The feds kill lots of trees issuing notices, guidance and a slew of other official-sounding documents to explain IRS regulations. But some require more of you than others.

Here’s a breakdown of the major types of pronouncements you’ll see from IRS (and on this site), exactly what each one means — and what you need to do with them:

• Regulations — are issued by IRS and Treasury to provide guidance to taxpayers regarding new legislation or address issues that have arisen with existing sections of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). Plain English version: They give you directions on how to comply with the existing laws.
• Revenue Rulings– are official interpretations from IRS of the IRC and related laws, regulations and treaties. Plain English version: They provide you with IRS’ position on current laws. For example, a revenue ruling might hold that certain automobile expenses are deductible.
• Revenue Procedures – are official statements of procedure that affect your rights and duties under the IRC. Plain English version: They explain return filing, instructions and other information you might need to to stay in compliance. Using the example above, once a revenue ruling says automobile expenses are deductible, a revenue procedure would explain how to compute the amount you can deduct.
• Private Letter Rulings — are written statements in response to a taxpayer’s specific request for information. Assuming the information provided is accurate, the PLR is binding on IRS. But they only apply to the taxpayer in question.
• Technical Advice Memorandums — are issued by the office of Chief Counsel  at the request of an IRS officer. They are meant to answer technical questions that may arise from a specific taxpayer’s audit, credit request, etc. They only apply to the taxpayer in question.
• Notices – are public statements that may have guidance about substantive interpretations of the IRC. For example, they might be used to relate the basics of a regulation that won’t be published for some time. Plain English version: They’re IRS giving you a heads-up.
• Announcements – are public statements that only have a short-term value. They’re used when there’s no substantive interpretation.  IRS generally uses them to remind of upcoming deadlines and similar matters.

Tags: IRS, Resource, Tax compliance