How the New CRAT Listed-Transaction Rule Affects Accounting Firms

Accounting firms that advise on charitable remainder annuity trusts have a new disclosure obligation that took effect the moment it was published. A final rule from the Treasury Department, published July 9, 2026 in the Federal Register and cited as 91 FR 42353, identifies certain charitable remainder annuity trust (CRAT) transactions, and substantially similar transactions, as listed transactions — a category of reportable transaction that carries its own disclosure filing requirement with the IRS. The rule took effect the same day it was published, so there is no separate runway before the disclosure obligation applies.

This brief walks through what the rule changes, who it reaches, what to check now that the disclosure requirement is already live, and how it fits the broader window of federal rulemaking accounting firms are tracking this year. It is written for compliance, tax, and advisory teams who need the substance of the rule without working through the full Federal Register notice themselves. The obligation and the effective date come first; everything else is context.

Key Takeaways

• A final rule from the Treasury Department (91 FR 42353) identifies certain CRAT transactions, and substantially similar transactions, as listed transactions, effective July 9, 2026.

• Material advisors and certain participants in these listed transactions are required to file disclosures with the IRS and are subject to penalties for failure to disclose.

• The rule amends 26 CFR Part 1 and carries RIN 1545-BQ58.

• Organizations whose only role or interest in the transaction is as a charitable remainderman are not treated as participants in the transaction, and are not treated as parties to a prohibited tax shelter transaction subject to excise taxes and disclosure requirements.

• The effective date and the published date are the same — July 9, 2026 — so the disclosure obligation applies to transactions identified from that date forward with no lead-in period.

• This rule is one of 342 federal rules a point-in-time index tracks across 10 agencies covering the industries US Tech Automations serves; it did not arrive in isolation.

What This Rule Actually Does

Listed transactions are a category the IRS uses to flag transaction types it has identified as tax avoidance transactions or transactions closely related to them. Once a transaction type is listed, both the taxpayers who participate in it and the material advisors who help structure or promote it generally take on a disclosure obligation that goes beyond ordinary return filing.

This rule adds certain charitable remainder annuity trust transactions, and substantially similar transactions, to that listed-transaction category. As the Federal Register notice describes it, material advisors and certain participants in these CRAT transactions are required to file disclosures with the IRS, and failure to disclose carries penalties. The rule also carves out a specific group: organizations whose only role or interest in the transaction is as a charitable remainderman are not treated as participants in the transaction, and are not treated as parties to a prohibited tax shelter transaction subject to excise taxes and disclosure requirements.

The "substantially similar" language is worth sitting with, because it is doing real work in this rule. A listed-transaction designation is not limited to the exact fact pattern the IRS describes when it identifies the transaction type — it extends to variations that achieve the same tax result through a different structure. That means a firm cannot rule out the listed-transaction disclosure obligation simply because a client's CRAT arrangement differs in some details from the specific pattern the rule describes. The relevant question is whether the arrangement is substantially similar in substance, not whether it is identical in form.

The practical effect for a firm advising on charitable trust structures is a screening question added to every CRAT engagement: does this transaction, or a substantially similar one, fall within the listed-transaction description, and if so, who among the parties involved is a material advisor or a participant with a disclosure obligation.

Who Is Affected

The rule affects participants in these listed transactions and material advisors who help structure, promote, or advise on them — with a specific carve-out for charitable remaindermen whose only interest is that remainder role.

Accounting firms are typically the ones positioned to make the first call on whether a given CRAT structure — or something substantially similar to it — falls inside this listed-transaction description. Because the carve-out for charitable remaindermen is narrow (it applies only where that is the organization's sole role or interest), firms need to look at the full fact pattern of each client engagement rather than assuming any charity involved in a CRAT structure is automatically outside the disclosure requirement.

That distinction between "participant" and "material advisor" also matters for firms doing the screening. A participant is generally a party who takes part in the transaction itself, while a material advisor is someone who provides material aid, assistance, or advice on organizing, managing, promoting, selling, implementing, or carrying out the transaction and receives a fee for doing so. An accounting firm advising a client on setting up a CRAT structure that turns out to be a covered listed transaction may itself have a material-advisor disclosure obligation, separate from whatever obligation the client-participant carries — which is exactly why the screening question needs to be asked about every party to the engagement, not just the client.

