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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PLR 200921036: Late recharacterization relief reversed an ineligible Roth conversion
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA believing his income would remain below the conversion limit. Unexpected mutual fund capital gain distributions made him ineligible, so he…
Determination 200921035: Pension plan received a five-year amortization extension
A pension plan requested a five-year extension to amortize specified unfunded liabilities. The IRS granted the automatic extension under section 431(d)(1) for the charge bases identified in the…
Determination 200921034: Pension plan received a five-year amortization extension
A pension plan requested a five-year extension to amortize specified unfunded liabilities. The IRS granted the automatic extension under section 431(d)(1) for the charge bases identified in the…
Determination 200921033: Hospital withdrew funding request and received conditional tax waivers
A hospital withdrew its request to waive a pension plan's minimum funding standard for one plan year. The IRS separately granted conditional waivers of the 100 percent tax under section 4971(b) for…
Determination 200921032: Pension plan received a five-year amortization extension
A pension plan requested a five-year extension to amortize specified unfunded liabilities. The IRS granted the automatic extension under section 431(d)(1) for the charge bases identified in the…
Determination 200921031: Pension plan received a five-year amortization extension
A pension plan requested a five-year extension to amortize specified unfunded liabilities. The IRS granted the automatic extension under section 431(d)(1) for the charge bases identified in the…
Determination 200921030: Financially distressed hospital received a conditional funding waiver
A hospital experiencing substantial operating losses asked to waive its pension plan's minimum funding standard for one plan year. The IRS granted the waiver under section 412(d), subject to seven…
PLR 200921029: Corporation received relief for a late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation treatment from a specified date but failed to timely file Form 2553. The IRS concluded from the submitted information and representations that the…
PLR 200921028: Investors received consent for a retroactive QEF election
Two taxpayers owned shares of a foreign mutual fund, including shares placed in domestic grantor trusts. Their longtime accountant knew about the investment but failed to identify the fund as a…
PLR 200921027: Ineligible corporate shareholder did not defeat intended S status
A corporation elected S status while one of its two shareholders was another S corporation, an ineligible shareholder under section 1361(b)(1)(B). After discovering the problem, the ineligible…
PLR 200921026: Foreign entity received relief for a late disregarded election
A foreign limited company with one owner intended to elect disregarded-entity treatment for federal tax purposes from its formation date. Because of inadvertence, the company did not timely file…
PLR 200921025: LLC received relief for a late corporate classification election
A domestic limited liability company intended to be taxed as a corporation from its formation date but failed to timely make the entity-classification election. After discovering the omission, it…
PLR 200921024: Public school retiree-benefit trust income was excluded
A publicly elected school board created a trust to pre-fund health and welfare benefits for eligible retirees, spouses, and dependents. The trust's assets could be used only for plan benefits and…
PLR 200921023: Cooperative residents could deduct building real estate taxes
A corporation planned to acquire an interest in a long-term ground lease and make dwelling units available to its shareholders as cooperative housing. An appraisal allocated all ground rent to the…
PLR 200921022: Missing ESBT elections did not end intended S status
A corporation elected S status while a trust shareholder made a qualified subchapter S trust election but did not actually meet the QSST requirements. The trust was eligible to be an electing small…
PLR 200921021: Corporation received relief for a late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation treatment from its incorporation date but did not timely file Form 2553. The IRS concluded from the submitted facts and representations that the…
PLR 200921020: Mine sublessee was the sole producer of Indian coal
A coal company planned to sublease its interests in two tribal mining leases to a partnership that would extract and sell coal while paying royalties to the tribe. The coal reserves were held in…
PLR 200921019: Data center buildings and customary services qualified for REIT rules
A REIT developed and leased specialized buildings used for communications, computing, and data storage equipment. The buildings incorporated permanent electrical redundancy, cooling, humidification,…
PLR 200921018: Corporation received more time to elect IC-DISC status
A parent formed a subsidiary to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation from inception. The parent's longtime tax advisor was responsible for completing the…
PLR 200921017: Foreign entity received relief for a late disregarded election
A foreign eligible entity with one owner intended to be treated as a disregarded entity from a specified date. It inadvertently failed to timely file Form 8832 to make that classification election.…
PLR 200921016: Foreign entity received relief for a late disregarded election
