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 200830024: Railroad business ceased to be a covered employer
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a business had ceased to be a covered employer under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. Chief Counsel…
PLR 200830023: Trader denied more time to elect mark-to-market accounting
An individual who said he was a securities trader missed the deadline to elect mark-to-market accounting under IRC § 475(f). After the deadline, he hired a new accountant and asked the IRS for more…
PLR 200830022: Public retiree health trust income and benefits excluded from tax
A local government district created a trust to fund health coverage for retired employees and their spouses and dependents. The IRS ruled that the trust's income was excluded from federal gross…
PLR 200830021: Two investment funds get more time for consent dividend elections
Two funds in the same trust missed the deadline to elect consent dividends for a taxable year in which they had failed to distribute all their income. A consent dividend lets a shareholder agree to…
PLR 200830020: Foreign entity gets more time to elect disregarded status
An entity formed in one country acquired an entity formed in another country. The acquired entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes, but its Form…
PLR 200830019: Foreign entity gets more time to elect partnership status
A foreign entity intended to elect partnership treatment for U.S. federal tax purposes beginning on its formation date. It inadvertently failed to file the entity classification election on time.…
PLR 200830018: S corporation retains status after uneven land distribution agreement
An S corporation's shareholders agreed to divide real estate into approximately equal parcels even though they held unequal ownership interests. The agreement may have created a second class of…
PLR 200830017: Foreign entity allowed extra time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity acquired another foreign entity and intended to treat the acquired entity as disregarded for federal tax purposes from the acquisition date. It inadvertently missed the deadline to…
PLR 200830016: Foreign entity gets more time to elect partnership status
A foreign entity intended to elect partnership treatment for federal tax purposes but inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS concluded, based on the information submitted, that…
PLR 200830015: Foreign entity gets more time to elect partnership status
A foreign entity intended to elect partnership treatment for federal tax purposes but inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS concluded, based on the information submitted, that…
PLR 200830014: Foreign entity gets more time to elect partnership status
A foreign entity intended to elect partnership treatment for federal tax purposes but inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS concluded, based on the information submitted, that…
PLR 200830013: Foreign entity gets more time to elect partnership status
A foreign entity intended to elect partnership treatment for federal tax purposes but inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS concluded, based on the information submitted, that…
PLR 200830012: Foreign entity gets more time to elect partnership status
A foreign entity intended to elect partnership treatment for federal tax purposes but inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS concluded, based on the information submitted, that…
PLR 200830011: Active rental income excluded from S corporation passive income test
A corporation planning to elect S corporation status owned nine commercial and residential rental properties. It expected to have accumulated earnings and profits, which made the passive investment…
PLR 200830010: Informed LLC denied late corporate classification election
A single owner LLC asked for more time to elect corporate tax classification on Form 8832. The LLC and its owner had repeatedly consulted advisers, who told them the election was needed and…
PLR 200830009: IRS rules on allocating acquisition and financing costs
A company incurred adviser and financing costs in a merger that made it a subsidiary of an acquiring group. The IRS allowed transaction costs to be assigned to the company or the acquisition entity…
PLR 200830008: S corporation status restored after excess bond interest
A real estate corporation held Treasury bonds bought with proceeds from an eminent domain taking. Bond interest made passive investment income exceed 25 percent of gross receipts for three…
PLR 200830007: Late application to change tax year treated as timely
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 late to change its federal tax year from December 31 to March 31. It sought discretionary relief shortly after the filing deadline. The IRS found that the taxpayer acted…
PLR 200830006: LLC receives more time to elect corporate tax treatment
An LLC intended to elect to be taxed as a corporation but did not file Form 8832 on time. It asked the IRS for an extension under the regulatory election relief rules. Based on the facts and…
PLR 200830005: Proposed stock distribution receives section 355 rulings
A corporation proposed to distribute its remaining stock in a controlled company to its shareholders. Based on the submitted facts and representations, the IRS ruled that neither the shareholders…
PLR 200830004: Foreign entity granted late partnership election
