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 200815014: Separating two business locations qualifies for specified spin-off treatment
An S corporation operated the same business at two locations and wanted each location's manager to buy an ownership stake tied to that location. It proposed moving one location's assets into a new…
PLR 200815013: LLC receives time to make a late corporate classification election
A limited liability company intended to elect corporate treatment for U.S. federal income tax purposes from the day it was formed. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time and asked the IRS…
PLR 200815012: S corporation gets time to elect QSub treatment for acquired company
An S corporation acquired all the stock of another corporation and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) treatment from the acquisition date. It relied on tax advisers to file…
PLR 200815011: Spouses' trust gifts receive late GST exemption allocations
Two spouses made gifts to a trust with potential generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax consequences. Their law firm failed to allocate GST exemptions to the initial gifts, and the spouses wrongly…
PLR 200815010: Sole shareholder's corporation receives late S election relief
A corporation's sole shareholder intended it to be an S corporation from its incorporation date, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The corporation asked the IRS to treat the election as effective…
PLR 200815009: LLC gets 60 days to elect corporate tax classification
The members of a domestic limited liability company intended it to be taxed as a corporation from its formation date. The company missed the Form 8832 deadline through inadvertence and requested…
PLR 200815008: Partnership gets time to make a late basis adjustment election
An LLC treated as a partnership lost one of its two members during the tax year. It filed its partnership return on time but inadvertently omitted a section 754 election, which can adjust the basis…
PLR 200815007: Utility ratemaking method may satisfy tax normalization rules
A regulated natural gas utility asked whether a state ratemaking procedure complied with federal tax normalization rules for accelerated depreciation and investment tax credits. Much of the…
PLR 200815006: Electric utility's represented rate method meets normalization rules
A regulated electric utility asked whether a state procedure for setting the tax component of its rates complied with federal normalization rules for accelerated depreciation and investment tax…
PLR 200815005: Electric utility rate adjustments can satisfy normalization rules
An electric utility in a consolidated corporate group asked whether a state procedure for determining the tax component of its regulated rates complied with federal normalization rules. The public…
PLR 200815004: Represented utility rate method is consistent with normalization rules
A corporate group with a subsidiary providing regulated electric and natural gas service asked whether a state ratemaking procedure complied with federal tax normalization rules. The public letter…
PLR 200815003: New sole owner may file late S election from purchase date
A person bought all the stock of a corporation and intended S corporation treatment from the purchase date. The corporation missed the Form 2553 filing deadline but said it had acted consistently…
PLR 200815002: Parent receives more time to file subsidiary stock loss statement
A consolidated group's parent missed the deadline to file a statement needed to claim an allowable loss on stock of a subsidiary it said had become worthless. The parent relied on a qualified tax…
CCA 200815001: Reissue levy forms to identify trust holding taxpayer's property
An IRS revenue officer sought to seize a home titled in a revocable trust to collect an individual's unpaid income tax. The levy and seizure notices named the individual but did not clearly identify…
Determination 200814030: Fee-based consulting organization denied charitable exemption
An organization sought section 501(c)(3) exemption for grant writing, training, professional development, and program consulting for other groups. It said its services would help underserved…
PLR 200814029: Mental impairment justifies waiver of IRA rollover deadline
An older taxpayer withdrew money from an IRA while an irreversible neurological disease impaired her ability to manage her affairs. She deposited the money in savings instead of completing a…
Determination 200814028: Charity's exemption revoked for private benefit and inurement
The IRS issued a final letter revoking an organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption effective December 20, 2000. It found that more than an insubstantial part of the organization's activities…
Determination 200814027: Exemption denied for failure to meet operational test
The IRS issued a final adverse determination on an organization's request for section 501(c)(3) exemption. The letter says the organization failed the operational test because its activities did not…
TAM 200814026: Circular note redemptions did not create a bad debt deduction
A corporation supported notes issued through a trust to finance a former subsidiary. After the subsidiary's finances deteriorated, the corporation exchanged its own notes for most of the investors'…
CCA 200814025: Corn-to-ethanol plant falls in the fuel recovery asset class
