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 200851059: A farm corporation officer belongs on the annual agricultural return, which closes the year
A small classification question with a large consequence, and the exchange makes the consequence explicit before the answer arrives. Employers report employment taxes on different returns depending…
CCA 200851058: Follow the memorandum opinion and let the club allocate readership costs
One sentence, answering a question about a social club and its magazine. A club exempt under section 501(c)(7) pays no tax on the dues and fees its members contribute, because those amounts are…
CCA 200851057: A defined contribution plan still owes the financial effect disclosure, even though every option is worth the account
A two-sentence answer that splits a disclosure requirement in half and says only one half does any work here. The regulation behind the question requires a plan to tell a participant two things…
CCA 200851056: Penalty interest starts on the Monday, but only for a taxpayer who actually used the extra days
The most carefully built release in this batch, and the one that turns on the smallest fact: whether the taxpayer actually took the weekend. The setting is a two-day question. A taxpayer obtains a…
CCA 200851055: The levy bar during an offer is what stops the collection clock
A colleague could not answer a question in person the day before, went away and found the provision, and writes back with the chain of cross-references. The release is useful mostly for the route it…
CCA 200851054: No worthless security rule for partnership interests, so the loss stays ordinary
Two sentences answering a question that is not in the release. The message begins with the word "Because," so what survives is an explanation whose question has to be reconstructed, and the subject…
CCA 200851053: A concession by the partnership is not a determination, and the determination is what mitigation needs
Three short paragraphs, each removing a shortcut someone hoped to take. The setting is a partnership adjustment that has to be turned into something with legal force before a correction in another…
CCA 200851052: 1234A reaches the derivative, not the underlying asset
A single line, and the whole of it is a limiting reading of one statutory phrase. Section 1234A deals with positions that end without being sold. Ordinarily capital treatment depends on a sale or…
CCA 200851051: Brief response on ownership interests in capital assets
The released email contains only the sentence fragment, "Not to ownership interests in capital assets." Its subject is redacted, and the message does not identify the question or give a reason. The…
CCA 200851050: Abandonment proves worthlessness but is not required to prove it
Less an opinion than a reading list, assembled in an afternoon and sent over with two passages quoted at length and a closing observation that does the analytical work. The subject is what a…
CCA 200851049: The reservation incentive shortens the write-off but not the recovery period the bonus test reads
A two-sentence answer to a question about which of two recovery periods counts when the same property has been assigned both. Depreciation runs on recovery periods, the number of years over which…
CCA 200851048: A closing agreement signed by the tax matters partner is worth nothing, but Forms 870-PT are the real thing
The next morning's message in the thread that produced 0851053, and it closes the gap that release left open. The day before, the writer had said a partnership cannot bind any partner, so a…
CCA 200851047: Wedding fees a Puerto Rico judge takes on non-duty hours are self-employment income
Judges in Puerto Rico perform nuptial ceremonies outside their official hours and are paid a fee for doing so. The question put to the writer was whether those fees are subject to self-employment…
CCA 200851046: Two consolidated parents in one year means two sets of partnership notices and possibly two assessments
A four-sentence procedural answer about where to send partnership notices when the partners are members of a consolidated group that changed hands mid-year. The setup has to be reconstructed from…
PLR 200851045: A surplus left by a cautious actuary goes back to the employer without the 20 percent reversion tax
A carpet manufacturer bought assets from another company, and in the process part of the seller's pension plan was spun off into a new single-employer defined benefit plan of its own. Accruals under…
PLR 200851044: Workers of a disregarded LLC are employed by its charitable owner for 403(b) purposes
A tax-exempt health system wants to let the staff of a company it owns save through its retirement plan, and the obstacle is that the company is not itself a charity. The health system is a…
PLR 200851043: The 60-day rollover clock is waived for a grandmother whose grandchild was killed
Money taken out of an IRA is taxable unless it is put back into a retirement account within 60 days. The taxpayer here missed that deadline, and the Service waived it. The facts are terrible and the…
PLR 200851042: A second funding waiver for a textile maker, conditioned on paying the next several years in full
An employer with a defined benefit pension plan must put in a minimum amount each year. Section 412(d) lets the Service waive that requirement for a year where the employer is under substantial…
PLR 200851041: A funding waiver for a narrow fabric maker whose sales fell 47 percent, conditioned on paying later years in full
A conditional waiver of the minimum funding standard under section 412(d), granted to a manufacturer of narrow fabric products for the intimate apparel industry. The employer's difficulty is a long…
Determination 200851040: Half an hour of gospel in a twelve-hour fishing day is not an exempt purpose
An organization incorporated to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ through professionally run fishing tournaments applied for recognition as a charity. The Service refused, and this release contains…
PLR 200851039: Advance approval for a foundation awarding scholarships on need or academic promise
