The Internal Revenue Service has recently proposed to require businesses with more than $10 million in assets to disclose with their tax returns certain details about each uncertain tax position, defined as a position for which the taxpayer or a related entity has recorded a reserve in its financial statements under FASB Interpretation no. 48 (FIN 48), Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes, or other accounting standards. With this announcement, The Service is developing a schedule that will require certain filers to provide information about their uncertain tax positions that affect their United States federal income tax liability. This schedule will be filed with the Form 1120, U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, or other business tax returns. The schedule will require:

A. a concise description of each uncertain tax position for which the taxpayer or a related entity has recorded a reserve in its financial statements, and

B. the maximum amount of potential federal tax liability attributable to each uncertain tax position (determined without regard to the taxpayer’s risk analysis regarding its likelihood of prevailing on the merits).

The Service requires taxpayers to disclose the following information:

1. list the statutory provisions potentially implicated by the position
2. the tax years affected
3. whether the positions involves an item of income, gain, loss, deduction or credit
4. whether it involves the valuation of any property or right, and
5. and whether it involves the computation of basis

In addition, the schedule will require a taxpayer to specify for each uncertain tax position the entire amount of United States federal income tax that would be due if the position were disallowed in its entirety on audit. This amount is the maximum tax adjustment for the position reflecting all changes to items of income, gain, loss, deduction, or credit if the position is not sustained.

Except as described in this Announcement, the Service intends to retain the existing policy of restraint for requesting tax accrual workpapers during the course of examinations described in IRM 4.10.20. The Service will continue to review the policy and to consider additional modifications, however, as appropriate or necessary to ensure it obtains complete and accurate information regarding a taxpayer’s uncertain tax positions on a timely basis.

Given the importance of these issues to both the Service and taxpayers, the Service intends to publish the new schedule as quickly as possible and therefore invites the public to submit comments on the proposal described in this Announcement by March 29, 2010. The Service intends to mandate that the new schedule for uncertain tax positions be filed with returns filed after release of the schedule. The Service is particularly interested in comments regarding:

1. How the maximum tax adjustment should be reflected on the schedule so that it provides the Service with an objective and quantifiable measure of each reported tax position (e.g., specific dollar amount or by appropriate dollar ranges);

2. What alternative methods of disclosure of the amount at issue would allow the Service to identify the relative importance of the uncertain tax positions;

3. Whether the calculation of the maximum tax adjustment should relate solely to the tax period for which the return is filed or to all tax periods to which the position relates, and whether net operating losses or excess credits should be taken into account in determining the maximum tax adjustment;

4. How the related entity rules should be applied;

5. Whether the scope of the Announcement should be modified regarding the uncertain tax positions for which information is required to be reported (e.g., positions for which no tax reserve has been established because the taxpayer determined the Service has a general administrative practice not to examine the position);

6. Whether transition rules should be used or criteria modified to either include or exclude certain businesses taxpayers (e.g., the proposed threshold of $10 million total assets);

7. How the new schedule should address taxpayers that initially did not record a reserve for an issue, but in later years do record a reserve; and

8. Whether the list of information proposed to be included should be modified, including whether certain information should be requested in some circumstances upon examination rather than with tax return.

Comments are accepted until June 1.

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