB&I RGS International Individual Compliance cases and exclude other major cases, such as

October 5, 2021: The IRS has published a procedure for updating a memorandum where an organization requests a change to a subsection of Section 501 during the application process by submitting an application form to replace another application form. The procedures take effect 30 days after the memorandum is issued and replace those in TEGE-07-0421-0010 (April 29, 2021).

October 7, 2021: The IRS has released a program letter stating that Tax Exempt (TE) / Government Entities (GE) officers expect to invest in new resources in fiscal 2022 to expand the reach of the tax-exempt sector and increase their enforcement staff.

October 8, 2021: The IRS published its weekly list of written determinations (e.g., Private Letter Rulings, Technical Advice Memorandums, and Chief Counsel Advice).

Special thanks to Robbie Alipour at our Chicago office for this week’s roundup.

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