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.
No determinations match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
CCA 200848033: Changing partnership contribution amounts requires an AAR
Chief Counsel advised that a capital contribution is a partnership item determined at the partnership level. Its amount can affect partner-level tax because cash distributions exceeding outside…
CCA 200848032: Treaty mutual-agreement procedure does not reopen assessment period
Chief Counsel advised that the treaty's mutual-agreement-procedure article did not waive a closed U.S. assessment period. A treaty may prevent or reduce double taxation but cannot itself increase…
CCA 200848031: IRS need not answer frivolous correspondence after FOIA appeal
A FOIA appeal had upheld withholding a DIF score and reported that a requested Form 1041 could not be located, while permitting release of other available information. The requester then sent…
CCA 200848030: Form 4549 does not bar innocent-spouse relief
A question asked whether Form 4549 prevented a taxpayer from obtaining innocent-spouse relief. Chief Counsel advised that the form was neither a closing agreement nor an offer in compromise. It…
CCA 200848029: Interest netting cannot include unresolved examination periods
Chief Counsel advised that IRC § 6621(d) interest netting requires actual overpayment and underpayment interest over overlapping periods. A period still under examination lacks a final principal…
CCA 200848028: Form 872-I may combine section 6707A penalty language with a restricted consent
Chief Counsel advised that proposed language concerning the section 6707A penalty was acceptable for inclusion on Form 872-I. The same form could also contain the section 6707A language and a…
CCA 200848027: IRS claim should be paid first when no competing state lien notice was filed
Chief Counsel advised that a proposed pro rata payment plan was unacceptable when the United States had priority. If no notice of the competing state tax lien had been filed and no other facts gave…
CCA 200848026: Form 872 signatures must precede the assessment deadline
Chief Counsel found no problem with an unspecified Form 872 arrangement if both signatures were placed on the form before the assessment period expired. The advice also required no evidence that the…
CCA 200848025: Renamed corporation should sign a new Form SS-10 under both names
Chief Counsel agreed that a corporation using a new name should sign a Form SS-10 that stated its new name followed by its former name. This would leave the IRS with an SS-10 from the corporation…
CCA 200848024: Collection summons for fraudulently transferred assets needs no taxpayer notice
The IRS had assessed a taxpayer and wanted to summon information from a person who might hold the taxpayer's fraudulently transferred assets. Chief Counsel advised that the taxpayer did not need…
CCA 200848023: Interest-free adjustments may be used with the referenced employment tax form
Chief Counsel saw no technical reason that interest-free adjustments could not be used with the form referenced in an earlier message. The email's subject identifies the matter as involving new…
CCA 200848022: Post-seizure hearing does not automatically stop a DETL sale
Chief Counsel considered whether post-seizure Collection Due Process rights restrict the sale of tangible property seized through a Disqualified Employment Tax Levy. Counsel concluded there was no…
CCA 200848021: Business was not a covered Railroad Retirement Tax Act employer
The Railroad Retirement Board concluded that a redacted business was not a covered employer under the Railroad Retirement Act or the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. After reviewing the Board's…
CCA 200848020: Court-reformed trust could not deduct accelerated charitable payments
A decedent's trust held an IRA and originally required annual payments to the decedent's children and several charities. A court later reformed the trust to pay each charity a percentage of the…
PLR 200848019: Taxpayer received more time for dual consolidated loss filings
A parent and its subsidiary had omitted or incorrectly filed elections, agreements, and annual certifications for dual consolidated losses connected with numerous foreign separate units. The errors…
PLR 200848018: Petroleum refining and nonretail marketing produced qualifying income
A publicly traded partnership planned to acquire two refineries and contracts to use three other refineries. The facilities would refine or process oil and gas products such as mineral oils,…
PLR 200848017: Grantor-trust status depended on how a substitution power was exercised
An irrevocable trust for a grantor's children would be modified to let the grantor replace trust property with property of equal value, without a fiduciary's approval. The IRS explained that section…
PLR 200848016: Grantor-trust status depended on how a substitution power was exercised
An irrevocable trust for a grantor's children would be modified to let the grantor replace trust property with property of equal value, without a fiduciary's approval. The IRS explained that section…
PLR 200848015: Grantor-trust status depended on how a substitution power was exercised
An irrevocable trust for a grantor's children would be modified to let the grantor replace trust property with property of equal value, without a fiduciary's approval. The IRS explained that section…
PLR 200848014: Puerto Rico resident qualified as a nonresident noncitizen for estate and gift tax
