(a) General rule. The running of the applicable period of limitations on assessment provided for in section 6501 is suspended with respect to any return of tax by a corporation that is the subject of a designated or related summons if a court proceeding is instituted with respect to that summons.
(b) Period of suspension. The period of suspension is the time during which the running of the applicable period of limitations on assessment provided for in section 6501 is suspended under section 6503(j). If a court requires any compliance with a designated or related summons by ordering that any record, document, paper, object, or items be produced, or the testimony of any person be given, the period of suspension consists of the judicial enforcement period plus 120 days. If a court does not require any compliance with a designated or related summons, the period of suspension consists of the judicial enforcement period, and the period of limitations on assessment provided in section 6501 shall not expire before the 60th day after the close of the judicial enforcement period.
(c) Definitions—(1) A designated summons is a summons issued to a corporation (or to any other person to whom the corporation has transferred records) with respect to any return of tax by such corporation for a taxable period for which such corporation is being examined under the coordinated industry case program or any other successor to the coordinated examination program if—
(i) The Division Commissioner and the Division Counsel of the Office of Chief Counsel (or their successors) for the organizations that have jurisdiction over the corporation whose tax liability is the subject of the summons have reviewed the summons before it is issued;
(ii) The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issues the summons at least 60 days before the day the period prescribed in section 6501 for the assessment of tax expires (determined with regard to extensions); and
(iii) The summons states that it is a designated summons for purposes of section 6503(j).
(2) A related summons is any summons issued that—
(i) Relates to the same return of the corporation under examination as the designated summons; and
(ii) Is issued to any person, including the person to whom the designated summons was issued, during the 30-day period that begins on the day the designated summons is issued.
(3) The judicial enforcement period is the period that begins on the day on which a court proceeding is instituted with respect to a designated or related summons and ends on the day on which there is a final resolution as to the summoned person's response to that summons.
(4) Court proceeding—(i) In general. For purposes of this section, a court proceeding is a proceeding filed in a United States district court either to quash a designated or related summons under section 7609(b)(2) or to enforce a designated or related summons under section 7604. A court proceeding includes any collateral proceeding, such as a civil contempt proceeding.
(ii) Date when proceeding is no longer pending. A proceeding to quash or to enforce a designated or related summons is no longer pending when all appeals (including review by the Supreme Court) are disposed of or after the expiration of the period in which an appeal may be taken or a request for further review (including review by the Supreme Court) may be made. If, however, following an enforcement order, a collateral proceeding is brought challenging whether the testimony given or production made by the summoned party fully satisfied the court order and whether sanctions should be imposed against the summoned party for a failure to so testify or produce, the proceeding to quash or to enforce the summons shall include the time from which the proceeding to quash or to enforce the summons was brought until the decision in the collateral proceeding becomes final. The decision becomes final on the date when all appeals (including review by the Supreme Court) are disposed of or when all appeal periods or all periods for further review (including review by the Supreme Court) expire. A decision in a collateral proceeding becomes final when all appeals (including review by the Supreme Court) are disposed of or when all appeal periods or all periods for further review (including review by the Supreme Court) expire.
(5) Compliance—(i) In general. Compliance is the giving of testimony or the performance of an act or acts of production, or both, in response to a court order concerning the designated or related summons and the determination that the terms of the court order have been satisfied.
(ii) Date compliance occurs. Compliance with a court order that wholly denies enforcement of a designated or related summons is deemed to occur on the date when all appeals (including review by the Supreme Court) are disposed of or when the period in which an appeal may be taken or a request for further review (including review by the Supreme Court) may be made expires. Compliance with a court order that grants enforcement, in whole or in part, of a designated or related summons, occurs on the date the IRS determines that the testimony given, or the books, papers, records, or other data produced, or both, by the summoned party fully satisfy the court order concerning the summons. The IRS will determine whether there has been full compliance within a reasonable time, given the volume and complexity of the records produced, after the later of the giving of all testimony or the production of all records requested by the summons or required by any order enforcing any part of the summons. If, following an enforcement order, collateral proceedings are brought challenging whether the production made by the summoned party fully satisfied the court order and whether sanctions should be imposed against the summoned party for a failing to do so, the suspension of the periods of limitations shall continue until the order enforcing any part of the summons is fully complied with and the decision in the collateral proceeding becomes final. A decision in a collateral proceeding becomes final when all appeals are disposed of, the period in which an appeal may be taken has expired or the period in which a request for further review may be made has expired.
(6) Final resolution occurs when the designated or related summons or any order enforcing any part of the designated or related summons is fully complied with and all appeals or requests for further review are disposed of, the period in which an appeal may be taken has expired or the period in which a request for further review may be made has expired.
