IRS Litigation Guideline Memorandums Obsoleted

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issues many forms of public and private guidance, both to government personnel and to taxpayers. Litigation Guideline Memorandums (LGMs) are one such type of guidance, and were issued by the IRS Office of Chief Counsel through 1999 to provide information and instruction relating to litigating procedures and method, and standards and criteria on issues and matters of significant interest to litigating attorneys in the Office of Chief Counsel. LGMs have been cited many times as evidence of the IRS's position on a matter, and courts have ranged from citing LGMs as supporting authority to dismissing them as inconsistent with other IRS guidance and/or merely reflecting the IRS's litigating position.