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 200806009: Company receives conditional relief for a late S corporation election
A company's sole shareholder intended to elect S corporation status effective when the company was incorporated, but the company did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for…
PLR 200806008: Investment managers' reported voting power does not make them stock owners under section 382
A publicly traded loss corporation sought guidance on identifying five percent shareholders for the ownership change rules in section 382. Investment managers reported voting power over client…
PLR 200806007: Subsidiaries treated as joining a consolidated return despite missing consent forms
A parent corporation filed an initial consolidated tax return that included its 17 subsidiaries' income and deductions and listed them on Form 851. Its accounting firm inadvertently omitted the…
PLR 200806006: State administrative dissolution does not end corporation's federal tax existence
A corporation was administratively dissolved under state law for failing to pay franchise taxes. It did not know about the dissolution and continued filing corporate income tax returns and paying…
PLR 200806005: Missed trust election leads to conditional S corporation relief
An S corporation shareholder died, and the shareholder's stock passed to a trust for the surviving spouse. The spouse did not make the qualified subchapter S trust election before the trust's…
PLR 200806004: Partnership termination does not end synthetic fuel credit eligibility
A partnership producing synthetic fuel expected a deemed termination after a corporate owner changed its tax classification and transferred an interest in the partnership. It also planned to…
PLR 200806003: Reconstituted partnership may keep claiming the synthetic fuel credit
A synthetic fuel partnership requested confirmation of an earlier credit ruling after a member's tax classification change would cause the partnership to terminate and be reconstituted for federal…
PLR 200806002: Partnership may preserve synthetic fuel credit after deemed termination
A synthetic fuel partnership requested confirmation of an earlier credit ruling after a member's tax classification change would cause the partnership to terminate and be reconstituted for federal…
PLR 200806001: Partnership receives 60 days to make a missed basis adjustment election
Two members purchased interests in a limited liability company that intended to make a section 754 election to adjust the basis of partnership property. The company filed its partnership return on…
PLR 200805026: Purchased service credit qualifies for transition relief, but employer funded benefits face the limit
A governmental pension plan asked how federal benefit limits apply to service credit that members bought with voluntary after tax contributions before 1998. The IRS ruled that the purchases qualify…
Determination 200805025: Appeals office denies section 501(c)(13) exemption
An organization appealed an adverse exempt organization determination. The IRS Appeals office denied its claim to federal income tax exemption under section 501(c)(13). The letter directed the…
Determination 200805024: Research organization loses tax exemption after failing to document exempt activity
The IRS revoked a research organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption after finding that it had not documented activities that furthered its exempt purpose. The attached examination report says the…
CCA 200805023: Dissolved business ceased to be a railroad retirement tax employer
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a business had ceased being an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. After reviewing that opinion and…
CCA 200805022: Changing older life insurance contracts would end their grandfathered treatment
An insurer withdrew a ruling request after Chief Counsel reached a view adverse to the insurer's position. The insurer had asked whether it could add qualified additional benefit riders and change…
CCA 200805021: Tax treatment of a settlement for underpaid oil royalties depends on how royalties were measured
An oil producer settled a dispute with a lessor over royalties paid on oil sold in earlier years and asked about the claim of right tax benefit in section 1341. Chief Counsel said the tax treatment…
PLR 200805020: Foreign partnership receives time to elect corporate tax classification
A limited partnership formed in a foreign country intended to elect treatment as a corporation for US federal tax purposes from its formation date. It missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS…
PLR 200805019: IRS retroactively revokes bond yield computation ruling
The IRS had previously allowed a corporation to compute a single yield for each of two bond issues when applying the section 148 arbitrage rules. After proposing to remove the regulation that…
PLR 200805018: Parent receives 45 days to make late consolidated return election
A corporation formed to acquire another corporate group intended to file a consolidated federal income tax return with its subsidiaries. A valid election was not filed on time after the parent…
PLR 200805017: REIT and subsidiaries receive extension for taxable subsidiary elections
A real estate investment trust and its subsidiaries intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary status for two subsidiaries but missed the Form 8875 deadline. Their accountant had misunderstood the…
PLR 200805016: Bond issuer receives time to carry forward unused private activity bond volume cap