(d) Special rules—(1) Number of summonses that may be issued—(i) Designated summons. Only one designated summons may be issued in connection with the examination of a specific taxable year or other period of a corporation. A designated summons may cover more than one year or other period of a corporation. The designated summons may require production of information that was previously sought in a summons (other than a designated summons) issued in the course of the examination of that particular corporation if that information was not previously produced.
(ii) Related summonses. There is no restriction on the number of related summonses that may be issued in connection with the examination of a corporation. As provided in paragraph (c)(2) of this section, however, a related summons must be issued within the 30-day period that begins on the date on which the designated summons to which it relates is issued and must relate to the same return as the designated summons. A related summons may request the same information as the designated summons.
(2) Time within which court proceedings must be brought. In order for the period of limitations on assessment to be suspended under section 6503(j), a court proceeding to enforce or to quash a designated or related summons must be instituted within the period of limitations on assessment provided in section 6501 that is otherwise applicable to the tax return.
(3) Computation of suspension period if multiple court proceedings are instituted. If multiple court proceedings are instituted to enforce or to quash a designated or one or more related summonses concerning the same tax return, the period of limitations on assessment is suspended beginning on the date the first court proceeding is brought. The suspension shall end on the date that is the latest date on which the judicial enforcement period, plus the 120 day or 60 day period (depending on whether the court requires any compliance) as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, expires with respect to each summons.
(4) Effect on other suspension periods—(i) In general. Suspensions of the period of limitations under section 6501 provided for under subsections 7609(e)(1) and (e)(2) do not apply to any summons that is issued pursuant to section 6503(j). The suspension under section 6503(j) of the running of the period of limitations on assessment under section 6501 is independent of, and may run concurrent with, any other suspension of the period of limitations on assessment that applies to the tax return to which the designated or related summons relates.
(ii) Examples. The rules of paragraph (d)(4)(i) of this section are illustrated by the following examples:
The period of limitations on assessment against Corporation P, a calendar year taxpayer, for its 2007 return is scheduled to end on March 17, 2011. (Ordinarily, Corporation P's returns are filed on March 15th of the following year, but March 15, 2008, was a Saturday, and Corporation P timely filed its return on the subsequent Monday, March 17, 2008, making March 17, 2011 the last day of the period of limitations on assessment for Corporation P's 2007 tax year.) On January 4, 2011, a designated summons is issued to Corporation P concerning its 2007 return. On March 3, 2011 (14 days before the period of limitations on assessment would otherwise expire with respect to Corporation P's 2007 return), a court proceeding is brought to enforce the designated summons issued to Corporation P. On June 6, 2011, the court orders Corporation P to comply with the designated summons. Corporation P does not appeal the court's order. On September 6, 2011, agents for Corporation P deliver material that they state are the records requested by the designated summons. On October 13, 2011, a final resolution to Corporation P's response to the designated summons occurs when it is determined that Corporation P has fully complied with the court's order. The suspension period applicable with respect to the designated summons issued to Corporation P consists of the judicial enforcement period (March 3, 2011, through October 13, 2011) and an additional 120-day period under section 6503(j)(1)(B), because the court required Corporation P to comply with the designated summons. Thus, the suspension period applicable with respect to the designated summons issued to Corporation P begins on March 3, 2011, and ends on February 10, 2012. Under the facts of this Example 1, the period of limitations on assessment against Corporation P further extends to February 24, 2012, to account for the additional 14 days that remained on the period of limitations on assessment under section 6501 when the suspension period under section 6503(j) began.
Assume the same facts set forth in Example 1, except that in addition to the issuance of the designated summons and related enforcement proceedings, on April 5, 2011, a summons concerning Corporation P's 2007 return is issued and served on individual A, a third party. This summons is not a related summons because it was not issued during the 30-day period that began on the date the designated summons was issued. The third-party summons served on individual A is subject to the notice requirements of section 7609(a). Final resolution of individual A's response to this summons does not occur until February 15, 2012. Because there is no final resolution of individual A's response to this summons by October 5, 2011, which is six months from the date of service of the summons, the period of limitations on assessment against Corporation P is suspended under section 7609(e)(2) to the date on which there is a final resolution to that response for the purposes of section 7609(e)(2). Moreover, because final resolution to the summons served on individual A does not occur until after February 10, 2012, the end of the suspension period for the designated summons, the period of limitations on assessment against Corporation P expires 14 days after the date that the final resolution as provided for in section 7609(e)(2) occurs with respect to the summons served on individual A.
(5) Computation of 60-day period when last day of assessment period falls on a weekend or holiday. For purposes of paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section, in determining whether a designated summons has been issued at least 60 days before the date on which the period of limitations on assessment prescribed in section 6501 expires, the provisions of section 7503 apply when the last day of the assessment period falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.
(e) Effective/applicability date. This section is applicable on July 31, 2009.
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