A taxpayer asked which depreciation asset class applied to an integrated plant that turns corn into fuel-grade ethanol. The IRS advised that corn is biomass and that the plant's primary use is…
CCA 200814024: Assessed tax interest shares the tax collection deadline
The IRS assessed unpaid tax and assessed interest on that tax two years later, while the period for assessing the tax was still open. Counsel advised that the later interest assessment generally…
CCA 200814023: Business no longer treated as a railroad employer
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a business was not a covered employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. After reviewing the Board's…
CCA 200814022: State tax credits reduce deductible tax liabilities
A state offered credits linked to property or mobile home taxes paid on homesteads and commercial property. Chief Counsel advised that applying either credit against state income tax reduces the…
PLR 200814021: Fund's recovery of excessive fees has divided tax treatment
A regulated investment company was to receive payments after an enforcement order addressed excessive transfer agency fees. The IRS ruled that recovered fees are taxable to the extent the fund…
PLR 200814020: Recovered fund fees are ordinary income to extent deducted
A regulated investment company expected payments under plans following an enforcement order over excessive transfer agency fees. It had deducted the fees in earlier years. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200814019: Same-year fee refunds reduce a fund's deduction
A regulated investment company sought guidance on payments received after an enforcement order addressed excessive transfer agency fees. The IRS ruled that recovered fees deducted in earlier years…
PLR 200814018: Company gets more time to request a dual loss agreement
A company distributed a subsidiary's stock, triggering rules that could recapture dual consolidated losses. It missed the deadline to request a closing agreement intended to avoid that result. The…
PLR 200814017: Late S corporation election receives relief
A corporation did not timely file an election to be treated as an S corporation from its incorporation date. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under section 1362(b)(5). It will treat the…
PLR 200814016: Trusts for younger relatives are subject to generation-skipping tax
A decedent's trust created separate trusts for younger relatives who were at least two generations below him. Each beneficiary's parent could appoint the remaining trust property by will, but could…
PLR 200814015: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and ruled that the corporation would be…
PLR 200814014: State retiree health trust's income is excluded
A state created a trust to fund health and welfare benefits for retirees and their families. The IRS ruled that its income is excluded from gross income under section 115 because providing those…
PLR 200814013: Seller may undo inadvertent installment election out
A property developer sold lots under installment contracts but reported the full selling price on its original return. That reporting elected out of the installment method, despite the developer's…
PLR 200814012: Late election gets S corporation treatment from incorporation
A corporation's shareholder wanted S corporation treatment effective from incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under section…
PLR 200814011: Children's residence trust qualifies under gift tax rules
A mother's earlier residence trust ended, leaving the home to her son and daughter. They proposed a new trust giving her a one-year right to occupy the home before the property returned to them. The…
CCA 200814010: Voluntary foreign tax payments do not remove US withholding
An employer of US citizens and resident aliens working abroad proposed deducting pay to buy certificates for their foreign income taxes. The foreign country did not require income tax withholding…
PLR 200814009: Corporate separation qualifies as a Type D reorganization
A corporate group planned to separate one business from its core businesses by contributing a subsidiary's stock to a new controlled corporation, then distributing the new corporation's stock and a…
CCA 200814008: IRS employer wage checks require advance taxpayer notice
IRS staff planned to contact employers to verify wage and withholding information on returns flagged for questionable refunds. Chief Counsel advised that these calls were third-party contacts…
PLR 200814007: S corporation status restored after trusts missed elections
An S corporation's shares passed from a grantor trust into two successor trusts after a shareholder died. The trusts intended to elect treatment as qualified subchapter S trusts, but the elections…
PLR 200814006: Estate gets more time to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A person made gifts to two trusts, but the gift tax return preparer placed those gifts on the wrong part of the return and missed the election to opt out of automatic generation-skipping transfer…
PLR 200814005: Insurance rehabilitation preserves contract tax dates and permits reinsurance election
A mutual life insurer under court-supervised rehabilitation planned to transfer its policies to another insurer through assumption reinsurance. The IRS ruled that a long moratorium on policyholder…
PLR 200814004: Bankruptcy debt conversion can count in loss limitation calculation
