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Ezel / IRS Rulings / 202007017
Chief Counsel Advice 202007017 Released February 14, 2020 Advice

Chief Counsel advises that only one FPAA generally issues per partnership year, with a tiered-partnership exception

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This page covers one taxpayer's ruling from 2020, which can't be cited as precedent. Ezel answers your situation under the current Code and IRS guidance, with citations.

Currency note: this determination was released in 2020
Statutory amendments, regulation changes, court decisions, or later IRS guidance may have changed the analysis since then. Treat this page as historical context, not current tax advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, threshold, or position mentioned here.
Not precedent. Under 26 U.S.C. § 6110(k)(3), this written determination may not be used or cited as precedent. It resolved one taxpayer's situation on its specific facts, and identifying details were redacted by the IRS before release. The official IRS release (linked on this page as a PDF) is the authoritative source.
About this page: The plain-English summary and ruling snapshot below were written by Ezel based on the official IRS release. The full text is the IRS's own document.
View official IRS release (PDF)

Plain-English summary

This short Chief Counsel email answers whether the IRS can issue more than one
Final Partnership Administrative Adjustment (FPAA) for the same partnership tax
year under the old TEFRA partnership audit rules. The general answer is no:
under IRC § 6223(f), the IRS may issue only one FPAA for a given year unless
there is fraud, malfeasance, or misrepresentation of a material fact. The email
notes one exception: when a TEFRA partnership is itself a partner in another
TEFRA partnership and partner-level factual determinations are needed at the
upper-tier partnership to apply the results of the lower-tier proceeding, the
IRS may issue an FPAA to make those partner-level determinations, citing IRC
§ 6230(a)(2)(C) and American Milling, LP v. Commissioner.

Ruling snapshot

  • Question: May the IRS issue multiple FPAAs for a single TEFRA partnership taxable year?
  • Outcome: advice (generally no, absent fraud/malfeasance/misrepresentation; a tiered-partnership exception applies for partner-level determinations)
  • Key authorities: IRC §§ 6223(f), 6230(a)(2)(C); American Milling, LP v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2015-192

Full text (IRS public release)

ID: CCA_2019112008475043
UILC: 6223.00-00, 6230.01-00

Number: 202007017
Release Date: 2/14/2020
From:
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2019 8:47:50 AM
To:
Cc:
Bcc:
Subject: RE: Are multiple FPAAs possible?

Generally, no. With regard to making adjustments in an examination of the partnership
the IRS may only issue one FPAA for a particular taxable year, absent fraud,
malfeasance, or misrepresentation of material fact. I.R.C. section 6223(f). However, if a
TEFRA partnership (TP2) is a partner in another TEFRA partnership (TP1) and partner-
level factual determinations are needed at the TP2 level in order to apply the results of
the final determination in the TP1 TEFRA proceeding, an FPAA may be issued to TP2
to make those partner-level factual determinations (like an affected item SND). See
I.R.C. section 6230(a)(2)(C); Am. Milling, LP v. Comm’r, T.C. Memo. 2015-192.

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