A taxpayer born outside the United States had lived in Puerto Rico since childhood and represented that he acquired U.S. citizenship under the Nationality Act of 1940 when his father was…
PLR 200848013: Parent received more time to preserve intercompany gain deferral
A consolidated group had deferred gain when one member transferred subsidiary stock to another member, but a later deemed liquidation would trigger that gain unless the parent made a regulatory…
PLR 200848012: Corporation received relief for a late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation treatment from a specified date but did not timely file Form 2553. The IRS concluded that the corporation had reasonable cause for missing the section…
PLR 200848011: LLC received more time to elect corporate classification
A domestic limited liability company decided to change its federal tax classification from a partnership to a C corporation but did not timely file Form 8832. The company represented that it acted…
PLR 200848010: Foreign parent received more time for USRPI notice requirements
A foreign company formed a domestic merger subsidiary and later transferred all of that subsidiary's shares to another domestic subsidiary. It did not timely obtain a statement establishing that the…
PLR 200848009: GST trust received a pecuniary amount and in-kind funding triggered gain or loss
A decedent's trust directed an amount equal to the decedent's unused generation-skipping transfer tax exemption into a trust for the decedent's descendants. After debts delayed funding and the…
PLR 200848008: Children's residence trust could qualify for section 2702 exception
A mother had transferred her residence to a qualified personal residence trust while retaining a term right to live there. When that term expired, her four children planned to receive the residence…
PLR 200848007: Children's replacement-residence trust could qualify for section 2702 exception
Parents transferred a residence to a qualified personal residence trust, which later sold it and used the proceeds plus additional cash to buy a replacement residence. After the father's retained…
PLR 200848006: Grantor-trust status depended on how a substitution power was exercised
An irrevocable trust for a grantor's children would be modified to let the grantor replace trust property with property of equal value, without a fiduciary's approval. The IRS explained that section…
PLR 200848005: Nuclear plant transfer preserved its fund and revised deduction schedule
A partnership's termination caused ownership of a nuclear power plant and its decommissioning fund to pass to a partner for federal tax purposes. The IRS approved an alternative formula that…
CCA 200848004: Late estate return could not support a section 6166 installment election
An estate filed its federal estate tax return after both its extended deadline and the six-month automatic relief period. It argued either that section 301.9100-3 gave it more time for a section…
PLR 200848003: Daughter's residence trust could qualify for section 2702 exception
A mother had transferred her residence to a qualified personal residence trust while retaining a term right to live there. After that term expired, her daughter received the remainder interest and…
PLR 200848002: Pre-2003 split-dollar premiums avoided gifts and trust proceeds avoided estate inclusion
A married couple and an irrevocable trust for their grandchildren had entered a collateral-assignment split-dollar arrangement covering two survivorship life insurance policies before 2001. The…
CCA 200848001: Changing special-tool service dates was not an accounting method change
A manufacturer sought permission to change when its vendor and assembly tools were treated as placed in service. Its existing method used the date the tools were ready to perform their assigned…
PLR 200847023: IRA owner received a waiver after funds were sent to a non-IRA account
An IRA owner tried to move part of his IRA into a new IRA that would invest in a particular entity. Acting on information and paperwork supplied by the entity, a company, and a financial…
PLR 200847022: Failure to warn about rollover rules did not justify a deadline waiver
An IRA owner withdrew funds and placed them, along with other money, in a certificate of deposit held in a non-IRA account. He said he intended a rollover but relied on a financial representative…
PLR 200847021: Adviser error justified a Roth IRA rollover deadline waiver
An IRA owner receiving annual periodic payments instructed his longtime financial adviser to stop the next automatic distribution while they considered rolling it into a Roth IRA. The adviser agreed…
PLR 200847020: Transit plan received a conditional minimum funding waiver
A state transit company requested a waiver of the minimum funding standard for its pension plan after a severe weather event damaged the city's infrastructure, reduced revenue, and temporarily…
Determination 200847019: Student housing finance organization is denied tax exemption
An organization sought recognition under IRC § 501(c)(3) to finance, own, and operate student housing at colleges and universities. It proposed to use tax-exempt bonds, charge market-comparable…
Determination 200847018: Bond-financing organization is denied tax exemption
An organization sought recognition under IRC § 501(c)(3) to arrange tax-exempt bond financing for facilities used by charities and government entities. It planned to create a single-member limited…
Determination 200847017: Tavern operator is denied fraternal-society exemption
An organization sought exemption under IRC § 501(c)(10) as a domestic fraternal society, but its primary activity was operating a members-only tavern with drinking, gambling, and a restaurant. The…
