CCA 200944036: Owner TIN is unnecessary on the 668J estate-tax lien

Number

200944036

Outcome

Advice

Document type

Chief Counsel Advice

IRS subject

Special Lien for Estate Tax Deferred Under Section 6166; Extension of Time to Pay Estate Tax

Topics

Procedure, penalties, and administration

Code sections

§ 6166, § 6324A

Ruling dated

August 25, 2009

Publicly released

October 30, 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.

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

This Chief Counsel Advice addresses taxpayer-identification numbers on Forms 668H and 668J used for estate-tax liens. It recommends attempting to obtain the TIN of a qualified heir for the 668H lien on § 2032A property, and states that a trust should be identified by its name, redacted TIN, and trustee. The Advice disagrees with an Internal Revenue Manual instruction that requires the record owner's TIN on Form 668J. It explains that the record owner has no personal liability for the tax and that the owner’s TIN is unnecessary because the record owner is not the taxpayer for purposes of the lien.

Ruling snapshot

Question: Which taxpayer-identification information should appear on Forms 668H and 668J for estate-tax liens?
Outcome: Advice given
Key authorities: IRC §§ 6166, 6324A; IRC § 2032A; Treas. Reg. § 301.6323(f)-1(d)(2); IRM 5.5.8

Full text (IRS public release)

ID: CCA_2009082509161853 Number: 200944036
Release Date: 10/30/2009
Office: ----------
UILC: 6324A.00-00, 6166.00-00

From: --------------------
Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 9:16:25 AM
To: ---------------------
Cc:
Subject: 668H and 668J

Attachment: Form 688J.pdf

You have asked whether Advisory should attempt to obtain the TIN of a qualified heir to place in redacted form on the 668H lien on 2032A property. Yes, you should attempt to secure the TIN of the qualified heir if not provided on the Form 706 in order to comply with the IRM procedures in 5.5.8. If a trust is the qualified heir, list the name of the trust, its redacted TIN, and the name of the trustee.

The IRM at Exhibit IRM 5.5.8-2 also incorrectly requires placing the TIN of the owner of record on the 668J. This is unnecessary. The owner of record has no personal liability for the tax. Treas. Reg sec. 301.6323(f)-1(d)(2) provides that a Form 668 (in this case 668J) "must identify the taxpayer, the tax liability giving rise to the lien, and the date the assessment arose. . . ." The IRS has customarily added the SSN (now redacted) to the Form 668 to identify the taxpayer. Since the owner of record for 668J purposes is not the taxpayer, addition of the owner of record TIN would be superfluous.

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