A foreign entity whose members had limited liability intended to elect partnership status for federal tax purposes. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 by the deadline for its desired…
PLR 200830003: Internal restructuring receives nonrecognition rulings
A parent corporation proposed a series of steps to rearrange domestic and foreign subsidiaries and separate ownership of two businesses. The steps included converting one subsidiary to a disregarded…
PLR 200830002: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
A utility with an ownership interest in a nuclear plant asked the IRS to revise the annual amounts it could contribute to its decommissioning fund under section 468A. One regulator had changed the…
CCA 200830001: More facts needed to assess estate tax liability of institution
Chief Counsel considered whether an institution that held a nonresident decedent's property could be personally liable for estate tax after transferring the property to the surviving spouse. The…
Determination 200829056: Home schooling group denied charitable exemption
A group serving home schooling families applied for exemption under section 501(c)(3). It organized activities and testing, including annual testing that parents had to arrange under state law. The…
Determination 200829055: Inactive supporting organization loses exemption
An organization received section 501(c)(3) exemption as a supporting organization for a university. During an examination, its representatives said it had conducted no activities since receiving…
Determination 200829054: Paid church messaging service denied exemption
A nonprofit proposed to sell text and email messaging services to churches and their members for a monthly subscription fee. It planned to return part of its revenue to participating churches. The…
Determination 200829053: Mutual insurer loses exemption after premiums fall below threshold
A mutual insurer that covered members against fire had long held exemption under section 501(c)(15). An IRS examination found that premiums made up 29.12 percent and 28.29 percent of its gross…
Determination 200829052: Business league exemption revoked after unanswered records requests
An organization recognized as exempt under section 501(c)(6) did not provide records requested for an IRS examination of its Form 990. The IRS sent several letters and attempted telephone contact,…
Determination 200829051: Educational charity loses exemption after failing to document activity
An organization recognized under section 501(c)(3) described a mission of obtaining educational materials for students and teachers. During an examination, an employee said it was no longer…
Determination 200829050: Debt management charity loses exemption for commercial activity
A credit counseling organization held section 501(c)(3) exemption and enrolled consumers in debt management plans. It stopped taking new clients but continued receiving payments tied to existing…
Determination 200829049: Charity loses exemption after paying its founder's personal expenses
A charity operated housing and support services for men in drug rehabilitation or recently released from prison. An IRS examination found that the charity paid its founder's personal and travel…
Determination 200829048: Charity loses exemption after lending its tax identity to another group
A charity formed to aid people in another country let a separate group without tax exempt status use its employer identification number on bank accounts and donation receipts. The charity's…
Determination 200829047: Residential treatment charity loses exemption for missing returns and records
An organization provided residential treatment for women with substance addictions. The examination report says it had stopped filing annual Forms 990 and did not submit the delinquent returns after…
Determination 200829046: Art gallery loses exemption for selling members' work
An art organization ran classes and other educational programs, but also displayed and sold its members' art through a gallery and shows. The examination report found that member art sales generated…
Determination 200829045: Homebuyer assistance group's exemption revoked over seller-funded transactions
A nonprofit gave homebuyers down payment assistance and received payments from sellers or builders tied to the same sales. Its records showed that the assistance was open to buyers regardless of…
Determination 200829044: Seller-funded down payment program costs nonprofit its exemption
A nonprofit with prayer activities promoted a homebuyer down payment program through a bank and a related company. The examination report says sellers paid a fee at closing, the bank credited buyers…
Determination 200829043: Nonprofit loses exemption over undocumented cash withdrawals
A nonprofit originally described mentoring and other help for children in its exemption application. During the examined year, the IRS found no evidence of its proposed group home activity and found…
Determination 200829042: Inactive nonprofit loses exemption after failing to provide records
An exempt organization told an IRS agent it had stopped operating and had not formally dissolved. The IRS had no record of a Form 990 for the examined year, and the organization did not provide…
Determination 200829041: Social club loses exemption over public gambling receipts
A social club operated a bar, held events, and sold pull-tabs both at its facility and at another location. It did not keep records separating member from nonmember receipts for some activities, so…
