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 200852009: How the Service sets the annual ceiling on nuclear decommissioning contributions
This is the third of three companion letters released the same day, alongside PLR 0852011 and PLR 0852010. All three carry the same date, the same signer, the same branch and adjacent control…
PLR 200852008: A foreign entity that missed its Form 8832 gets sixty days to file it
A foreign entity meant to be invisible for United States tax purposes, so that its owner would simply report its income directly. The election that accomplishes that is made on Form 8832. Nobody…
PLR 200852007: A closed-end fund pays a special dividend mostly in its own stock
A regulated investment company has to distribute its income to keep its status, and section 852 gives it a deduction for what it pays out. That works smoothly in a normal year. It is painful when…
PLR 200852006: Selling an empowerment zone facility does not retest who used it first
Empowerment zones were a bet that tax subsidies could pull capital into places that had been written off. One of the tools was the enterprise zone facility bond: a local authority issues tax-exempt…
PLR 200852005: Buying back your own shares on a fixed schedule is not a secondary market
Section 7704 exists to stop partnerships from being traded like corporate stock while still being taxed like partnerships. A partnership whose interests are traded on an established securities…
PLR 200852004: The 75-day rule is why a missed check-the-box election needs relief
This is one of the shortest letters in the release, and its facts fit in two sentences. A foreign entity was formed on a particular date, it was eligible to elect to be disregarded from its owner as…
PLR 200852003: Two shareholders who cannot agree split the company but keep sharing the business
Two people own a corporate group in equal halves and have reached the point where they cannot agree on how to develop it or where to put the capital. The classic tax-free answer is a split-off: the…
PLR 200852002: A utility that must hand the gain to customers never has income
A regulated electric utility sold a generating plant for more than its book basis. Ordinarily that is the simplest transaction in tax: gain from dealings in property is gross income under section…
CCA 200852001: When the state dissolved the corporation, the couple became the employer
A husband and wife incorporated their business in a community property state, each holding half the shares. About six months later the state administratively dissolved the corporation because it…
CCA 200851110: Prove the power of attorney before treating a request as the partner's
This is a three-sentence email, and the whole of it is one point about who is asking. Under the partnership audit rules of that era, a partner could ask the Service for a copy of the final…
CCA 200851109: A three-year foreign posting is why the section 3121(l) agreement exists
Section 3121(l) lets a domestic employer agree with the Service to extend Social Security coverage to United States citizens and residents working for its foreign affiliates. The agreement is made…
CCA 200851108: Answering a newspaper's energy credit questions, with the guesswork left in
A local newspaper was preparing a feature on home energy tax credits and sent the Service a list of questions. This one-page email is a lawyer's internal reply passing along answers, and it is…
CCA 200851107: A reverse cap on the branch profits tax when the branch shuts down
The branch profits tax exists to put a foreign corporation operating through a United States branch on roughly the same footing as one operating through a United States subsidiary. A subsidiary…
CCA 200851106: Which part of the manual sets the interest assumption, Exam or Appeals
This is a short internal email about a form, and almost all of its content is procedural rather than legal. The index code assigned to it is section 6405, which requires the Service to report large…
CCA 200851105: Who owes employment taxes for a foreign disregarded subsidiary, before and after 2009
A United States parent has a foreign subsidiary organized as a single-member LLC that is disregarded for federal tax purposes. The subsidiary has its own employees and pays their wages. Who owes the…
CCA 200851104: Once a joint return is filed, the door to separate returns has closed
A couple filed a joint return. Later, after the filing deadline had passed, the wife filed a separate return of her own. The question put to Chief Counsel was practical: should that later return be…
CCA 200851103: Four short answers about two Schedules K-1
This release is a reply to a numbered list of questions that is not itself part of the release, so what survives is four answers without their questions. Even so, three of them state real positions…
CCA 200851102: Collecting employment taxes from a husband-and-wife LLC that never filed an income tax return
This is a set of answers to seven collection questions about one recurring problem: a limited liability company owned by a husband and wife in a community property state, behind on its employment…
CCA 200851101: A treaty competent authority provision can let a late administrative adjustment request through
Two sentences of advice, on a narrow but useful point about deadlines. An administrative adjustment request is how a partnership asks the Service to change items it already reported, and like other…
CCA 200851100: A SECA exemption should not block a stimulus payment, so the remedy is a refund claim
A short reply from the office that handles the FICA and SECA exemptions, on whether an exemption from self-employment tax can explain why someone did not get a 2008 stimulus payment. The exemption…
