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duties; and they do not bind the public, and do not go through
notice-and-comment rulemaking.14
There can be little doubt that, in this classification, both
general and specific authority tax regulations are intended to
bind the public and have the force of law. The IRS and Treasury
use the same regulation-writing process for both general and
specific authority regulations, subjecting both to the same
painstaking review under the IRS’s “Regulation Drafting
Handbook,” I.R.M. 32.1.5. Both types are issued as Treasury
decisions, and both are signed by an Assistant Treasury Secretary
and the IRS Commissioner. And when the Code penalizes taxpayers
for “disregard of rules and regulations,” sec. 6662, it penalizes
them for disregard of either type of regulation. See sec.
1.6662-3(b)(2), Income Tax Regs.
Chevron’s distinction between explicit and implicit
congressional delegations of authority certainly doesn’t reflect
any difference between general and specific authority
regulations. The Court there cited to four cases as examples of
14 The confusing nomenclature prompted one academic to
propose calling Treasury regulations issued under section 7805
“general authority” regulations, and Treasury regulations issued
under other sections “specific authority” regulations.
Coverdale, “Court Review of Tax Regulations and Revenue Rulings
in the Chevron Era,” 64 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 35, 55 (1995). I
adopt this convention for the remainder of this Opinion.
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