IRS Written Determinations
Free IRS private letter rulings, technical advice memoranda, and Chief Counsel advice with plain-English summaries and the official IRS release on every page.
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Surviving spouse may roll trust-held IRA into her own IRA
A decedent named a trust as beneficiary of an IRA, and the surviving spouse became the trust's sole trustee and sole beneficiary. The spouse allocated the IRA to a survivor's trust, had authority to…
IRA rollover deadline waived after funds went to brokerage account
An IRA owner directed a financial institution to complete a direct rollover from one IRA to another. The receiving institution mistakenly deposited the funds into a regular brokerage account, while…
Substitute pension mortality tables approved for up to 10 years
A single-employer defined benefit plan requested permission to use substitute male and female mortality tables for funding computations under IRC § 430. The proposed rates were based on the plan…
Substitute pension mortality tables approved for up to 10 years
A single-employer defined benefit plan requested permission to use substitute male and female mortality tables for funding computations under IRC § 430. The proposed rates were based on the plan…
Self-directed real estate plan does not justify late IRA rollover
An IRA owner took two distributions and used them to buy real estate that he intended to place in a self-directed IRA. Although he hired several professionals, he personally orchestrated the…
Fraud-hidden Roth IRA loss supports late recharacterization
An IRA owner converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA and then invested part of the Roth account through an adviser in commodity-pool investments. The investment manager allegedly issued false…
Custodian's LLC transfer instructions justify rollover waiver
An IRA owner wanted to invest retirement funds in an LLC and established a second IRA with the custodian. The custodian should have directed a trustee-to-trustee transfer to the second IRA before…
Family medical crises justify IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner took a distribution to pay for his mother-in-law's medical treatment outside the United States. She died during the 60-day rollover period before he used the full distribution, and his…
Retirement and welfare plans qualify as church plans
A tax-exempt nonprofit providing long-term care and residential services sponsored or participated in nine retirement and welfare benefit plans. Its board was controlled by members of a church, its…
Retirement and welfare plans qualify as church plans
A tax-exempt nonprofit providing long-term care and residential services sponsored or participated in nine retirement and welfare benefit plans. Its board was controlled by members of a church, its…
Day-care nonprofit's benefit plans qualify as church plans
A tax-exempt nonprofit providing day care for children, seniors, and others sponsored or participated in nine retirement and welfare benefit plans. Its board was controlled by members of a church,…
Disability residence benefit plans qualify as church plans
A tax-exempt nonprofit providing residential living for children and adults with developmental disabilities sponsored or participated in nine retirement and welfare benefit plans. Most of its…
Bank error supports waiver of IRA rollover deadline
An IRA owner asked a bank branch manager to move an IRA certificate of deposit into a new IRA with a higher interest rate. The manager instead deposited the distribution into the owner's personal…
Incorrect Roth information supports rollover deadline waiver
A retirement-plan participant received a distribution and timely rolled part of it into an IRA. A financial institution incorrectly reported another portion as nontaxable Roth contributions, so she…
Trustee error supports waiver for ESOP note rollover
An employee asked for a direct rollover of his entire ESOP account, which was to include cash and a promissory note. The plan trustee rolled over the cash but failed to deliver or roll over the…
Unknown IRA closure qualifies for rollover waiver
A bank closed a taxpayer's IRA without his knowledge and transferred the funds to a state division. The taxpayer learned of the closure months later, promptly recovered the funds, and redeposited…
Adviser error qualifies illiquid IRA investment for rollover waiver
A financial institution decided that an illiquid limited-partnership interest could no longer be held in a taxpayer's IRA. It notified the taxpayer's adviser, but the adviser failed to warn the…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year funding amortization extension
A multiemployer plan requested a five-year extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that the plan otherwise would have a funding deficiency in the current or…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year funding amortization extension
A multiemployer plan requested a five-year extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that the plan otherwise would have a funding deficiency in the current or…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year funding amortization extension
A multiemployer plan requested a five-year extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that the plan otherwise would have a funding deficiency in the current or…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year funding amortization extension
