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 200850058: a spousal disclaimer moves an IRA to the children but not the longer payout
Decedent A died at 75, after his required beginning date, leaving Surviving Spouse B and three children including Taxpayer C. He owned IRA X and named Surviving Spouse B as its beneficiary, with no…
PLR 200850057: a 60-day rollover waiver denied because the one-year rule carries no waiver power
This is a denial, and the reason it fails is not the reason the taxpayer was arguing about. Taxpayer A, age 80, held two accounts at Financial Institution B: IRA Account D, a qualified individual…
PLR 200850056: a 60-day rollover waiver granted where the adviser ignored the instruction
Individual A was widowed in August 2000. She did not know her husband had participated in Plan X, his employer's retirement plan. More than six years after his death, on December 29, 2006, the plan…
PLR 200850055: a 60-day waiver reaching only the part of the distribution that was never required
Individual A is 87 and had spent the previous year showing signs of forgetfulness and loss of cognitive ability. She had been taking required minimum distributions from IRA X since she turned 70 and…
PLR 200850054: arbitration damages restore an IRA, but only the compensatory part net of the lawyers
Taxpayer A opened IRA X at Company S in 1998 and left it in the hands of Investment Advisor G, on the strength of a long relationship. In 2004 he brought an arbitration before Association M against…
PLR 200850053: a second ruling on an early-distribution tax the letter never shows could apply
Taxpayer A withdrew Amount 2 from IRA Account F at Insurance Company C, then opened IRA Account G-2 at Financial Institution D using an application form supplied by D's clearing house, Financial…
PLR 200850052: six months requested, sixty days granted, for a recharacterization the custodian never received
Taxpayer A converted Amount 1 from traditional IRA X into Roth IRA Y, both held with Custodian C. The couple's modified adjusted gross income was over the $100,000 ceiling, so Taxpayer A was never…
PLR 200850051: a rollover waiver that names an exception it never states
Taxpayer A, age 54, left Employer B and tried to move three tax deferred annuity accounts held under Plan X into a traditional IRA at Company H. Financial Advisor J helped fill out the transfer form…
Determination 200850050: IRS revoked a supporting trust, and the letter's reason is not the report's reason
A trust that had been recognized as exempt under section 501(c)(3), and classified as a supporting organization under section 509(a)(3), lost that recognition retroactively. The trustees signed Form…
PLR 200850049: a supporting organization transfers its assets into the fund of the organization it supports, and the Service defines its payments as income
The taxpayer is a charitable trust whose only job is to support M, an educational organization classified under sections 509(a)(1) and 170(b)(1)(A)(ii). The trust's own trust document says it…
PLR 200850048: the same endowment ruling twice in one day, and what it does to the 85 percent test
This is the companion to 0850049. Both letters issued on September 17, 2008, both from Exempt Organizations Technical Group 1 over the signature of Steven Grodnitzky, both released on the same day,…
Determination 200850047: five unanswered requests, and the redaction that removes the amounts the finding rests on
An organization that had held a favorable determination letter since the 1990s lost its section 501(c)(3) recognition retroactively. The release contains the final revocation letter of August 27,…
PLR 200850046: a court reformed the trust on condition the IRS approve it first
A charitable remainder unitrust was drafted wrong. The donor meant the non-charitable interest to run for the lives of the donor and the donor's spouse or for a twenty-year term, whichever was…
PLR 200850045: advance approval for a fellowship, and the side payment to employers it never examines
A private foundation asked for advance approval of the procedures it uses to pick and pay fellows in a public health leadership program, so that the payments would not be taxable expenditures. The…
Determination 200850044: the report quotes the inurement rules, then revokes on recordkeeping
A final revocation letter from EO Examination in Brooklyn, dated September 9, 2008, pulling a youth club's exemption retroactively to March 1 of the redacted year. The club was chartered by…
Determination 200850043: every letter was answered and no document ever arrived
