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 200813028: Same-year restoration lets group disregard business transfer
A corporate group moved part of an operating business, including customer contracts and employees, among subsidiaries to fit a different regulatory structure. Market conditions then worsened, and…
PLR 200813027: Insurers may transfer structured settlements before merger without recognized gain
Two related life insurers planned to merge, but some annuity contracts funding their structured settlement obligations ran between them and would end if both became one company. Before the merger,…
PLR 200813026: Manufacturer may integrate currency hedges with planned equipment purchases
A U.S. manufacturer agreed on foreign-currency prices for future equipment purchases but was not yet required to place orders. It hedged the expected currency exposure with forward contracts and…
PLR 200813025: Foreign business separation qualifies as reorganization with section 367 adjustments
A foreign corporation planned to separate two active businesses by moving one into a new foreign company and distributing that company's stock to shareholders. The IRS treated the proposed steps as…
PLR 200813024: LLC gets 60 days to file late corporate classification election
A two-member LLC intended to be taxed as a corporation from its formation date but did not file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the LLC met the reasonable-conduct and government-interest…
PLR 200813023: Trustee discretion and replacement power need not disqualify charitable unitrust
A donor proposed a charitable remainder unitrust that would pay half its annual unitrust amount to the donor and let an independent special trustee allocate the other half among the donor and…
PLR 200813022: Bond credit-enhancement legal fees and mortgage insurance get different tax treatment
An issuer planned tax-exempt bonds to finance a solid waste facility and expected the borrower to pay legal fees for a credit enhancer and title insurance protecting the mortgage lender. The IRS…
PLR 200813021: Spouses get more time to allocate GST exemptions to family trust
A married couple gave cash to a trust for descendants and intended the trust to avoid generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax. They filed gift tax returns late and did not allocate their GST…
PLR 200813020: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation intended S corporation treatment from its incorporation date but missed the filing deadline for its election. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under section…
PLR 200813019: Failed property exchange seller may switch to installment reporting
A real estate partnership tried to exchange its rental property for replacement property under section 1031 but found no suitable replacement. An exchange intermediary held the sale proceeds until…
PLR 200813018: Late Form 2553 accepted for intended S corporation start date
A corporation and its two shareholders intended S corporation status from the date the business was incorporated, but Form 2553 was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline…
PLR 200813017: Staged foreign stock contributions count as one transferor group
Several foreign subsidiaries and an unrelated group contributed stock in operating companies to a publicly traded foreign company in exchange for its shares. The transfers occurred in stages because…
PLR 200813016: Waste facility management contract avoids private business use
A county planned to hire a private manager for parts of its bond-financed solid waste facility. The manager's annual base fee would adjust with prior waste volume, and extra per-ton payments could…
PLR 200813015: LLC receives extension for missed corporate tax election
An LLC meant to be taxed as a corporation from the date it was formed but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the LLC met the regulatory standards for an extension to make…
PLR 200813014: S corporation status restored after stock went to partnership
An S corporation issued its stock to a limited partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The company later dissolved the partnership and transferred the stock to three…
PLR 200813013: Foreign entity gets late election for corporate tax treatment
A foreign entity was eligible to choose its U.S. tax classification but defaulted to partnership treatment. It intended to be taxed as a corporation from its formation date and failed to file Form…
PLR 200813012: S corporation relief covers ineligible shareholder and possible note issue
An S corporation issued two convertible notes to shareholders and later issued shares for services to an LLC owned by an ineligible shareholder. The LLC's shares were eventually transferred to an…
PLR 200813011: S status restored after corporation converted to partnership form
An S corporation converted under state law to a limited partnership while electing to remain taxed as a corporation. Its general partner was an LLC treated as a partnership, which was an ineligible…
PLR 200813010: S corporation gets relief after converting to a limited partnership
An S corporation converted under state law to a limited partnership while electing to remain taxed as a corporation. The conversion gave a partnership LLC a general partner interest, making it an…
PLR 200813009: Resort brand value can count as a REIT real estate asset
A real estate investment trust owned resort hotels whose purchase price included value assigned to names and goodwill. After selling many other properties, it asked whether those intangible values…
