Disclosures involving the Taxpayer Advocate should be coordinated by counsel under § 6103(h)(2)

Plain-English summary

In this brief Chief Counsel email, the author sees no disclosure problem with a proposed arrangement involving the Taxpayer Advocate. The reasoning is that the Taxpayer Advocate office (TAO) is part of the IRS and, for section 6103 purposes, is no different from Exam. As with Exam, the Department of Justice should rarely work directly with the Taxpayer Advocate; instead, field counsel should coordinate and oversee all disclosures to DOJ for litigation, both to ensure compliance with section 6103(h)(2) (which governs disclosure of returns and return information in tax-related judicial and administrative proceedings) and to make sure any privileged information is identified. The message is short practical guidance rather than formal analysis.

Ruling snapshot

• Question: Does routing return information through the Taxpayer Advocate office raise a section 6103 concern, and how should disclosures to DOJ be handled?
• Outcome: advice (no concern; the Taxpayer Advocate is part of the IRS like Exam, and field counsel should coordinate all disclosures to DOJ to ensure § 6103(h)(2) compliance and protect privilege)
• Key authorities: IRC § 6103(h)(2)

Full text (IRS public release)

ID:        CCA_2019032016162353
UILC:      6103.08-02

Number: 201916007
Release Date: 4/19/2019
From:
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2019 4:16:23 PM
To:
Cc:
Bcc:
Subject: RE: 6103 and Taxpayer Advocate

Hello -------------------------------

From the information below, I do not see a concern. TAO is part of IRS, and no
different in this context from Exam. As with Exam, DOJ should rarely be working
directly with TAO; field counsel should coordinate and oversee all disclosures to DOJ
for litigation purposes, to ensure compliance with 6103(h)(2) and that any privileged
information is identified.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have further questions or want to discuss this.

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