The directives system ensures effective communication by:

Offices have periodically issued guidelines and instructions establishing policies, delegating authority, etc., in memorandum or e-mail format rather than publishing such information in the directives system. This practice is an ineffective and cumbersome way by which to issue important information. All information of the nature described in CCDM 30.2.1.1(2) must be issued in the formal directives system.

All Chief Counsel directives that impact the entire Office of Chief Counsel should be included in the CCDM and/or issued as a Notice as appropriate. Exceptions are publications issued primarily to and for the public.

Publication of Chief Counsel guidelines and "instructions to staff" in the CCDM and Notices, which are available to the public on www.irs.gov, complies with the requirements of the Electronic Freedom of Information Act (E-FOIA).

Officials are responsible for the information contained in the directives that they initiate and issue. It is critical that this information is accurate and up-to-date. Annual reviews of existing directives should be conducted to ensure they contain current policy and procedures.

The Planning and Finance Division (CC:FM:PF) is responsible for:

The Deputies Chief Counsel, Division Counsels, and Associates Chief Counsel are responsible for ensuring:

Division Counsels and Associates Chief Counsel may appoint a Directives Management Officer (DMO) who would coordinate all directives activities within their office/function after considering the volume and frequency of directives it expects to publish and the utility of concentrating the role in a single individual. CC:FM:PF should be notified when a DMO is appointed. DMO responsibilities include:

The Labor and Employee Relations Division is responsible for:

The Chief Counsel approves all directives relating to the organization of the Office of Chief Counsel; the assignment, transfer, or delegation of the Chief Counsel's authority, functions, or duties; or to general Office policy.

The Deputies Chief Counsel, Division Counsels, and Associates Chief Counsel approve directives within the authority delegated by the Chief Counsel. See CCDM 30.3.2, Delegation of Authority and Designations ( http://publish.no.irs.gov/getpdf.cgi?catnum=29599).

The Deputies Chief Counsel, Division Counsels, and Associates Chief Counsel may re-delegate this approval authority in full or in part to an official(s) under his or her supervision for matters under the jurisdiction of that subordinate official.

All internal directives containing delegations of authority to subordinates must be signed by an approving official that possesses the authority to re-delegate that authority.

Clearance. At a minimum, directives will be cleared by all management levels between the author and the approving official. CC:FM:PF will assist authors in determining clearance protocols.

Revisions and/or cancellations to directives will generally be approved by the original approving level, unless approval authority has been re-delegated as described above.

On a case-by-case basis, directives originally approved by a Deputy Chief Counsel, Division Counsel, or an Associate Chief Counsel may be revised or cancelled by a directly reporting subordinate officer provided some form of written communication from the original approving official is submitted with the clearance record.

Revisions to directives should follow the same clearance protocols as the original directives.

Directives should be accurate, complete, and clear. Use understandable, direct language and avoid ambiguity.

Organize information in logical sequences. Cover one subject in one place (i.e., in one paragraph, section, or chapter, depending on the scope of the subject).

Write directives for a specific audience, and consider the audience’s needs, resources, and knowledge.

Choose descriptive titles and headings with terms that would facilitate on-line searches.

Break up long sections and paragraphs into multiple sentences or paragraphs. However, do not subdivide so minutely that the text becomes fragmented or loses continuity, or in the case of the CCDM unduly increases the number of subsections.

Do not enclose directives headings or titles in quotation marks. Use the number followed by a comma, then the full title.

When referring to the CCDM, use CCDM followed by the section/sub-section identification numbers (e.g., CCDM 30.2.1.3.2). If applicable, cite the paragraph number (e.g., see CCDM 30.2.1.3.2(1)).

When referring to Notices, use Notice followed by the identification number (e.g., Notice CC-2006-016, or Notice N(30)6(12)-0).

When referring to laws, the Code of Federal Regulations, or other official materials, be specific. When citing codified materials, include the Code title number or common use equivalent and include the section number. For example:

When referring to forms and publications, use the number and complete title the first time the form/publication is referenced; thereafter, use only the form/publication number. Include hyperlinks to forms, publications and other documents contained in the forms repository, available at http://publish.no.irs.gov/catlg.html.

Use official titles rather than names.

Use of the term "Policy" . The Commissioner confines the use of the word "policy" within the Service to those matters in which discretion is exercised by the Service. The practice of substituting phrases such as the position of the Service instead of policy, when referring to technical and litigation matters, has been adopted by the Office of Chief Counsel and is used by the directives system.

Notes and footnotes. Notes may be inserted in the CCDM text for explanatory insertions that do not fit text continuity. For an example, see CCDM 30.2.1.3.3(7). Footnotes may be used in Notices; in the CCDM they may be used only in exhibits.

Notices are prepared using the template shown in See Exhibit 30.2.1-1. The template can be obtained from CC:FM:PF as a Word document, or a macro for the Notice template that is available on the CC Macros menu in Microsoft Word can be used.

Leave the Notice number, issue date, and information in the footer blank. These fields will be completed by CC:FM:PF after the Notice is approved.

Titles on Notices (termed "subject matter" on the template) should be both descriptive and concise. Notices concerning uniformity in handling docketed and nondocketed cases and litigation positions will include the abbreviation CLP in the title to indicate a change in Service litigating position. "Change in Litigating Position" or " CLP" is not sufficient as a title for the Notice, however, because titles are used as search parameters in the online databases.

