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 200910040: A QSST's incorrect tax reporting did not terminate its elections
A qualified Subchapter S trust reported the S corporation items from its Schedule K-1 on the trust's returns and paid the resulting tax. Section 1361(d)(1)(B) instead required the beneficiary to…
CCA 200910039: An IRA could serve as tax matters partner through its custodian
An IRA is a trust, and its custodian acts as trustee for federal tax purposes. The IRA therefore is a person and a United States person under section 7701 and may be designated as tax matters…
CCA 200910038: Later dissolution did not change the TEFRA audit or tax matters partner
No regulatory termination event had occurred, so the C corporation remained tax matters partner for the audit years. The partnership's dissolution in a later year did not affect TEFRA procedures for…
CCA 200910037: A party to a land trust could claim the mortgage interest deduction
Chief Counsel addressed a mortgage interest deduction question involving a land trust. After consulting a colleague, the writer concluded that the redacted party could claim the deduction under…
CCA 200910036: One spouse could request the other's joint-liability payment information
The IRS had gathered information about one spouse's current economic condition while evaluating ability to pay a joint tax liability. Information collected to determine a taxpayer's potential…
CCA 200910035: An unused levy-hearing opportunity barred a later liability dispute
A taxpayer received a section 6330 notice for a tax liability but did not request a hearing. The taxpayer later timely requested a section 6320 lien hearing for the same liability. Chief Counsel…
CCA 200910034: Issuing an FPAA best preserved refund and assessment periods
The IRS had opened a TEFRA proceeding in response to an administrative adjustment request from the tax matters partner. Section 6227(c)(2)(A) allowed the IRS to issue refunds, conduct a proceeding,…
CCA 200910033: A received disability payment counted toward collection potential
A taxpayer had received a lump-sum service-connected disability payment, and an IRS settlement officer was calculating the taxpayer's reasonable collection potential for an offer in compromise.…
CCA 200910032: An indirect-method deficiency notice converts partnership items
Chief Counsel addressed the TEFRA consequences of mailing a deficiency notice based on an indirect method of proving a partner's income. It agreed that the partner's partnership items become…
CCA 200910031: Pre-filing agreements had guidance but no fixed processing deadline
Chief Counsel was asked about the processing timeline for a pre-filing agreement. Revenue Procedure 2007-17 did not impose a specific processing deadline. It called for an orientation meeting after…
PLR 200910030: An S corporation's post-recognition-period distribution avoided built-in gains tax
An S corporation planned to place appreciated stock in a disregarded single-member LLC and distribute the LLC interest to its shareholders after its 10-year built-in gain recognition period ended.…
CCA 200910029: Hurricane replacement housing affected owners and first-time buyers differently
FEMA's Alternative Housing Pilot Program provided housing after the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes to former homeowners and to people acquiring a first home. For former homeowners, the value of…
PLR 200910028: A forward merger into a disregarded LLC qualified as a Type A reorganization
A holding company planned to merge into a disregarded LLC owned by its operating subsidiary, with the transaction treated as a merger into that subsidiary for stock. The IRS ruled that the merger…
PLR 200910027: A downstream stock exchange qualified as a Type C reorganization
A closely held corporation planned to exchange its shares in a public corporation for newly issued or treasury shares of that corporation, distribute the new shares and other property to its own…
PLR 200910026: A downstream stock exchange qualified as a Type C reorganization
A closely held corporation planned to exchange its shares in a public corporation for newly issued or treasury shares of that corporation, distribute the new shares and other property to its own…
PLR 200910025: Modified voting terms and a rights plan preserved an earlier spin-off ruling
A distributing corporation sought a supplement to an earlier ruling on a proposed section 355 transaction. Before the transaction, the controlled corporation modified one class of stock so that a…
PLR 200910024: Grants and donated support counted as income derived from low-income patients
A nonprofit health care provider planned a new clinic outside a geographically qualifying low-income census tract and sought to qualify through the low-income targeted-population rules for the new…
PLR 200910023: A controlled foreign corporation could revoke its currency-gain election
A U.S. taxpayer requested permission for its controlled foreign corporation to revoke an election that included net foreign-currency gains or losses in foreign personal holding company income. The…
PLR 200910022: An entity received relief for late corporate-classification and S elections
An entity intended to elect corporate classification and S corporation status from the same effective date, but inadvertently failed to file either required form. The IRS treated the S election as…
PLR 200910021: Reasonable cause supported relief for a late S corporation election
