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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CCA 1244016: Federal tax lien priority depends on assessment and state lien choateness
Chief Counsel advised that federal tax lien priority is determined by comparing the federal tax assessment date with the filing date of the state tax lien. The federal lien arises upon assessment,…
TAM 1244015: Smart electric meters are six-year information-system assets
The taxpayer, a regulated electric utility, asked how to classify advanced smart meters and related data equipment for depreciation. Chief Counsel concluded that the meters and associated equipment…
PLR 1244014: Court reformation would correct a mistaken trust transfer for gift tax purposes
Grantor and Grantor’s spouse each intended to transfer an interest in their residence to a separate qualified personal residence trust. A scrivener’s error caused Grantor’s deed to name the spouse’s…
PLR 1244013: IRS grants extra time for a late Canadian RRSP election
Taxpayers who moved from Canada to the United States had Canadian registered retirement savings plan accounts. Their tax preparers did not tell them to make the election needed to defer U.S. tax on…
PLR 1244012: Different share-class fees do not create preferential dividends for a REIT
A real estate investment trust planned to issue three classes of common stock with different distribution, dealer manager, advisory, and class-specific expense allocations. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 1244011: IRS grants more time to elect disregarded-entity treatment
A domestic corporation formed a foreign entity and intended to elect disregarded-entity treatment for it, but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the requirements for late-election…
PLR 1244010: Retiree-benefit trust income is excluded under section 115(1)
A political subdivision established a trust to provide health care and life insurance benefits to eligible former district employees and their dependents. The trust would be funded by the political…
PLR 1244009: IRS grants a REIT more time to declare a dividend for a prior-year election
A real estate investment trust intended to declare a dividend by the extended due date for its prior-year federal income tax return. Its tax department's new personnel did not advise it of the…
PLR 1244008: IRS approves tax treatment for a two-stage corporate spin-off
A parent company planned to separate one business from another through an internal distribution followed by a pro rata distribution of the controlled company's stock to the public shareholders. The…
PLR 1244007: IRS approves a revised nuclear decommissioning funding schedule
A nuclear power plant owner requested a revised schedule of annual amounts for its nuclear decommissioning fund after the plant's operating license was extended. The IRS concluded that the taxpayer…
PLR 1244006: IRS approves tax treatment for three related corporate distributions
A foreign parent planned to separate several businesses through deemed contributions and three related stock distributions involving two distributing companies and two controlled companies. The…
PLR 1244005: IRS permits a homeowners association to revoke a section 528 election
A homeowners association filed Form 1120-H and elected the tax treatment provided by IRC § 528 without discussing the choice with its accounting firm. A new accounting firm later advised the…
PLR 1244004: IRS approves liquidating-trust and partnership-termination treatment
A limited partnership sold its assets and wanted to distribute the proceeds and dissolve, but it faced known and possible contingent liabilities. It formed a trust to hold cash, resolve those…
PLR 1244003: IRS grants more time for a PFIC mark-to-market election
A regulated investment company failed to identify two foreign corporations as passive foreign investment companies and did not make the IRC § 1296 mark-to-market elections for the prior tax year.…
PLR 1244002: IRS grants relief for an inadvertent S-corporation termination
An S corporation transferred shares to three trusts, but the trustees did not timely make the required elections to treat the trusts as electing small business trusts. The corporation represented…
PLR 1244001: IRS grants more time for a disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 to elect classification as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes, effective from its formation date. The IRS granted the entity 120…
PLR 1243021: IRS waives excise tax for late notices to alternate payees and unions
A company froze future pension benefit accruals and gave the required notices to affected employees, but not to certain alternate payees and unions. The company said it relied on experienced pension…
IRS grants a five-year amortization extension for a multiemployer plan
The IRS approved a request for a five-year automatic extension to amortize specified unfunded liabilities of a multiemployer plan. The extension applied to eligible amortization charge bases…
PLR 1243019: IRS declines to waive the 60-day IRA rollover deadline
An older taxpayer withdrew money from an IRA to secure an assisted-living arrangement while waiting for her home to sell. The home sold after the 60-day rollover period, and the distributed amount…
PLR 1243018: IRS waives the 60-day IRA rollover deadline because of mental impairment
An IRA owner withdrew part of a distribution after a divorce settlement and missed the 60-day rollover deadline. The taxpayer submitted medical documentation that a worsening mental condition…
PLR 1243017: IRS approves Roth IRA treatment for an airline employee's estate and surviving spouse
