Ezel / IRS Rulings / 200913054

CCA 200913054: Tribal council service payments were not subject to employment tax

Number
200913054
Outcome
Advice
Document type
Chief Counsel Advice
IRS subject
Wages
Topics
Employment taxes
Code sections
§ 3121
Ruling dated
January 15, 2009
Publicly released
March 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 whether payments for service as a member of a tribal council presented an employment-tax issue. The email stated that they did not. It concluded that payments for those council-member services were not subject to employment tax. The short message provides no facts about the tribe, council member, or payment arrangement.

Ruling snapshot

  • Question: Were payments for services as a tribal council member subject to employment tax?
  • Outcome: Advice given: no, the payments were not subject to employment tax.
  • Key authorities: IRC § 3121.

Full text (IRS public release)

ID: CCA-115935-09 Number: 200913054
Release Date: 3/27/2009
Office: -----------------------
UILC: 3121.01-00

From: --------------------
Sent: January 15, 2009 9:35 AM
To: -----------------------------------------------
Cc:
Subject: -------- Tribe ---------

How about next Thursday at 11 Eastern? We'll get a conference line.

Fyi-- there is no employment tax issue, because payments for services as a member of a tribal council
are not subject to employment tax.

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