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 200751013: Manufacturer must split its LIFO inventory pool and revise price index method
A manufacturer that also bought goods for resale asked about changing its inventory accounting after two predecessor businesses merged into it. It had placed manufactured and resale goods in one…
PLR 200751012: U.S. citizen gets more time for Canadian retirement plan elections
A U.S. citizen held two Canadian Registered Retirement Savings Plans but did not know he needed to elect to defer U.S. tax on income accruing in them and file Form 8891 for each plan. He said the…
PLR 200751011: Second ownership change preserves earlier loss use but ends future relief
A corporate group emerged from Chapter 11 and relied on a bankruptcy exception to the usual limit on using pre-change tax losses. It planned to sell more than half its parent company's stock to a…
PLR 200751010: Possible nonresident shareholder does not end S corporation treatment
An S corporation learned that a shareholder who had been a resident alien might have become a nonresident alien, which would make the shareholder ineligible to own S corporation stock. The…
PLR 200751009: Buyer gets extra time to give notice of section 338 election
A corporate group filed Form 8023 for a section 338 election after buying a foreign target, but failed to give the required notice to certain U.S. shareholders on time. The parent said it had relied…
PLR 200751008: Group gets more time to file original accounting method change form
A consolidated corporate group sought to change its depreciation accounting method. It sent a signed duplicate Form 3115 to the IRS national office and a copy to its examining agent, and its timely…
PLR 200751007: Bankruptcy claim trust qualifies as settlement fund with specified tax treatment
A company emerging from Chapter 11 funded a trust to pay current and future personal injury claims tied to a product used in its business. The IRS ruled that the trust met the requirements for a…
PLR 200751006: Foreign subsidiary gets 60 days for disregarded entity election
A company incorporated under foreign law was wholly owned by another company. Its owner intended for the subsidiary to be treated as a disregarded entity for U.S. federal tax purposes from its…
PLR 200751005: Foreign subsidiary gets 60 days for disregarded entity election
A company incorporated under foreign law was wholly owned by another company. Its owner intended for the subsidiary to be treated as a disregarded entity for U.S. federal tax purposes from its…
PLR 200751004: Corporation gets 60 days to file late S election
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from a specified date but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found that the corporation had reasonable cause for the missed deadline under…
PLR 200751003: IRS approves revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule
A utility with an ownership interest in a nuclear plant sought a revised schedule governing payments to its decommissioning fund. One utility commission had reduced the decommissioning costs…
PLR 200751002: IRS approves revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule
A utility with an ownership interest in a nuclear plant sought a revised schedule governing payments to its decommissioning fund. One utility commission had reduced the decommissioning costs…
PLR 200751001: Inadvertent termination relief preserves S corporation treatment
A corporation's S election ended after an event the letter does not describe in detail. The event may also have created a second class of stock, which would independently prevent S corporation…
PLR 200750021: Pension funding waiver granted with strict future contribution conditions
A company asked to waive its pension plan's minimum funding standard after losses in its textile business and rising pension costs caused financial hardship. The IRS found the hardship substantial…
PLR 200750020: Foundation may sell donated public company shares back to issuer
A founder planned to give shares of a publicly traded company to his private foundation during life and through his estate. The foundation proposed to offer those shares back to the company at fair…
PLR 200750019: Daughters may split inherited IRAs but must use eldest sister's life expectancy
A deceased IRA owner's revocable trust was the beneficiary of two IRAs, and her three daughters were the trust's beneficiaries. The trustees proposed to divide each IRA through direct trustee…
TAM 200750018: IRS revokes earlier advice on arbitrage rebate overpayment claim
The IRS reconsidered and revoked an earlier technical advice memorandum concerning a taxpayer's arbitrage rebate overpayment. It now concluded that the overpayment fell within the phrase “any sum”…
CCA 200750017: Navy enlisted crew share shipboard tax home rule with officers
Chief Counsel was asked whether a revenue ruling that places a naval officer's tax home aboard a ship also applies to enlisted personnel. It concluded that rank does not affect the analysis: an…
CCA 200750016: Later hurricane relief grants cannot reduce a prior year's examined loss
Chief Counsel addressed how Gulf hurricane relief grants affect casualty losses claimed for 2005. Taxpayers must subtract reimbursements received or reasonably expected by the end of the casualty…
CCA 200750015: Unassessed interest blocks netting, and proper setoff should stand
A corporation asked to net interest on overlapping tax overpayments and underpayments. Chief Counsel said the claim met the procedural filing rules, but the IRS had never assessed the related…
