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.
No determinations match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
Home-purchase bridge loan does not justify late IRA rollover
An IRA owner withdrew funds to use as a short-term loan for buying a new home, intending to replace them after selling other property. She completed only a partial rollover before the 60-day…
Spouse may roll trust-routed IRA proceeds into her own IRA
A decedent died without naming an IRA beneficiary, so the account passed to his estate and then to a trust under his will. His surviving spouse was the estate's personal representative, the trust's…
Adviser errors placing IRA funds in taxable account receive rollover relief
An IRA owner instructed financial advisers to move his IRA funds into a new rollover IRA that would invest in a global investment fund. The advisers prepared documents identifying the investor as…
Bank's incorrect two-year advice leads to IRA rollover relief
An IRA owner asked a financial institution how long she had to roll a distribution into another IRA. An employee incorrectly told her that she had two years, so she left the money unused in a…
Widow abroad during rollover period receives 60-day relief
A surviving spouse left the United States for family support after her husband's death. While she was abroad, his employer plan distributed his entire benefit to her, and the full 60-day rollover…
IRA penalty waived, but annuity uses another beneficiary's life expectancy
A decedent's former spouse became entitled to part of an IRA annuity after litigation among competing beneficiaries froze the account and delayed required minimum distributions. The IRS found that…
Adviser form error leads to rollover relief for withheld tax
An IRA owner asked an investment adviser to move funds from an annuity back into the IRA. The adviser completed a distribution form but failed to mark the sections requesting a direct transfer and…
Timely authorization fixes contribution date before custodian processing
A non-bank IRA and Coverdell education account custodian accepted irrevocable letters of authorization directing transfers from customers' taxable accounts. Processing could occur after the…
Multiemployer plan receives three conditional funding waivers
A multiemployer pension plan lost more than half its contributing employers, experienced declining work hours, entered critical status, and adopted a rehabilitation plan. The IRS found that at least…
IRS modifies conditions on pension plan amortization extension
A multiemployer pension plan previously received a seven-year extension for amortizing unfunded liabilities from the plan year beginning October 1, 2002. The financial crisis and ensuing recession…
Care for dying mother-in-law justifies late rollover waiver
A taxpayer received a qualified-plan distribution and intended to roll part of it into an IRA. During the 60-day period, he was the primary caretaker for his mother-in-law as her serious medical…
Mortgage-modification delay does not justify rollover waiver
An IRA owner withdrew funds while pursuing a mortgage modification because she anticipated needing cash to prevent foreclosure. She intended to return any unused amount, but waited until the…
Death before a requested direct rollover supports a deadline waiver
A retirement plan participant requested a direct rollover to another employer plan but died before the rollover was completed. His surviving spouse, acting as the estate's personal representative,…
Improperly titled IRA transfer does not create a spousal election
A surviving spouse was the sole beneficiary of his deceased wife's IRA, but his guardian signed transfer papers as executor of the wife's estate and moved the funds to an account titled for that…
Divorce transfer does not modify substantially equal IRA payments
An IRA owner began a series of substantially equal periodic payments calculated under Revenue Ruling 2002-62. After the owner and a former spouse divorced, the decree required about half of the IRA…
Financial institution error receives 60-day rollover waiver
A participant asked to roll an entire employee stock ownership plan account directly into an IRA. Cash moved to the IRA, but a financial institution declined to hold two promissory notes and failed…
Pension lump-sum window satisfies minimum distribution rules
A company proposed a limited window allowing certain pension participants and beneficiaries already receiving annuities to elect a lump sum or a different annuity form. The company represented that…
Bank error receives 60-day IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner's certificate of deposit matured, and she instructed a nearby financial institution to place the proceeds in a rollover IRA. The institution instead opened a certificate of deposit…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year funding amortization extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested the automatic extension permitted for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that without relief the plan would face an accumulated…
Company receives conditional pension funding waiver for 2012
A company requested a waiver of its pension plan's minimum required contribution for the plan year ending December 31, 2012. It attributed the shortfall to a temporary substantial business hardship…