A private foundation that hands money to individuals is in danger by default. Sections 4945(a) and (b) impose excise taxes on taxable expenditures, and section 4945(d)(3) makes any grant to an…
PLR 200851038: advance approval for a scholarship program whose award test is stricter than its eligibility test
X is a private foundation recognized as exempt under section 501(c)(3) and classified under section 509(a). A grant by a private foundation to an individual for study is a taxable expenditure under…
Determination 200851037: A house adapted for one handicapped person is not a charity when that person is the directors' own relative
The IRS denied section 501(c)(3) exemption to a nonprofit operating an adapted house for one disabled resident. The resident was related to members of the organization's board. The IRS concluded…
Determination 200851036: IRS revoked a private foundation's exemption after five letters went unanswered
This is what happens when an exempt organization stops answering the mail. A private foundation failed to file Form 990-PF for four consecutive tax years ending 30 November, and failed to respond to…
Determination 200851035: A small farm mutual lost its exemption when Congress changed the test from premiums to gross receipts
The IRS revoked a mutual property and casualty insurer's exemption under section 501(c)(15) after the law changed its eligibility test. The insurer's premiums made up more than half of gross…
Determination 200851034: Exemption revoked because the organization signed for the letters and still would not open its books
The IRS revoked this organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption after it failed to answer the examiner's calls and letters, including a certified letter for which it signed. The examination could…
Determination 200851033: Low-income housing exemption denied where the plans kept changing and the builder was the directors' own company
The IRS denied a housing organization's application for section 501(c)(3) exemption. Its descriptions of the proposed low-income housing project were inconsistent, and the IRS found that it had not…
Determination 200851032: Exemption revoked for silence, with the letter and the report describing different requests
The IRS revoked this organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption after it did not supply information requested for an examination. The letter says the organization bears the burden of establishing…
Determination 200851031: IRS revoked a rehabilitation charity that turned itself into a grantmaker without amending its charter
The IRS revoked this charity's exemption after it stopped the vocational rehabilitation activity described in its articles without amending them. It began making grants, but the IRS found that the…
Determination 200851030: Exemption revoked for silence, on a report the examiner marked as not final
The IRS revoked this organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption because it did not respond to requests for records needed to examine its returns. The examination report relies on the recordkeeping…
Determination 200851029: Swimming club exemption revoked after six months of certified letters produced no records
The IRS revoked a social club's section 501(c)(7) exemption after it failed to produce records for an examination of its Form 990. The examination report records repeated attempts to contact the…
Determination 200851028: Four findings in the revocation letter, one paragraph of facts in the report behind it
The IRS revoked this organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption after it failed to answer a records request and follow-up calls. The examination report relies on that failure to provide information…
Determination 200851027: Church exemption revoked over a seller-funded down payment program matching Situation 2 of Revenue Ruling 2006-27
The IRS revoked a church's exemption after examining its seller-funded down payment assistance program. The organization required participating home sellers to pay an amount tied to the assistance…
Determination 200851026: Fire, lightning and tornado coverage, revoked for gross receipts of $720,297 against a $600,000 cap
A farm mutual insurer sought to retain its exemption under section 501(c)(15) after the statutory gross receipts test changed. The examiner reported gross receipts of $720,297, above both the…
Determination 200851025: An arts charity wound up with one director cooperating fully and the other never producing the operating account books
An arts charity had stopped operating, and the IRS examined whether it had kept adequate records and filed its final annual return. One director supplied records for the gaming accounts, but the…
Determination 200851024: exemption revoked where a Christian ministry handed its entire credit counseling operation to a company owned by its own board member
This is the longest document in this collection, 86 pages, and almost all of it is a single examination report. A Christian ministry founded by a married couple had been exempt since the 1970s. Some…
PLR 200851023: Foreign feeder funds may pool their U.S. property subsidiaries into one foreign partnership without tripping section 897
Four foreign corporations raised money from non-US investors and put it into American commercial real estate. A domestic partnership was set up alongside them at the same time to do the same thing…
PLR 200851022: reasonable cause found for a late S corporation election, but no opinion on whether the company actually qualifies
A company was incorporated and everyone involved intended it to be an S corporation from its first day. The paperwork that makes that happen, Form 2553, was never filed on time. That is the whole of…
PLR 200851021: no section 9100 relief to undo a late GST allocation the grantor deliberately chose to make
A grantor and their spouse set up sixteen charitable remainder unitrusts over nine years, each one for a different grandchild, each funded with stock in a publicly traded company. Some were straight…
PLR 200851020: the spouse's companion GST ruling, denied on the same irrevocability ground, with the wrong person named in the conclusion
