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 200913001: A secured LLC loan did not disturb two Alaska settlement trusts' tax treatment
An Alaska Native corporation, two elected settlement trusts, and their investment LLC proposed a secured revolving line of credit from the LLC to the corporation. The note bore interest above the…
PLR 200912042: Fraud by a financial adviser justified waiving the 60-day IRA rollover deadline
A self-employed physician withdrew money from a SEP IRA for a short-term investment after relying on a trusted financial adviser. On the 59th day, she gave the adviser checks and specific…
PLR 200912041: Missing rollover notice supported waiver of the 60-day deadline
A 45-year-old taxpayer received a qualified-plan distribution under a divorce settlement after being told that the assets would move directly to an IRA. Instead, the plan sent her a check reduced by…
PLR 200912040: Erroneous advice about an extra IRA payment justified rollover relief
A 58-year-old IRA owner had arranged 12 monthly distributions intended to qualify as substantially equal periodic payments under section 72(t). Consolidating five mutual-fund accounts accidentally…
Determination 200912039: An online ministry's commercial and private interests defeated exemption
An online religious corporation sought section 501(c)(3) status for Internet sermons, ministerial training, fellowship, and sales of religious and seminary materials. The IRS found that product…
Determination 200912038: A foundation tied to its founders' business was denied exemption
A corporation funded by a bequest sought section 501(c)(3) status to expand educational teachings, publications, seminars, broadcasts, and personal guidance developed by its two directors. The IRS…
Determination 200912037: An international scholarship program received advance approval
A private foundation sought advance approval for scholarships to citizens or residents of a foreign country who were admitted to highly ranked U.S. colleges and universities. Applicants had to show…
Determination 200912036: Early termination of a charitable remainder trust avoided self-dealing and termination tax
The income beneficiary of a charitable remainder unitrust proposed selling her interest to the charitable remainderman so the trust could terminate early under state law. The parties would receive…
Determination 200912035: A need-based and merit-based scholarship program received advance approval
A private foundation proposed scholarships for U.S. citizens and residents enrolled full-time in U.S. secondary schools, colleges, universities, and trade or technical schools. Applicants could…
Determination 200912034: Three health-profession scholarship programs received advance approval
A private foundation sought advance approval for three scholarship programs serving health-profession students and local high school seniors. Two programs supported residents or regular workers in…
Determination 200912033: A graduate scholarship program received advance approval
A private foundation proposed renewable merit scholarships for graduates of a specified school who attended qualified higher-education institutions. An independent nonprofit administrator collected…
CCA 200912032: A parent signed for every severally liable member of its consolidated group
Chief Counsel addressed the capacity in which a parent corporation signed in a TEFRA matter involving a subsidiary that was a partner. The parent was not signing only for that partner-subsidiary.…
CCA 200912031: Written authorization supported disclosure of a federal tax lien payoff
Chief Counsel explained how to request payoff information for a filed notice of federal tax lien or an unfiled lien. Section 6103(k)(2) governed the disclosure, and the requester needed satisfactory…
CCA 200912030: Combat-zone relief postponed trust-fund penalty collection for a service member and spouse
Chief Counsel considered section 7508 relief for trust fund recovery penalties assessed against a deployed service member and spouse. The advice treats those penalties as employment taxes covered by…
CCA 200912029: A valid tax matters partner consent protected indirect S corporation shareholders
Chief Counsel considered whether separate limitations extensions were needed for an S corporation and its shareholders in a TEFRA case. The TEFRA proceeding controlled assessment of indirect…
CCA 200912028: A temporary regulation should remove conflicts with an earlier regulation
Chief Counsel responded to a penalty question involving an unidentified temporary regulation. The writer believed that a properly issued temporary regulation should not conflict with an earlier…
CCA 200912027: State-law management authority determined who could bind a tax matters partner
Chief Counsel addressed competing tax matters partner designations involving an entity and its members. A partner named on the return was ineligible because it was not a member-manager, so the…
CCA 200912026: A payroll service's authorized facsimile signer had to be a person
Chief Counsel addressed who could sign employment tax Forms 940 and 941 by facsimile for a payroll service. Revenue Procedure 2005-39 made the officer or agent personally responsible for use of the…
CCA 200912025: A corporate tax director's assessment extension was likely valid
Chief Counsel considered whether a corporation's Director of Tax and Customs could sign an agreement extending the time for the IRS to assess tax. The director was not a corporate officer, while IRC…
CCA 200912024: Chief Counsel specified signatures for consolidated-group partnership matters
Chief Counsel advised how members of a consolidated corporate group should sign documents for partnership matters in two redacted years. For one year, the parent would sign for itself and the entire…