Care for elderly mother excuses missed IRA rollover deadline
A taxpayer withdrew funds from an IRA certificate of deposit intending to place them in a higher-paying IRA certificate, but deposited the distribution into a non-IRA account. During the 60-day…
Financial-institution error excuses late IRA rollover
A taxpayer received a distribution from one IRA and intended to roll it into a self-directed IRA. Following a financial-institution representative's instructions, the taxpayer instead deposited the…
Medical impairment supports IRA rollover waiver
A taxpayer with a medical condition affecting neurological function received advice to change IRA beneficiaries and take a small charitable distribution. Confused by the condition, the taxpayer…
Multiemployer plan receives funding-amortization extension
A multiemployer plan requested the automatic extension available for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that without relief the plan would have an accumulated funding…
Five-year funding-amortization extension approved
A multiemployer plan applied for the automatic extension of time to amortize specified unfunded liabilities. The plan's actuary certified that without the extension the plan would have an…
Business investment did not qualify for a late IRA rollover
A taxpayer withdrew funds from an IRA to buy an interest in a limited partnership after advisers said the interest could be titled directly in the IRA's name. The arrangement did not use a bank or…
Five-year funding-amortization extension approved
A multiemployer plan requested an automatic extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. The plan's actuary certified that without the extension the plan would have an accumulated…
Failure to explain rollover deadline did not excuse late deposits
A taxpayer took distributions from a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA, then deposited the amounts into like accounts after the 60-day rollover period expired. She said the original custodian acted as…
Court-approved IRA settlement avoided gift, income, and excise taxes
After two IRA owners died, a beneficiary, an estate, and a charity litigated who owned the inherited accounts. A mediated court-approved settlement determined that the estate and charity had owned…
University retirement and welfare plans qualified as church plans
A religious order reorganized a university into a separate tax-exempt entity while retaining religious oversight through membership, board, mission, and operating arrangements. The order's…
Roth recharacterization relief granted after return preparer misconduct
A taxpayer instructed a financial institution to recharacterize five Roth IRAs after their values declined, but his longtime return preparer failed to file the taxpayer's return and did not disclose…
Minimum funding waiver granted with contribution and collateral conditions
A company sought a waiver of its pension plan's minimum funding standard after a prolonged economic downturn caused operating losses and weaker cash flow. The IRS concluded that the business…
IRA rollover waiver granted after adviser-led investment loss
Two taxpayers withdrew amounts from three retirement accounts after a financial adviser proposed a short-term investment that was supposed to return principal and interest within the 60-day rollover…
IRA rollover waiver granted after illness impaired financial decisions
Shortly after hospitalization for possible amnesia, a taxpayer experienced months of dizziness, headaches, and confusion and moved maturing IRA certificates of deposit into a taxable non-IRA account…
Lump-sum window for current annuitants did not violate distribution rules
A company proposed amending two defined benefit plans to offer a one-time, 180-day window in which participants, alternate payees, and beneficiaries already receiving annuities could elect lump-sum…
Plan participant received waiver for late rollover of loan offset
A retirement-plan participant with Parkinson's disease took disability leave while medication side effects impaired his memory and ability to manage daily details. His employer later changed his…
Surviving spouse may roll trust-held IRA proceeds into her own IRA
A decedent named a revocable trust established by his spouse as the beneficiary of his IRA. The spouse was the trust's sole trustee and could withdraw its income or principal and amend or revoke it…
Taxpayer received waiver after retirement check went to an old address
A former employee's retirement plan terminated after the employer was acquired. The plan sent distribution information and a check to an address the taxpayer had not used for almost four years, so…
Sole beneficiary and executor may roll estate-held IRA proceeds into her own IRA
A decedent named his estate as beneficiary of an IRA and left the estate's remainder to his surviving spouse after payment of debts, funeral costs, and administrative expenses. The spouse was also…
Trust owner and sole trustee may roll IRA proceeds into her own IRAs
A decedent named a revocable trust established by his spouse as the beneficiary of his IRA. After his death, that IRA was transferred to another IRA for the trust's benefit. The spouse was the…