This is one half of a matched pair. It was issued the same day as the ruling at number 0851021, under the adjacent control number, on the same sixteen charitable remainder unitrusts. That one…
PLR 200851019: 30 days granted to file the duplicate Form 3115 a CPA forgot to send to the national office
Changing an accounting method requires the Commissioner's consent. Revenue Procedure 2002-9 grants that consent automatically for a list of common changes, on condition the taxpayer follows its…
PLR 200851018: a group that underwrote its own stock offering cannot deduct the fee, so the matching profit is excluded from income
A publicly traded holding company sold securities to the public in two offerings on the same day. Underwriting those offerings is normally work you hire an investment bank to do. This group did it…
PLR 200851017: drilling costs buried in a leases account became a deemed election, and the accountant's error undid it
A publicly owned oil and gas company spent its first three years buying producing properties. Buying an existing well is a purchase, so there were no intangible drilling costs to worry about. In the…
PLR 200851016: fourteen mutual funds keep their spillover dividend election after the extension forms were prepared but never mailed
A registered investment company trust ran seventeen separate portfolios, fourteen of which are the subject of this request. Each was a regulated investment company, and each wanted the benefit of…
PLR 200851015: reasonable cause found, but the S corporation election still has to be filed within 60 days
A corporation's shareholders meant it to be an S corporation from the day it was formed. Everyone behaved as though it were one: the corporation and its shareholders reported their income…
PLR 200851014: one public company splits four ways, in thirty-eight steps and ninety-five rulings
This is a fifty-page document in which a publicly held parent takes itself apart, spinning off four separate corporations to its shareholders at once. The letter answers an April 15, 2008 request…
PLR 200851013: two trusts split one policy on the settlor's life, with no gift between them and nothing in the estate
A settlor created two irrevocable trusts on the same day and then stepped back from both. The trust instruments bar the settlor from serving as trustee and strip any power to remove, replace or…
PLR 200851012: a foreign entity defaulted into corporate status because nobody filed the box-checking form
An entity formed under the laws of a foreign country had two members and wanted to be a partnership for United States tax purposes. Under the check-the-box regulations it could have been one, simply…
PLR 200851011: a death, an untimely ESBT election, and sixty days to undo an S termination
A shareholder died, and the death quietly destroyed the corporation's S election. A held stock in X, an S corporation. On d3 A died, and on d4 A's stock passed to a trust. A trust can hold S…
PLR 200851010: catching up decades of nuclear decommissioning deductions on a utility commission's numbers
Taking a nuclear power plant apart at the end of its life costs an enormous amount of money, and section 468A lets the owner set that money aside in a dedicated fund and deduct the contributions as…
PLR 200851009: a decommissioning schedule resting on a study the Service refuses to vouch for
This letter and number 0851010 were signed by the same person six days apart and released on the same day, and for six of their eight pages they are the same document. Both walk through section…
PLR 200851008: an S election lost to an LLC shareholder, restored on condition the members report as owners
X was incorporated in State on D1 and elected to be an S corporation effective the same day. On D2 it issued shares to LLC, which the letter describes as an ineligible S corporation shareholder. On…
PLR 200851007: a decommissioning special transfer priced on the seller's assumptions
Taxpayer is a partnership that owns a nuclear plant it bought from a single Seller, along with the assets of the qualified and nonqualified decommissioning trust funds and all decommissioning…
PLR 200851006: three seller funds, three qualifying percentages, one special transfer
This letter shares a signer, a date, an office and most of its text with PLR 200851007, and it approves the same pair of items: an initial schedule of deduction amounts for a section 468A(f) special…
PLR 200851005: 60 days to file Form 8832 for partnership treatment, granted on a three-sentence record
X was formed on D under the laws of State and meant to be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes from that day. It did not file Form 8832 in time. The Service granted 60 days from the…
PLR 200851004: 45 days to elect the alternative cost method after an adviser left an inquiry unanswered
Taxpayer is an accrual basis corporation that develops real estate. For one project, Development1, it used the alternative cost method of Rev. Proc. 92-29, 1992-1 C.B. 748, which lets a developer…
PLR 200851003: consent to re-elect S status denied over two shareholders' section 1042 elections
This is a denial, which makes it unusual in a release otherwise full of granted relief. X was incorporated in State on D1 and elected S corporation status effective D2. On D3 it ended that status…
PLR 200851002: 60 days for a foreign entity to elect disregarded status, on a record of consistent treatment
X is a foreign entity formed under the laws of Country1 on Date1 and wholly owned by Y, formed under the laws of Country2 on Date2. Ownership of Y has changed hands over time but has always rested…
PLR 200851001: 60 days to group rental real estate as one activity, with eligibility left open
Taxpayers are a married couple who filed jointly. Rental activity is generally passive under section 469(c)(2), which caps the losses a taxpayer can deduct. Section 469(c)(7) lifts that presumption…
Determination 200850059: IRS revoked a private foundation's exemption after its spending went to loans and personal expenses
This is a final adverse determination from the Office of Appeals in Cleveland, revoking an organization's exemption under section 501(c)(3). The organization had been recognized as a private…
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.