A final adverse determination dated September 3, 2008, issued by EO Mandatory Review in Dallas and signed by Lois G. Lerner as Director, Exempt Organizations. The organization was incorporated to do…
Determination 200850042: IRS revokes exemption for private benefit and nonexempt activities
The IRS revoked an organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption effective January 1 of a redacted year and directed it to file corporate income tax returns. The examination report describes payments…
Determination 200850041: a four-word parenthesis carries the finding the blank charts were meant to show
On August 15, 2008 the Dallas office issued a final adverse letter revoking a trust's exemption under section 501(c)(3), effective January 1 of a redacted year. The organization agreed, on a signed…
Determination 200850040: the premium tests were both answered yes and the ceiling ended the exemption anyway
On August 27, 2008 the Dallas office issued a final adverse letter revoking a small mutual insurance company's exemption under section 501(c)(15). The revocation runs from January 1 of a redacted…
Determination 200850039: the booster club's own parent handbook proved the inurement, and the 60/40 split proved the rest
Mandatory Review in Dallas signed this final letter on September 4 2008 and the Service released it on December 12 2008. The letterhead reads "4920DAL Mandatory Review" at "1100 Commerce Street,…
Determination 200850038: HUD pulled the discount first, and the case behind the government's position survives only as a person token
This is a revocation of a housing nonprofit's 501(c)(3) status, signed "Date: 9/18/08" by "Vicki L. Hansen, Acting, Director, EO Examinations" and released on December 12 2008. The letter opens…
Determination 200850037: with no member records kept, all of the bar and hall income counted as business with the public
Exempt Organizations Examinations in Dallas signed this letter on August 27 2008 and the Service released it on December 12 2008. It opens "This is a Final Adverse Determination as to your exempt…
Determination 200850036: a mutual aid society for one ethnic group, denied under both 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4), and carrying its neighbor's index row
A mutual aid society applied for exemption and was refused twice over, once as a charity and once as a social welfare organization. The released package is two letters. The first is the final…
Determination 200850035: a historic club lost its exemption over rentals it never tracked, in a package whose own cover letter names the wrong subsection
A social club that had been exempt since January of a redacted year in the 1900s lost that exemption because it rented out its own ballroom and kept no records of who was in the room. The cover…
PLR 200850034: a donor's will set the scholarship criteria, and the not-precedent sentence prints twice with two different subsections
A private foundation asked the IRS to bless its scholarship program in advance. The letter grants that request. It opens by saying it responds to a letter of March 17, 2008, "requesting advance…
CCA 200850033: a business became a covered railroad employer on the day it first paid an employee
This is a one page memorandum from the Office of Chief Counsel, routed "CC:TEGE:EOEG:ET1" under control number "POSTN-130209-08", dated "date: September 05, 2008" and released 12/12/2008. It runs…
CCA 200850032: a railroad employer left the system at the close of business on the day it handed over its assets
Another one page memorandum on the same template as its neighbours in this release, routed "CC:TEGE:EOEG:ET1" under control number "POSTN-137996-08", dated "date: September 05, 2008" and released…
CCA 200850031: coverage ended on the day this carrier's assets and obligations passed to other entities
A one page memorandum from the Office of Chief Counsel on the standard railroad coordination template, routed "CC:TEGE:EOEG:ET1" under control number "POSTN-130208-08", dated "date: September 04,…
CCA 200850030: coverage ended on the day rail operations stopped in the United States
A one page memorandum from the Office of Chief Counsel on the railroad coordination template, routed "CC:TEGE:EOEG:ET1" under control number "POSTN-130207-08", dated "date: September 04, 2008" and…
CCA 200850029: a business entered railroad coverage on its first payroll, in the second memorandum to use that trigger