A financially troubled corporation reorganized in bankruptcy, where claims arising from several loans were exchanged for stock and the remaining debt was forgiven. A later buyer acquired the…
PLR 200814003: Divorce-related split of charitable remainder trust avoids specified taxes
A divorcing couple divided one charitable remainder unitrust into two trusts, each with a different spouse as the first income beneficiary. The IRS ruled that the division itself did not disqualify…
PLR 200814002: Qualifying payments in lieu of property tax are deductible
A developer planned to make payments in lieu of property taxes on a mixed-use project whose property would be held by a tax-exempt public corporation. The payments were set at the amount of ordinary…
PLR 200814001: Shareholder may make late elections for two foreign investment companies
A shareholder missed qualified electing fund elections for two passive foreign investment companies after relying on a tax adviser who failed to identify them as such. The companies had no income…
PLR 200813044: Religious nonprofit's employee retirement plan qualifies as a church plan
A religious nonprofit asked whether its retirement savings plan for employees qualified as a church plan under section 414(e). The IRS found that the nonprofit was associated with a church through…
PLR 200813043: Foundation's foreign charity grants qualify with expenditure oversight
A private foundation planned grants to a foreign charitable trust created by one of its directors. The IRS ruled that the grants served charitable and educational purposes and would count as…
CCA 200813042: FICA refund claims fail for retired agents' renewal commissions
An insurer paid retired sales agents commissions when policies they had sold remained in force and customers paid renewal premiums. Chief Counsel concluded that the agents' rights were nonqualified…
CCA 200813041: Amended software agreement is one license for export income rules
A U.S. company licensed software rights to a subsidiary under an agreement that lasted at least one year and then continued until termination or amendment. Chief Counsel advised that the agreement…
CCA 200813040: Rail carrier is a covered employer for railroad retirement tax
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a rail business was a covered employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. After reviewing that opinion and the information…
CCA 200813039: Rail business ceased to be a railroad retirement tax employer
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a rail business ceased to be a covered employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. After reviewing the Board's opinion…
CCA 200813038: Rail business lost railroad retirement tax employer status on sale
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a rail business ceased to be a covered employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. Chief Counsel reviewed the Board's…
CCA 200813037: Business is not a covered railroad retirement tax employer
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a business was not a covered employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. Chief Counsel reviewed that opinion and the…
PLR 200813036: Foreign company may use one-year PFIC exception after subsidiary sale
A foreign corporation with U.S. shareholders sold an indirect stake in a subsidiary operating an active business. Holding the sale proceeds could cause it to meet the passive foreign investment…
PLR 200813035: Foreign group spin-off qualifies for specified tax-free treatment
A foreign corporation planned to put a country-specific business group into a new company and distribute that company's stock to its two U.S. shareholders. The group said the separation would…
PLR 200813034: Buyer gets 45 days to file missed stock purchase election
A corporate parent acquired all the stock of a foreign target through a disregarded subsidiary but missed the deadline for a section 338(g) election. The IRS found that the parent reasonably relied…
PLR 200813033: Contract social worker is an employee for employment tax purposes
An outpatient health facility serving military members hired a social worker under a contract that described some independent contractor responsibilities. The facility assigned and supervised her…
PLR 200813032: Seller may undo accidental election out of installment reporting
An S corporation sold an asset for a down payment and a note payable over several years. It meant to report the gain under the installment method, but its return preparer reported the full gain in…
PLR 200813031: Corporation gets late S election relief for missed Form 2553
A newly incorporated business intended to be an S corporation from its start date but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election under section 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200813030: Downstream merger qualifies as a tax-free reorganization
A holding company planned to merge into a corporation whose shares were its main asset, leaving the operating corporation in place. The IRS ruled that the merger would qualify as a statutory…
PLR 200813029: Missed S corporation election can be filed within 60 days
A corporation intended to elect S status from its incorporation date but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section 1362(b)(5). It agreed to…
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.