A local public agency received two allocations of private activity bond volume cap for housing projects but did not know it needed to file Form 8328 to carry the allocations forward. It discovered…
PLR 200805015: Corporate group receives 60 days to file late consolidated return election
A parent corporation and its affiliated group intended to elect consolidated return filing, but a valid election was not made by the deadline. The IRS found that the parent reasonably relied on a…
PLR 200805014: Taxpayer gets 45 days to file an election for an omitted foreign branch loss
A taxpayer asked the IRS to supplement an earlier ruling after discovering that a foreign branch with a dual consolidated loss had been omitted from that ruling and its schedule. The IRS added the…
PLR 200805013: Foreign entity may change its tax classification within 60 months
A foreign entity had elected to be disregarded for federal tax purposes. After a corporation acquired it, the entity wanted to elect corporate tax treatment even though less than 60 months had…
PLR 200805012: Development rights may be like kind to real estate in proposed exchange
A corporation planned to sell real estate through a qualified intermediary and use part of the proceeds to buy development rights for property it already owned. The rights would allow more floor…
PLR 200805011: IRS rules on tax treatment of two planned corporate spin-offs
A corporate group proposed to separate two businesses from its remaining operations through contributions to controlled companies and distributions of their stock. The IRS issued 49 rulings on the…
PLR 200805010: IRS rules on multi-step separation of two corporate businesses
A publicly traded holding company proposed a series of transfers, distributions, and a merger to separate one business from another. The IRS issued 75 rulings on specified steps, including the…
PLR 200805009: IPO investors may count as transferors in corporate contribution
A partnership planned to contribute an operating company to a new corporate parent while the new parent and the partnership sold shares in an initial public offering. The IRS ruled that public…
PLR 200805008: Estate receives more time to split marital trust for GST tax election
An estate made a reverse QTIP election and allocated the decedent's generation skipping transfer tax exemption to a marital trust. Its tax professional failed to split the trust, as the trust terms…
PLR 200805007: Synthetic fuel partnership may claim production credits after ownership change
A partnership acquired a synthetic fuel facility and later sold membership interests, causing a technical termination and formation of a new partnership under the law then in effect. The IRS…
PLR 200805006: Mandatory retiree health contributions excluded from employee income
A union member's bargaining unit required salary reduction contributions to a trust that would pay health costs after retirement. Individual employees could not choose whether to contribute or how…
PLR 200805005: Couple may elect late to stop automatic GST exemption allocation
A grantor and spouse transferred stock to three trusts for their children and descendants. They intended not to allocate their generation skipping transfer tax exemptions to those transfers, but…
PLR 200805004: Missed trust election does not permanently end S corporation status
An S corporation's shares moved from a grantor trust to another trust intended to qualify as a qualified subchapter S trust. The beneficiary missed the election deadline, which terminated the…
PLR 200805003: Corporation gets 60 days to file late S election
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The corporation represented that it had acted consistently with S…
PLR 200805002: REIT and hotel lessee receive 30 days to file subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust leased a hotel to a corporation it indirectly owned. The trust and corporation intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary status for the lessee, but a communication…
PLR 200805001: Mortgage securitization trust gets 30 days to make three REMIC elections
A mortgage securitization trust held three separate pools of assets and intended to elect real estate mortgage investment conduit status for each. An employee responsible for administration failed…
IRS 200804028: Rent payment facilitator loses charitable tax exemption
An organization collected rent from other exempt organizations and passed the payments along as an expense. The IRS concluded that this activity did not establish an exempt charitable purpose under…
PLR 200804027: Retiree gets IRA rollover waiver after adviser failed to explain deadline
An 84 year old IRA owner withdrew funds on a long-time financial adviser's recommendation. The adviser did not tell him about the 60 day rollover deadline, and the owner missed it. The IRS waived…
PLR 200804026: Blood bank may help another center without losing exemption
An exempt blood bank agreed to manage a new center operated by an unrelated exempt organization until that center could obtain its own FDA license. A supporting organization provided administrative…
PLR 200804025: IRS denies IRA rollover waiver after transfer to joint savings account
An IRA owner moved money from a retirement account into a joint savings account with a spouse, then used some of the funds for other investments. The owner later said he had thought the savings…
PLR 200804024: IRA owner gets rollover waiver after incapacities and unauthorized withdrawal
