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.
TAM 200827038: Endowment remains a supporting organization despite directors' family ties
An endowment that supported a public charity had directors related to managers of a private foundation that contributed to the endowment. The IRS concluded that the endowment remained a supporting…
TAM 200827037: Split interest trust's stock is excluded from foundation holdings test
A private foundation held shares in two businesses, and a pre-1969 split interest trust also held large blocks of their stock. The IRS examined whether the trust was a disqualified person whose…
PLR 200827036: Hospital receives modified conditions for three pension funding waivers
A hospital asked the IRS to change the conditions on three earlier waivers of its pension plan's minimum funding standard. The IRS approved the changes after the hospital explained that it had…
PLR 200827035: Account number error qualifies for late retirement rollover relief
A financial institution entered the wrong account number on a 56 year old taxpayer's direct rollover request. Her qualified plan distribution went into a nonqualified account instead of her IRA, and…
CCA 200827034: Components of plant expansion projects form shared units for interest capitalization
A manufacturer changed how it calculates interest to capitalize on construction projects under § 263A(f). It treated each item of equipment listed in its spending approvals as a separate unit of…
PLR 200827033: Mobile medical trailers avoid the heavy trailer retail tax
A manufacturer asked whether the first retail sale of its mobile medical trailers was subject to the federal tax on heavy truck and trailer sales. The trailers house permanently installed imaging…
PLR 200827032: Two REITs get more time to elect taxable subsidiary status
Two real estate investment trusts indirectly owned a corporation through a partnership and intended it to be a taxable REIT subsidiary of both trusts from its formation. Their law firm and…
PLR 200827031: Partnership receives extra time for basis adjustment election
A partnership missed the deadline to elect under § 754 for the year a partner died. That election can adjust the basis of partnership property when partnership interests are transferred or property…
PLR 200827030: Divorce settlement payment excluded from former spouse's income
Former spouses agreed to replace ongoing support payments with one lump sum to improve the recipient's living conditions. Their modified separation agreement expressly says the payment is neither…
PLR 200827029: Inadvertent S corporation termination receives relief
An S corporation shareholder sold his stock to a limited liability company that could not hold S corporation stock. That purchase terminated the corporation's S election. After learning of the…
PLR 200827028: Ineligible corporate shareholder's interest receives S status relief
Two owners transferred an interest in an S corporation to another corporation, which was an ineligible shareholder. The transfer terminated the S election. Once the problem was discovered, the…
PLR 200827027: LLC gets extra time to correct its entity classification election
A domestic limited liability company intended to elect partnership tax treatment but inadvertently elected to be taxed as a corporation. It filed its federal tax returns as a partnership. The IRS…
PLR 200827026: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended to elect S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing…
PLR 200827025: LLC gets relief for late corporate and S elections
A limited liability company intended to elect corporate tax treatment and then S corporation status from its formation date. It failed to file both Form 8832 and Form 2553 on time. The IRS granted…
PLR 200827024: Entity receives extra time for partnership classification election
An entity intended to elect partnership treatment for federal tax purposes but missed the deadline to file the classification election. Based on the submitted facts and representations, the IRS…
PLR 200827023: Public electricity program qualifies as utility without private use by delivery companies
A public district planned to use certificate proceeds to prepay for electricity supplied through a community choice program run by a joint powers authority. The authority would sell power to…
PLR 200827022: Oil and gas drilling service income qualifies for partnership test
A limited partnership planned to become publicly traded and provide drilling and related services to companies that own the underlying property. It asked whether income from well maintenance,…
PLR 200827021: LLC receives late corporate classification election relief
Members of a limited liability company intended it to be taxed as a corporation from a specified date, but the company failed to file Form 8832 on time. Based on the submitted facts and…
PLR 200827020: Partnership gets extra time for basis adjustment election after a death
A partnership timely filed its return for the year in which the grantor of a partner trust died, but inadvertently omitted a § 754 basis adjustment election. Based on its submissions, the IRS gave…
PLR 200827019: Late S corporation election denied for lack of reasonable cause
A corporation sought to have an S election take effect from its incorporation date. It had never filed the election, filed C corporation returns for its first two years, and later filed a late S…
