The Internal Revenue Manual is the single official source for IRS policies, directives, guidelines, procedures and delegations of authority in the IRS. The IRM represents the keystone of a suite of tax administration tools that meet the needs of the IRS business unit employees. The public and practitioners have access to most of the IRM via the official IRS web-site and the IRS public Reading Room. Other information in the IRM is classified as Official Use Only. The IRM consists of the following:

• Policy statements are major decisions of the Commissioner and other specified executives that govern and guide personnel in the administration of the tax laws.
• Procedures and guidelines tell IRS employees how to serve taxpayers in administering the nations’ tax laws.
• Delegations of authority are official notification by the Commissioner of certain rights and responsibilities delegated to subordinate officials. Delegations of authority effecting taxpayers are also published in the Federal Register.

The IRM is broken down into parts, chapters and sections. Being very structured, authors must adhere to a specific page format and numbering scheme. A review process is in place where stakeholders are provided the chance to correct or modify potential changes to the procedural guidance before publication. The specific business unit owner within the IRS is responsible for ensuring that all IRM content is accurate, up to date, and cleared through proper stakeholders. The modernization of the IRS required a redesigned IRM based on business processes. This will simplify researching the IRM for everyone. Within the IRS, the Servicewide Policy, Directives and Electronic Research organization is responsible for overseeing the content owners and authors of the IRM to ensure they publish information that is current and correct. The goal is to eliminate non-value added and duplicative information. A network of business unit coordinators has been established throughout the IRS to oversee their respective organizations’ portion of the IRM. Authors are also taught writing techniques to improve quality. The IRS holds annual symposiums with commercial vendors of the IRM to increase its utility to practitioners by striving to make sure the IRM is consistent across all of the vendors. During these meetings vendors are provided with plans for process improvements, new technologies and at the same time the IRS listens to feedback to improve the accuracy and timeliness of the public IRM. A historical file of the IRM is also maintained.

Internal Revenue Manual
The Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) contains the policies, procedures, instructions, guidelines, and delegations of authority which direct the operation and administration of the Internal Revenue Service. Topics include tax administration, personnel and office management, and others. The IRM also contains the Chief Counsel Directives Manual (CCDM) in Parts 30-42.