CCA 200851065: Form 886-A will do, but change the wording so the notice pulls it in

Plain-English summary

A short answer about paperwork mechanics, with a drafting warning attached that is worth more than the answer.

Letter 4151 is the notice of adjustment used where a partnership-level determination changes a partner's items but produces no deficiency, so the ordinary statutory notice is unavailable. The examiner wanted to know which form carries the explanation of the adjustments that goes out with the letter. Form 886-A is the general purpose explanation of items attached to examination reports, and the writer says using it here is fine, on the stated ground that the Internal Revenue Manual does not specify a particular form. That is a permissive reading rather than an approval: nothing authorizes Form 886-A for this use, and nothing forbids it.

The second sentence is the substantive part. The writer suggests altering the language of both the form and the notice, if that is possible, to explicitly incorporate the form. The concern is one that runs through every notice the Service sends. A notice is measured by what it itself says, and an attachment is only part of it if the notice adopts it. A form built for a different purpose, stapled to a letter that never refers to it, invites the argument that the taxpayer was never actually told what was being adjusted or why. Explicit incorporation closes that gap, and doing it on both sides, the letter pointing at the form and the form identifying what it belongs to, leaves no room for the attachment to be treated as loose paper.

The "if possible" is doing real work. Letter 4151 and Form 886-A are standard published documents, and a field examiner may not be free to rewrite either. The release does not say what to do if the language cannot be altered, and it does not identify the Manual provision it relies on. This is a working confirmation between colleagues, not a procedure.

Filed under the rule that partnership items are determined at the partnership level, which is the setting that produces this kind of no-deficiency adjustment notice in the first place. Compare 0851066, which reaches the related conclusion that where the return is oversheltered no statutory notice can issue at all.

This is a clean digital release rather than a scan, so no OCR correction was needed. Kept as released: the greeting run together as "Hi- Yes"; the contraction "it's"; and "the IRM" left unexpanded.

Ruling snapshot

• Question: May Form 886-A be used to explain the adjustments accompanying a Letter 4151 notice of adjustment?
• Outcome: Advice given. Yes, it is okay to use Form 886-A for this purpose, because the Internal Revenue Manual does not specify the use of a particular form. The writer suggests altering the language of the form and of the notice, if possible, to explicitly incorporate the form.
• Key authorities: None cited in the document beyond an unspecified reference to the Internal Revenue Manual, Letter 4151 and Form 886-A. The section shown is the release's own UILC classification.

Full text (IRS public release)

ID: CCA_2008093016080471 Number: 200851065
Office: ------------- Release Date: 12/19/2008

UILC: 6221.00-00

From: ----------------------
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 4:08:05 PM
To: ------------------------
Cc:
Subject: RE: Letter 4151 Notice of Adjustment

Hi- Yes, I think it's okay to use a Form 886-A for this purpose (the IRM does not specify the use of a
particular form). As I mentioned, I suggest you alter the language of the form and the notice (if
possible) to explicitly incorporate the form.