PLR 200827018: ESOP sellers may count pre-reorganization holding period
Shareholders planned to sell at least 30 percent of a company's stock to a new employee stock ownership plan. Before the sale, the business had changed form through reorganizations, including a…
PLR 200827017: Consolidated group may make retroactive PFIC elections
A corporate group missed qualified electing fund elections for eight passive foreign investment companies held by two subsidiaries. Its chief financial officer relied on tax managers who did not…
PLR 200827016: Late S election allowed if returns are amended consistently
A corporation intended to elect S status from a specified date but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline. It ruled that the election would be treated…
PLR 200827015: Cemetery transfer leaves care trust intact but may trigger built-in gain tax
A taxable cemetery company planned to transfer its nearly full cemetery to a new tax exempt cemetery company and resign as trustee of its perpetual care trust. The IRS concluded that the property…
PLR 200827014: Oilfield fracturing and fluid service fees are qualifying income
A limited partnership intending to become publicly traded earned fees from services connected to oil and gas wells. It supplied fluid for fracturing, helped at well sites, and removed, recycled, or…
PLR 200827013: Court reform of charitable remainder trust does not itself disqualify it
A trustee obtained a court order reforming a net income make-up charitable remainder unitrust. The changes removed a provision treating make-up amounts as liabilities and revised how sale proceeds…
PLR 200827012: Court reform of charitable remainder trust does not itself disqualify it
A trustee obtained a court order reforming a net income make-up charitable remainder unitrust. The changes removed a provision treating make-up amounts as liabilities and revised how sale proceeds…
PLR 200827011: Court reform of charitable remainder trust does not itself disqualify it
A trustee obtained a court order reforming a net income make-up charitable remainder unitrust. The changes removed a provision treating make-up amounts as liabilities and revised how sale proceeds…
PLR 200827010: Timely qualified S subsidiary election is valid
A corporation wholly owned by an S corporation was the subject of a timely election to be treated as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. The parent and its sole shareholder had filed returns…
PLR 200827009: Early charitable unitrust termination avoids self-dealing tax but creates capital gain
A charitable remainder unitrust's income beneficiary proposed to transfer the full income interest to the charitable remainder beneficiary in exchange for a lump sum equal to its present value. A…
PLR 200827008: ESOP share price floor does not create a second stock class
A company borrowed to help its employee stock ownership plan buy all remaining company shares. That leveraged purchase reduced the appraised value of shares the plan had owned earlier. The company…
CCA 200827007: Staffing company's FUTA refund claim should be denied
A staffing company sought a refund of federal unemployment tax it paid on wages for workers serving its clients. It argued that its status as an employer for state unemployment insurance, or as the…
TAM 200827006: Retailer's original product warranty risks are not insurance risks
A retailer sold products under original manufacturer warranties and took responsibility for repairing or replacing its own branded products. Its wholly owned subsidiary issued policies reimbursing…
PLR 200827005: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation treatment from its incorporation date but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and ruled that the…
PLR 200827004: Insurance assessment change preserves state fund status
A state fund had previously received a ruling that it was an integral part of the state for federal income tax purposes. The state amended its financing law to let the fund impose a new assessment…
PLR 200827003: Consolidated group gets 45 days for late subsidiary stock loss election
A consolidated group claimed a worthless stock deduction for a subsidiary but missed a regulatory election affecting its allowable loss. The parent said it had relied on a qualified tax professional…
PLR 200827002: Missing trust elections receive inadvertent S election relief
A trustee did not divide a trust holding S corporation shares into three intended successor trusts. The trustee elected small business trust treatment for the original trust but did not file…
PLR 200827001: Late S election may take effect from incorporation
A newly formed corporation intended to elect S treatment from its incorporation date but failed to file Form 2553 on time. Based on the submitted facts, the IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 200826042: Bankruptcy reorganization deadline extended for pension funding waiver
A company in chapter 11 sought another modification of its conditional minimum funding waiver for an hourly pension plan. Its exit financing was taking longer than expected, and missing the prior…
PLR 200826040: Broker fax error allows late Roth IRA recharacterization
A retiree converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 2005 on a broker's advice, although his income exceeded the then applicable $100,000 conversion limit. His accountant discovered the problem,…
