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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IRS advice confirms Medicare premium deductions under IRC § 162(l)
The Office of Chief Counsel concluded that all Medicare parts constitute medical care insurance for purposes of the self-employed health insurance deduction under IRC § 162(l). The memorandum…
IRS advice treats an airplane lease as a change in use for depreciation
The Office of Chief Counsel concluded that an airplane’s primary use changed when it was leased to a certified air carrier for charter operations. The taxpayers had previously depreciated the…
IRS advice defers cooperative patronage-dividend deductions under IRC § 267
The Office of Chief Counsel concluded that IRC § 267(a)(2) applies to patronage dividends paid by a cooperative to related domestic patrons, so the cooperative may not deduct the amounts until they…
IRS treats a refinancing transaction as separate from an earlier restructuring
The IRS issued a supplemental private letter ruling concerning a refinancing involving affiliated entities, stock sales, a stock distribution, and debt restructuring. It ruled that the later…
PLR 201228033: Corporate separation and merger planned for tax-free treatment
A corporate group asked the IRS about a proposed separation of two business lines, followed by a merger of one separated business with an unrelated public company. The plan included converting three…
PLR 201228032: IRS grants 120-day extension to elect disregarded-entity status
A domestic corporation asked for more time to elect to treat a foreign subsidiary as disregarded for federal tax purposes. The corporation said it had intended the election to be effective on an…
PLR 201228031: IRS grants 120-day extension to elect disregarded-entity status
A domestic corporation asked for more time to elect to treat a foreign subsidiary as disregarded for federal tax purposes. The corporation said it had intended the election to be effective on an…
PLR 201228030: IRS approves a complex corporate separation and spin-off plan
A multinational corporate group asked about a complex restructuring that would separate transferred businesses from retained businesses. The plan included multiple subsidiary liquidations and…
PLR 201228029: Utility management agreement does not create private business use
A governmental electric utility asked whether a proposed agreement to operate and maintain its bond-financed transmission and distribution system would create private business use of the bond…
PLR 201228028: IRS permits late S corporation election
A corporation asked the IRS to recognize a late election to be treated as an S corporation. Its shareholders intended the S election to be effective on an earlier date, but Form 2553 was not timely…
PLR 201228027: IRS permits late S corporation election
A newly incorporated company asked the IRS to recognize a late election to be treated as an S corporation. Its sole shareholder intended the election to be effective on an earlier date, but Form…
PLR 201228026: Donations to federal commemorative organization are deductible
A congressionally created organization asked whether contributions made to it would be tax deductible. The organization was part of a federal agency, staffed by federal employees, subject to…
PLR 201228025: IRS restores S corporation status after inadvertent termination
An S corporation issued stock to a partnership and a corporation, making those shareholders ineligible for S corporation status. The corporation later redeemed the partnership's shares and replaced…
PLR 201228024: IRS restores S corporation status after an inadvertent termination
An S corporation's election terminated when a trust that held its stock failed to make an electing small business trust election. The stock then passed to another trust before being transferred to…
PLR 201228023: IRS permits an extended bankruptcy liquidation period and delays cancellation-of-debt income
A corporate group in Chapter 11 bankruptcy asked whether its wind-down plan would continue to qualify as a plan of liquidation for federal income tax purposes. The IRS ruled that the plan could…
PLR 201228022: IRS allows a late S corporation election for reasonable cause
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status effective on its incorporation date but did not timely file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed filing and allowed the…
PLR 201228021: IRS permits a retroactive qualified electing fund election
The IRS allowed a regulated investment company to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for its investment in a passive foreign investment company. The taxpayer had relied on tax…
PLR 201228020: IRS rules on the tax treatment of government-allocated carbon credits
A real estate investment trust with a controlled foreign corporation that operated timber plantations asked about government-allocated carbon credits. The IRS ruled that the foreign corporation…
PLR 201228019: IRS grants more time for a historic rehabilitation credit election
A limited partnership that owned a historic structure had agreed to make an election treating its tenant as having purchased the property for purposes of the rehabilitation credit. The election was…
PLR 201228018: IRS restores S corporation status after an ineligible shareholder transfer
An S corporation's election terminated when an ineligible shareholder became the owner of its stock. The corporation took corrective action so that the shareholder was no longer a shareholder and…
PLR 201228017: IRS finds proposed trust disclaimers would not be taxable gifts