There is no prescribed format for the content of Notices. The format should be chosen to best convey the information to be presented. As a guide, many Notices have been structured as follows:

A Chief Counsel Uniform Issue List number (UIL) should be included in the text of a Notice when applicable to facilitate research.

Notices should be prepared for the signature of an Associate Chief Counsel, Division Counsel or above, unless the authority has been re-delegated (see CCDM 30.2.1.3.1, Approval Authority for Directives).

All Notices must specify a cancellation date based on their purpose and/or content. In general, one of the cancellation dates listed below will be selected.

When CC:FM:PF receives approved Notices with cancellation dates of "one month after issuance" or "one year after issuance" , it will insert the actual date before issuance based on the approval date. The Notice will be archived as of the date specified.

Form 178, Clearance Record, must accompany the Notice. The form indicates that the document is a Notice, and provides the subject of the Notice, distribution instructions, and any other pertinent information. Paragraphs (2) through (6), below, provide instructions for completing Form 178, which is provided in See Exhibit 30.2.1-2.

Type of Document — Place an X next to "Notice" .

Explanation of Issuance — Use this space to summarize the purpose of the Notice. When composing the summary, be sure to capture the essence of the Notice. Including "key words" will facilitate word search requests, enabling those who are using this feature to retrieve applicable Notice(s) from the Intranet Notice website.

Proposed Distribution — Place an X next to "Distribute" and "All Personnel" . Unless otherwise specified on the clearance record, all notices will be distributed to all employees. If a more restrictive audience is needed, the author should provide CC:FM:PF with an email containing the email addresses of all the recipients.

Title — This block should have the same title as the approving official who will sign the Notice.

Reviewers —List the office symbols and names of all reviewers in the spaces below "Route in Turn to" . Notices which contain material that affect employee working conditions or items covered in the negotiated contract must be cleared by the Labor and Employee Relations Division before they can be distributed to ensure that the Notice does not have potential labor relations implications. The Notice should be cleared by all the reviewers listed prior to sending the Notice to the approving official for signature.

After the Notice has been cleared by all reviewers and signed by the approving official, the point of contact (POC) should fax the signed Notice and the Form(s) 178, Clearance Record, to CC:FM:PF and email the Word file.

Because CC:FM:PF will be working from faxed copies of the Notice and clearance record(s), the originating office should retain the original signed Notice and clearance record(s) until the Notice is archived. If the originating office does not wish to do so, the originals and associated documentation must be provided to CC:FM:PF.

Once CC:FM:PF has reviewed the Notice to ensure the Notice is correctly formatted prior to distribution, the Notice will be dated and assigned a number. The Notice in a pdf file format will be returned to the POC. The POC will indicate whether any additional information needs to be included in the standard email transmittal.

CC:FM:PF will distribute the Notice to all personnel, post it to the Notice website, and ensure that it is posted to www.irs.gov .

On an annual basis, CC:FM:PF will coordinate the review of active Notices with cancellation dates of Upon incorporation into the CCDM . The issuing office will take the necessary action to publish the contents in the CCDM or revoke the Notice.

On an annual basis, the issuing office will review Notices issued with cancellation dates of Effective until further notice/Indefinite and determine whether the Notice should remain active, or whether it should be published in the CCDM or revoked.

In 2004, the CCDM was extensively revised both in terms of content and structure. The CCDM is published as Parts 30-39 of the IRM, described below, and can be found electronically at the IRM Numerical Index http://publish.no.irs.gov/pubsys/irm/numind.html.

Within each part, the CCDM is organized by chapter and section. Chapter and section titles are standardized; deviations, whether changes to existing titles or additional titles, must be coordinated with CC:FM:PF prior to clearance of the CCDM. Current approved chapter and section titles may be found on the SPDER website http://spder.web.irs.gov/IRM/IRMIndexes/IRMPartChap.htm. .

A section is the smallest unit of issue for publication purposes; in this case it would be CCDM 30.2.1. Revisions to any text or exhibit in a section requires publication of the entire section.

A section consists of a Manual Transmittal, text (including tables and figures) which is presented in numbered subsections, and optional exhibits.

The first step in preparing a new or revised CCDM section is to organize the material to be included. Incorporate existing guidance that was issued as Notices, memoranda, or e-mails, and procedures derived from re-engineered processes. Text and exhibits may incorporate or reference information found on organizational webpages and in "desk" and user guides.

To revise the content of an existing CCDM section, obtain an electronic copy of the current section from the Numerical index site. Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) editor software is used to publish the CCDM. Among other purposes, the software enforces the standard CCDM format and numbering system.

Authors with access to Epic Editor software should copy the SGML file to their personal computer and revise the file directly.

Authors without access to Epic Editor software may prepare CCDM material in Microsoft Word. To obtain an electronic copy of the current section from the Numerical index site, copy the current PDF file to a personal computer by saving the file as a rich text format file (not as a Word document). Then open the .rtf file in Word, convert the file from the rich text format, and make the necessary changes.

New CCDM sections may be written in either Epic Editor software or Microsoft Word. CC:FM:PF will provide assistance for either process.

Exhibit 1.11.2-2, IRM Review Checklist ( http://publish.no.irs.gov/getpdf.cgi?catnum=29299 ), contains a list of items that will be looked at by reviewers, CC:FM:PF, and Media and Publications.