Determination 200829040: IRS revokes a charity's exemption after it fails to provide records
The IRS asked a tax-exempt organization for financial records and information about its activities while examining its Form 990. The organization did not provide the requested information despite…
Determination 200829039: IRS revokes exemption after missed filings and unanswered requests
The IRS examined an exempt organization that had not filed required Forms 990-PF for several tax periods. Its examination report describes repeated letters and attempts to locate the organization,…
Determination 200829038: Debt management fees cost a credit counselor its exemption
A credit counseling organization had been recognized as exempt under section 501(c)(3). During the year examined, 74 percent of its revenue came from fees paid by clients enrolled in debt management…
Determination 200829037: Missing records end a housing assistance charity's exemption
An organization was recognized as a charity to provide home ownership education, credit counseling, and down payment assistance. Its president told an IRS examiner that it had handled two down…
Determination 200829036: Missed Form 990 filings lead to a proposed exemption revocation
An organization exempt under section 501(c)(4) had previously been examined and warned to keep adequate records and file Forms 990 for later years. The IRS said the organization failed to file a…
Determination 200829035: IRS revokes an education charity's exemption over control and personal loans
An organization approved to educate displaced and unemployed people instead operated a tuition-funded English language instruction service. Its president was the sole officer and director,…
Determination 200829034: Founder loan costs a supporting organization its exemption
An organization received section 501(c)(3) exemption as a supporting organization for a named public charity. Its founder and his wife were its only directors, and the IRS found no evidence that the…
Determination 200829033: Credit counseling group loses exemption over debt management focus
The IRS revoked a credit counseling organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption, effective on a redacted January 1 date. The organization offered debt management plans that consolidated clients'…
PLR 200829032: Community health plan qualifies as a church plan
A religious community fundraiser and affiliated agencies and churches created a group health plan for their employees. The agencies also formed a committee whose sole purpose was to administer…
PLR 200829031: Hospital receives conditional pension funding waiver
A hospital requested relief from the minimum funding standard for its pension plan after several years of operating losses and costs tied to ending an affiliation with another health care…
PLR 200829030: Late IRA rollover waiver denied after home purchase fell through
A taxpayer withdrew money from two IRAs to buy a home, but withdrew the purchase offer after an engineer found foundation problems. He said his father's illness and death prevented him from…
TAM 200829029: Safety standards group qualifies for social welfare exemption
An organization run by public safety officials developed and promoted uniform safety codes, trained inspectors, tested equipment, and kept technical records. The IRS concluded that it did not…
CCA 200829028: Consolidated group must match cooperative dividend deduction with patron income
A consolidated corporate group included a cooperative and several member companies that received its patronage dividends. The group deducted the dividends at the cooperative before the members…
PLR 200829026: Foreign entity receives more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to be treated as disregarded for federal tax purposes from a redacted effective date but inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the…
PLR 200829025: LLC gets relief for late corporate and S corporation elections
A single owner LLC intended to be taxed as an S corporation from a redacted formation date but missed the deadlines for both its entity classification election and S corporation election. The IRS…
PLR 200829024: LLC gets more time to elect corporate tax status
A single owner LLC intended to be taxed as a corporation from its formation date but missed the deadline to make the entity classification election. It represented that it acted reasonably and in…
PLR 200829023: Partnership may use LIFO allocation for gain in property exchange
A real estate partnership planned a partly taxable like-kind exchange of property contributed by partners when its value exceeded its tax basis. The property had appreciated further after…
PLR 200829022: Nuclear trusts may pay trustee fees; securities loans need borrower review
Two subsidiaries maintained qualified trusts to fund future nuclear plant decommissioning. Their trustee proposed lending trust securities to outside borrowers, investing cash collateral, and…
PLR 200829021: Trustee changes preserve five trusts' GST tax exemption
Grantors created five family trusts before September 25, 1985, and represented that the trusts were irrevocable by that date with no later additions. The trustees proposed changes to trustee…
PLR 200829020: Administrative trustee changes preserve GST tax exemption
Grantors created five family trusts before September 25, 1985, and represented that the trusts were irrevocable by that date with no later additions. The trustees proposed changes to trustee…
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.