Internal Revenue Service
Revenue Ruling

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 Rev. Rul. 77-61

1977-1 C.B. 388

Section 6323

IRS Headnote

Notice of lien; one office for filing; Massachusetts. The Service is eliminating its dual filing of notices of Federal tax liens with respect to personal property in Massachusetts after June 12, 1977, and will file such notices only in the office of the U.S. district court for the judicial district in which the taxpayer resides or, if State law is amended to comply with section 6323(f) of the Code, only in the one office designated by State law. Rev. Ruls. 64-170, 64-252, and 66-63 superseded.

Full Text

Rev. Rul. 77-61

This Revenue Ruling modifies Rev. Rul. 64-170, 1964-1 (Part 1) C.B. 499, Rev. Rul. 64-252, 1964-2 C.B. 497 and Rev. Rul. 66-63, 1966-1 C.B. 287, pertaining to the provision in section 6323(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 to the effect that notices of Federal tax liens need only be filed in one office within a state or governmental subdivision thereof.

Section 6323(f) of the Code provides that notices of Federal tax liens shall be filed in one office within a state or governmental subdivision thereof, as designated by the laws of such state, in which the real or personal property subject to the lien is situated. In the event that state law does not designate such an office, notices of Federal tax liens shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the United States district court for the judicial district in which the real or personal property subject to the lien is situated. Real property is deemed to be situated at its physical location. Personal property, whether tangible or intangible, is deemed to be situated at the residence of the taxpayer at the time that the notice of Federal tax lien is filed.

As indicated in Rev. Rul. 64-170, the provisions of the Revised Uniform Federal Tax Lien Registration Act, requiring that for personal property a notice of Federal tax lien be filed in one or more local offices depending on the category of the property under State law, conflict with section 6323(a) of the Code (the pertinent provisions of which are now contained in section 6323(f)). Section 6323(f) requires that a notice of Federal tax lien be filed in the one office designated by State law or with the office of the clerk of the United States district court. Therefore, in states where the Revised Act is in effect, the Internal Revenue Service will file notices of Federal tax liens in the office of the clerk of the United States district court for the judicial district in which the taxpayer is domiciled (with respect to personal property) and in which the property is physically located (with respect to real property).

Rev. Rul. 64-252 amplified Rev. Rul. 64-170 by instituting a dual filing procedure for notices of Federal tax liens with respect to both real and personal property, in the states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Massachusetts where the Revised Uniform Federal Tax Lien Registration Act was in effect. Rev. Rul. 64-252 provides that, in addition to filing a notice of Federal tax lien with the clerk of the appropriate United States district court, the Service also will file such notice in specified town, city and county offices within the above mentioned states. This procedure was instituted in order to give these states time to amend their statutes to conform with section 6323 of the Code and for the convenience of persons who had occasion to search for such notices during the interim. Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have since revised their statutes to conform with section 6323.

Accordingly, Rev. Rul. 64-252 is modified by deleting any reference to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, since it no longer applies to notices of Federal tax liens filed in these states. In Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, notices of Federal tax liens are to be filed only in the office designated by state law for such filing.

Rev. Rul. 64-170 and Rev. Rul. 64-252 were modified, insofar as they relate to real property in the state of Massachusetts, by Rev. Rul. 66-63. Rev. Rul. 66-63 provides that the Service has no objection to the provision of Massachusetts law that requires that liens against real property be filed with the office of the register of deeds for the county in which the real property is located. Notices of Federal tax liens with respect to real property in Massachusetts will be filed with that office and will no longer be filed with the clerk of the appropriate United States district court.

The statements in Rev. Rul. 64-170, Rev. Rul. 64-252 and Rev. Rul. 66-63, to the effect that when a notice of Federal tax lien is to be filed in the office of the clerk of a United States district court with respect to personal property, it shall be filed with the clerk for the judicial district in which the taxpayer is domiciled, are modified to conform to section 6323(f)(2)(B) of the Code as enacted by the Federal Tax Lien Act of 1966. Under section 6323(f)(2)(B), personal property, whether tangible or intangible, is deemed to be situated at the residence of the taxpayer (as distinguished from domicile) at the time the notice of Federal tax lien is filed.

Accordingly, when a notice of Federal tax lien is to be filed in the office of the clerk of a United States district court with respect to personal property, it shall be filed with the clerk for the judicial district in which the taxpayer resides at the time of filing. See S. Rep. 1708, 89th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1966), 1966-2 C.B. 876, 883.

Rev. Rul. 66-63 and Rev. Rul. 64-252 are modified to the extent that they provide that notices of Federal tax liens filed in Massachusetts, with respect to personal property, shall be filed with the clerk of the appropriate United States district court, after June 12, 1977, the Service will file notices of Federal tax liens in Massachusetts, with respect to personal property only in the office of the clerk of the United States district court for the judicial district in which the taxpayer resides at the time of such filing, or, in the event the laws of Massachusetts are amended to comply with the "one office" requirement of section 6323(f) of the Code, only in the office designated by Massachusetts State law for such filing.

The Tax Reform Act of 1976, section 2008(c), added to section 6323(f) of the Code the additional requirement for recording a notice of Federal tax lien in a public index at the district office of the Service for the district in which the property subject to the lien is situated. This requirement is effective, in the case of liens filed before October 4, 1976, on the 270th day after October 4, 1976, or in the case of liens filed on or after October 4, 1976, on the 120th day after October 4, 1976.

Rev. Rul. 64-170, Rev. Rul. 64-252, and Rev. Rul. 66-63 are modified and, as modified, are superseded, since the positions stated therein are restated in this Revenue Ruling.