Revenue Ruling 2005-56 - August 29, 2005

LIFO; price indexes; department stores. The June 2005 Bureau of Labor Statistics price indexes are accepted for use by department stores employing the retail inventory and last-in, first-out inventory methods for valuing inventories for tax years ended on, or with reference to, June 30, 2005.

The following Department Store Inventory Price Indexes for June 2005 were issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The indexes are accepted by the Internal Revenue Service, under § 1.472-1(k) of the Income Tax Regulations and Rev. Proc. 86-46, 1986-2 C.B. 739, for appropriate application to inventories of department stores employing the retail inventory and last-in, first-out inventory methods for tax years ended on, or with reference to, June 30, 2005.

The Department Store Inventory Price Indexes are prepared on a national basis and include (a) 23 major groups of departments, (b) three special combinations of the major groups - soft goods, durable goods, and miscellaneous goods, and (c) a store total, which covers all departments, including some not listed separately, except for the following: candy, food, liquor, tobacco, and contract departments.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DEPARTMENT STORE INVENTORY PRICE INDEXES BY DEPARTMENT GROUPS (January 1941 = 100, unless otherwise noted)
Groups		June 2004	June 2005	Percent Change from June 2004 to June 2005¹
1.	Piece Goods	490.9	504.8	2.8
2.	Domestics and Draperies	538.7	519.1	-3.6
3.	Women’s and Children’s Shoes	631.8	650.4	2.9
4.	Men’s Shoes	854.5	878.2	2.8
5.	Infants’ Wear	567.3	559.9	-1.3
6.	Women’s Underwear	508.4	541.4	6.5
7.	Women’s Hosiery	329.9	340.0	3.1
8.	Women’s and Girls’ Accessories	581.5	588.9	1.3
9.	Women’s Outerwear and Girls’ Wear	361.9	347.5	-4.0
10.	Men’s Clothing	540.3	536.9	-0.6
11.	Men’s Furnishings	578.3	562.8	-2.7
12.	Boys’ Clothing and Furnishings	431.3	413.6	-4.1
13.	Jewelry	897.4	872.3	-2.8
14.	Notions	791.9	810.4	2.3
15.	Toilet Articles and Drugs	998.9	997.0	-0.2
16.	Furniture and Bedding	624.2	598.7	-4.1
17.	Floor Coverings	592.9	604.6	2.0
18.	Housewares	712.6	711.9	-0.1
19.	Major Appliances	200.4	204.3	1.9
20.	Radio and Television	41.9	39.0	-6.9
21.	Recreation and Education²	80.7	78.5	-2.7
22.	Home Improvements²	129.3	137.8	6.6
23.	Automotive Accessories²	112.4	114.6	2.0

Groups 1-15: Soft Goods		559.3	552.0	-1.3
Groups 16-20: Durable Goods		384.1	379.8	-1.1
Groups 21-23: Misc. Goods²		93.4	93.4	0.0

	Store Total³	496.5	490.8	-1.1

¹Absence of a minus sign before the percentage change in this column signifies a price increase.
²Indexes on a January 1986 = 100 base.
³The store total index covers all departments, including some not listed separately, except for the following: candy, food, liquor, tobacco and contract departments.

DRAFTING INFORMATION

The principal author of this revenue ruling is Michael Burkom of the Office of Associate Chief Counsel (Income Tax and Accounting). For further information regarding this revenue ruling, contact Mr. Burkom at (202) 622-7924 (not a toll-free call).

You can either: Search all IRS Bulletin Documents issued since January 1996, or Search the entire site. For a more focused search, put your search word(s) in quotes.

LIFO; Price Indexes; Department Stores

DRAFTING INFORMATION