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 grants 60 days to make a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity with a single owner intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes but failed to timely file Form 8832. The IRS granted the entity 60 days from the…
IRS grants 60 days to make a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity with a single owner intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes but failed to timely file Form 8832. The IRS granted the entity 60 days from the…
IRS grants 60 days to make a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity with a single owner intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes but failed to timely file Form 8832. The IRS granted the entity 60 days from the…
IRS grants 60 days to make a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign entity formed as part of a restructuring intended to be treated as disregarded for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS granted the entity 60 days from the…
IRS grants 60 days to make a late partnership election
A foreign eligible entity formed as part of a restructuring intended to be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS granted the entity 60 days…
IRS grants 60 days to make a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity formed as part of a restructuring intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS granted the entity 60…
IRS grants 60 days to make a late partnership election
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS granted the entity 60 days from the ruling date to make the election,…
IRS grants 60 days to make a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign entity formed as part of a restructuring intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS granted the entity 60 days from…
IRS grants 60 days to make a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign entity formed as part of a restructuring intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS granted the entity 60 days from…
IRS grants 60 days to make a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign entity formed as part of a restructuring intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS granted the entity 60 days from…
IRS grants 60 days to make a late partnership election
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS granted the entity 60 days from the ruling date to make the election,…
IRS grants 60 days to make a late partnership election
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS granted the entity 60 days from the ruling date to make the election,…
IRS grants 60 days to make a late partnership election
A foreign eligible entity formed as part of a restructuring intended to be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS granted the entity 60 days…
IRS delays faster vesting rules for an ESOP until a loan is repaid or its scheduled payoff date
An employer's employee stock ownership plan had a five-year cliff vesting schedule and an outstanding loan used to acquire employer securities. The IRS concluded that the faster vesting rules added…
IRS waives the 60-day rollover deadline after an unauthorized retirement-plan distribution
An individual received a distribution from an employer retirement plan after the individual's spouse initiated the distribution without the individual's knowledge or consent. The IRS waived the…
IRS treats an accidental rollover into a payment IRA as not modifying substantially equal periodic payments
An individual was receiving substantially equal periodic payments from an IRA under the fixed amortization method. The individual later changed to the required minimum distribution method and then…
IRS waives the 60-day rollover deadline after a plan distribution was deposited into a non-IRA account
An individual received a distribution from a former employer's profit-sharing plan and instructed a financial institution to transfer it to an IRA. The financial institution instead deposited the…
IRS denies exemption after finding undefined programs and substantial private benefit
The IRS issued a final adverse determination that an organization did not qualify for exemption under section 501(c)(3). The organization had not provided enough detail about its programs, appeared…
IRS approves a private foundation's student grant-making procedures
The IRS approved a private foundation's procedures for awarding educational grants to students in a foreign country who attend secondary schools in the United States. The foundation's selection…
CCA discusses when settlement correspondence may bind the Service
Chief Counsel Advice discusses settlement agreements in a TEFRA partnership matter. The memorandum states that the Service styles its settlement agreements as taxpayer offers that do not become…
CCA addresses the assessment period after a partnership dissolves
Chief Counsel Advice addresses the assessment period for partnership-related taxable income. It states that if a partner is a taxable individual or C corporation and did not file a return, the…
CCA considers employment-tax treatment of back pay
Chief Counsel Advice considers who may be liable for employment taxes connected with back pay. The memorandum presents two possible characterizations: the recipients may be treated as a section…
