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 200908048: Private foundation's two student grant programs received advance approval
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve procedures for two programs, scholarships for students at qualified schools and grants for students attending experiential education programs run by §…
PLR 200908047: Church-area scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve a scholarship program for students under age 25 who had belonged to a particular church for at least two years. A church-based selection committee would…
CCA 200908046: Worker-status request raised both income and employment tax issues
Chief Counsel considered how to characterize a worker's request involving self-employment tax and worker status. The email said the matter was an income tax issue for the worker because…
CCA 200908045: IRS could freeze a refund while a trust fund penalty was proposed
Chief Counsel was asked whether the IRS could freeze a taxpayer's refund after proposing, but before assessing, a trust fund recovery penalty. The advice said yes because the IRS was not required to…
CCA 200908044: Valuation study counted as a valuation for misstatement penalty purposes
Chief Counsel considered whether a valuation study was a valuation for the accuracy-related penalty rules. The email assumed that the valuation misstatement was large enough to be substantial or…
CCA 200908043: Nontax court case did not determine federal worker classification
Chief Counsel answered a question about whether a court decision controlled a worker's classification for federal tax purposes. The email said the decision arose in a nontax case. It advised that…
CCA 200908042: Partnership termination did not affect its TEFRA audit
Chief Counsel considered the effect of a technical partnership termination on a TEFRA audit and a limitations extension. The email explained that a TEFRA proceeding audits the partners' partnership…
CCA 200908041: Transcript supported collection-period extension tied to installment agreement
Chief Counsel reviewed account transcripts to decide whether the collection statute expiration date had been extended in connection with an installment agreement. The transcript showed an August…
CCA 200908040: Interest netting depended on same-taxpayer status
Chief Counsel answered several questions about netting overpayment and underpayment interest involving two corporate groups. The advice said § 6402 could permit an overpayment, including interest,…
CCA 200908039: TEFRA issue required a partnership-level proceeding
Chief Counsel answered a question about the TEFRA partnership procedures. The email concluded that the IRS would need to conduct a partnership-level proceeding in the case. The released text does…
CCA 200908038: Consolidated-group interest netting turned on common liability
Chief Counsel answered detailed questions about interest netting after acquisitions, mergers, and changes in consolidated-group membership. The central rule was that § 6621(d) required the same…
CCA 200908037: U.S.-source income likely created a filing requirement
Chief Counsel responded affirmatively to a TEFRA-related question that is not reproduced in the released email. The writer added that an unidentified entity with U.S.-source income most likely would…
CCA 200908036: Agency could direct a known bank to stop payment on a check
Chief Counsel addressed how to stop payment on a check being held by a known bank. The email said a cited two-week period appeared to be the time needed for the Financial Management Service to make…
CCA 200908035: Each year's partnership depreciation required its own FPAA
Chief Counsel considered how to disallow depreciation deductions claimed on partnership returns for multiple years. The email said the deductions were partnership-level items, not computational…
CCA 200908034: No FPAA was needed when no partner could be affected
Chief Counsel considered whether the IRS had to issue a final partnership administrative adjustment in a TEFRA proceeding. All partners except one had signed settlement agreements that converted…
CCA 200908033: Qualified offers required a disputed liability and judicial amount determination
Chief Counsel explained when a taxpayer could make a qualified offer for purposes of recovering litigation costs under § 7430. In a collection due process case, the underlying liability had to be…
CCA 200908032: Unsold baseball tickets might be no-additional-cost fringe benefits
Chief Counsel informally reviewed whether baseball tickets given to employees of a baseball organization could be excluded as no-additional-cost fringe benefits. The writer said that conclusion…
CCA 200908031: Partner claims could be handled through the tax matters partner's request
Chief Counsel considered administrative adjustment requests filed by a tax matters partner and by individual partners. The email said both the tax matters partner's request under § 6227(c) and the…
CCA 200908030: Section 6228 deadline limited Form 870-PT refund settlement
Chief Counsel considered the deadline for signing Form 870-PT in connection with a refund. The email agreed that the end of the period under § 6228(a)(2) was the time limit for signing the form. It…
CCA 200908029: Prior TEFRA case did not bar challenge to individual tax liability
Chief Counsel considered whether prior TEFRA partnership litigation prevented a taxpayer from challenging an individual Form 1040 liability at a collection due process hearing. The advice said §…
