IRS Will No Longer Print Paper Copies of Internal Revenue Bulletin

AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury

ACTION: Eliminating printing on paper of the Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB) and eliminating the creation of the Cumulative Bulletin (CB)

SUMMARY: The IRS is no longer printing paper copies of the IRB, which the IRS distributed directly to certain stakeholders. The yearly subscription sold by the Superintendent of Documents is unaffected. Also, the IRS will not create the CB after the 2008-2 edition.

DATE: This announcement is effective immediately.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The IRB is available on IRS.gov before printed copies are available. Also, the majority of items (about two-thirds) that appear in the IRB are released with a News Release about a month ahead of when the item appears in the IRB. Since all items in the IRB are available electronically, almost a month in advance of being available in the printed IRB, we are eliminating the printing of paper copies of the IRB, which are distributed directly from the IRS. The cost savings to printing and postage would be $148,000 annually.

Media and Publications contacted several IRB external stakeholders in May 2011 to elicit their comments and concerns. From the stakeholders we heard from, the most pressing concerns were for paper copies of the January issue continue to be printed and electronic notification of when the new IRB is available.

Accordingly, as a cost cutting measure, the IRS is no longer printing paper copies of the IRB, which the IRS distributed directly to certain stakeholders. Also, the IRS will not create the CB after the 2008-2 edition.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

If you have comments concerning this issue, you can write to the Gerald J. Shields, LL.M., Internal Revenue Service, Tax Products Coordinating Committee, SE:W:CAR:MP:T:M:S, 1111 Constitution Ave. NW, IR-6526, Washington, DC 20224. Do not send any tax forms to this address.