Electronic Payments to Replace Check Payments for Letter Rulings

Clients looking to request letter ruling, closing agreements, and some other rulings from the Internal Revenue Service will be able to submit user fee payments online starting June 15. According to an IRS release last week, this change marks the beginning of a transition period that will see check and money order payments phased out in favor of credit and debit card payments, direct debits, and electronic fund withdrawals by August 15, 2017. After that date, all payments for rulings in Revenue Procedure 2017-1, except for determination letters, must be processed via the Pay.gov system. Pay.gov has become an online payment hub for several government agencies – including the Department of Veteran Affairs, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Defense, United States Courts, and more – and making a user fee payment will be fairly straightforward. To make a payment, users will need to navigate to the IRS Chief Counsel User Fees link. To do this, just click the

Agency List link under What Federal Agencies Can I Pay? and select Internal Revenue Service, or simply type “IRS Chief Counsel User Fees” in the search box.

Here’s another reminder: even though payments must be submitted electronically after August 15, the actual ruling request and any supporting documents must be mailed or hand delivered to the IRS. After submitting payment, include a printed copy of the completed ruling form and Pay.gov receipt with the letter ruling request and send the entire package to one of the following addresses:

Mail Delivery Internal Revenue Service CC:PA:LPD:DRU P.O. Box 7604 Ben Franklin Station Washington, DC 20044 Hand Delivery Internal Revenue Service CC:PA:LPD:DRU 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW Room 5336 Washington, DC 20224

The IRS recommends sending an eFaxed copy of all letter ruling request materials to 877-773-4950 for faster processing. Call 202-317-6828 with questions about the new electronic payment procedures, and reference Revenue Procedure 2017-1 for more information about making a ruling request.