PLR 200847016: Medical condition justified an IRA rollover deadline waiver
An IRA owner withdrew part of an account after press reports led him to fear that its financial institution would file for bankruptcy. He intended to protect the funds temporarily and then place…
TAM 200847015: Trust distribution powers were not general powers of appointment
A decedent served as trustee and beneficiary of a trust created by her husband after October 21, 1942. The trust allowed her to distribute income and principal to herself for health, support, and…
PLR 200847014: Reinsured charitable gift annuity qualified for tax deductions
A taxpayer proposed to pay a charity for a lifetime charitable gift annuity, and the charity planned to purchase a commercial annuity based on the taxpayer's life to fund its payment obligation. The…
PLR 200847013: Partnership transfers caused inadvertent S election termination
An S corporation's election terminated when its stock was transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. A later transfer to a second partnership would have…
PLR 200847012: Partnership ownership caused inadvertent S election termination
An S corporation's election terminated when its stock was transferred to a partnership, an ineligible S corporation shareholder. The partnership later transferred the stock to a trust represented as…
PLR 200847011: Partnership ownership caused inadvertent S election termination
An S corporation's election terminated when its stock was transferred to a partnership, an ineligible S corporation shareholder. The partnership later transferred the stock to a trust represented as…
PLR 200847010: Reasonable cause excused a late S corporation election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from the date it was incorporated but did not timely file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under IRC §…
PLR 200847009: Late filing and LLC ownership received S corporation relief
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from an earlier effective date but failed to file Form 2553 on time. It also discovered that its sole shareholder was a limited liability…
PLR 200847008: LLC received 60 days to file a late corporate classification election
A limited liability company was initially classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes. When one owner acquired all of the company, the owner intended for it to become an association taxable…
PLR 200847007: LLC received 60 days to file a late corporate classification election
A limited liability company was initially classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes. When one owner acquired all of the company, the owner intended for it to become an association taxable…
PLR 200847006: LLC received 60 days to file a late corporate classification election
A limited liability company was initially classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes. When one owner acquired all of the company, the owner intended for it to become an association taxable…
PLR 200847005: Wrong EIN filings did not prevent late S election relief
A corporation's sole shareholder intended for it to be an S corporation, but no Form 2553 was timely filed. The corporation nevertheless filed Forms 1120S for several years using an incorrect…
PLR 200847004: Missed IC-DISC election received a 60-day extension
A corporation intended to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation from its formation and hired accounting and law firms to complete the required steps. The advisers…
PLR 200847003: Five-level split-off qualified for tax-free reorganization treatment
A publicly traded parent proposed to separate one business held at the bottom of a five-corporation subsidiary chain. The lowest subsidiary would transfer that business to a new controlled…
PLR 200847002: Corporation received 60 days to make a late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended for the company to be an S corporation from a specified date, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The company asked the IRS to recognize the election…
CCA 200847001: New corporation was liable as predecessor's successor after levy
A Puerto Rico corporation stopped operating after the IRS levied its receivables for unpaid employment taxes. Its president then formed a new corporation through his wife, transferred the old…
PLR 200846042: Adviser error justified an inherited IRA rollover waiver
A surviving spouse inherited an IRA and relied on a financial adviser to arrange her required minimum distribution. An assistant mistakenly requested that the entire account balance be transferred…
Determination 200846041: Foreign private foundation is denied social-welfare status
A foreign private foundation promoted social welfare, scholarships, cultural programs, vocational education, and other activities connected to two countries. It sought recognition under IRC §…
Determination 200846040: Closely controlled congregation is denied tax exemption
A small congregation sought recognition under IRC § 501(c)(3) after buying a house of worship with funds from a trustee's private foundation and a nearby for-profit business owned by its trustees.…
Determination 200846039: Dance-school fundraiser is denied social-club and charity status
A parent organization raised money for families whose children attended a for-profit dance school owned by the organization's director. Most fundraising proceeds were credited to individual family…
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.