The estate of a deceased airline employee received pension distributions that qualified for special rollover treatment under section 125 of WRERA. The IRS concluded that the estate could transfer…
PLR 1243016: IRS waives the 60-day rollover deadline after an advisor's account-number error
A taxpayer intended to transfer a distribution from her late husband's profit-sharing plan into an IRA. Her financial adviser entered the account number for a non-IRA account instead, so the…
PLR 1243015: IRS approves a private foundation's transfer of property to a related foundation
A private foundation planned to transfer real and personal property worth more than 25 percent of its assets to a related organization, Project, which was expected to qualify as a private operating…
CCA 1243014: Chief Counsel advises on consolidated net operating loss carrybacks
Chief Counsel reviewed advice about an unclaimed consolidated net operating loss carryback and agreed that the identified consolidated net operating loss should not be included in calculating…
CCA 1243013: Chief Counsel analyzes netting of intercompany asset sales
Chief Counsel analyzed whether allocating the total price from an intercompany sale equally among assets with different values and useful lives could distort a consolidated group's depreciation…
PLR 1243012: Estate receives more time to complete a QDOT rollover and related filings
The IRS ruled for an estate whose surviving spouse was not a United States citizen and whose estate tax return made a qualified domestic trust (QDOT) election for a retirement account. The estate…
PLR 1243011: IRS denies late election for a low-income housing credit project
The IRS denied a taxpayer's request for more time to elect the month used to determine the applicable percentage for a low-income housing credit project financed with tax-exempt bonds. The taxpayer…
PLR 1243010: Trustee receives more time to make a 2010 basis election
The IRS granted a trustee 120 days to file Form 8939 and make the Section 1022 Election for property acquired from a decedent who died in 2010. The decedent's assets were held in a revocable trust,…
PLR 1243009: IRS preserves an S corporation election after a trust missed an ESBT election
The IRS granted relief to a corporation whose S corporation election was ineffective because a trust holding its stock did not qualify as a QSST and the trustees had not timely filed an ESBT…
PLR 1243008: IRS extends time to elect QSub treatment for three subsidiaries
The IRS granted an S corporation 120 days to file Forms 8869 and elect to treat three wholly owned subsidiaries as qualified subchapter S subsidiaries. The parent had intended to make the elections…
PLR 1243007: IRS extends time to elect QSub treatment for a subsidiary
The IRS granted an S corporation 120 days to file Form 8869 and elect to treat a wholly owned subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. The parent had intended to make the QSub election but…
PLR 1243006: IRS approves division of a pre-1985 generation-skipping trust
The IRS approved a proposed division of an irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985 into four separate trusts for different family lines. It ruled that the divided trusts would retain…
PLR 1243005: IRS grants an LLC more time to elect corporate tax treatment
The IRS granted a business entity an extension of time to elect to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation for federal tax purposes. The entity had converted from a corporation to a…
PLR 1243004: Estate gets relief for QTIP and GST elections and trust divisions
The IRS granted an estate 120 more days to make a QTIP election, divide a trust into exempt and non-exempt trusts, make a reverse QTIP election, and allocate the decedent's available GST exemption.…
PLR 1243003: Integrated hotel and apartment units may be one building for depreciation
The IRS ruled that a mixed-use development containing hotel rooms and residential apartments could treat its hotel and apartment condominium units as a single building when determining whether the…
PLR 1243002: Company gets relief for a late S corporation election
The IRS granted a company relief after it failed to timely file Form 2553 to elect S corporation status. The company had been incorporated in its state and intended the election to be effective on…
PLR 1243001: IRS declines to recognize a retroactive trust reformation
The IRS declined to recognize a state court's retroactive reformation of a trust for federal gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer tax purposes. The reformation was intended to replace an…
IRS approves a five-year amortization extension for a pension plan
The IRS approved a plan's request for a five-year automatic extension to amortize certain unfunded liabilities. The extension applied to eligible amortization charge bases established as of January…
PLR 1242025: IRS waives the 60-day rollover deadline after a bank error
The IRS waived the 60-day rollover requirement for a taxpayer who received a deceased spouse's IRA distribution and intended to roll it into her own IRA. She delivered the check to a financial…
PLR 1242024: IRS waives the 60-day rollover deadline after employer error
The IRS waived the 60-day rollover requirement for a taxpayer whose employer failed to follow written instructions to deposit a retirement-plan distribution into an IRA. The taxpayer entered the…
PLR 1242023: IRS waives the 60-day rollover deadline after a taxpayer misunderstood a 30-day account restriction