PLR 200813008: Late S corporation election accepted for original start date
A corporation and its two original shareholders intended S corporation status from the date it was incorporated, but Form 2553 was filed late. The corporation said it and both its current and former…
PLR 200813007: Foreign entity gets 60 days to file partnership election
A foreign company with two members intended to elect partnership treatment for U.S. federal tax purposes when it was formed. It missed the deadline for filing Form 8832 and asked for more time.…
PLR 200813006: Trust provisions preserve charitable unitrust eligibility
A married couple planned a charitable remainder unitrust that would make annual payments to them and ultimately leave its remainder to charity. An independent special trustee could allocate part of…
PLR 200813005: Services at independent living facilities preserve REIT rental income
A real estate investment trust planned to acquire independent living facilities and have its taxable subsidiary or independent contractors provide resident services. The planned facilities would…
PLR 200813004: Spouses get time to allocate generation-skipping tax exemption
A couple made gifts to a trust for their descendants and elected to split those gifts for gift tax purposes. Their advisers failed to properly allocate each spouse's generation-skipping transfer tax…
PLR 200813003: Owning health care facilities does not disqualify REIT subsidiaries
Two taxable subsidiaries of a real estate investment trust held interests in senior living facilities that included health care facilities. A company unrelated to the trust and its subsidiaries…
PLR 200813002: Foreign entity gets time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as a disregarded entity for U.S. federal tax purposes but failed to file Form 8832 on time. It asked the IRS for an extension to make the election…
PLR 200813001: More time allowed for GST exemption allocations to family trust
Two taxpayers made gifts to a trust with potential generation-skipping transfer tax consequences. Their tax advisers failed to allocate their GST exemptions for the early gifts, and the taxpayers…
IRS 200812025: Organization denied charitable exemption under operational test
The IRS issued a final adverse determination on an organization's tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3). It said the organization failed the operational test because its activities did not…
CCA 200812024: Household member deduction does not unlock every family tax benefit
Chief Counsel considered which family tax benefits might follow when a taxpayer claims an unrelated household member as a qualifying relative. It advised that this relationship alone does not permit…
CCA 200812023: Housing credits follow actual depreciation allocations
A partnership that owned low-income housing had general percentages for allocating income and losses between its two members. A special rule in its agreement shifted some depreciation deductions to…
PLR 200812022: Limited appointment power preserves trust's GST treatment
A grandchild held a testamentary power to direct assets of an old family trust. Before November 1951, she partially released the power so it could no longer benefit herself, her estate, or their…
PLR 200812021: Late filing accepted for corporate tax year change request
A corporation filed Form 1128 after the deadline to request a change from a May 31 to a December 31 tax year. It asked the IRS to treat the form as timely under the discretionary extension rules.…
PLR 200812020: Converting old trust to unitrust preserves tax treatment
Trustees proposed to convert an old irrevocable trust's income payments into payments based on a percentage of trust assets under state law. The trust had been irrevocable before September 25, 1985,…
PLR 200812019: Converting old trust to unitrust preserves tax treatment
Trustees proposed to convert an old irrevocable trust's income payments into payments based on a percentage of trust assets under state law. The trust had been irrevocable before September 25, 1985,…
PLR 200812018: Converting old trust to unitrust preserves tax treatment
Trustees proposed to convert an old irrevocable trust's income payments into payments based on a percentage of trust assets under state law. The trust had been irrevocable before September 25, 1985,…
PLR 200812017: Group restructuring receives reorganization rulings
A publicly traded parent company proposed a series of transactions to consolidate businesses in its corporate group. The plan included a subsidiary liquidation, several mergers, a transfer of one…
PLR 200812016: Fund fee recoveries qualify as income without preferential dividends
Five regulated investment companies expected payments under plans addressing overcharged transfer agency fees and related sanctions. They asked whether those recoveries, interest, and penalty…
PLR 200812015: Late trust election gets S corporation termination relief
An S corporation shareholder transferred stock to a trust intended to be a qualified subchapter S trust, but the trust's beneficiary did not file the required election on time. The IRS found that…
PLR 200812014: Corporation granted relief for late S election
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation status from its incorporation date, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The corporation requested relief under section 1362(b)(5). Based on the…
PLR 200812013: Foreign corporate parent receives subsidiary stock in spin-off