A taxpayer planned to disclaim contingent interests in two irrevocable trusts created before 1977. The disclaimers would be executed within nine months after the taxpayer reached the age of…
PLR 201228016: IRS treats three historic buildings as one project for rehabilitation credit purposes
Three partnerships planned to rehabilitate three historic buildings as part of an interconnected research and commercial development. The taxpayer asked whether the buildings' combined net rentable…
PLR 201228015: IRS treats three historic buildings as one project for rehabilitation credit purposes
Three partnerships planned to rehabilitate three historic buildings as part of an interconnected research and commercial development. The taxpayer asked whether the buildings' combined net rentable…
PLR 201228014: IRS treats a rural telephone cooperative's stock-sale gain as patronage-sourced
A rural telephone cooperative planned to sell stock in a telecommunications service company and use the proceeds for construction projects serving its members. The cooperative had acquired and held…
PLR 201228013: IRS allows net operating loss carryovers across residency changes
A resident alien planned to move abroad, become a nonresident alien, and later return to live in the United States while continuing a U.S. business through disregarded entities. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 201228012: IRS approves a family succession redemption with installment treatment
A corporation's sole shareholder planned to give stock to two children and then have the corporation redeem the shareholder's remaining shares for cash and a promissory note. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 201228011: IRS approves a qualified stock purchase and related corporate separation steps
A publicly traded corporate group planned to separate a business through a newly formed corporation, an exchange of target stock for Newco stock, public and private sales of Newco stock, and later…
PLR 201228010: IRS restores S corporation status after a missed QSST election
An S corporation's election terminated when a trust became a shareholder without filing the required qualified subchapter S trust election. The IRS concluded that the termination was inadvertent and…
PLR 201228009: IRS preserves S corporation status after trust election failures
An S corporation's two trust shareholders stopped qualifying as qualified subchapter S trusts after failing to distribute all their income, and additional events may have affected one trust's…
PLR 201228008: IRS grants more time for a consolidated NOL carryback election
A consolidated corporate group missed the election to carry back a consolidated net operating loss for an extended period under IRC § 172(b)(1)(H). The IRS found that the group acted reasonably and…
PLR 201228007: IRS grants a consolidated group more time to make an extended NOL carryback election
A consolidated corporate group failed to timely make an election to carry back a consolidated net operating loss for an extended period. The IRS found that the group acted reasonably and in good…
PLR 201228006: IRS allows late entity classification and S corporation elections
A newly formed limited liability company intended to be treated as a corporation and to elect S corporation status for federal tax purposes. It failed to timely file both Form 8832, the entity…
PLR 201228005: IRS grants more time to waive the carryback period for a consolidated NOL
A corporation that became part of another consolidated group failed to timely elect to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss. The IRS found that the former common…
PLR 201228004: IRS grants a consolidated group more time to make an extended NOL carryback election
A consolidated corporate group failed to timely make an election to carry back a consolidated net operating loss for an extended period. The IRS found that the group acted reasonably and in good…
PLR 201228003: IRS recognizes a corporation as an S corporation after a late election
A corporation intended to be treated as an S corporation beginning on a specified date but did not timely file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election. Provided the…
PLR 201228002: IRS approves tax treatment for a corporate spin-off and consolidated group restructuring
A foreign parent planned to place its U.S. distributing corporation under a newly formed subsidiary, then have the distributing corporation distribute all of the stock of a controlled corporation to…
PLR 201228001: IRS grants relief for a late S corporation election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended for it to be treated as an S corporation, but the corporation did not timely file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election. Provided…
PLR 201227011: IRS declines to waive the 60-day IRA rollover requirement
An individual received a distribution from an IRA and intended to roll the amount into another retirement account, but forgot to deposit the check within the 60-day period. The IRS declined to waive…
PLR 201227010: IRS waives the 60-day IRA rollover requirement after erroneous advice
An individual received a distribution from an IRA and intended to move it into a self-directed IRA, but the amount was instead placed in a non-IRA account after the individual relied on erroneous…
PLR 201227009: IRS waives the 60-day IRA rollover requirement after postal error
Two taxpayers received distributions from their IRAs and mailed checks to a financial institution to complete rollovers. The checks were returned after the 60-day rollover period had expired because…
