Ezel / IRS Rulings / 200948048

CCA 200948048: An employee's family member may not translate an interview without taxpayer consent

Number
200948048
Outcome
Advice
Document type
Chief Counsel Advice
IRS subject
Disclosure for Investigative Purposes
Topics
Procedure, penalties, and administration
Code sections
§ 6103, § 6110
Publicly released
November 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

This Chief Counsel Advice addresses whether a friend or family member may translate an employee interview during a worker-classification investigation. Counsel states that the translator may not participate unless the company, as the taxpayer, agrees. Without the taxpayer's consent, disclosure under IRC § 6103(k)(6) requires that there be no other reasonable way to obtain the information. Counsel suggests obtaining the company's agreement or using an IRS translator.

Ruling snapshot

  • Question: May an employee's friend or family member translate an interview during a worker-classification investigation?
  • Outcome: Advice given
  • Key authorities: IRC § 6103(k)(6)

Full text (IRS public release)

ID: CCA_2009102015045347 Number: 200948048
Release Date: 11/27/2009
Office: --------------
UILC: 6103.11-06

From: ---------------------
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 3:04:56 PM
To: --------------------
Cc:
Subject: Disclosure issues in worker classification investigation

-----------
You posed the following question:
If, during the investigation of a company's tax liability (worker classification issues), the Service interviews employees of the company and the employees require a translator, is it permissible to allow a friend or family member of the employee to be part of the conversation as a translator?

My answer for you is: no; not unless the company (company being the taxpayer) agrees. Without the taxpayer's consent, this is a 6103(k)(6) situation, and in order to disclose under (k)(6) there has to be no other reasonable way to get the information. So, I think your options are to either get the company to agree or to use an IRS translator.

Please let me know if you have any follow-up questions or need anything further.

Thanks-

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