A foreign corporation planned to distribute all stock of a U.S. subsidiary to its foreign parent after moving a business into that subsidiary. The IRS ruled that the parent and distributing company…
PLR 200812012: Partnership termination does not defeat investment holding test
A trust's real estate investment LLC acquired replacement property through a reverse like-kind exchange. A court-approved plan to wind up the trust later caused a technical termination of the LLC…
PLR 200812011: Severe weather permits late accounting method application
An S corporation sought to change its and four subsidiaries' accounting method from accrual to cash. Its representative prepared Form 3115 in time, but severe weather disrupted transportation and…
PLR 200812010: Subsidiary gets more time to file LIFO election
A corporate group had used the last-in, first-out inventory method for a business before an entity classification change placed its inventory in a subsidiary. A tax adviser did not tell the group it…
PLR 200812009: Partnership shareholder's S election error deemed inadvertent
An S corporation issued all its shares to a limited partnership, which was an ineligible S corporation shareholder. After tax advisers found the problem, the partnership dissolved and transferred…
PLR 200812008: Partnership shareholder's S election error deemed inadvertent
An S corporation issued all its shares to a limited partnership, which was an ineligible S corporation shareholder. After tax advisers found the problem, the partnership dissolved and transferred…
PLR 200812007: Late election allowed for tax-exempt controlled corporation
A corporation wholly owned by a tax-exempt organization held an interest in a partnership rehabilitating historic buildings. It missed the deadline to elect under section 168(h)(6)(F)(ii) not to be…
PLR 200812006: Foreign entity conversion triggers taxable liquidation rules
A foreign corporate group planned sales of shares in a foreign subsidiary to its parent, followed by the subsidiary's election to be treated as a partnership for U.S. tax purposes. The IRS ruled…
PLR 200812005: Deferred research costs carry over in business spin-off
A corporate group had elected to capitalize and amortize certain research expenditures over ten years under section 59(e). It planned to transfer the related business assets to a subsidiary as part…
PLR 200812004: Multistep split-off receives reorganization rulings
A publicly traded corporate group proposed to move businesses into a new subsidiary and pass its stock up through several group companies. The parent would then exchange the new subsidiary's stock…
PLR 200812003: Multistep split-off receives reorganization rulings
A publicly traded corporate group proposed to move businesses into a new subsidiary and pass its stock up through several group companies. The parent would then exchange the new subsidiary's stock…
PLR 200812002: Combining five trusts preserves GST status, with one income tax question unanswered
A trustee proposed to combine five trusts created before September 25, 1985, into two trusts. The IRS ruled that the combinations would preserve the trusts' exemption from generation-skipping…
CCA 200812001: State unemployment tax credit uses aggregate wages, even when some workers are exempt
IRS Chief Counsel explained how an employer calculates its credit against federal unemployment tax when some federally taxable wages are exempt from state unemployment tax. The credit is calculated…
PLR 200811028: Missed inherited IRA withdrawals do not force a five year payout
A child inherited two IRAs from a parent who died before required distributions began. The child missed required withdrawals for 2003 and 2004, took them in 2005, and represented that she paid the…
Determination 200811027: IRS revokes charity's exemption after operations cease
The IRS revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) tax exemption effective from a redacted January 1 date. Its examination report said the organization's sole officer had died, no activities had…
Determination 200811026: Exemption revoked after charity stops operating and misses Form 990
The IRS revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption retroactively to a redacted January 1 date. Its examination report said that the organization's only officer had died, that it had…
Determination 200811025: IRS revokes inactive organization's charity status
The IRS issued a final letter revoking an organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption retroactively to a redacted January 1 date. The attached examination report says its sole officer died, no…
Determination 200811024: Housing charity loses exemption after never beginning operations
An organization planned to raise funds to build low income housing, but the examination report says it received no funds, had no assets, and never carried out any activities. The organization wanted…
Determination 200811023: Shooting club loses social club exemption over nonmember receipts
A shooting club held events for regular members and also admitted visitors through special and daily memberships. The IRS treated payments from those visitors, including members of other clubs, as…
Determination 200811022: IRS revokes exemption after organization's sole officer dies
The IRS revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption effective from a redacted January 1 date. The attached examination report says its sole officer died, no activities followed, and the…
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.