Employment-tax return may start the limitations period despite a different EIN

Plain-English summary

Chief Counsel considered whether a standard Form 941 employment-tax return started the period of limitations when the employer did not list certain individuals as employees and used a different EIN. The email reasoned that the return could assert which individuals were employees and that an employment-agent arrangement could allow a taxpayer to designate an agent to file on its behalf. It also stated that multiple EINs identify a taxpayer or employer but do not necessarily create a different entity with a different limitations period.

Ruling snapshot

• Question: Can an employment-tax return begin the limitations period when a different EIN was used and some employees were omitted?
• Outcome: Advice given.
• Key authorities: IRC § 6501.

Full text (IRS public release)

ID: CCA-921958-10 Number: 201108031
Release Date: 2/25/2011
Office: --------------
UILC: 6501.04-00

From: -------------------------
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 9:58 AM
To: ------------------
Subject: FW: Unagreed Federal Case; Stat of Limitations as Applied to Employment Tax Returns ---------
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This was the email I sent to ------ and he agreed with me. Would this do it?

From: ----------------------
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2010 12:38 PM
To: -------------------------------------------
Cc: --------------------------
Subject: Unagreed Federal case; Stat of Limitations As Applied to Employment Tax Returns

It seems to me that if the agency filed a standard 941 (but did not include these individuals as employees), that 941 constitutes an assertion that only these individuals are employees. As I understand the use of an employment agent arrangement, our procedures allow a taxpayer to designate an agent to file on its behalf. That appears to me to be what happened here. The argument that because a different EIN was used, a different period of limitation applies, strikes me as incorrect. A taxpayer may have multiple EINs, they are a device for the identification of a taxpayer/employer, but their use or existence doesn't make the employer a different entity with a different period of limitation.