CCA 200912023: A stated value for a special estate-tax lien was a ceiling
Chief Counsel clarified an amount stated in earlier, unidentified advice concerning the special lien for estate tax deferred under IRC § 6166. The amount was a ceiling rather than a mandatory…
CCA 200912022: Collection issues could be handled through several agreement procedures
Chief Counsel identified several procedures through which collection issues could be addressed. The options included collateral agreements, offers in compromise, installment agreements, and Appeals…
CCA 200912021: An information-reporting transcript was not an indirect proof of income
Chief Counsel considered the use of income information in a TEFRA partnership examination. An information-reporting transcript containing a taxpayer's Forms W-2 and 1099 was not an indirect method…
CCA 200912020: Closing agreements generally should not address collection issues
Chief Counsel addressed whether collection issues belong in a closing agreement. Closing agreements are designed to determine a taxpayer's liability and are final once made. Chief Counsel therefore…
CCA 200912019: A TEFRA election without every partner's signature could be invalid
Chief Counsel reviewed a partnership's election into the TEFRA partnership procedures. The election was not signed by every partner, as the governing regulation required. Chief Counsel advised that…
CCA 200912018: Both LLC members counted as general partners for choosing the tax matters partner
Chief Counsel considered how the tax matters partner designation rules applied to a two-member LLC. Neither member was formally a manager. Under the governing regulation, both therefore were deemed…
CCA 200912017: A 30 percent penalty could apply when transaction disclosure was late
Chief Counsel addressed the 30 percent penalty associated with failure to disclose a reportable transaction. The penalty could apply if the taxpayer did not disclose the transaction when disclosure…
CCA 200912016: The largest-profits partner remained the tax matters partner if designations failed
Chief Counsel advised that the person authorized by a five-member committee should sign a tax matters partner designation. If neither the designation on the original return nor a later designation…
CCA 200912015: Spouses filing jointly faced one shared nondisclosure penalty
Chief Counsel addressed the penalty for spouses who filed a joint return and failed to disclose a reportable transaction. The spouses should face one penalty rather than separate penalties. Both…
CCA 200912014: An affected-item notice could determine a partner's outside basis
Chief Counsel addressed how to determine a partner's outside basis after a partnership proceeding. The IRS could issue an affected-item notice of deficiency to the partner for that computation. In…
CCA 200912013: Partner-level income from an outside-basis change required an affected-item notice
Chief Counsel discussed partnership adjustments that could affect a partner's outside basis. The IRS could change partnership liabilities, determine whether forgiven liabilities generated…
CCA 200912012: A professional gambler could deduct business expenses after offsetting gains with wagering losses
Chief Counsel illustrated the treatment of a professional gambler's wagering and business expenses. The gambler had to report all wagering gains as gross receipts and could subtract wagering losses…
CCA 200912011: Volunteers subject to direction and control were employees
Chief Counsel addressed whether people described as volunteers should be treated as employees. Volunteers subject to a right of direction and control were employees, and benefits provided to them…
CCA 200912010: Anti-tampering measures did not rule out the separate fuel-tampering penalty
Chief Counsel analyzed separate fuel-system penalties for security requirements and tampering. Notice 2005-80 said the security requirements in IRC § 6715A(a)(2) would not apply when measures to…
CCA 200912009: A limit on who may petition defeated worker-classification jurisdiction
Chief Counsel considered jurisdiction under IRC § 7436, which governs certain worker-classification proceedings. The email agreed that there was no jurisdiction because § 7436(b)(1) limits who may…
PLR 200912008: A multistep corporate consolidation qualified for tax-free reorganization treatment
A publicly traded parent corporation proposed moving one business and two subsidiaries through its corporate group to consolidate them with another subsidiary's business. The IRS treated the steps…
PLR 200912007: A nuclear plant owner received a schedule for deducting a special fund transfer
A corporation that had acquired an interest in a nuclear power plant and its decommissioning fund requested a schedule for deducting a special transfer to the fund. Based on the taxpayer's…
PLR 200912006: A corporate share redemption was treated as an exchange rather than a dividend
A shareholder owned the high-vote class of shares in a foreign public corporation and proposed surrendering part of that stake as new purchasers acquired an equity interest. The shareholder would…
PLR 200912005: A testamentary trust qualified to elect small-business-trust status
A testamentary trust owned all the stock of a corporation that planned to elect S corporation status. One remainder beneficiary was another trust with individual beneficiaries and a charitable…
PLR 200912004: Cars and light-duty trucks were like-kind property for a vehicle lessor
A vehicle-leasing business proposed placing its cars, light-duty trucks under 13,000 pounds, and crossover-style vehicles into common like-kind exchange groups. Cars and light-duty trucks belonged…