A foreign eligible entity with one owner intended to elect disregarded-entity treatment from a specified date. Because of inadvertence, it did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded from the…
PLR 200921015: Foreign entity received relief for a late disregarded election
A foreign eligible entity with one owner intended to elect disregarded-entity treatment from a specified date. Because of inadvertence, it did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded from the…
PLR 200921014: Foreign entity received relief for a late disregarded election
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a disregarded entity from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded from the submitted information and representations that…
PLR 200921013: Partnership received more time to make a section 754 election
A general partnership timely filed its return for a year in which one partner died but inadvertently omitted its section 754 election. The partnership submitted evidence that it acted reasonably and…
PLR 200921012: Foreign entity received relief for a late partnership election
A foreign eligible entity defaulted to association status but intended to be classified as a partnership from a specified date. It did not timely file Form 8832 to make that election. The IRS…
PLR 200921011: Taxpayers received more time for investment income elections
Taxpayers relied on accounting professionals to prepare two years of returns. A staff accountant entered the data but failed to check the software box electing to include net capital gain and…
PLR 200921010: Petroleum terminal service fees were qualifying partnership income
A publicly traded partnership operated two terminals through subsidiaries that stored, handled, and distributed customer-owned petroleum products and ethanol. The terminals charged throughput fees…
PLR 200921009: Partnership division preserved condemnation gain deferral
A farming partnership deferred gain under section 1033 after part of its land was taken under threat of condemnation. Its two equal partners disagreed over whether to buy farmland or nonfarm…
PLR 200921008: Shareholder advances and late trust elections did not end S status
An S corporation made personal-purpose advances to its original shareholder before documenting them as debt, raising a possible second-class-of-stock issue. Shares were later transferred to one…
PLR 200921007: Taxpayer received more time to allocate GST exemption to two trusts
A taxpayer created two irrevocable trusts for separate children and their descendants and transferred cash to each. The trust agreement expressly contemplated allocating the taxpayer's…
PLR 200921006: Partnership received conditional relief for a late section 754 election
A limited liability company treated as a partnership terminated for tax purposes when two owners sold a specified percentage to a trust. It inadvertently failed to file a section 754 election for…
PLR 200921005: Foreign entity received relief after an unsigned partnership election
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect partnership classification from a specified date. It filed Form 8832, but the form lacked all required signatures. The IRS concluded from the submitted…
PLR 200921004: Foreign entity received relief after an unsigned partnership election
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect partnership classification from a specified date. It filed Form 8832, but the form lacked all required signatures. The IRS concluded from the submitted…
PLR 200921003: REIT received more time to make consent dividend elections
A publicly traded corporate group's tax department acquired a REIT and missed the extension for its federal return because two staff members each believed the other would file Form 7004. Missing the…
PLR 200921002: Multistep business separation received nonrecognition rulings
A publicly traded parent planned to separate one business from its remaining operations through subsidiary liquidations and mergers, two internal split-offs, a stock exchange, a special dividend, a…
PLR 200921001: Ambiguous voting rights did not end S corporation status
An S corporation amended its charter to create voting and nonvoting common shares that were intended to be identical except for voting rights. A provision automatically converting nonvoting shares…
Determination 200920062: IRS revokes exemption for a seller-funded down payment program
A tax-exempt organization operated a down payment assistance program that was open to homebuyers without income or asset limits. Home sellers paid the organization an amount equal to the assistance…
PLR 200920061: Financial institution error justified a 60-day rollover waiver
An individual instructed one financial institution to roll retirement plan funds directly into an IRA at another institution. The receiving institution supplied the wrong account number, so the…
PLR 200920060: Medical impairment justified a 60-day IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner withdrew funds for medical expenses shortly after leaving a hospital, when pain medication could affect memory and cognition. The owner forgot that a spouse's insurance covered the…
PLR 200920059: Stolen IRA funds received a rollover waiver, but accrued interest did not
A financial representative distributed funds from an individual's IRA and used them for the representative's own benefit, contrary to the individual's instructions. The financial institution later…
PLR 200920058: Stolen IRA funds received a rollover waiver, but accrued interest did not
