Purpose: This IRM section defines the official Policy Statements of the Internal Revenue Service and describes how to prepare, clear and issue them.

Audience: These procedures apply to IRS employees who are responsible for developing, creating, revising and revoking IRS Policy Statements for their Business Unit.

Policy Owner: The Office of Servicewide Policy, Directives and Electronic Resources (SPDER), is under Research, Applied Analytics and Statistics (RAAS).

Program Owner: SPDER is the program office responsible for overseeing the Internal Management Document (IMD) process and providing guidance.

Policy Statements publicize views concerning an important value of the IRS. These "IRS policies" govern and guide IRS personnel in the administration of the IRS. The designation of any item as an "IRS Policy" concerns an issue of sufficient importance to warrant consideration, approval and signature by the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioners.

"IRS Policies" are issued as "Policy Statements" and are published in IRM 1.2.1, Servicewide Policy Statements. They can form the basis for procedures and instructions in the IRM. Policy statements are not, however, the appropriate vehicle to convey:

Similarly, Policy Statements do not cover areas where basic decisions are proclaimed by another government agency or are settled by law. An exception may be made, for purposes of clarity and understanding, to combine Service and other policies if they are so interrelated that omitting those policies originating outside of the Service might cause an erroneous or misleading impression.

The only policies which can be issued as Policy Statements are those initiated by the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioners, or those initiated and submitted for their approval by:

All Policy Statements must be coordinated with and reviewed by the Office of Servicewide Policy, Directives and Electronic Resources (SPDER) PRIOR TO SIGNATURE of the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioners.

The Commissioner or one of the Deputy Commissioners approves and signs all Policy Statements on behalf of the IRS.

Policy Statements are numbered by the business processes to which they belong. For instance IRM 1.2.1.2, Policy Statements for Organization, Finance and Management Activities, contains all of the Policy Statements that relate to IRS administrative activities. IRM 1.2.1.5, Policy Statements for the Examining Process, contains all of the Policy Statements that relate to the Examining Process.

Policies established by the Department of the Treasury or other offices of the executive branch, or by the legislative and judicial branches are not designated as "IRS Policy Statements."

Except where specifically stated, all references to the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners are to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement and the Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support.

The words "servicewide policy" should not be used to designate an IRS position or procedure unless a Policy Statement on the matter has been issued or the IRS intends to establish one. Procedures established in conformance with approved Servicewide policies should be designated as procedures, instructions, guidelines, positions, etc.

Policies issued from Divisions/Functions should not be called "Servicewide policies" and will not be published as such in the Policy Statement IRM section 1.2.1. Deputy Commissioners, Chiefs, Division Commissioners or equivalent may elect to issue Division or Function policies which offer a Servicewide position on matters within their jurisdictions. For example, the Chief Human Capital Officer may elect to issue a functional policy on specific acceptable personnel practices, or the Chief Financial Officer may issue policies to guide the IRS toward good financial management. The official may propose the policy as a Servicewide policy if it meets the standards set forth in paragraph (1) above or if, under other circumstances, the policy requires higher visibility.

Senior executives are responsible for Servicewide Policy Statements within their organization and clearing them through impacted offices, the Office of Chief Counsel and then the Office of SPDER, prior to submitting to the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioners for approval and signature.

Senior executives are responsible for conducting a periodic review of the Policy Statements initiated by their organizations and then consulting among the appropriate executives concerning proposals to revise or rescind Policy Statements when necessary.

Policy Statement authors must coordinate with their organization’s IMD Coordinator.

The Commissioner and Deputy Commissioners are the only officials authorized to approve/sign Policy Statements.

When published in IRM 1.2.1, the approval date will be printed with each servicewide Policy Statement, but a signature facsimile will not be printed.

Contact your organization’s IMD Coordinator for assistance in revising or creating Policy Statements.

Revisions to current Policy Statements and new Policy Statements must be coordinated among affected offices and Chief Counsel. See IRM 1.11.3.4.1 for procedures on clearing policy statements.

For revisions, use the existing Policy Statement as your source document located in IRM 1.2.1, Servicewide Policy Statements. See Exhibit 1.11.3-1 and Exhibit 1.11.3-2 for sample Policy Statements and the required format to use.

Policy Statements are numbered based on business processes to support the modernization of the IRS. For example, IRS Policy relating to the examining process was renumbered P-4-XX; IRS Policy relating to human capital management was renumbered P-6-XX, etc. Although Policy Statements are numbered to correspond to the processes represented by the IRM part numbers, the policies apply to any and all IRS personnel and activities according to their terms. For a complete listing of IRM part numbers see IRM 1.11.1.5.

For new Policy Statements, contact *SPDER to request and receive a number. See Exhibit 1.11.3-1 for a sample Policy Statement and format.

In very limited situations, authors may request modifications to a published Policy Statement for editorial changes that do not change the meaning of the content.

Editorial changes are limited to:

For editorial change considerations, forward the following to *SPDER:

After review and agreement, SPDER will update the Policy Statement in IRM 1.2.1 based on the semi-annual schedule (January/July) and notate the editorial correction in the Manual Transmittal.

The published Policy Statement effective date and revision number will remain the same.

SPDER will retain the files and forward to the IRS Historical Research library for record retention and documentation.