A multiemployer plan requested a five-year extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that the plan otherwise would have a funding deficiency in the current or…
Financial institution error supports IRA rollover waiver
A taxpayer withdrew funds from one IRA and instructed another financial institution to deposit them into a second IRA. The institution instead placed the money in a non-IRA account, and the error…
Agent error supports waiver for self-directed IRA rollover
A taxpayer asked an agent to roll two IRA funds into a self-directed IRA for investment in a company. The agent instead prepared a form making the distribution checks payable to the company, which…
See-through trust may divide IRA into five inherited beneficiary IRAs
A decedent who had already reached the required beginning age named a revocable trust as the beneficiary of an IRA, and the trust became irrevocable at death. After other obligations were satisfied…
Rollover waiver denied when family issues did not cause delay
A retiree received a lump-sum distribution after missing an appointment to discuss his benefit options and then missed the 60-day rollover deadline. He cited family responsibilities and a medical…
IRA owner receives rollover waiver after adviser error
An IRA owner asked financial advisers to calculate required minimum distributions from an IRA and a separate retirement plan. The advisers incorrectly said both obligations could be satisfied from…
Employer may freeze floor-offset plan accruals
An employer maintained a floor-offset retirement arrangement combining a defined benefit pension plan with a profit-sharing plan. It proposed freezing pension accruals and ending most future…
VEBA avoids UBIT on transferred retiree-benefit reserve income
A collectively bargained voluntary employees' beneficiary association planned to receive assets from a retirement funding account under a group life insurance policy and use them for retiree health…
Financial institution error earns IRA rollover waiver
A taxpayer tried to transfer an IRA between financial institutions. The first institution issued the distribution check to her instead of the receiving institution, and her financial advisor then…
Mistitled IRA receives rollover deadline waiver
A retirement plan participant intended to move his plan balance into an IRA in his own name. His spouse, acting as the plan trustee, followed the financial institution's online instructions, but the…
Caregiving crisis excuses missed IRA rollover deadline
A taxpayer received an IRA distribution while serving as the primary caregiver for her seriously ill husband, who had always managed the couple's financial affairs. She deposited the funds into a…
Roth 401(k) rollover error receives deadline waiver
A former employee asked an investment company to roll his Roth 401(k) balance directly into a Roth IRA. The plan custodian sent the check to the company, but its representatives deposited the money…
Incorrect advice excuses late IRA redeposit
A taxpayer withdrew money from his IRA to pay off a home equity loan so he could co-sign his son's mortgage. An adviser told him to replace the funds with a new home equity loan after the mortgage…
Misrouted IRA transfer receives rollover waiver
A taxpayer asked to transfer his IRA between financial institutions. The first institution issued the distribution check to him rather than the receiving institution, and his financial advisor then…
Brokerage delay earns waiver for cash-and-stock rollover
A former employee received a plan distribution consisting of cash, a check payable to the receiving brokerage, and a stock certificate issued in the brokerage's name but bearing the taxpayer's…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year funding extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested more time to amortize specified unfunded liabilities. The plan submitted an actuarial certification that it would otherwise face an accumulated funding…
Widow receives waiver for late rollover of part of husband's IRA distribution
A deceased IRA owner's account was canceled after the issuer learned of his death, and the proceeds were paid to his estate. His widow, the named beneficiary and estate representative, used part of…
Bank error qualifies IRA rollover for a deadline waiver
An IRA owner withdrew funds from two IRAs and instructed a bank to consolidate the rollover amount in a new rollover IRA holding a certificate of deposit. The bank employee instead opened a taxable…
Medical incapacity qualifies partial IRA rollover for waiver
An IRA owner took a full distribution intending to move most of it to another IRA with a better return. Part of the distribution was her required minimum distribution, while the remainder was…
Spouse's medical crisis and late notice support rollover waiver
A former employee chose a lump-sum pension distribution during a short election window. The initial election notice did not explain rollover options, and the required IRC § 402(f) notice was dated…
Adviser-caused IRA distribution receives rollover deadline waiver
An IRA owner had enough non-IRA resources to make a third-party loan, but his financial adviser told him to fund the investment with an IRA distribution. The distributed funds were invested and were…
Medical impairment supports waiver of IRA rollover deadline
An individual withdrew money from an IRA to purchase a home and timely rolled over only part of the distribution. Medical documentation showed that a progressive condition impaired his cognitive…