CCA 200851099: Connecticut renters' rebate payments look like general welfare, not a rebate
A first-impression reaction to a question about Connecticut's renters' rebate program, weighing two different ways a payment can stay out of gross income. The first is the general welfare doctrine.…
CCA 200851098: VEBA status does not determine whether contributions are taxable to employees
The writer says there is no rule requiring contributions to a VEBA to be tax free. A VEBA's status does not determine whether contributions are taxable to employees; applicable exclusions must be…
CCA 200851097: Mandatory salary reduction for health coverage is excludable under section 106
The Chief Counsel writer states the office's position on mandatory salary reduction contributions used exclusively to pay for accident and health coverage of employees or retirees. The contributions…
CCA 200851096: Only a member-manager can be the tax matters partner of an LLC
Two sentences on who may serve as the tax matters partner of an LLC, and they cut in opposite directions depending on one fact about the company's management. In the unified partnership audit regime…
CCA 200851095: One Form 866 per period, but a series of Form 906 agreements is allowed
A clean explanation of a distinction that decides whether a taxpayer who has already signed a closing agreement can sign another one for the same year. Section 7121 lets the Service enter into a…
CCA 200851094: Stop at the first officer or manager who can sign for an entity tax matters partner
When a partnership's tax matters partner is itself an entity rather than an individual, someone has to put a pen to the consent extending the assessment period. This release answers how far up the…
CCA 200851093: Part II of a Form 870-LT is a separate document and binds like a closing agreement
Three sentences on the legal weight of half a form, agreeing with a position the recipient had already put forward. Form 870-LT is the settlement vehicle in unified partnership proceedings, and it…
CCA 200851092: Who is a partner waits for the partnership proceeding, but ordinary deductions do not
A short answer on sequencing, in a case where the partners of record were S corporations and the Service wanted to propose adjustments to the individuals behind them. The unified audit regime then…
CCA 200851091: A general power of attorney does not carry partnership notice authority by itself
One sentence of advice, and it closes a gap that routinely trips up representatives in partnership cases. Section 6223 governs the notices the Service must send partners in a unified partnership…
CCA 200851090: A partner's note guarantee and the debt allocation it produces are partnership items
Two sentences answering a question that decides which consent the Service needs, and the answer turns on a classification rather than on the merits of the adjustment. The underlying chain is…
CCA 200851089: The replacement automatic change procedure deliberately narrows the route to accrual
An internal note explaining why a familiar route for changing to the accrual method got narrower, written in the shorthand of people who work with the automatic change procedures daily. Changing a…
CCA 200851088: No exclusion found for a personal patient advocacy services plan
The shortest document in this release, and one sentence long: the writer does not see anything excludable from gross income. The benefit under review was a personal patient advocacy services plan,…
CCA 200851087: Interest on a transferee liability turns on whether the property value exceeds the tax
A working through of how interest accumulates when the Service collects a transferor's tax from someone who received the transferor's property. The writer reframes the question before answering it,…
CCA 200851086: No guidance on the first materiality test, so GAAP materiality does the work
A candid answer to a narrow question about the recurring item exception: the guidance the field wanted does not exist, but a second test in the same regulation gives a workable answer. The exception…
CCA 200851085: Where one corporate group holds the whole partnership, the items can be converted
One sentence, about a structure that strains the purpose of the unified partnership rules. The subject line sets up the problem: a large corporate taxpayer holds, in essence, the entire interest in…
CCA 200851084: Assessment of partners depends on a defaulted FPAA
The writer questions whether the IRS issued a final S corporation administrative adjustment, noting that TEFRA procedures for S corporations were repealed in 1996. The assessment answer is…
CCA 200851083: On further thought, a Form 870-PT settlement is the easier route
A revised answer, sent the same day as the one it replaces, and the pairing is what makes it instructive. Both messages carry the same subject line, about a large corporate taxpayer holding in…
CCA 200851082: Inadvertent error in identifying a hedge is not immunity from the anti-abuse rule
The hedging rules ask taxpayers to flag a hedge when they enter it, and this release is about what happens when they do not. A hedging transaction that qualifies as one produces ordinary gain or…
CCA 200851081: A power of attorney need not be on Form 2848, but the CAF still wants one
A checklist, written out for a colleague who asked for it. The subject is when the IRS will honour a power of attorney that is not on the Service's own form. The starting point is that it will. A…
CCA 200851080: The Ninth Circuit's S corporation limitations position did not survive Bufferd
One sentence of advice, answering a question about whether the Ninth Circuit takes a special position on the assessment period for S corporation shareholders. The answer is that it no longer does,…
CCA 200851079: A court opinion read the underpayment definition without the subsection that decides it