CCA identifies employment-tax exemptions for an international organization employee
Chief Counsel Advice identifies possible employment-tax exemptions for an employee of an international organization. The memorandum states that the employee is exempt from income-tax withholding…
CCA says a tier pass-through partner's bankruptcy does not convert partnership items
Chief Counsel Advice addresses whether partnership items converted after a tier pass-through partner entered bankruptcy. The memorandum concludes that the partnership items did not convert and that…
CCA discusses state-law interests in a joint bank account
Chief Counsel Advice discusses transfers and joint bank accounts under Pennsylvania law. The memorandum states that the parties appeared to have signed an agreement creating a joint tenancy with…
CCA addresses an assessment request and an indirect partner's objection
Chief Counsel Advice addresses whether an assessment may proceed when an indirect partner objects. It states that the assessment may be made, but that an indirect partner who objects within 60 days…
CCA explains that state-law worker classifications do not decide federal employment-tax status
Chief Counsel Advice addresses whether a worker is a common-law employee for federal employment-tax purposes. It states that state-law determinations are not determinative of the worker's federal…
CCA says an S corporation election may be revoked only prospectively
Chief Counsel Advice addresses undoing an S corporation election. The memorandum states that there is no process for a taxpayer to undo an S corporation election retroactively and that the taxpayer…
CCA discusses worker classification and section 530 relief
Chief Counsel Advice considers whether a government contractor is subject to section 3121(z) and whether section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 applies. The memorandum states that section 530 is…
CCA explains when social-benefit payments are excluded from gross income
Chief Counsel Advice considers whether payments under legislatively provided social-benefit programs, including programs involving work activities, are included in recipients' gross income. It…
CCA considers relief for a rejected S corporation election
Chief Counsel Advice considers whether taxpayers may receive relief after the IRS rejected their Form 2553 S corporation election on a technicality. The memorandum describes taxpayers who formed and…
CCA analyzes a Roth IRA listed transaction and disclosure penalties
Chief Counsel Advice analyzes a transaction in which an S corporation paid management fees to another S corporation owned through Roth IRAs. The memorandum concludes that the arrangement was the…
CCA concludes that pooled tip-jar amounts remain tips for FICA purposes
Chief Counsel Advice analyzes cash amounts placed by customers in tip jars at retail stores and later distributed among non-management employees according to customer-service hours. The memorandum…
IRS grants more time to make an omitted section 754 election
An LLC treated as a partnership timely filed its partnership return, but inadvertently failed to include the section 754 election needed to adjust the basis of partnership property after a new owner…
IRS grants relief after a trust caused an S corporation election to terminate
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a trust after a shareholder died, but the trust held the shares longer than the two-year period allowed for a testamentary trust shareholder. The IRS…
CCA addresses interest-rate netting among related entities
Chief Counsel Advice considers whether a parent corporation and two subsidiaries were the same taxpayer for purposes of netting interest on their separate tax underpayments and overpayments under…
IRS revokes an organization's exemption after finding private inurement and personal spending
The IRS revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption effective January 1, 2004 after finding that its president used organizational funds for substantial personal living expenses. The IRS…
IRS determination 200928045: Charity loses exemption for promoting its founder and opposing a candidate
The IRS revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) status after finding that a substantial part of its website promoted the private business interests of its founder and president. The website also…
PLR 200928044: Taxpayer receives 60 days to undo an ineligible Roth IRA conversion
A taxpayer converted money from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA even though the couple's modified adjusted gross income exceeded the then-applicable $100,000 limit. The taxpayer gave information…
PLR 200928043: Surviving spouse may roll trust-received IRA proceeds into her own IRA
A deceased IRA owner's revocable trust was the beneficiary of his IRA, and his surviving spouse became the trust's sole trustee. The trust terms and applicable state law required the IRA proceeds to…
CCA 200928042: Pass-through partner can make a partnership subject to TEFRA procedures
Chief Counsel advised that there is no second procedural level when a partner is not subject to TEFRA. A partnership automatically becomes subject to TEFRA, however, if one of its partners is a…
CCA 200928041: Form 872-I covers limitation periods for converted and unconverted partnership items