PLR 201227008: IRS grants more time to recharacterize ineligible Roth IRA conversions
An individual converted amounts from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 2008 and 2009. Later, additional dividend income caused the individual's modified adjusted gross income to exceed the limit…
IRS approval of a five-year extension for amortizing a pension plan's unfunded liabilities
The IRS approved a five-year automatic extension for a pension plan to amortize unfunded liabilities. The plan submitted the required information and an actuary's certification that it would…
Final adverse determination denying exemption for a grant-funded organization
The IRS issued a final adverse determination denying exemption under § 501(c)(3) to an organization formed to obtain grant funding for a related for-profit company. The organization's founders…
PLR 201227005: IRS approves a private foundation's scholarship grant procedures
The IRS approved a private foundation's proposed scholarship grant-making procedures under § 4945(g)(1). The foundation planned to award scholarships for elementary, secondary, undergraduate, and…
PLR 201227004: IRS treats a late S corporation election as timely for reasonable cause
The IRS granted a corporation relief for failing to timely file Form 2553 to elect S corporation status. The corporation's sole shareholder intended the election to be effective on a specified date,…
PLR 201227003: IRS preserves S corporation status after an inadvertent termination
An S corporation's election terminated after stock was transferred to two trusts and the required electing small business trust elections were not properly filed. The corporation represented that…
PLR 201227002: IRS treats oilfield waste treatment and recovered products as qualifying income
The IRS ruled that income from removing, treating, recycling, and disposing of waste generated by oil and gas wells during hydraulic fracturing qualified as qualifying income under § 7704(d)(1)(E).…
PLR 201227001: IRS treats specialized transport of petroleum products as qualifying income
The IRS ruled that a limited partnership's gross income from transporting refined petroleum products and other products to customers working at drilling, exploration, production, and mining sites…
PLR 201226039: IRS permits late recharacterization of Roth IRA conversions
The IRS granted a married couple up to 60 days to recharacterize two Roth IRA conversions as traditional IRAs. The couple said they relied on a financial advisor who did not explain that the 2008…
PLR 201226038: IRS denies extra time to recharacterize Roth IRA conversions
The IRS denied a married couple's request for 60 additional days to recharacterize three Roth IRA conversions as traditional IRAs. An IRS audit had disallowed listed-transaction losses and treated…
PLR 201226037: IRS waives the 60-day rollover deadline after a financial institution error
The IRS waived the 60-day rollover requirement for a taxpayer who intended to roll a retirement-plan distribution into an IRA. The taxpayer followed instructions from a financial institution, but…
PLR 201226036: IRS waives rollover deadlines after fraudulent investment advice
The IRS waived the 60-day rollover requirement for two retirement-plan distributions after a taxpayer was misled into believing that the funds had been deposited into a rollover IRA. The taxpayer…
PLR 201226035: IRS waives rollover deadline after an IRA transfer error
The IRS waived the 60-day rollover requirement after an IRA investment was transferred into a non-IRA trust fund when custodial fees went unpaid. The taxpayer said he relied on a financial advisor…
PLR 201226034: IRS grants partial waiver of IRA rollover deadline
The IRS waived the 60-day rollover requirement for two IRA distributions that a taxpayer accidentally deposited into a non-IRA account after following misleading website prompts. The taxpayer…
PLR 201226033: IRS approves a private foundation's high-school scholarship procedures
The IRS approved a private foundation's proposed scholarship grant-making program under § 4945(g)(1). The foundation planned to award a four-year scholarship to one student at each participating…
PLR 201226032: IRS approves a private foundation's high-school scholarship procedures
The IRS approved a private foundation's proposed scholarship grant-making program for high school students under § 4945(g)(1). The program would award $x per year for up to four years to one student…
PLR 201226031: IRS approves changes to an employer-related scholarship program
The IRS approved changes to a private foundation's previously approved employer-related scholarship program for children of employees of a redacted business and its subsidiaries. The program awards…
PLR 201226030: IRS approves a teacher family-engagement fellowship program
The IRS approved a private foundation's fellowship program for teachers in redacted-state public and charter schools. The program would award stipends and possible additional amounts for speaking…
IRS denies exemption to a foreclosure counseling organization
The IRS finalized an adverse determination denying exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3) to an organization that provided or planned to provide legal and financial services to homeowners facing…
CCA 201226028: Section 6038D penalty is assessable without deficiency procedures
Chief Counsel advice concluded that the penalty under IRC § 6038D is not itself part of a deficiency. IRC §§ 6665 and 6671 can bring some penalties within deficiency procedures when they are…
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.