IRS Issues FAQs on Uncertain Tax Positions

Yesterday, the Internal Revenue Service released additional guidance relating to the IRS' new reporting requirements for Uncertain Tax Positions (UTP). The guidance was issued in the form of Frequently Asked Questions on Schedule UTP.

Props to Alison Bennett, who flagged this development in her article in BNA's Daily Report for Executives earlier today, IRS Issues Uncertain Tax Position Guidance, Clarifies Definition of Recording a Reserve. In her article, Bennett states that the IRS guidance issued yesterday:

address[es] key questions surrounding the recording of a tax reserve and the treatment of net operating loss carryforwards, among other significant issues... and] comes as the deadline approaches for the first wave of taxpayers to file the Schedule UTP... The guidance adds eight new questions to the FAQ first unveiled in March ... and updates one existing question on whether interest and penalties should be included when taxpayers are “ranking” their positions on the new schedule.

The IRS' new requirements for reporting of Uncertain Tax Positions were among those included in FEI CEO's 2011 Top Challenges for Financial Executives published earlier this year, and took FIN 48 (in pre-Codification nomenclature, FASB's rules for reporting of Uncertain Tax Positions) to a new level by creating new IRS reporting requirements for UTP.

Additional links to information relating to Schedule UTP, including IRS Ann. 2010-75, Reporting of Uncertain Tax Positions, and IRS Ann. 2010-76, Policy of Restraint and Uncertain Tax Positions, can be found on the IRS website here.

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