The Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) is an official compendium of internal guidelines for personnel of the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
[1][2] The IRM was made publicly available through the Freedom of Information Act.
According to CCH (formerly known as Commerce Clearing House, Inc.): In the Internal Revenue Manual, the IRS states: The Internal Revenue Manual itself is not the law.
The general rule is that neither the taxpayer nor the IRS is bound by the Internal Revenue Manual.
See, e.g., United States v. Horne[5] and First Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v.