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from the date it was formed but did not timely file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section 1362(b)(5). It ruled…
PLR 200910020: Reasonable cause supported relief for a late S corporation election
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from the date it was formed but did not timely file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section 1362(b)(5). It ruled…
PLR 200910019: An estate received more time for qualified domestic trust assignments and election
An estate claimed a marital deduction for property passing to a surviving spouse who was not a U.S. citizen, but the original estate-tax return did not make a qualified domestic trust election.…
PLR 200910018: A transit authority was the alternative fueler for its bus fleet's natural gas
A public transportation authority bought natural gas, retained title while a contractor compressed it, and used another contractor to put the compressed natural gas into authority buses. The IRS…
PLR 200910017: An LLC received more time to elect corporate tax classification
A single-owner LLC intended to be taxed as a corporation from its formation date but did not timely file the entity-classification election. The LLC represented that it acted reasonably and in good…
PLR 200910016: An S corporation received more time for a QSub election
An S corporation formed a wholly owned subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from formation. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8869 on time, although both…
PLR 200910015: An S corporation received more time for a QSub election
An S corporation formed a wholly owned subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from formation. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8869 on time, although both…
PLR 200910014: Reasonable cause supported relief for a late S corporation election
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from the date it was formed but did not timely file the required election. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section…
PLR 200910013: An S corporation received more time for a QSub election
An S corporation formed a wholly owned subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from formation. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8869 on time, although both…
PLR 200910012: An S corporation received more time for a QSub election
An S corporation formed a wholly owned subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from formation. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8869 on time, although both…
PLR 200910011: A foreign entity received more time to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity with more than one owner intended to be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 by the deadline. The IRS concluded that…
PLR 200910010: Two corporate spin-offs qualified for nonrecognition treatment
A publicly held real estate investment trust planned to separate its retained businesses from other businesses through an internal spin-off followed by a public spin-off. The transactions included…
PLR 200910009: An entity preserved its S corporation status after filing and trust errors
An entity that had elected S corporation status underwent restructurings and later had several trusts hold its interests. It failed to file a timely entity-classification election, two trusts missed…
PLR 200910008: An entity preserved its S corporation status after filing and trust errors
An entity that had elected S corporation status underwent restructurings and later had several trusts hold its interests. It failed to file a timely entity-classification election, two trusts missed…
PLR 200910007: A cellulosic ethanol plant qualified for bonus depreciation
A biofuel company was building a demonstration plant that would turn renewable cellulosic biomass into ethanol. Its process used hydrolysis to break the biomass into sugars and fermentation to…
PLR 200910006: Taxpayers received more time to elect investment-income treatment
A married couple sought to treat net gain from investment property as investment income when calculating their investment-interest deduction. Their tax preparer had incorrectly deducted interest…
PLR 200910005: An LLC received more time to elect partnership status
A domestic limited liability company with two owners intended to be classified as a partnership from its formation date. Instead, it inadvertently elected to be treated as a corporation, even though…
PLR 200910004: Excess GST exemption shifted automatically to a family trust
A married couple's revocable trust split into several trusts when the first spouse died. The estate tax return overstated the amount passing to an exempt marital trust, made a reverse QTIP election…
PLR 200910003: Trust reformation preserved estate and GST tax treatment
A revocable trust became irrevocable at the grantor's death and created GST-exempt trusts for descendants. Ambiguous language could have allowed a primary beneficiary to appoint trust property to…
PLR 200910002: A split-dollar insurance plan avoided current gifts and limited estate inclusion
A married couple's irrevocable trust owned a second-to-die life insurance policy and proposed a private split-dollar arrangement with the couple. The trust would pay for current life insurance…
PLR 200910001: Group life certificates could assume coverage through age 100
A life insurer planned to issue a private-placement group variable life policy to employers or employer trusts. Each employee's coverage would be documented by a separate certificate designed to…