A one page memorandum from the Office of Chief Counsel on the railroad coordination template, routed "CC:TEGE:EOEG:ET1" under control number "POSTN-137992-08", dated "date: September 08, 2008" and…
CCA 200850028: a business entered railroad coverage on the day it began operations, the third trigger this template has used
A one page memorandum from the Office of Chief Counsel, routed "CC:TEGE:EOEG:ET1" under control number "POSTN-130162-08", dated "date: September 04, 2008" and released 12/12/2008. Like its…
CCA 200850027: the charitable deduction clears the percentage limitation and is then denied by a different rule
A four page Office of Chief Counsel memorandum, control number "POSTN-126676-08", dated August 28, 2008 and released 12/12/2008. It answers two questions put by a field attorney in Manhattan about a…
PLR 200850026: a missed election to waive a carryback period, fixed one week after it was asked about
A four page private letter ruling from the Office of Associate Chief Counsel (Corporate), control number "PLR-138326-08", dated September 10, 2008 and released 12/12/2008. It grants so called 9100…
PLR 200850025: the same consent granted over the most tangled of the three chains, in the copy that lost a word from its perjury sentence
A three page private letter ruling from the Office of Associate Chief Counsel (International), "CC:INTL:B03", control number "PLR-135904-08", dated September 11, 2008 and released 12/12/2008. Corp A…
PLR 200850024: the same safe harbor consent, granted to a group that had moved its operating company and then made it disappear
A three page private letter ruling from the Office of Associate Chief Counsel (International), "CC:INTL:B03", control number "PLR-135905-08", dated September 11, 2008 and released 12/12/2008. Corp A…
PLR 200850023: permission to leave the foreign tax credit safe harbor, granted without deciding the question the safe harbor exists to answer
A three page private letter ruling from the Office of Associate Chief Counsel (International), "Refer Reply To: CC:INTL:B03", control number "PLR-135901-08", dated September 11, 2008 and released…
PLR 200850022: REIT cash-or-stock dividend is treated as a property distribution
A real estate investment trust proposed a special dividend that would let shareholders elect cash, common stock of equivalent value, or a combination of 20 percent cash and 80 percent stock. The…
PLR 200850021: Corporate separation receives tax-free spin-off and reorganization rulings
A corporate group proposed two internal distributions of a subsidiary, followed by a transfer of that subsidiary and cash to a new controlled corporation and a pro rata distribution of the new…
PLR 200850020: Bank split-off and holding-company contribution receive tax-free treatment
A bank holding company proposed separating two subsidiary banks with different markets and business strategies. Selected shareholders would exchange their parent-company shares for all shares of one…
CCA 200850019: a railroad coverage ends, in the one memorandum of seven that leaves out the word covered
A single page Office of Chief Counsel memorandum, control number "POSTN-133236-08", dated September 05, 2008 and released 12/12/2008. It is routed "CC:TEGE:EOEG:ET1", carries the subject line…
PLR 200850018: a spin-off that ends with one shareholder, after a death put the rest of the stock in trust
A six page private letter ruling, control number "PLR-123614-08", dated September 11, 2008 and released 12/12/2008. It is routed "CC:CORP:03", carries Index Number "355.00-00, 355.01-00", and is…
PLR 200850017: a reactor shut down since 1974 moves up one rung of its corporate ladder, and its decommissioning funds survive the trip
A seven page private letter ruling, control number "PLR-121573-08", dated September 02, 2008 and released 12/12/2008. It is routed "CC:PSI:B06", carries Index Number "468A.04-02", and is signed by…
PLR 200850016: a supplement that keeps a deal on track past a five-year clock, and cannot be read on its own
A four page supplemental private letter ruling, control number "PLR-129071-08", dated August 28, 2008 and released 12/12/2008. It is routed "CC:CORP:2", carries Index Number "355.01-01, 382.00-00",…
PLR 200850015: a gain deferred since an old restructuring comes due on the third conversion, and is excluded from income
A six page private letter ruling, control number "PLR-127568-08", dated September 09, 2008 and released 12/12/2008. It is routed "CC:CORP:04" and signed by Marie C. Milnes-Vasquez, Acting Chief,…
PLR 200850014: one business split three ways, a pair of shareholders each, with the operating assets deliberately left undivided
