What is in the database
Information return penalties and backup withholding generate little published law. The Tax Court rarely sees a 6721 penalty because it is assessable without a deficiency notice; most disputes end at a 972CG response or in Appeals, and the handful that reach a court do so as refund suits, bankruptcy objections or collection due process cases. The IRS, by contrast, has answered hundreds of questions about these rules in writing: Chief Counsel Advice to examiners, letter rulings to payers, technical advice in examinations, and the occasional Action on Decision announcing whether it will follow a court. Those documents are public under IRC 6110 but are scattered across the written determinations index by UILC number and are not written for payers.
This tool holds the ones that matter to a payer, read in full and digested: 37 court decisions (federal courts of appeals, district and bankruptcy courts, the Court of Federal Claims, the Tax Court and three state appellate courts) and 83 IRS documents (53 Chief Counsel memoranda, 26 letter rulings, 3 technical advice memoranda and 1 Action on Decision). Each entry is tagged by topic, type and outcome from the payer’s point of view, and links to the original. The 120 entries include the thirty on the penalty cases page, which remains the narrative version for reasonable cause and intentional disregard.
What each kind of document is worth
| Type | What it is | What it is worth to you |
|---|---|---|
| Court decision | A published or citable opinion deciding a dispute between a taxpayer and the government, or between private parties over a 1099 or a W-9. | Precedent in its circuit or state; persuasive elsewhere. A court of appeals decision the IRS has nonacquiesced in (see Quezada) binds the IRS only where it is appealable to that circuit. |
| Chief Counsel Advice (CCA) | Written legal advice from the Office of Chief Counsel to IRS field or campus staff, often in reply to an examiner’s question, sometimes a two-paragraph email. | The position the IRS will take, in its lawyers’ words. Not precedent (IRC 6110(k)(3)), but an examiner who departs from it needs a reason, and it is quotable in a protest. |
| Private letter ruling (PLR) | A ruling issued to the taxpayer that requested it, on represented facts, usually before a transaction. | Binding only for that taxpayer. For everyone else it shows how the IRS applies the rule to a fact pattern, which is often the closest thing to guidance that exists for platforms, settlement funds and unusual payments. |
| Technical advice memorandum (TAM) | National Office advice requested during an examination or appeal of a specific taxpayer. | Like a CCA with developed facts; the IRS applies it to that taxpayer and generally follows it in similar cases. |
| Action on Decision (AOD) | The IRS’s formal statement, after losing a case, of whether it will follow the decision (acquiescence) or keep litigating (nonacquiescence). | Tells you where a favorable decision can be relied on and where the IRS will fight it. |
Every IRS document in the database carries the warning that it may not be used or cited as precedent. Quote them for what they are: the IRS's own reading of its rules. Court decisions are precedent only within their jurisdiction; check whether a later case or an Action on Decision has limited them before relying on one.
The topics
Select a topic above or follow a link here; the counts are entries in each.
- Reasonable cause9
- Intentional disregard10
- Procedure, statutes and refunds14
- Backup withholding14
- What is reportable23
- TINs, W-9s and identification12
- Form 8300 and cash12
- Form 1099-C5
- Form 1099-K and platforms8
- Worker classification and section 5304
- Payee suits under IRC 74346
- Foreign payees and Form 1042-S3
How to use it in a dispute
- Answering a 972CG. Search the penalty section (6721, 6722) and the reason for the failure. The reasonable cause entries show which excuses the IRS has accepted (a payee’s refusal to furnish a TIN after proper solicitation; good-faith reliance on a certificate) and which it has not (reliance on a processor; a pattern of late filing).
- Deciding whether a payment is reportable. The “what is reportable” topic has the IRS’s own answers for rebates, settlement funds, reward points, prizes, freight, pass-through payments and the corporate exemption, which is where most 1099 questions actually start.
- Backup withholding exposure. Pair the backup withholding and procedure topics: the rulings on what triggers withholding, the cases on what starts the statute of limitations, and the refund rules on both sides.
- A vendor or worker who is suing you. The 7434 topic collects the private suits over 1099s and W-2s, with the split on whether a misclassified worker can sue over a correct-amount 1099.
- Citing a document. Use the citation as shown and link to the source. For an IRS document, say what it is (a CCA, a PLR) and that it is not precedent; the examiner knows that and will still read it.
Questions people ask
Why are there so few Tax Court cases?
The 6721 and 6722 penalties are assessable penalties outside the deficiency procedures, so a payer cannot petition the Tax Court about them directly; it pays and sues for a refund, or reaches the Tax Court only through a collection due process hearing (as in Boechler) or a worker classification case under 7436 (as in Medical Emergency Care Associates).
How were the IRS documents chosen?
By searching the IRS written determinations index for the uniform issue codes of the information reporting, TIN and backup withholding sections (3406, 6041, 6041A, 6042, 6045, 6049, 6050I, 6050N, 6050P, 6050W, 6109, 6721 to 6724, 1461, 6011), reading every document released from 1999 on, and keeping the ones that answer a question a payer faces. Repetitive series (a dozen identical settlement fund rulings, six identical utility rulings) appear once with the companion numbers listed.
Is the database complete?
No. It is the information reporting law a payer is likely to need, as of October 15, 2026. Written determinations are released weekly and new decisions appear; the page is refreshed when the law changes, and the IRS index at irs.gov/written-determinations is the place to look for anything newer.
Can I rely on a letter ruling issued to someone else?
No, and the ruling says so. It tells you how the IRS reasoned on those facts, which is useful for predicting an examiner’s position and for drafting your own ruling request if the amounts justify one.