Bank error supports waiver of IRA rollover deadline
An individual had a longstanding practice of moving matured IRA certificates of deposit to different banks for better interest rates. He instructed a financial institution to place two IRA…
Self-directed investment error does not justify rollover waiver
An individual received an IRA distribution intending to move the money to a different investment but deposited it into a non-IRA investment. Several months later, while contacting another financial…
Deteriorating vision supports waiver of IRA rollover deadline
An IRA trustee resigned and closed an individual's IRA, issuing the account balance directly to her. At the time, deteriorating vision prevented her from understanding the tax consequences and…
Late Roth IRA recharacterization receives 60-day extension
A taxpayer timely asked an IRA custodian to reverse a Roth conversion, but the custodian did not receive a required signature page and the taxpayer did not receive the custodian's follow-up letter.…
Misrouted Roth recharacterization receives 60-day extension
A taxpayer directed a custodian to recharacterize a Roth conversion back to the qualified retirement plan that had supplied the funds. Before the deadline, the custodian said the request was ready…
Pension minimum funding waivers approved with conditions
An automotive-parts supplier sought waivers of its pension plan's minimum required contributions for two redacted plan years after industry decline, a reduced customer base, and necessary…
Hospitalization and agent resignation support rollover waiver
A taxpayer authorized an agent to consolidate her investment accounts, but the agent deposited an IRA distribution into a non-IRA account and then abruptly resigned without explaining the rollover…
IRS denies rollover waiver for business-day deadline mistake
A taxpayer withdrew funds from an IRA to pay off a home mortgage and intended to replace the funds within 60 business days. She made two deposits after the actual 60-calendar-day rollover period had…
Caregiving and hospitalization support rollover waiver
A taxpayer withdrew his entire IRA balance intending to find another IRA with a better return. During the rollover period, his wife developed serious health problems, he became her full-time…
Taxpayer receives more time to undo Roth IRA conversion
A taxpayer converted part of a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 2010 after receiving advice and a projection while she was single. She married that year and filed jointly, which made the tax cost of…
Withholding error supports 60-day rollover waiver
A taxpayer directed a financial institution to roll her entire qualified-plan balance directly into an IRA. The institution transferred only 80 percent and mistakenly sent the remaining 20 percent…
Governmental excess-benefit plan qualifies under section 415(m)
A state retirement system proposed a mandatory excess-benefit arrangement for governmental defined-benefit plan participants whose pensions were limited by § 415. The arrangement would pay only the…
Care for ill spouse justifies late IRA rollover waiver
A taxpayer received an IRA distribution intending to roll it into a new IRA, but deposited the check in a bank account instead. During the 60-day rollover period, the taxpayer's spouse became…
Custodians' bad advice justifies late IRA rollover waiver
A taxpayer used an IRA to invest in a promissory note secured by real property after two financial institutions advised that the investment and payee arrangement were permitted. The IRA documents…
Misdeposit into non-IRA account receives rollover waiver
A retirement-plan participant instructed one financial institution to send a direct rollover to an IRA at another institution. The distributing institution issued a check labeled as a direct…
Medical impairment justifies partial IRA rollover waiver
A taxpayer's medical condition impaired his mental state and ability to manage financial affairs. He became convinced that his IRA adviser was stealing, closed the IRA, and moved the funds into a…
Medical condition justifies late rollover of two IRA distributions
A taxpayer withdrew funds from two IRAs after certificates of deposit matured and, following a bank representative's advice, placed the combined amount in a money market account. A medical condition…
Unintended duplicate IRA distribution receives rollover waiver
A taxpayer requested what he believed was his required minimum distribution from an IRA, unaware that the financial institution would also process an automatic in-kind distribution. His tax preparer…
What these documents are
- Private letter rulings (PLRs): A taxpayer asked the IRS to rule on a planned transaction before doing it. The ruling shows exactly how the IRS applied the Code to those facts.
- Technical advice memoranda (TAMs): The IRS National Office answering a question raised during an audit or other proceeding.
- Chief Counsel advice (CCAs): IRS lawyers advising their own field staff on how to apply the law.
- Determination letters: Rulings on exempt-organization matters, such as whether an organization qualifies under § 501(c)(3) or a foundation's grant procedures pass § 4945.
- Not precedent, still useful: Under 26 U.S.C. § 6110(k)(3) none of these can be cited as precedent. They remain the best public window into how the IRS actually rules on facts like yours, and practitioners read them for exactly that.