PLR 200750014: Group may revoke foreign levy safe harbor election
A domestic parent had elected a safe harbor method for a foreign subsidiary that paid levies in another country while receiving economic benefits there. It asked to revoke that method and use the…
PLR 200750013: Nuclear plant fund assets transfer without gain; excess deposits withdrawn
Four utility companies transferred interests in a nuclear plant and assets from their qualified decommissioning funds to a related generation company and its fund. They had made deposits exceeding…
PLR 200750012: Partnership's temporary stock ownership gets inadvertent S termination relief
An S corporation transferred some stock to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The partnership later transferred those shares to three eligible individuals. The IRS…
PLR 200750011: IRS approves revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule
A utility with an ownership interest in a nuclear plant sought a revised schedule governing payments to its decommissioning fund. One utility commission had reduced the decommissioning costs…
PLR 200750010: S corporation gets more time to elect capitalization of investment interest
An S corporation reported interest on a real property loan to its sole shareholder, whose deduction was limited by the investment interest rules. Separate firms prepared the corporation's and…
PLR 200750009: Corporate group receives rulings on new parent and business spin-off
A public corporate group proposed installing a new parent, converting the old parent to an LLC, and separating two businesses by contributing the old parent and cash to a subsidiary and distributing…
PLR 200750008: Corporate group gets 45 days for late built-in loss basis elections
Related corporations made three successive transfers of assets whose combined tax bases exceeded fair market value. The parent missed the deadline for section 362(e)(2)(C) elections, which would…
PLR 200750007: Corporate group gets 45 days for late built-in loss basis elections
Related corporations made three successive transfers of assets whose combined tax bases exceeded fair market value. The parent missed the deadline for section 362(e)(2)(C) elections, which would…
PLR 200750006: Group gets more time to file original accounting method change form
A consolidated corporate group sought to change its depreciation accounting method. It sent a signed duplicate Form 3115 to the IRS national office and a copy to its examining agent, and its timely…
PLR 200750005: IRS approves revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule
A utility with an ownership interest in a nuclear plant sought a revised schedule governing payments to its decommissioning fund. One utility commission had reduced the decommissioning costs…
PLR 200750004: Foreign entity gets late election to retain partnership tax treatment
A foreign entity changed its legal form. Its old form was classified by default as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes, while its new form was classified by default as a corporation. The…
PLR 200750003: Ineligible corporate shareholder gets inadvertent S termination relief
An S corporation issued shares that were reported as owned by another S corporation, an ineligible shareholder. The second company was wholly owned by an individual involved in buying the shares,…
PLR 200750002: Local government deferred compensation plan qualifies under section 457
A local government agency sought a ruling on its employee deferred compensation plan and related trust. The plan provided for advance deferral elections, statutory contribution limits, restricted…
PLR 200750001: Giving up all shares to cancel a note qualifies as exchange redemption
A shareholder received company shares and signed a nonrecourse note covering taxes the company paid on the share issuance. The company proposed to cancel the note in return for all of that…
Determination 200749027: IRS revokes organization’s tax exemption after missing return and records
An organization recognized under section 501(c)(3) did not file a required Form 990 or respond to the IRS's delivered requests for records and information. The IRS said it therefore could not…
Determination 200749026: Member death benefits cost an organization its charity exemption
A community organization previously recognized under section 501(c)(3) collected money from members when another member died and paid a benefit to the deceased member's family. The IRS concluded…
Determination 200749025: Seller funded down-payment grants cost an organization its exemption
An organization provided homebuyers with down-payment assistance funded by sellers and other real estate businesses involved in the sales. Its report said the seller's payment matched the buyer's…
Determination 200749024: Missing records and returns lead to charity exemption revocation
An organization formed to preserve the history of the American piano said financial trouble led it to sell assets and close. It could not provide financial records for the examined years or…
PLR 200749023: Endowment share contracts do not create unrelated business income for a charitable trust
An exempt educational institution served as trustee and remainder beneficiary of charitable remainder trusts. It proposed to give the trusts contract rights to payments tied to shares of its…
PLR 200749022: IRS denies pension plan minimum funding waivers
Trustees of a multiemployer pension plan requested waivers of the minimum funding standard after investment losses, employer closures, and rising lump sum payouts weakened the plan. They described a…