An elderly IRA owner's spouse withdrew funds from his account without authority and put them in her own checking account. The owner was in a nursing home, and both spouses had serious impairments…
PLR 200804023: ESOP year avoids S corporation nonallocation rule on stated ownership
An S corporation's employee stock ownership plan held shares allocated to several members of a controlling family. The IRS considered whether family aggregation made any participant a disqualified…
CCA 200804022: Dissolved business ceased to be a railroad tax employer
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a business had ceased to be an employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. IRS counsel reviewed the board's opinion and…
CCA 200804021: Business became a railroad tax carrier after asset transfer
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a business became a rail carrier employer under railroad retirement and unemployment insurance law. IRS counsel reviewed the board's opinion and…
CCA 200804020: IRS confirms end of a business's railroad tax employer status
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a business ceased to be an employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws on a redacted date. IRS counsel reviewed the…
PLR 200804019: Foreign entity gets 60 days to elect partnership classification
A controlling owner of a foreign entity intended the entity to elect partnership treatment before selling a large share of its assets. Form 8832 was inadvertently left unfiled before the sales. The…
PLR 200804018: S corporation retains its status after a trust misses an election
A shareholder's stock passed under a will to a trust that the corporation said qualified as a qualified subchapter S trust, or QSST. The trust's beneficiary did not file the required QSST election,…
PLR 200804017: Late S corporation election accepted if filed within 60 days
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation status from the time the business began operating, but the corporation did not file Form 2553 on time. The corporation said it had acted…
PLR 200804016: Bankruptcy settlement trust qualifies, with limits on transfers and deductions
A company in Chapter 11 arranged for a trust to pay claims tied to products it sold or installed. The IRS ruled that the court-approved trust was a qualified settlement fund. Issuing the company's…
PLR 200804015: Dividing a family trust preserves its stated tax treatment
Trustees proposed dividing an existing family trust into three subtrusts, each primarily benefiting one son's descendants, and changing some trustee and distribution provisions. Based on the stated…
PLR 200804014: Estate gets more time to complete a farm property valuation election
An estate timely filed its estate tax return and made a protective election to value timberland and farmland under § 2032A. Its accountant failed to tell the executors that they needed to complete…
PLR 200804013: Combining family trusts does not itself create gifts or estate inclusion
A married couple proposed combining four trusts into a fifth trust for their family's benefit. The IRS ruled that the consolidation itself would not make a taxable gift by the couple or their two…
PLR 200804012: Foreign entity gets 60 days to make a late classification election
A foreign entity said it was eligible to elect disregarded entity treatment, but inadvertently missed the Form 8832 filing deadline. It asked the IRS to make the election effective on its intended,…
PLR 200804011: Foreign entity gets 60 days to make a late classification election
A foreign entity said it was eligible to elect disregarded entity treatment, but inadvertently missed the Form 8832 filing deadline. It asked the IRS to make the election effective on its intended,…
PLR 200804010: Mutual insurers' merger qualifies as a tax reorganization
Two mutual life insurers planned a statutory merger in which the target's policyholders would receive ownership interests in the acquiring insurer. The IRS ruled that the merger would qualify as a…
PLR 200804009: Missed trust elections do not defeat intended S status
Two trusts owned shares when a corporation attempted to elect S corporation status. Their income beneficiaries did not make timely qualified subchapter S trust, or QSST, elections, so the…
PLR 200804008: Serviced rental property income is not passive investment income
A corporation planning to elect S status owned rental property and had accumulated earnings and profits. It provided property maintenance and other services through a related manager and incurred…
PLR 200804007: LLC gets time to elect corporate tax classification
Four owners formed a limited liability company and intended it to be taxed as a corporation from its formation date. The company did not file Form 8832 on time, so it requested an extension for the…
PLR 200804006: Parent gets time to elect QSub status for six subsidiaries
An S corporation formed six wholly owned subsidiaries and intended each to be a qualified subchapter S subsidiary, or QSub, from its formation date. It mistakenly filed separate S corporation…
PLR 200804005: Late S corporation election may take effect from incorporation
Two shareholders intended their corporation to be an S corporation from its incorporation date, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under §…
PLR 200804004: Executive awards fail the performance based pay exception
A public company asked whether its executive's share and unit awards could qualify for the then-applicable performance based compensation exception to the § 162(m) deduction limit. The employment…
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.