PLR 200912003: Commodity-note and foreign-subsidiary income qualified for a regulated investment company
An investment fund planning to elect regulated investment company status proposed buying commodity-linked notes and investing through a wholly owned foreign subsidiary. The notes used commodity…
PLR 200912002: Physical-injury settlement payments were tax-exempt and required no information return
A qualified settlement fund was created to process and pay claims for personal physical injuries caused by a redacted tort. Claimants could receive specified payments, subject to redacted conditions…
PLR 200912001: A corporation received relief for an inadvertent S election termination
A corporation's S election terminated on a redacted date for reasons not stated in the released letter. The corporation and its shareholders agreed to make any adjustments required to preserve S…
PLR 200911048: A credit union error justified waiving the 60-day IRA rollover deadline
A 72-year-old IRA owner asked a credit union to pay his annual required minimum distribution. The credit union used the wrong form and also moved the rest of the IRA into a non-IRA savings account.…
PLR 200911047: Health conditions justified waiving the 60-day IRA rollover deadline
A surviving spouse received distributions from two inherited individual retirement annuities and deposited them into a non-IRA account. She missed the 60-day rollover deadline because mental and…
PLR 200911046: Caring for an ill parent justified a late IRA rollover
An IRA owner took a distribution while changing investment vehicles. During the 60-day rollover period, he traveled to another state to care for his seriously ill mother and manage her business…
Determination 200911045: A concert promoter lost its section 501(c)(3) exemption
An organization recognized under section 501(c)(3) promoted concerts and other public events. Its original mission involved Christian music and evangelization, but the IRS found that many later…
Determination 200911044: A reinsurer without premium income lost its tax exemption
A foreign reinsurance company had elected under section 953(d) to be treated as a domestic corporation and was recognized as exempt under section 501(c)(15). The company later stopped accepting new…
Determination 200911043: Seller-funded down-payment assistance did not support tax exemption
A housing organization operated a program that gave homebuyers funds for down payments and closing costs. In substantially all transactions, the seller paid the organization an amount tied directly…
PLR 200911042: Oil-spill response agreements preserved two organizations' exemptions
A section 501(c)(4) organization maintained equipment and staff to respond to major oil spills, with most standby costs funded by grants from its section 501(c)(6) parent. It merged with another…
PLR 200911041: A private foundation's scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation proposed awarding up to five four-year scholarships each year to graduating high school seniors from a specified city. Its committee would consider grades, school activities,…
PLR 200911040: Oil-spill response agreements preserved two organizations' exemptions
A section 501(c)(4) organization maintained equipment and staff to respond to major oil spills, with most standby costs funded by grants from its section 501(c)(6) parent. It merged with another…
PLR 200911039: A boarding-school scholarship program received advance approval
A private foundation proposed scholarships for students from low-income families who attended public schools with limited resources. The scholarships would pay tuition, room, board, and incidental…
PLR 200911038: An employee-children scholarship program received advance approval
A private foundation proposed funding $1,000 scholarships for dependent children of a company's employees. An independent public charity would administer the program, evaluate applicants, select…
PLR 200911037: A VEBA could offer identity-theft insurance without losing exemption
A voluntary employees' beneficiary association asked whether it could offer optional identity-theft insurance to its participants and their dependents. The VEBA represented that employees routinely…
PLR 200911036: A city scholarship program received advance approval
A private foundation proposed either one or two four-year scholarships for students who lived in a specified city. It would publicize the program locally and select recipients based on financial…
CCA 200911035: Directors who are not otherwise employees receive benefits as nonemployees
Chief Counsel advised that directors acting only in their capacity as directors are not employees. A health benefit provided to a director who is not also an officer or other employee is therefore…
CCA 200911034: Volunteer arrangements require a factual employee-status review
Chief Counsel addressed benefits provided under volunteer arrangements. It advised that the facts of those arrangements must be known before deciding whether the volunteers are common-law employees.…
CCA 200911033: Brokerage assets require different collection procedures
Chief Counsel explained how a revenue officer should handle mutual funds and stock held in a brokerage account. The officer may demand liquidation of mutual funds because they can be redeemed…
CCA 200911032: RIC dividends sourced from short-term gains do not qualify for the dividends-received deduction
Chief Counsel gave an initial view on whether dividends from a regulated investment company (RIC) qualify for the dividends-received deduction (DRD) when sourced from short-term capital gains. Such…
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.