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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Other 200842047: Exemption is revoked after an organization removes its charitable dissolution restriction
A health-care support organization amended its articles so that, on dissolution, its assets could pass to an entity that was not exempt under Section 501(c)(3). The organization asked the IRS to end…
Other 200842046: Exemption is revoked because a cooperative's delivery business is not a public-utility-type service
An organization sold a redacted product to members and nonmembers using truck delivery and related facilities. It had been recognized as exempt under Section 501(c)(12), which covers specified…
Other 200842045: Exemption is revoked after an inactive organization fails the organizational and operational tests
An exempt organization told the IRS that it had never operated or received funding, and a review showed that its corporate status had been suspended. The IRS initially accepted a termination request…
Other 200842044: Exemption is revoked because seller-funded down-payment assistance primarily serves private interests
An organization provided home buyers with down-payment assistance funded by matching payments and administrative fees from home sellers. Its program was available without income limits, and it…
PLR 200842043: A private foundation's engineering scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed a scholarship program for students pursuing specified engineering disciplines at accredited colleges and universities. A committee of employees or officers of a…
CCA 200842042: Returned collection-notice envelopes need not be retained, but discarding them creates proof risks
The IRS asked whether it must keep envelopes containing returned Collection Due Process lien notices and whether Appeals may rely on computer entries showing why the Postal Service did not deliver a…
CCA 200842041: A merged business ceased being an employer under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a business had ceased being an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act on a redacted date. The IRS…
CCA 200842040: A business became a railroad employer when employees were first compensated
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a business had become an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act on a redacted date. The IRS…
CCA 200842039: A REIT's oversized consent dividends are shams and preferential distributions
A real estate investment trust issued preferred stock to a tax-exempt foreign investor that agreed to report very large consent dividends while receiving only modest cash payments. The transaction…
PLR 200842038: Privatizing a government insurance business receives Section 351 treatment
A government moved an insurance business from a public unit to a newly organized private mutual insurer under privatization legislation. The new insurer assumed the business's liabilities and issued…
PLR 200842037: S corporation status continues after a beneficiary misses a QSST election
An S corporation's election terminated when the beneficiary of a shareholder trust failed to make a timely qualified subchapter S trust election. The corporation represented that the failure was…
PLR 200842036: S corporation status continues after beneficiaries miss four QSST elections
An S corporation's election terminated when one trust beneficiary and the beneficiaries of three separate shares of another trust failed to make timely qualified subchapter S trust elections. The…
PLR 200842035: S corporation status continues after a beneficiary misses a QSST election
An S corporation's election terminated when the beneficiary of a shareholder trust failed to make a timely qualified subchapter S trust election. The corporation represented that the failure was…
PLR 200842034: S corporation status continues after trustees miss two ESBT elections
Shares of an S corporation were transferred to two trusts whose trustees failed to make timely electing small business trust elections. The corporation and its shareholders continued filing returns…
PLR 200842033: A late S election and possible second-class termination receive relief
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its formation date but did not timely file Form 2553. It also may have made disproportionate distributions to its two shareholders, potentially…
PLR 200842032: A taxpayer receives 30 days to file a late calendar-year election
A taxpayer wanted to adopt a December 31 tax year but did not file Form 1128 by the deadline for the required short-period return. It requested a discretionary extension soon after missing the…
PLR 200842031: A corporation receives 60 days to file a late S election
A newly incorporated company intended to elect S corporation status effective on its formation date but did not timely file Form 2553. It asked the IRS for late-election relief under Section…
PLR 200842030: A corporation receives 60 days to file a late S election
A newly incorporated company intended to elect S corporation status effective on its formation date but did not timely file Form 2553. It asked the IRS for late-election relief under Section…
PLR 200842029: An unplanned follow-on merger qualifies as a separate reorganization
A foreign corporation had acquired a target through a domestic merger subsidiary in a transaction intended to qualify as a reorganization. Unexpected changes in the business and economic climate…
PLR 200842028: Converting a trust to a three-percent unitrust causes no taxable exchange
Trustees asked a state court to convert an irrevocable income trust into a total-return trust that would distribute three percent of its averaged asset value each year. The conversion was authorized…
