Ezel / IRS Rulings / 201545023

Lawyer-regulation office cannot receive return information

Number
201545023
Outcome
Advice
Document type
Chief Counsel Advice
IRS subject
Disclosure to Taxpayer's Designee
Topics
Procedure, penalties, and administration
Code sections
§ 6103
Ruling dated
October 13, 2015
Publicly released
November 6, 2015
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 2015, 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 2015
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 advised that IRS personnel could not disclose a taxpayer’s return information to a state lawyer-regulation office without the taxpayer’s consent. Section 6103 permits some disclosures to states, but only in limited circumstances and to specified state agencies. Those exceptions did not appear to cover this request. The office could instead check public state lien filings to determine whether the IRS had filed liens.

Ruling snapshot

  • Question: May the IRS disclose return information to a state lawyer-regulation office without taxpayer consent?
  • Outcome: Advice given
  • Key authorities: IRC § 6103

Full text (IRS public release)

ID: CCA_2015101308282607 [Third Party Communication:

UILC: 6103.00-00, 6103.01-00, 6103.03-00 Date of Communication: Month DD, YYYY] Number: 201545023 Release Date: 11/6/2015 From: Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2015 8:28:27 AM To: Cc: Bcc: Subject: RE: Disclosure to office of lawyer regulation

Hi -----------,

You can talk to me but you are correct that we cannot disclose this information without the consent of the taxpayer whose return information would be disclosed. While section 6103 allows disclosure of return information to states, it only does so in limited circumstances and to limited state agencies, none of which appear to be applicable to your situation. The OLR could always check their state lien filings to see if we filed liens but we cannot disclose information.

Thanks,
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