The IRS waived the 60-day rollover requirement for a taxpayer who withdrew assets from an IRA and put them into a non-IRA money market account. The taxpayer believed, based on advice from a…
PLR 1242022: IRS waives the 60-day rollover deadline after a financial institution misdirected a distribution
The IRS waived the 60-day rollover requirement for a taxpayer whose financial institution deposited an IRA distribution into the wrong account. The taxpayer had sent instructions that amounts from…
PLR 1242021: IRS waives the 60-day rollover deadline after a taxpayer misunderstood a 30-day account restriction
The IRS waived the 60-day rollover requirement for a taxpayer who withdrew assets from an IRA and put them into a non-IRA money market account. The taxpayer believed, based on advice from a…
PLR 1242020: IRS approves tax treatment of spun-off employer stock in a retirement plan
The IRS addressed a qualified defined contribution plan that received shares of a subsidiary when the employer spun off that subsidiary. The IRS ruled that the subsidiary shares continued to qualify…
PLR 1242019: IRS approves stock treatment after a workforce transfer and corporate spin-off
The IRS addressed two retirement plans after a corporate reorganization and the transfer of employees from one company to another. It ruled that shares transferred from the original plan to the new…
PLR 1242018: IRS grants more time to recharacterize invalid Roth IRA conversions
The IRS granted a married couple up to 60 days to recharacterize Roth IRA conversions that were not permitted because their modified adjusted gross income exceeded the applicable limit. The couple…
IRS revokes an organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption after finding commercial activity and private inurement
The IRS issued a final adverse determination concluding that an organization did not qualify for exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3). The organization described housing, counseling, and other services,…
IRS denies section 501(c)(6) exemption to an association serving individual business interests
The IRS issued a final adverse determination denying exemption under IRC § 501(c)(6) to an association formed to serve health-care professionals. The association was controlled by one founder and…
IRS denies section 501(c)(3) exemption to a mentoring organization tied to a related LLC
The IRS issued a final adverse determination denying tax exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3) to a nonstock corporation formed to mentor underachieving students and provide related support services. The…
IRS denies section 501(c)(3) exemption to an Orthodox Jewish congregation
The IRS issued a final adverse determination denying tax exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3) to an Orthodox Jewish congregation that sought recognition as a church. The IRS found that the organization…
PLR 1242013: IRS approves a foundation’s cancer research grants to individual researchers
The IRS approved a private foundation's proposed grants to individual doctors and scientists conducting research on cancer treatments, with an emphasis on pediatric and anal cancers. The foundation…
PLR 1242012: IRS approves refined coal testing and feedstock rules for a production tax credit
The IRS approved four requested rulings for a refined-coal facility that uses a chemical process to reduce emissions from coal burned to produce electricity and steam. The ruling concludes that the…
CCA 1242011: Alaska municipalities are subject to wagering and occupational taxes
This Chief Counsel Advice concludes that Alaska municipalities are not agencies of a state for purposes of the wagering exemption in IRC § 4402(3). As a result, Alaska municipalities that engage in…
PLR 1242010: IRS grants more time for a consolidated NOL carryback election
The IRS granted a consolidated corporate group an extension of time to make an election for an extended carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss. The group had intended to make the…
PLR 1242009: IRS grants relief for an inadvertent S corporation election failure
The IRS granted relief to a corporation whose S corporation election was ineffective because a trust that acquired its stock did not make the required qualified subchapter S trust election. The IRS…
PLR 1242008: IRS grants a 60-day extension for a consolidated NOL election
The IRS granted a consolidated corporate group 60 days from the ruling date to make an election for an extended carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss. The group did not file a valid…
PLR 1242007: IRS approves a § 351 contribution followed by public offerings
The IRS approved a proposed transaction in which a partnership would transfer the assets and liabilities of a business group to a newly formed corporation in exchange for two classes of stock,…
PLR 1242006: IRS grants 120 days to make a QSub election
The IRS granted a parent corporation 120 days to elect to treat its wholly owned subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. The parent had acquired all of the subsidiary's stock, made an S…
PLR 1242005: IRS grants 120 days to elect out of automatic GST allocation
The IRS granted trustees 120 days to elect out of the automatic allocation of generation-skipping transfer tax exemption for five lifetime transfers to trusts benefiting the donor's grandchildren.…
PLR 1242004: IRS extends time for elections covering Canadian retirement plans
The IRS granted taxpayers 60 days to make elections under Rev. Proc. 2002-23 concerning Canadian registered retirement savings plans and registered pension plans. The taxpayers had moved from Canada…
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.