PLR 200842027: A consolidated group receives 45 days to waive its CNOL carryback period
A consolidated group intended to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss but did not include a valid election with its timely filed return. The return was otherwise…
PLR 200842026: Converting a trust to a three-percent unitrust causes no taxable exchange
Trustees asked a state court to convert an irrevocable income trust into a total-return trust that would distribute three percent of its averaged asset value each year. The conversion was authorized…
PLR 200842025: A taxpayer receives 60 days to rebut a dual-consolidated-loss triggering event
A domestic subsidiary of a foreign parent sold all of its interest in another entity. That sale presumptively triggered recapture consequences for dual consolidated losses previously incurred by two…
PLR 200842024: A corporation receives 60 days to file a late S election
A corporation's shareholders wanted S corporation treatment effective on a specified date, but the company did not timely file the election. The company asked the IRS for relief under Section…
PLR 200842023: S corporation status continues after stock passes to an ineligible shareholder
Two eligible shareholders transferred portions of an S corporation's stock to a person who was not eligible to own S corporation shares. Those transfers terminated the corporation's S election, but…
PLR 200842022: S corporation status continues through ineligible trusts and three late QSST elections
An S corporation's election terminated when one trust became an ineligible shareholder and would have terminated again when a second trust became ineligible. Their stock was later transferred to…
PLR 200842021: An unregulated nuclear-plant owner receives an approved decommissioning-fund schedule
A corporate subsidiary owned an undivided interest in a nuclear power plant and requested an initial schedule of deductible contributions to a qualified nuclear decommissioning fund. The plant was…
PLR 200842020: A missed filing does not prevent a timely first-year REIT election
A company formed to hold units in an office-property trust intended from the outset to elect and operate as a real estate investment trust. After an acquisition, the prior tax department closed and…
PLR 200842019: Office leases, improvements, and equipment qualify for a build-to-suit like-kind exchange
A business planned to exchange its existing long-term office lease, tenant-owned improvements, and office equipment for a new lease with newly constructed improvements and equipment through a…
PLR 200842018: An estate receives 60 days to fund a QDOT and make the election
A U.S. citizen left property outright to a surviving spouse who was a lawful permanent resident but not a U.S. citizen. The estate's accountant incorrectly assumed permanent residence was enough for…
PLR 200842017: Spouses receive 60 days to allocate GST exemptions to two trusts
A husband created two irrevocable trusts for his sons and their descendants and transferred company stock to each. The spouses agreed to split the gifts and intended to allocate enough…
PLR 200842016: A housing partnership receives 60 days to defer its credit period
A partnership placed a low-income housing project in service but inadvertently failed to elect to begin the ten-year credit period in the following taxable year. The election normally must be made…
PLR 200842015: A corporation receives 60 days to file a late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status effective on its formation date but did not timely file Form 2553. It asked the IRS for late-election relief under Section 1362(b)(5). The IRS…
PLR 200842014: Commodity-linked notes and foreign-subsidiary income qualify for the RIC income test
Two regulated investment funds planned to gain commodities exposure through six types of commodity-linked notes and through wholly owned foreign subsidiaries. The notes were fully paid at issuance,…
PLR 200842013: Unclaimed annuity proceeds are outside the U.S. estate of a nonresident decedent
A nonresident, noncitizen decedent had inherited rights to three annuity contracts from a U.S. sibling but died before claiming or receiving the proceeds. The issuing insurance companies continued…
PLR 200842012: A property company is an active, closely held business for estate-tax deferral purposes
A decedent owned several classes of stock in a corporation that developed, leased, and managed commercial, residential, industrial, and storage properties. The company's employees found tenants,…
PLR 200842011: Gain from a cooperative's warehouse sale supports deductible patronage dividends
A delivery cooperative bought a centrally located warehouse to operate its hub-and-spoke distribution network, control costs, and improve the permanence and efficiency of member services. After…
PLR 200842010: Partnership rent is not excluded as related-party rent for a REIT investor
A corporation intending to elect REIT status indirectly owned an interest in a partnership whose building was leased to a corporation connected through several ownership chains. The issue was…
PLR 200842009: A trust may revise its capital-gain election for investment-interest purposes
A trustee manually prepared a trust return and intended to use only enough net capital gain as investment income to absorb the trust's investment-interest expense. The filing instead contained…
PLR 200842008: An estate receives 60 days to allocate GST exemption to a charitable lead unitrust
A decedent created a charitable lead unitrust that would pay charities annually and later distribute the remainder to two grandchildren. She told her accountant about the trust and the need for a…