A financial representative distributed funds from a 73-year-old individual's IRA and used them for the representative's own benefit, contrary to the individual's instructions. The financial…
PLR 200920057: Serious illnesses justified rollover waivers for two taxpayers
Two taxpayers placed IRA distributions in a checking account while looking for new IRAs. One taxpayer was undergoing treatment for complications from cancer and could not manage the family finances,…
PLR 200920056: Caring for an ill spouse justified an IRA rollover waiver
An individual withdrew funds from two IRAs while arranging to combine them in an annuity. The funds were placed in a non-IRA account while the annuity was being established. During the rollover…
PLR 200920055: Bank error and misleading tax reporting justified a rollover waiver
An individual with limited English asked a bank to deposit an IRA distribution into an IRA, but a bank employee placed it in a non-IRA account. The taxpayer's deceased spouse had handled the…
PLR 200920054: Adviser misuse justified rollover relief, but accrued interest could not be rolled over
An individual asked the IRS to waive the 60-day rollover deadline for two IRA distributions and to permit a related amount of accrued interest to be rolled over. A financial representative had taken…
CCA 200920053: Section 72 controlled the tax consequences of an insurance contract surrender
Chief Counsel addressed the tax consequences of surrendering an insurance contract. The email distinguished a private letter ruling about a section 1035 exchange of one contract for two contracts in…
CCA 200920052: Self-employed taxpayers need evidence of unemployment eligibility for the medical-insurance exception
Chief Counsel explained the section 72(t)(2)(D) exception for certain retirement-plan distributions used to pay medical-insurance costs after a job loss. The individual generally must have received…
CCA 200920051: Italian transparency election could make foreign tax payments noncompulsory
A U.S. parent claimed foreign tax credits for Italian taxes treated as paid through disregarded Italian entities, even though the related income remained in controlled foreign corporations for U.S.…
CCA 200920050: The general partner’s state of mind determines a partnership’s profit motive
Chief Counsel advised that section 165(c) measures a partnership’s profit motive by the motive of the partnership itself. That motive is reflected by the general partner’s state of mind when acting…
CCA 200920049: A technical termination may not end a TEFRA small-partnership election
Chief Counsel considered whether a partnership’s technical termination under section 708(a) ended its election not to be treated as a small partnership under the TEFRA rules. Section 708(a) applies…
CCA 200920048: Unclear summons facts did not support suspending the assessment period
Chief Counsel considered whether section 7609(e) suspended the period for assessing tax against certain individuals. The email said suspension would require the individuals to have been entitled to…
CCA 200920047: Current notice required Munro computations but excluded a partnership basis adjustment
Chief Counsel reviewed computations for a statutory notice of deficiency involving an open partnership linkage. The taxpayer’s return was not oversheltered, and the linkage remained open, so Counsel…
CCA 200920046: An imminent deadline required one FPAA covering independent and affected items
Chief Counsel addressed an undisclosed question about issuing a final partnership administrative adjustment when the limitations period for independent items was about to expire. The IRS had to…
CCA 200920045: A related proceeding generally had to end before the FPAA and affected-item notice
Chief Counsel addressed when the IRS should issue an FPAA and affected-item notice to a redacted party connected with another redacted partnership proceeding. Counsel advised waiting until that…
CCA 200920044: TEFRA linkages could connect grantor-trust beneficiaries directly to the partnership
Chief Counsel explained how to establish TEFRA linkages when a grantor trust stood between a source partnership and the ultimate taxpayers. The usual approach linked the pass-through entity directly…
CCA 200920043: Foreign withholding tax on interest accrued when the interest was paid
Chief Counsel advised when foreign withholding tax on interest accrues for a credit or deduction. Economic accrual of interest does not itself create a daily legal duty to withhold and pay the…
CCA 200920042: Amended-return disclosure did not cure a late Form 8886 but could support penalty rescission
Chief Counsel addressed a taxpayer who omitted a required transaction disclosure from a timely return and later attached it to an amended return. The later filing did not cure the original failure…
CCA 200920041: RRTA compensation followed the regulatory definition of wages
Chief Counsel proposed a rebuttal to two arguments about the meaning of compensation under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act. The taxpayer invoked a rule that statutory ambiguities should be resolved…
CCA 200920040: GATT rate applied to the portion of a contract overpayment above $10,000
Chief Counsel considered which interest rate applied to an overpayment under section 460(b)(2)(B). The email treated the amount as an overpayment of tax because the tax liability was accelerated and…
CCA 200920039: Section 6611 did not pay interest on returned product-purchase funds
Chief Counsel considered whether the government owed interest when returning money remitted to purchase CDs or other government products. The email gave a personal opinion that interest was not…
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.