Chief Counsel advised using Form 872-I for the limitations-period issue presented. The advice says that the form covers both the one-year period under section 6229(d) for unconverted partnership…
CCA 200928040: Corrected Forms W-2c are required after Medicare tax refunds
Chief Counsel identified Treasury Regulation section 31.6051-1(c) as the best authority requiring corrected Forms W-2c after Medicare tax refunds. The quoted regulation requires a corrected…
CCA 200928039: Section 530 analysis may apply to a parent treated as the wage-control employer
Chief Counsel addressed an employment-tax examination involving a parent and related subordinate entities. The preliminary view was that the subordinate entities were likely the common-law employers…
CCA 200928038: Prohibited transaction requires plan dealing with or benefiting a disqualified person
Chief Counsel explained that section 4975 prohibits sales, exchanges, leases, transfers, and fiduciary self-dealing between a plan and a disqualified person. A disqualified person who participates…
CCA 200928037: Long-unpaid intercompany receivable is passive for estate-tax deferral
A decedent's company had supplied operational services, administrative support, equipment use, and other services to the decedent's son's company over 10 to 15 years. The son tracked what his…
CCA 200928036: Redemption before sale lets a permissible basis increase affect gain
Chief Counsel advised that a redemption must occur before a later sale for any permissible basis increase from the redemption to affect the gain recognized on the sale. Counsel also stated that an S…
CCA 200928035: Annual periodic payments create an excess-benefit transaction at year-end
Chief Counsel addressed when an excess-benefit transaction occurs for limitations-period purposes. When one contractual arrangement provides periodic payments throughout a disqualified person's tax…
CCA 200928034: Passive-activity classification and grouping are partnership-level items
Chief Counsel advised that the classification and grouping of passive activities conducted by a partnership are partnership items determined at the partnership level. Those determinations are…
CCA 200928033: Partners may claim a refund for income duplicated after a TEFRA settlement
Chief Counsel advised that taxpayers had two years after signing Form 870-LT to claim a refund. Their settlement fixed the amount of partnership income, but the later computational adjustment…
CCA 200928032: Proper notice of inconsistent partnership treatment prevents direct assessment
Chief Counsel advised that the IRS could not directly assess a taxpayer who properly notified the agency of inconsistent partnership-item treatment under section 6222(b)(1)(B). Instead, the IRS…
CCA 200928031: Computational correction may be assessed directly, but its penalty requires a deficiency notice
Chief Counsel advised that the IRS could directly assess an inconsistently reported partnership amount when the correction was purely computational. The example was substituting the amount shown on…
CCA 200928030: Montana law does not always require state debt offsets before a federal levy
Chief Counsel reviewed a Montana statute while considering priority language for a levy agreement. The statute directs the state to offset amounts owed to an agency “when appropriate,” rather than…
CCA 200928029: Trust cannot deduct contributed easement that was not paid from gross income
Chief Counsel explained that Revenue Ruling 2004-5 permits a trust to claim a charitable contribution made by a partnership in which the trust is a partner, even if the trust instrument does not…
PLR 200928028: Consolidated group receives 45 days to file late subsidiary-stock loss elections
A consolidated group's parent filed an amended return claiming a section 165(g) worthless-stock deduction for a subsidiary but did not timely file two regulatory statements needed to recognize the…
PLR 200928027: Corporation receives 60 days to file a late DISC election
A domestic corporation intended to elect interest-charge DISC status from its formation but missed the 90-day deadline for filing Form 4876-A and its shareholder consent. The responsible officer was…
PLR 200928026: S corporation receives 60 days to make two late QSub elections
An S corporation acquired all the stock of two existing subsidiaries and intended to treat both as qualified subchapter S subsidiaries from the acquisition date. It inadvertently failed to file Form…
PLR 200928025: Corporation receives inadvertent S-election termination relief for ten trusts
Stock in an S corporation passed to several trusts whose beneficiaries failed to file qualified subchapter S trust elections. Several trusts also failed to distribute immaterial amounts of income,…
PLR 200928024: Energy-partnership operating receipts retain nonpassive character for S corporation
An S corporation with accumulated earnings and profits invested in publicly traded partnerships engaged in oil and gas operations. Because excessive passive investment income for three consecutive…
PLR 200928023: County bonds are a nonshareholder capital contribution with zero basis
A county issued special-obligation bonds to reimburse a hotel and resort developer for part of a development's construction costs. The developer asked the IRS to treat the transfer as a bond sale…
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.