As it does each year, the IRS issued updates to certain procedural matters, in Rev. Procs. 2022-1, 2022-2, and 2022-3. The first one is the revised procedures for issuing letter rulings; it was modified by Rev. Proc. 2022-10 and amplified by Rev. Proc. 2022-19. The significant changes from Rev. Proc. 2021-1 are:

• Taxpayer identification numbers (TINs) and contact information are required for all interested parties;
• Electronic signatures are allowed on Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative.
• Income tax determination requests to the Small Business/Self-Employed Division can only be submitted electronically;
• The address for paper requests has been consolidated; and
• The fee for additional time to make an S election is the same as the fee for Sec. 9100 relief.

Revised procedures for furnishing technical advice (Rev. Proc 2022-2) were updated for the same electronic signature requirements as in Rev. Proc. 2022-1. Annually, the third revenue procedure issued updates the “no rule” listing. Rev. Proc. 2022-3 was amplified and modified by Rev. Proc. 2022-19, amplified by Rev. Proc. 2022-28 and Rev. Proc. 2022-32. The 2022 version indicates that whether a taxpayer is engaged in a “specified service trade or business” for purposes of Sec. 199A is an area for which rulings will not ordinarily be issued.

Sec. 24: Child tax credit

Tiebreaker for credits tied to dependents: In Gopi, the Tax Court denied the additional child tax credit, earned income tax credit (EITC), head-of-household status, and dependency for two grandchildren of the taxpayer. The taxpayer’s daughter moved in with the taxpayer and did not reveal that she was married. The taxpayer supplied all of the grandchildren’s support except for some tax-free benefits provided to his daughter. He was unaware that his daughter was married and had filed a joint return with her husband for the tax year in question that also claimed the same children as dependents as the taxpayer did. Although the taxpayer qualified for all of the credits and dependency exemptions, the tiebreaker rule applies when more than one individual claims the same child or children as dependents, i.e., which individual is the parent of the qualifying child or children. Therefore, the Tax Court held, the grandfather did not qualify for the child-related tax benefits.

Noncustodial parent allowed credit: In Hicks, the taxpayer and his children’s mother never married but had entered into a series of agreements about who could claim dependency exemptions. Each parent was to claim one of the two children each year. The mother had custody for more than half of each year but lived with her mother and did not file a tax return for 2014, the year in question. The taxpayer and the children’s mother lived apart from one another. The grandmother (the mother’s mother) claimed both children as dependents and claimed the child tax credit. The father provided more than half of both children’s support. Although the father did not attach to his return Form 8332, Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent, or other required documentation to show his entitlement to the credit, he did provide it upon examination and was granted the credit for one child.