RubinBrown Team Member Manual

POLICY CONTINUED Policy Title: Policy Number:

Circular 230 Regulations 1211

Section:

Risk Management

Procedures: KEY PROVISIONS OF REVISED IRS CIRCULAR 230

Best Practices - Tax advisors should communicate the terms of the engagement clearly with the client, including the client’s expected purpose and use of the advice. Tax advisors should establish the relevant facts and evaluate the reasonableness of assumptions and client representations. Tax advisors should inform the client regarding the conclusions reached, their importance and whether a client can avoid accuracy-related penalties if the advice is followed. Tax advisors should act fairly and with integrity. Issuance of Written Tax Advice – Tax advisors may give written tax advice (including by means of electronic communication) concerning one or more Federal tax matters subject to certain requirements. Tax practitioners must (i) base the written advice on reasonable factual and legal assumptions; (ii) reasonably consider all relevant facts and circumstances that the practitioner knows or reasonably should know; (iii) use reasonable efforts to identify and ascertain the facts relevant to written advice on each Federal tax matter; (iv) not rely upon representations, statements findings or agreements (including projections, financial forecasts, or appraisals) of the taxpayer or any other person if reliance on them would be unreasonable; (v) relate applicable law and authorities to facts; and (vi) not, in evaluating a Federal tax matter, take into account the possibility that a tax return will not be audited or that matter will not be raised on audit. Reliance on representations, statements, findings, or agreements is unreasonable if the practitioner knows or reasonable should know that one or more representations or assumptions on which any representation is based are incorrect, incomplete, or inconsistent. A practitioner may only rely on the advice of another person if the advice was reasonable and the reliance is in good faith considering all facts and circumstances. The above summary of the new IRS Circular 230 Regulations is intended to serve as background for the following internal policies that are hereby implemented for all RubinBrown personnel: In the case of any transaction that has a principal purpose of federal tax evasion or avoidance, RubinBrown team members should give written advice only if the transaction clearly falls under a federal tax statute and both the fact pattern and the application of the statute to the fact pattern are clearly aligned with Congressional intent. The decision of whether or not to provide federal tax advice in written form necessarily remains a matter of individual professional judgment. Factors that should be considered in this decision include the nature and significance of the issue, our need to have a clear record of what was communicated to the client, client preferences, and other factors. Questions regarding this Policy Statement or application of it to specific client situations should be directed to partner in-charge of RubinBrown’s Tax Practice or to the tax representative on RubinBrown’s Risk Management Committee, or to a designate of these individuals.

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