CCA 200908028: Taxpayer could agree to a courthouse examination
Chief Counsel answered a question about the permissible place for an examination associated with a summons. The email said a courthouse was an acceptable location if the taxpayer agreed. It did not…
CCA 200908027: Limited partner could not alone sign partnership power of attorney
Chief Counsel considered who could sign Form 2848, the IRS power-of-attorney form, for a partnership. The email agreed that a limited partner could not do so alone because that partner lacked power…
CCA 200908026: Form 8821 authorized disclosure but not taxpayer representation
Chief Counsel distinguished a Form 8821 tax-information authorization from authority to represent a taxpayer. The email said Form 8821 did not give a designee power to advocate for the taxpayer. It…
CCA 200908025: State energy-efficiency payments qualified for general welfare exclusion
A state program paid up to $500 to or for low- and moderate-income homeowners who installed qualifying energy-efficient furnaces or boilers. Chief Counsel concluded that these legislatively…
PLR 200908024: Late Form 1128 received regulatory filing relief
A corporation filed Form 1128 late when seeking to change its tax year from December 31 to October 31 under Revenue Procedure 2006-45. It requested an extension shortly after missing the deadline…
PLR 200908023: Corporation received relief for late accounting-period election
A corporation filed Form 1128 late when seeking to change its tax year from April 30 to October 31 under Revenue Procedure 2006-45. It requested an extension shortly after the required filing time.…
PLR 200908022: Corporation received relief for late S election
A corporation's shareholder intended the company to be an S corporation from its incorporation date, but the S election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing…
PLR 200908021: Foreign entity received more time for partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect partnership treatment from its formation date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It asked for regulatory filing relief under Treas. Reg.…
PLR 200908020: Trust received consent for retroactive QEF election
A U.S. irrevocable nongrantor trust invested in a foreign mutual fund without realizing that the fund was a passive foreign investment company. The trust had relied for years on a qualified tax…
PLR 200908019: Funding agreement received reserve treatment but no portfolio-interest ruling
A life insurance company proposed funding agreements that credited guaranteed interest and let contract holders use the balance at maturity to buy fixed-term annuities at stated purchase rates. The…
PLR 200908018: Partnership received 60 days to make late section 754 election
A limited liability company treated as a partnership timely filed its return for a year in which one partner bought an interest from a former partner. It inadvertently failed to attach a § 754…
PLR 200908017: Foreign entity received extension for disregarded-entity election
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from its single owner but inadvertently missed the Form 8832 deadline. It requested an extension under the regulatory-election…
PLR 200908016: Same-year rescission unwound foreign subsidiary amalgamation
A multinational corporate group combined two businesses by amalgamating three foreign subsidiaries into one corporation, then decided within the same tax year to separate the businesses again. The…
PLR 200908015: Foreign entity received extension for partnership election
A foreign entity was eligible and intended to elect partnership status for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It requested regulatory filing relief under Treas.…
CCA 200908014: Closed-year returns could not create late research-expense election
A corporate group had deducted research and experimentation costs currently under § 174(a), then sought to amend closed-year returns to elect ten-year amortization under § 59(e). Chief Counsel…
PLR 200908013: City retiree-health trust's income was excluded and no return was required
A city established and funded a trust to prefund health and welfare benefits for retired city employees and their eligible spouses and dependents. City officers and employees served as trustees,…
PLR 200908012: Consolidated group received more time to waive an NOL carryback period
A corporation filed a short-period consolidated return reporting a consolidated net operating loss after ownership changes created and then ended its separate consolidated group. It intended to…
PLR 200908011: Public authority's retiree-health trust income was excluded from gross income
A public joint powers authority planned to create a trust to fund insured retiree health benefits for its employees. The trust would use its income solely for those employees, no private…
PLR 200908010: LLC received 60 days to file late corporate and S corporation elections
A limited liability company intended to be treated as an S corporation from a specified date but did not timely file either its corporate classification election or its S corporation election. The…
PLR 200908009: S corporation termination after partnership conversion was inadvertent
An S corporation converted under state law to a limited partnership whose general partner was an LLC taxed as a partnership. That change terminated the corporation's S election and might also have…