PLR 200909077: A financial institution's error justified an IRA rollover waiver
A taxpayer withdrew funds from two IRAs and asked a financial institution to place them in an IRA certificate of deposit. The institution mistakenly opened a non-IRA account, and the taxpayer did…
PLR 200909076: A custodian's error justified an IRA rollover waiver
A taxpayer directed funds from an IRA to a new rollover IRA, but the receiving financial institution failed to establish an account owned by an IRA custodian. After discovering the mistake more than…
PLR 200909075: Reliance on financial advice justified an IRA rollover waiver
An elderly taxpayer intended to reinvest an IRA certificate of deposit in an IRA annuity. Acting on a financial institution employee's recommendation, she signed an application that instead moved…
PLR 200909074: Qualified-plan lump sums could be rolled into Roth IRAs
An administrator operated two qualified retirement plans that accepted several kinds of after-tax employee contributions. The administrator asked whether lump-sum distributions of those…
PLR 200909073: A taxpayer received more time to reverse failed Roth conversions
A taxpayer converted two traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs after advisers predicted that business losses would keep adjusted gross income below the conversion limit then in effect. The business instead…
Determination 200909072: A motorcycle association lost its social-welfare exemption
A membership association organized motorcycle rides for member enjoyment and to raise money for charities. An IRS audit found that less than 20 percent of expenses went to social-welfare grants and…
Determination 200909071: A teacher-training scholarship program received advance approval
A private foundation proposed tuition grants for students taking supplemental coursework in early childhood education at accredited institutions. Applicants would be evaluated for academic…
Determination 200909070: A dog-rescue charity lost its exemption for officer inurement
A dog-rescue organization used its bank account to pay expenses benefiting its president and vice president. The IRS identified payments for a residence owned by the vice president, personally owned…
PLR 200909069: A medical condition justified an IRA rollover waiver
A taxpayer withdrew funds from an IRA intending to roll over the portion not used for other purposes. That portion was mistakenly placed in a non-IRA certificate of deposit. A treating physician…
Determination 200909068: Failure to provide records cost an organization its exemption
The IRS repeatedly asked a tax-exempt organization and its director for the books and records needed to examine two annual returns. Some certified letters were received, the director acknowledged…
Determination 200909067: Failure to provide records led to revocation of tax-exempt status
The IRS repeatedly asked a section 501(c)(3) organization for books and records needed to examine its Form 990, but the organization did not provide the requested information. The IRS explained that…
Determination 200909066: Failure to file annual returns led to revocation of tax-exempt status
A section 501(c)(3) organization did not file Forms 990 for two years, even after receiving a notice and demand to file them. The organization said it would file the returns, but the IRS report…
Determination 200909065: A dormant charity lost its tax-exempt status
An organization was formed to raise money for a memorial sculpture, but it later stopped operating. Its president told the IRS that it had conducted no activities for several years, and the…
Determination 200909064: Private school did not establish racially nondiscriminatory operation
A private school sought recognition of exemption under section 501(c)(3). The school had been formed or substantially expanded during public-school desegregation and, across more than 40 years, had…
Determination 200909063: Failure to respond and file Form 990 led to revocation
An exempt organization did not respond to IRS correspondence and did not file Form 990 for the examined tax period. Letters sent to its last known address were not returned, but the IRS received no…
Determination 200909062: Investment activity did not make an organization an insurance company
An organization had once underwritten property coverage but stopped issuing insurance, collecting premiums, maintaining reserves, and handling claims. During the examined years, its activity…
CCA 200909061: Certain summonses suspend the assessment limitation period
In a heavily redacted email, Chief Counsel discussed how to handle an unspecified health and welfare matter involving an uncooperative taxpayer. The email identifies section 6503(j) as the provision…
CCA 200909060: Failure-to-pay addition runs from the payment due date
Chief Counsel advised how to calculate the section 6651(a)(2) failure-to-pay addition when the IRS prepares a substitute return. The addition applies to unpaid amounts shown due on the return as…
CCA 200909059: Credits enter the penalty underpayment calculation
Chief Counsel explained how to compute an underpayment before applying a penalty. The calculation compares the tax shown on the taxpayer's return with the correct income tax after adjustments, and…
CCA 200909058: Tax matters partner and notice partner should receive the same FPAA
Chief Counsel addressed what should be sent to partners with a final partnership administrative adjustment. The email advises sending the exact same FPAA to the tax matters partner and the notice…
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.