PLR 200749021: IRS denies funding waiver after pension plan runs out of assets
A manufacturing company requested a waiver of the minimum funding standard for its pension plan. The IRS acknowledged substantial business hardship but found it did not appear temporary: the company…
PLR 200749020: Limited service credit amendment survives bankruptcy pension restrictions
A company operating under Chapter 11 proposed to amend its defined benefit plan so employees transferred to buyers of business units or a former parent could keep earning eligibility and vesting…
PLR 200749019: Service credit amendment allowed for transferred salaried workers
A company in Chapter 11 proposed to let salaried pension plan participants who move to a former parent or a buyer of a business unit keep earning eligibility and vesting service credits. The plan…
PLR 200749018: One late IRA rollover gets relief, second is barred by one-year rule
A taxpayer withdrew two amounts from an IRA and, intending to roll them over, deposited both into a regular brokerage account after her adviser failed to communicate her instructions to staff. The…
PLR 200749017: IRS waives late rollover deadline for two plan distributions
A taxpayer directed distributions from two retirement plans to an investment company after its manager said he would arrange an IRA to hold them. Both sides believed the funds were in an IRA, but…
PLR 200749016: IRA rollover deadline waived for first withdrawal, second remains barred
A taxpayer took two distributions from her IRA after discussing a move to another IRA with an investment adviser. The adviser's staff placed the money in her existing non-IRA brokerage account, and…
PLR 200749015: Taxpayer gets 60 days to file missing original accounting method form
A consolidated group sought to change its depreciation accounting method under Rev. Proc. 2002-9. It sent a signed duplicate Form 3115 to the IRS National Office and its examining agent, and its…
TAM 200749014: Accounting method change did not shield earlier transaction costs from audit
A corporation and its subsidiaries filed Form 3115 to change how they accounted for costs of an initial stock offering and spin off. Before that filing, the IRS had already issued notices proposing…
TAM 200749013: Abandoned recapitalization costs deductible, divestiture costs capitalized
A company examined several ways to restructure and ultimately completed a stock offering and spin off of a subsidiary. The IRS advised that costs tied to a separate recapitalization proposal were…
CCA 200749012: Retail propane sales count as qualifying partnership income
A publicly traded partnership sold and delivered propane to homes and businesses. Chief Counsel advised that income from distributing and marketing propane to end users at retail counts as…
PLR 200749011: Late elections allowed for foreign branch dual consolidated losses
A taxpayer had dual consolidated losses attributable to eight foreign branches but omitted the required elections from its consolidated return. Its in-house preparers missed the filings, and its…
PLR 200749010: IRS supplements rulings on a corporate restructuring
A corporate group changed several steps in a restructuring covered by an earlier ruling, including transfers of subsidiaries, redemptions of preferred shares, and distributions of businesses through…
PLR 200749009: Late requests for nuclear decommissioning fund schedules treated as timely
An electric and natural gas utility sought more time to request revised IRS schedules for the amounts it could contribute to qualified nuclear decommissioning funds for four plants. Changes in the…
PLR 200749008: Late S corporation election accepted for intended effective date
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation treatment beginning on a specified date, but the required election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and allowed the…
PLR 200749007: Untimely DISC election was ineffective
A corporation tried to elect domestic international sales corporation (DISC) status about three years after it was formed, asking that the election apply retroactively. Its successor asked the IRS…
PLR 200749006: S corporation status preserved after transfer to ineligible shareholder
An S corporation's stock was transferred to a shareholder who was not eligible to hold it, terminating the corporation's S election. After its tax advisers identified the problem, the stock was…
PLR 200749005: Life insurance policy compliance errors waived
A life insurer found that some policies had failed the federal tax requirements for life insurance because of processing and programming errors. The errors included mishandling excess premiums,…
PLR 200749004: Extension granted for election to shift built-in loss basis reduction
A subsidiary transferred assets to another subsidiary in a transaction described as tax-free, with aggregate tax bases above fair market value. It missed the deadline to elect under section…
PLR 200749003: Parent granted time to make built-in loss basis election
A parent corporation transferred assets to its wholly owned subsidiary in a transaction described as tax-free. Because the assets' aggregate tax bases exceeded their fair market value, the parent…
PLR 200749002: Late S corporation and subsidiary elections permitted
A parent corporation missed the deadline to elect S corporation status, had a partnership that could not qualify as an S corporation shareholder, and also missed an election to treat its wholly…
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.