Multiemployer plan received five-year funding extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested more time to amortize unfunded liabilities. The plan's actuary certified that without an extension the plan would have a funding deficiency in the current or…
Surviving spouse received extra time to roll over inherited annuity funds
A surviving spouse received a lump-sum distribution from her late husband's section 403(b) annuity after friends mistakenly requested that form of payment. She contacted her longtime investment…
Trust could divide inherited IRA among 18 beneficiaries without immediate tax
A decedent named a trust as beneficiary of four IRAs, which were consolidated into one IRA after his death. After other specified distributions, the trust had 18 remaining individual beneficiaries…
Annuity death benefits qualified as direct IRA transfers despite incorrect forms
A decedent's trust was the beneficiary of four annuities held in an IRA. The investment adviser's assistant mistakenly completed claim forms requesting checks payable to the trust instead of direct…
Sole executor and beneficiary could roll estate IRA into her own IRA
A husband named the beneficiary of his IRA through his will, and his wife became the sole beneficiary and sole personal representative of his estate. The original IRA was transferred to an estate…
Taxpayer received an IRA rollover deadline waiver after a bank delay
A taxpayer withdrew funds from an IRA and instructed a financial institution to transfer the amount to another IRA within the 60-day rollover period. The institution did not complete the transfer…
Pension plan received a conditional extension for funding its liabilities
A frozen multiple-employer pension plan requested more time to amortize its unfunded liabilities because many participating employers were under financial stress. The IRS conditionally extended the…
IRA rollover deadline waived after funds entered the wrong account
A taxpayer withdrew IRA funds after a financial-institution employee advised that moving them to another account would produce a higher interest rate without changing their IRA status. The taxpayer…
Illness supported a waiver for three inherited-IRA rollovers
A taxpayer inherited three IRAs from her deceased spouse and received distributions from each account. She deposited the money into checking accounts rather than completing rollovers within 60 days.…
Medical impairment supported a qualified-plan rollover waiver
A taxpayer received a distribution from a qualified retirement plan and intended to roll it into an IRA. During the 60-day rollover period, a medical condition impaired her ability to complete the…
Bank miscommunication supported an IRA rollover waiver
A taxpayer took a full distribution from an IRA and brought the check to a bank intending to keep the funds in an IRA certificate of deposit. She told the bank representative that she wanted a CD…
Rollover waiver denied when taxpayer simply forgot the deadline
A taxpayer received an IRA distribution, deposited it in a nonqualified checking account, and intended to move it to another IRA. He knew about the 60-day rollover deadline but forgot to act until…
Insolvent terminated pension plan was denied a funding-extension modification
A collectively bargained multiemployer pension plan had previously received a conditional ten-year extension for amortizing unfunded liabilities. The plan later missed an agreed funded-ratio…
Fraud justified a waiver of the IRA rollover deadline
An IRA owner directed two transfers to a financial entity that claimed it could serve as custodian of a new self-directed real estate IRA. The entity was not qualified as an IRA custodian, and its…
Fraud justified late rollovers from two IRAs
An IRA owner directed transfers from two existing IRAs to a financial entity that claimed it could serve as custodian of a new self-directed real estate IRA. The entity was not a qualified IRA…
Existing work and family pressures did not justify a late IRA rollover
An IRA owner took a distribution after suffering investment losses and intended to roll it into an account at another financial institution. During the rollover period, she worked long hours, cared…
Financial mismanagement by an agent justified a late IRA rollover
An assisted-living resident had given her brother power of attorney over all financial matters, and the ruling record included a physician’s letter stating that she was being treated for senile…
Reliance on an adviser justified late Roth IRA recharacterizations
A taxpayer converted portions of a traditional IRA into two Roth IRAs in 2010. His financial adviser explained that declining investments could be recharacterized back to traditional IRAs but did…
Spinoff shares retained employer-security treatment for net unrealized appreciation
A company spun off a subsidiary, and assets attributable to the subsidiary’s employees were transferred from one profit-sharing and employee stock ownership plan to another. The IRS ruled that the…
Limited lump sum window did not violate minimum distribution rules
A frozen defined benefit plan proposed a 60-to-90-day window allowing participants, beneficiaries, and alternate payees already receiving annuities to elect a lump sum or another available annuity…
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.