PLR 200908008: Missing consents and trust election did not end S corporation treatment
Two spouses transferred their corporation's shares to separate grantor trusts, and one trust later ceased being a grantor trust when its owner died. The corporation's S election was initially…
PLR 200908007: Missed trust election caused an inadvertent S corporation termination
A grantor trust held stock in an S corporation and remained an eligible shareholder for two years after its deemed owner died. The trustee failed to elect electing small business trust status when…
PLR 200908006: Entity received 60 days to file a late corporate classification election
A domestic entity intended from its formation date to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation for federal tax purposes. It inadvertently failed to file the required entity…
PLR 200908005: Tax-status conversion did not replace like-kind exchange intermediaries
A bank planned to acquire three qualified intermediary subsidiaries used in high-volume like-kind exchange programs. The transfer would change each subsidiary from a disregarded qualified subchapter…
PLR 200908004: Foreign entity received 60 days to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes from a specified date. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the entity…
PLR 200908003: Court-approved trust termination distributions avoided GST tax
A trust became irrevocable before September 25, 1985, and later received assets from a marital trust after the settlor's spouse died. The original portion was exempt from generation-skipping…
PLR 200908002: Estate received more time to sever QTIP trust and make reverse election
An estate made a QTIP election for a marital trust but its law firm did not advise it to divide the trust and make a reverse QTIP election to use the decedent's remaining generation-skipping…
PLR 200908001: Liquidating corporations received a limited loss-disallowance ruling
Four S corporations planned to liquidate and distribute partnership interests and stock to their trust shareholders. The corporations had previously contributed the stock to the partnership, which…
CCA 200907036: Tax return disclosure consents can remain open-ended
Chief Counsel advised that a tax return preparer does not need a client's consent to mail a copy of the client's return to the client's home or work address because that remains a direct disclosure…
CCA 200907035: An untimely motion to quash does not eliminate intervention rights
Chief Counsel addressed the rights of a person entitled to notice of an IRS summons issued to a third party. Section 7609(b)(1) gives that person a right to intervene in a proceeding to enforce the…
CCA 200907034: A TEFRA closing conference is policy, not a legal requirement
Chief Counsel advised that no law requires a closing conference in a TEFRA partnership audit. Internal Revenue Manual procedures call for agents to provide one as a matter of IRS policy, but those…
CCA 200907033: Source partnership adjustments flow through partnership tiers
Chief Counsel advised that the IRS should not issue a final partnership administrative adjustment to a tier partnership when the adjustment originated in another source partnership. The source…
CCA 200907032: A no-deficiency adjustment notice needs two elements
Chief Counsel identified the legally required contents of a proposed notice of adjustment when the adjustment produces no deficiency. The notice should identify the items being adjusted and state…
CCA 200907031: Abating an invalid assessment can produce a refund
Chief Counsel considered a payment applied to an assessment that was later abated as invalid during a collection due process matter. Once the assessment is abated, the payment results in an…
CCA 200907030: An operating agreement cannot replace the statutory signer rule
Chief Counsel addressed whether an LLC operating agreement could validate a partnership return signature. The advice states that the agreement is irrelevant if the signer was not a partner as…
CCA 200907029: An invalid partnership return left the limitations period open
Chief Counsel advised that a general Form 872 does not extend the assessment period for partnership items or affected items unless it specifically references tax attributable to partnership items.…
CCA 200907028: Missing the 45-day TEFRA election deadline made the FPAA binding
Chief Counsel advised that a taxpayer had 45 days after issuance of a final partnership administrative adjustment to elect out of TEFRA procedures. Because the taxpayer did not make a timely…
CCA 200907027: A reissued deficiency notice further suspended the limitations period
Chief Counsel considered a second, redated notice of deficiency mailed while the limitations period was already suspended by an earlier notice. The advice distinguished a case involving only a copy…
CCA 200907026: An accepted offer in compromise could not be rescinded
Chief Counsel discussed a closed case in which the IRS had already accepted a taxpayer's offer in compromise. The advice states that the accepted offer could not be rescinded and notes that the…
TAM 200907025: An exercised appointment power included the entire trust in the estate
A decedent held and exercised a testamentary power of appointment over an interest in a trust. The estate argued that the power was not general because the decedent could receive only discretionary…
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.