A critique of a court opinion, written for internal use, and the criticism is narrow and specific: the opinion applied one half of a two-part definition. The accuracy-related penalty is computed on…
CCA 200851078: Every winner named on a Form 5754 gets their own Form W-2G
A short answer to a reporting question, relayed for a colleague to pass back to whoever asked it. The setting is gambling winnings collected by one person on behalf of several. Someone has to walk…
CCA 200851077: Handing a document back to the person who sent it is not a disclosure
A two-sentence answer to a disclosure question, and the two sentences are alternative grounds rather than one argument. Return information is confidential, and an IRS employee who hands it to the…
CCA 200851076: Two-step relative value notice for older plan years, and no model language to offer
A colleague asked about the notice a pension plan must give before paying benefits, and this is the answer, offered as the writer's understanding rather than a settled position. The background is…
CCA 200851075: A post office box works on a Form 8821 if it is the taxpayer's mailing address
A narrow question with a short answer, and the answer is reached by following a definition through two provisions. Form 8821 is the tax information authorization: a taxpayer uses it to let someone…
CCA 200851074: A continuing wage levy outranks an employer loan made after it was served
An employee whose wages are already under levy asks the employer for a loan, to be repaid out of each paycheck. The question is whose deduction comes first, and the release answers it twice: once on…
CCA 200851073: One disclosure obligation per transaction type, so one penalty however many clients
A promoter advised many clients into the same arrangement. The question is whether the failure to disclose it is one penalty or many, and the answer follows from counting filing obligations rather…
CCA 200851072: Transferee interest mapped into three periods, with state law filling the middle one
When assets leave a taxpayer who owes tax, the recipient can be pursued for that tax as a transferee. Interest is the harder part of such a case, because it accrues over a span in which the…
CCA 200851071: Where the omission came from does not change the six-year period on a Form 1042
Three sentences pointing a colleague at a case and drawing one conclusion from it. The ordinary period for assessing tax is three years from the return, but it doubles to six where the return omits…
CCA 200851070: A holding referral, passing on that excess business holdings rules may reach a supporting organization
Mostly a message about who will answer, with one piece of substance passed along second hand. A supporting organization is a charity that qualifies by supporting another charity rather than by…
CCA 200851069: Critical status relief covers the year certified, not the years before it
A question about a multiemployer pension plan that has fallen behind on funding and has now certified itself into a distressed category. The answer turns on the difference between relief for a year…
CCA 200851068: A one-line pointer to a case on reforming a consent that names the wrong signer
The shortest kind of release in this batch: a colleague remembers the case, sends the citation, and adds one line of judgment. The message is written so that the subject line is the first half of…
CCA 200851067: Whoever may sign the plan's return is the one who may sign the consent
An examiner asked who has authority to sign a consent extending the time to assess tax arising from an employee plan, in a case that appears to involve revoking the plan's qualified status. The…
CCA 200851066: No deficiency means no notice, so put the expenses in the report with a warning attached
Three sentences answering an examiner who has adjustments to make and no way to make them formally. The problem is structural, and the solution is a note in the file. The Service's usual route for a…
CCA 200851065: Form 886-A will do, but change the wording so the notice pulls it in
A short answer about paperwork mechanics, with a drafting warning attached that is worth more than the answer. Letter 4151 is the notice of adjustment used where a partnership-level determination…
CCA 200851064: Send the notice to the Form 1041 trust and beneficiary
The writer corrects an earlier response after realizing that this week's trust, unlike the grantor trust previously discussed, files a Form 1041. The writer says the Notice should be issued directly…
CCA 200851063: Whether the beneficiaries get their own notices turns on whether DNI moves their tax
Sent twenty-seven minutes after 0851064, on the same day and under the same subject line, and it narrows what that message said. Where the earlier note stated flatly that the notice goes to the…
CCA 200851062: Rev. Proc. 94-69 disclosure is not a penalty shield, but agreed adjustments leave nothing to penalize
Two messages in one release, the lower one written first. A colleague sets out what Revenue Procedure 94-69 does and does not do for penalty purposes and invites correction; the reply agrees and…
CCA 200851061: Forfeiture proceeds routed through a Chapter 11 trustee look involuntary twice over
A colleague has drafted an analysis, listed two facts that worry them, and sent it up for a reaction. The reply says the two worries are smaller than they look and adds a third argument the draft…
CCA 200851060: Life for life qualifies under 1035 so long as the insured stays the same
A one-paragraph answer with a referral attached, followed by shop talk. Section 1035 lets a policyholder trade one insurance or annuity contract for another without paying tax at the moment of the…
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.