TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ADVISORY
No. 1986-001
Re: General Procedures Regarding Requests For Issuance AndEffect Of Technical Assistance Advisories
A "Technical Assistance Advisory" (AA) is a written statementissued by the State Tax Commissioner to a taxpayer. A TAA interpretsand applies the tax laws of this State to a specific set of factsprovided by the taxpayer or the taxpayer's authorized representative.TAA's are issued only by the State Tax Commissioner.
All TAA's are issued pursuant to W. Va. Code § 11-10-5r andset forth the position of the State Tax Commissioner upon the taxconsequences, under existing statutes, court decisions, rules orpolicies, of the stated transaction or event.
The State Tax Commissioner may decline to issue a TAA if, in hisdiscretion, he deems it unwise or unnecessary to do so. A TAA may notbe issued to a particular taxpayer with respect to an issue or issuesinvolved in a petition for reassessment or refund or in litigation.
The taxpayer or his representative should submit a request for aTAA to the State Tax Commissioner. The taxpayer must specificallyrequest a TAA; otherwise, the State Tax Commissioner may treat thetaxpayer's request for information simply as general correspondence.However, the State Tax Commissioner may issue a TAA if, in hisopinion, the issue involved in the general correspondence warrantssuch treatment. This will be done in instances where a particularissue is of general application.
A TAA request must be accompanied by a declaration in thefollowing form:
Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined thisrequest, including the accompanying documents, and to the best of myknowledge and belief, the facts presented in support of the requestedTAA are true, correct, and complete.
The declaration may be made by the taxpayer or the taxpayer'sauthorized representative. It must be signed by the person or personson whose behalf the request is made. The person who must sign for acorporate taxpayer must be an officer of the corporate taxpayer whohas personal knowledge of the facts. The person signing for a trustor partnership must be a trustee or partner who has personalknowledge of the facts.
Unless specifically stated otherwise, a TAA has no precedentialvalue except to the taxpayer requesting the Advisory, and then onlyfor the specific transaction addressed. TAA's shall be modifiedprospectively only. However, any change in the applicable statutes,court decisions or regulations utilized in the TAA may constitute amodification which would be effective on the date the change becameeffective.
The State Tax Commissioner is required to publish the TechnicalAssistance Advisories. Any identifying characteristics or facts aboutthe taxpayer requesting the TAA shall be omitted or modified in theadvisory released to the public.
Technical Assistance Advisories are issued based upon a specifiedfactual situation to which are applied current concepts of tax law,as reflected in regulations, administrative decisions, courtdecisions, and Tax Department policy. Change in any of these mayrender any particular TAA moot, in whole or in part.
Technical Assistance Advisories will normally be numbered first inthe year of their issuance, followed by a number based uponchronological order of issuance, i.e, TAA No. 1986-002. The 001 isreserved each year for announcement of any changes in the procedurefor obtaining a TAA.
A TAA is not a statement of policy or interpretation of generalapplication and future effect. It is not a "rule" as defined in W.Va. Code § 29A-1-2(i). Therefore a taxpayer may not rely upon aTAA issued to another taxpayer. However, a TAA does reflect the StateTax Commissioner's view of the tax consequences of the specifiedtransaction as of the date it was issued; and, in this limitedcontext and to that extent, it provides some guidance to othertaxpayers. A taxpayer who wishes to rely on a TAA should requestissuance of a TAA as hereinbefore provided.
A TAA may be expressly revoked or modified by the Tax Commissionerat any time under appropriate circumstances. Such revocation ormodification will apply beginning the day written notice of itsrevocation or modification is sent to the person who requestedissuance of the TAA. Any such notice will also be published as a TAA.
Summary
This Technical Assistance Advisory sets forth the generalprocedures regarding the issuance and effect of TAA's. this TAA willbe updated as necessary.
Michael E. Caryl
State Tax Commissioner
Issued to be effective as of
December 29, 1986
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