PLR 200842007: Exchanging equal-value stock under a fiduciary substitution power causes no transfer tax or gain
A grantor proposed to exchange personally owned public-company stock for different public-company stock held by an irrevocable trust, using a retained power exercisable only in a fiduciary capacity.…
PLR 200842006: A former prisoner's community-corrections payments are personal and nondeductible
A former prisoner in a community corrections program had to pay the facility 25 percent of gross income as a condition of participation. The payments promoted financial responsibility and…
PLR 200842005: A purchaser receives 60 days to perfect the company's S election
An individual bought all of a corporation's stock believing the company had already made a valid S election. From the purchase date forward, the company consistently acted as an S corporation, but…
PLR 200842004: Nuclear-plant decommissioning funds transfer without disqualification or recognized gain
A power-plant owner planned to transfer two nuclear reactors, their qualified nuclear decommissioning funds, and the decommissioning obligation to a specialist buyer after regulatory approval. The…
PLR 200842003: A family corporation's four-way split-up receives tax-free reorganization treatment
A family-owned S corporation proposed transferring its business assets and associated liabilities to four new corporations, distributing their stock to five family shareholders in exchange for all…
CCA 200842002: The cash portion of New York's QEZE property-tax credit triggers tax-benefit income
Chief Counsel analyzed the federal treatment of New York's refundable Qualified Empire Zone Enterprise credit for real property taxes. For a cash-basis taxpayer that previously deducted the property…
PLR 200842001: A domestic business spin-off receives tax-free reorganization treatment
A foreign parent planned to separate one domestic business from another by having its domestic subsidiary contribute related assets and liabilities to a controlled corporation and distribute all…
TAM 200841042: Immediate exercise of an ESOP put option does not turn a stock distribution into cash
Participants in a private-company ESOP could request stock distributions and simultaneously instruct the employer to repurchase the shares under the plan's put option. The stock certificates were…
PLR 200841041: Early CRUT termination causes neither self-dealing nor private-foundation termination tax
A charitable remainder unitrust paid five percent annually to an individual for life and then to a second individual if he survived, with the remainder going to a public charity. All interested…
PLR 200841040: Early CRUT termination causes neither self-dealing nor private-foundation termination tax
A charitable remainder unitrust paid five percent annually to an individual for life and then to a second individual if she survived, with the remainder going to a public charity. All interested…
Other 200841039: Exemption is denied because a family genealogical association serves private interests
A membership organization preserved and promoted the history, traditions, records, and genealogy of one family group. Although associate membership was open to anyone, voting and office-holding…
Other 200841038: A brine-shrimp harvesting cooperative is not a farmers' cooperative
A cooperative received, harvested, processed, and marketed brine shrimp cysts collected by members licensed to harvest from a large publicly owned saltwater lake. It argued that the activity…
TAM 200841037: A substantial employee vehicle program qualifies as a leasing business under Section 280F
An automobile distributor operated a formal vehicle-leasing program for employees, retirees, and affiliates, entering thousands of one-to-three-year leases each year through a dedicated staff. The…
CCA 200841036: Railroad employer status ended when the business ceased operations and last paid employees
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a redacted business had ceased being an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act on a redacted date.…
PLR 200841035: Dividing a grandfathered trust into three successor trusts will not trigger GST tax
A testamentary trust became irrevocable before September 25, 1985, and therefore was exempt from the generation-skipping transfer tax. The beneficiaries proposed dividing it equally into three…
PLR 200841034: Correcting life insurance cash values preserves the contracts' tax status
A life insurance company omitted a potential surrender payment when calculating the cash value of certain variable life policies. That omission caused the policies to fail Section 7702's cash value…
PLR 200841033: Taxpayer receives 60 more days to make a Section 59(e) election
A taxpayer timely filed its income tax return but its responsible officer failed to elect the optional ten-year write-off for certain tax preferences under Section 59(e). The taxpayer asked for…
PLR 200841032: Estate receives extra time to elect alternate valuation
An estate's executor hired a CPA to prepare the federal estate tax return, but the CPA did not consider the alternate valuation election under Section 2032. The executor filed the return within one…
PLR 200841031: Late trust elections will not end the corporation's S status
An S corporation transferred shares to two trusts whose trustees failed to make timely electing small business trust elections. Because the trusts became ineligible shareholders, the corporation's S…
PLR 200841030: Late QSST election will not terminate the corporation's S status
Shares of an S corporation passed from a married couple's trust to a new trust after one spouse died. The surviving spouse did not make the qualified subchapter S trust election required for the new…
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.