This advisory discusses LTR 201240017—the world’s longest letter ruling, 111 pages in PDF format. Not surprisingly, it is a Section 355 ruling. It was issued three-and-a-half months after the original submission, with those dates bridging Christmas and New Year’s Day. There were seven additional submissions from the taxpayer in the interim. The release of the ruling was delayed for a couple of months.
As best as this reader can tell from spending a couple of hours with the ruling, there is not groundbreaking legal news in it, but then you can’t be sure about 111 pages. Probably the most interesting points about the ruling are points that normally escape attention: (1) why did the taxpayer go to the trouble and expense to get this ruling, and (2) why does the Chief Counsel provide this sort of super service?
The advisory is provided in PDF on the Alston & Bird website:
www.alston.com/advisories/federal-tax-report-november-2012