PLR 200826039: Widow may directly roll over her half of late husband's plan interests
A man died with interests in two qualified retirement plans, leaving his widow with a half ownership interest under community property law. His will directed the trustee to pay the widow her…
PLR 200826037: Salaried pension funding waiver gets revised credit and reorganization terms
A company in chapter 11 asked to modify its conditional minimum funding waiver for its salaried pension plan. The IRS approved replacement conditions requiring a new letter of credit by April 18,…
CCA 200826036: IRS counsel recommends denying foreign tax credits from a cross border trust
A U.S. banking group claimed foreign tax credits after transferring income producing assets into a structure involving a trust in another country and financing from a foreign bank. Chief Counsel…
PLR 200826035: Foreign entity gets 60 days to elect partnership tax treatment
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes but inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS found that the entity met the standards for…
PLR 200826034: Thirteen subsidiaries treated as joining a consolidated return despite missing consent forms
A parent company filed its first consolidated federal income tax return with 13 subsidiaries but its accounting firm omitted their Form 1122 consent forms. The return included each subsidiary's…
PLR 200826033: Late S corporation election accepted with reasonable cause
A corporation's shareholder intended to elect S corporation status from the company's incorporation date, but the election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and…
PLR 200826032: Split of jointly owned business qualifies as a reorganization on stated facts
Two equal owners of a business proposed to divide it after disagreements over management. The company would transfer part of the business to a newly formed corporation and give that corporation's…
PLR 200826031: Reasonable cause allows late S corporation election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing. It ruled that an election for…
PLR 200826030: Family owners can split an S corporation's businesses under reorganization rules
Two family shareholder groups proposed to separate the two businesses of an S corporation. The corporation would put assets of one business into a new corporation and distribute the new…
PLR 200826029: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date but failed to file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and said the election would be…
PLR 200826028: Estate may assign inherited IRA to four charitable residuary beneficiaries
A decedent's estate became the default beneficiary of an IRA because its named beneficiary no longer existed at death. The estate and a trust proposed assigning the IRA to four charities entitled to…
PLR 200826027: Partnership gets more time to elect basis adjustments
An LLC treated as a partnership redeemed a member's interest and timely filed its partnership return, but inadvertently omitted an election under section 754. That election can adjust the basis of…
PLR 200826026: Redemption of university investment units gives a charitable trust capital gain or loss
A charitable remainder unitrust planned to exchange assets for contract units tied to a university's common investment fund. Each unit would carry investment risk and could be redeemed for cash…
PLR 200826025: Late S election accepted from corporation's formation date
A corporation intended S corporation treatment from its incorporation date but missed the election deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the failure and ruled that the corporation would be…
PLR 200826024: Marriage and blended family's housing needs support reduced home sale exclusion
A homeowner sold one principal residence and claimed the section 121 gain exclusion, then sold a second home less than two years later. Between the sales, she became engaged and married, and her…
PLR 200826023: Commercial rents with substantial services avoid S corporation passive income rule
A corporation planning to elect S status owned ten commercial rental properties and expected to have accumulated earnings and profits. It supplied maintenance, repair, cleaning, landscaping, and…
PLR 200826022: Farm feed and fertilizer trailer sales exempt from retail truck tax
A manufacturer asked whether its redesigned live floor trailer was exempt from the federal retail tax on truck and semitrailer bodies. The trailer was built to haul and unload agricultural feed and…
PLR 200826021: LLC gets 60 days to elect corporation tax classification
An LLC intended to be taxed as a corporation from its formation date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that it met the requirements for a late entity classification…
PLR 200826020: Taxpayer gets more time to elect a ten year write off of tax preferences
A taxpayer timely filed its income tax return, but an officer responsible for the return omitted an election under section 59(e). That provision allows an optional ten year write off of certain…
PLR 200826019: Foreign entity gets extension for disregarded entity election
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes, but an oversight caused it to miss the Form 8832 filing deadline. The IRS…
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.