Ezel / IRS Rulings / 200909045

CCA 200909045: Non-wage Peace Corps payments were not subject to FICA or SECA

Number
200909045
Outcome
Advice
Document type
Chief Counsel Advice
IRS subject
Definitions
Topics
Employment taxes
Code sections
§ 1402, § 3121
Ruling dated
December 3, 2008
Publicly released
February 27, 2009
Source
View Official PDF

Apply this to your situation

This page covers legal advice the IRS Office of Chief Counsel wrote for IRS staff, issued in 2009, which can't be cited as precedent. Ask about your situation and see what the current Code and IRS guidance say, with citations.

Currency note: this determination was released in 2009
Statutory amendments, regulation changes, court decisions, or later IRS guidance may have changed the analysis since then. Treat this page as historical context, not current tax advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, threshold, or position mentioned here.
Not precedent. Under 26 U.S.C. § 6110(k)(3), this written determination may not be used or cited as precedent. It is advice from the IRS Office of Chief Counsel to IRS personnel on the facts they presented, and identifying details were redacted by the IRS before release. The official IRS release (linked on this page as a PDF) is the authoritative source.
About this page: The plain-English summary and ruling snapshot below were written by Ezel based on the official IRS release. The full text is the IRS's own document.
View official IRS release (PDF)

Plain-English summary

Chief Counsel addressed non-wage amounts paid to Peace Corps volunteers. The email's consensus was that those amounts were not subject to FICA or self-employment tax. Section 3121(p) treats Peace Corps volunteer services as employment, making the volunteers employees, and section 1402(c)(2) therefore excludes the payments from self-employment tax.

Ruling snapshot

  • Question: Were non-wage payments to Peace Corps volunteers subject to FICA or self-employment tax?
  • Outcome: Advice given: no, the volunteers were treated as employees and the non-wage amounts were subject to neither tax.
  • Key authorities: IRC §§ 1402(c)(2) and 3121(p).

Full text (IRS public release)

ID: CCA_2008120311253832 Number: 200909045
Release Date: 2/27/2009
Office: -----------------------------
UILC: 3121.00-00

From: --------------------
Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2008 11:25:44 AM
To: -----------------
Cc:
Subject: Peace Corps Volunteers

Hi --------

The general consensus here is that the non-wage amounts paid to the Peace Corps volunteers would not be subject to either FICA or SECA. Section 1402(c)(2) precludes application of self-employment tax to any amounts paid to Peace Corps volunteers by virtue of the fact that section 3121(p) defines "employment" to include services performed by Peace Corps volunteers and therefore, these workers are employees.

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