A nine page private letter ruling, control number "PLR-122642-08", dated September 11, 2008 and released 12/12/2008. It is routed "CC:CORP:02", carries Index Number "355.01-02, 368.04-00", and is…
PLR 200850013: a split-off to settle shareholder disputes, after which both sides still share one office and one payroll
A thirteen page private letter ruling, control number "PLR-121886-08", dated September 10, 2008 and released 12/12/2008. It is routed "CC:CORP:B06", carries Index Number "355.00-00, 355.01-01,…
CCA 200850012: a company chose to be acquired, and that choice made a pay disclosure mandatory
Company X was a public company. It agreed to be bought by Company Y, and the merger agreement let Company Y name a majority of Company X's board. That single term set off an SEC rule. Rule 14f-1…
PLR 200850011: Captive reinsurer of service-contract risks qualifies as an insurance company
A corporate group planned to create a wholly owned captive insurer that would directly insure group risks and reinsure most of the risks arising from extended service contracts sold by another…
PLR 200850010: Sales of a 50-year interest and remainder produce section 1231 gain or loss
A partnership proposed selling a 50-year interest in business real estate to one buyer and the remainder interest to an unrelated second buyer. Each buyer would receive the benefits and burdens of…
PLR 200850009: Sales of a 50-year interest and remainder produce section 1231 gain or loss
A partnership proposed selling a 50-year interest in business real estate to one buyer and the remainder interest to an unrelated second buyer. Each buyer would receive the benefits and burdens of…
PLR 200850008: Nuclear decommissioning fund schedules and a special transfer are approved
A corporate taxpayer owned an interest in a nuclear power plant through disregarded entities. It requested an initial deduction schedule for a special transfer to its nuclear decommissioning fund…
PLR 200850007: Nuclear decommissioning fund schedules and a special transfer are approved
A corporate taxpayer owned a nuclear power plant through disregarded entities. It requested an initial deduction schedule for a special transfer to its nuclear decommissioning fund and a revised…
PLR 200850006: Nuclear decommissioning fund schedules and a special transfer are approved
A corporate taxpayer owned a nuclear power plant through disregarded entities. It requested an initial deduction schedule for a special transfer to its nuclear decommissioning fund and a revised…
PLR 200850005: Nuclear decommissioning fund schedules and a special transfer are approved
A corporate taxpayer owned a nuclear power plant through disregarded entities. It requested an initial deduction schedule for a special transfer to its nuclear decommissioning fund and a revised…
PLR 200850004: Assigning an inherited IRA to charities does not immediately trigger income
A decedent named one person as beneficiary of an IRA but left charitable bequests in a will without identifying how to fund them. After the named beneficiary disclaimed the IRA, the estate became…
PLR 200850003: New grid-congestion system does not jeopardize tax-exempt bonds
A public joint powers agency had financed electric transmission facilities with bonds governed partly by the 1986 Code and partly by the 1954 Code. At the direction of federal energy regulators, the…
PLR 200850002: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund contribution schedule is approved
A utility-owned taxpayer requested elective review of its contribution schedule for a qualified nuclear decommissioning fund. Decommissioning was already underway, and an updated cost estimate and…
PLR 200850001: S corporation receives relief after ownership by an ineligible shareholder
A limited liability company had elected to be taxed as an S corporation. Its S election terminated when an ineligible shareholder acquired it and became its sole owner. After discovering the…
PLR 200849020: Vague will reference fails to name IRA designated beneficiaries
An IRA owner wrote “as stated in wills” on the account's beneficiary designation and left the residue of a trust to eight individuals. After the owner's death, a state court interpreted that phrase…
PLR 200849019: Vague will reference fails to name IRA designated beneficiaries
An IRA owner wrote “as stated in wills” on the account's beneficiary designation and left the residue of a trust to eight individuals. After the owner's death, a state court interpreted that phrase…
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.