What Accounting Firms Should Do Before the Deadline

Because the effective date and the published date are both July 9, 2026, the rule requires accounting firms to already be screening CRAT engagements against the listed-transaction description. There is no separate window to prepare — the work is to confirm this screening is built into current engagement checklists now.

• Review current and recent client CRAT engagements to determine whether any fall within the listed-transaction description or are substantially similar to it.

• Identify which parties to each covered transaction are material advisors or participants with a disclosure obligation.

• Confirm whether any charitable organization involved in a client's CRAT structure qualifies for the charitable-remainderman carve-out, based on its full role in the transaction rather than its name alone.

• Update engagement checklists and workpapers that reference 26 CFR Part 1 to reflect the listed-transaction classification and its disclosure requirement.

• Document the July 9, 2026 effective date in client files so audit trails show when the listed-transaction classification began applying.

Operationalizing Listed-Transaction Screening at Volume

For a firm advising on more than a handful of charitable trust structures, the risk is not misunderstanding the listed-transaction rule — it is failing to screen every CRAT engagement against it consistently, or missing that a substantially similar transaction also falls within scope. US Tech Automations builds this kind of check as a standing agentic workflow rather than a one-time review: every CRAT engagement is screened against the listed-transaction description at intake, the material-advisor and participant disclosure obligations are tracked per transaction, and the charitable-remainderman carve-out is applied based on the full fact pattern rather than left to a preparer's memory. Firms exploring how to build this kind of screening into their own engagement process can review US Tech Automations for accounting-specific agentic workflows.

How This Fits the Broader Regulatory Window

This rule is one entry in a much larger set of federal compliance obligations accounting firms are tracking this year. It sits inside a point-in-time index of 342 U.S. federal rules published July 1, 2024 – July 9, 2026 by 10 agencies governing our covered industries — a reminder that a single listed-transaction designation rarely arrives alone, and that a firm tracking only the rule in front of it is likely missing several others moving on a similar clock.

Listed-transaction designations like this one tend to draw sustained IRS scrutiny well past the effective date, since both the disclosure obligation and the underlying transaction can be examined for years afterward. Firms that document their screening process now are in a stronger position when that scrutiny arrives.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did the CRAT listed-transaction rule take effect?

The rule took effect July 9, 2026, the same date it was published in the Federal Register. There was no separate compliance runway; the listed-transaction classification applies to covered transactions from the effective date forward.

What transactions does this rule cover?

The rule covers certain charitable remainder annuity trust (CRAT) transactions and transactions substantially similar to them, which it identifies as listed transactions — a type of reportable transaction.

Who has to file a disclosure under this rule?

Material advisors and certain participants in the covered CRAT transactions are required to file disclosures with the IRS. Failure to disclose carries penalties, though this rule does not specify a dollar amount for those penalties.

Are charities involved in a CRAT structure automatically exempt from this rule?

No. Only organizations whose sole role or interest in the transaction is as a charitable remainderman are excluded from being treated as participants or as parties to a prohibited tax shelter transaction. A charity with a broader role in the structure would need its full fact pattern reviewed.

Which CFR part does this rule amend?

The rule amends 26 CFR Part 1 and carries RIN 1545-BQ58.

Where can I read the official rule?

The rule is cited as 91 FR 42353, carries RIN 1545-BQ58, and was published July 9, 2026 in the Federal Register. The current regulatory text it amends is available through the eCFR at 26 CFR Part 1.

Related guidance

For adjacent obligations accounting firms are tracking this cycle, see our guides on information reporting for life insurance transfer-for-valuable-consideration transactions, syndicated conservation easement listed transactions, the advanced manufacturing investment credit rules, the domestically controlled foreign corporation guidance, and the election to exclude certain unincorporated organizations.

Disclaimer

This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Regulatory obligations turn on facts specific to each firm and each client transaction, and the law can change. Before acting on anything described here, consult a qualified attorney or tax advisor who can evaluate your particular circumstances.

Every date, citation, RIN, CFR reference, and figure in this post is copied verbatim from the Federal Register and eCFR as of the snapshot date. Nothing is estimated, modeled, or extrapolated. This is not legal or tax advice.

Last reviewed: July 9, 2026.

Source: U.S. Federal Register (91 FR 42353); current text via eCFR, 26 CFR Part 1.