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 200738026: 401(k) improvements allowed while pension funding waivers remained in effect
A company with conditional funding waivers for its defined benefit pension plan proposed to merge its salaried and hourly 401(k) plans and improve employer contributions. Section 412(f) can restrict…
PLR 200738025: Settlement payments restored two IRAs without contribution limits
Two taxpayers alleged that advice from their IRA broker caused investment losses. They settled an arbitration claim against the broker's company and directed the portions of the settlement tied to…
PLR 200738024: Funding deficiency tax waivers conditioned on plan termination
A sole proprietor requested waivers of the 100 percent excise tax on accumulated funding deficiencies in a retirement plan. The IRS granted conditional waivers for four plan years after reviewing…
PLR 200738023: Racetrack operator denied pension funding waivers
A nonprofit operator of three racetracks sought waivers of the minimum funding standard for its pension plans. The IRS acknowledged substantial business hardship from declining wagering revenue and…
PLR 200738022: Racetrack operator denied pension funding waivers
A nonprofit operator of three racetracks sought waivers of the minimum funding standard for its pension plans. The IRS acknowledged substantial business hardship from declining wagering revenue and…
PLR 200738021: Racetrack operator denied pension funding waivers
A nonprofit operator of three racetracks sought waivers of the minimum funding standard for its pension plans. The IRS acknowledged substantial business hardship from declining wagering revenue and…
PLR 200738020: Racetrack operator denied pension funding waivers
A nonprofit operator of three racetracks sought waivers of the minimum funding standard for its pension plans. The IRS acknowledged substantial business hardship from declining wagering revenue and…
PLR 200738019: Racetrack operator denied pension funding waivers
A nonprofit operator of three racetracks sought waivers of the minimum funding standard for its pension plans. The IRS acknowledged substantial business hardship from declining wagering revenue and…
PLR 200738018: Energy company gets 60 days to file missed separate business election
An energy company operated utility and propane businesses as separate lines but failed to file Form 5310-A for the 1996 testing year. Its benefits staff had been assigned the filing, and the company…
PLR 200738017: Earlier insurance tax ruling modified to allow a new safe harbor
The IRS modified a May 2007 ruling about how references to the interest disallowance rule in section 264(f) apply in sections 807 and 832. The earlier ruling said those references did not…
PLR 200738016: Insurance reserve adjustments apply despite interest rule exceptions
An insurance company proposed to buy cash value life insurance on its officers and asked whether exceptions to the interest disallowance rule in section 264(f) also applied when calculating…
TAM 200738015: Software licenses excluded from export marginal costing calculations
A software company sold copyrighted products and licensed software copyright rights, then used license income in calculations for foreign sales corporation benefits and the extraterritorial income…
TAM 200738014: Audit inquiry put mixed service cost accounting under consideration
A service provider filed a Form 3115 to change how it allocated mixed service costs to self-constructed property. During an audit, the IRS requested records supporting the section 481(a) adjustment…
CCA 200738013: Facade easement appraisal needs property-specific valuation
Chief Counsel addressed appraisals used to support charitable deductions for donated facade easements. Some appraisers valued an easement by applying a standard percentage to the property's value…
CCA 200738012: Railroad business classified as an employer for tax purposes
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a redacted business had become an employer under two railroad benefit laws. Chief Counsel reviewed that opinion and concluded the business also became…
PLR 200738011: Parent group gets 45 days to elect consolidated filing
A parent corporation and its domestic subsidiaries missed the deadline for a valid election to file a consolidated federal income tax return. The IRS found that the group sought relief before the…
CCA 200738010: Settlement forms did not bar later refund claims
A taxpayer signed Forms 870-AD for three tax years, then filed amended returns seeking research credits, research deductions, and lease interest deductions. Chief Counsel advised that the forms…
PLR 200738009: Partnership gets 60 days for late basis adjustment election
A partnership missed the deadline to make a section 754 election for the year a partner died. That election can adjust the basis of partnership property when a partnership interest transfers. The…
PLR 200738008: County development corporation's income excluded after charter changes
A corporation formed by public economic development agencies asked about its income and donations to it. The IRS found that promoting county economic development was an essential governmental…
PLR 200738007: Inadvertent partnership ownership did not end S corporation status
An S corporation transferred shares to a family limited partnership, an ineligible S corporation shareholder. That transfer terminated its S election, but the president did not know the ownership…
PLR 200738006: Foreign entity gets 60 days for missed classification election
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as disregarded from its owner but missed the deadline to file Form 8832 because of an oversight. The IRS found that the requirements for late election…
PLR 200738005: Family trust settlement avoids gift and generation-skipping tax
An old family trust had conflicting provisions about when to divide shares for descendants and how surviving spouses would receive income. Beneficiaries negotiated a settlement to clarify those…
PLR 200738004: Foreign entity gets 60 days for late partnership election
A foreign entity eligible to elect partnership treatment missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS accepted its representations that the regulatory requirements for late election relief were…
PLR 200738003: Late elections allowed for foreign branch losses
A U.S. consolidated group had dual consolidated losses from interests in a foreign branch held through an entity treated as a partnership. Its accounting firm had advised that the losses did not…
PLR 200738002: Redeeming allocated bonds ends housing project's rental period
A housing authority used one refunding bond issue to finance several rental projects. A borrower wanted to prepay the loan for its project, and the authority proposed redeeming a proportional share…
PLR 200738001: Corporation gets 60 days to send Form 3115 copy to IRS
A corporation attached Form 3115 to its timely filed return to change its depreciation accounting method but did not send the required signed copy to the IRS national office. Its responsible officer…
PLR 200737049: IRA rollover waiver after funds went to wrong account
A retiree asked to roll a distribution from a section 457 plan into an IRA. The plan administrator reported a direct rollover but failed to forward the IRA application, and the receiving company…
PLR 200737048: IRA rollover waiver after investment was held outside an IRA
An IRA owner directed funds toward an investment in a partnership, intending to hold the interest in a new IRA. The receiving company and the investment adviser made errors, so no IRA was opened and…
PLR 200737047: Late IRA rollovers allowed after two investments missed custody
An IRA owner directed two distributions toward an investment in a partnership, intending to hold the interests in a new IRA. Errors by the receiving company and investment adviser left both…
PLR 200737046: Stock plans receive 273 days to reinvest after a corporate spin-off
A parent company spun off a subsidiary, leaving their employee stock ownership plans holding shares of both companies. The companies asked how the plans could replace shares of the other company…
PLR 200737045: Pension plan amendment cannot increase a 2004 contribution deduction limit
An employer with a small defined benefit pension plan asked whether a 2002 benefit increase could count toward its contribution deduction limit for 2004. The plan year ended in October, while the…
Determination 200737044: Sperm donation group denied charity status for private benefit
An organization sought tax exemption for providing donated sperm at no charge to selected women. Its two directors were father and son, and the son was also its sole financial donor and supplied…
CCA 200737043: Merged railroad business no longer treated as an employer
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a business had ceased to be an employer under two railroad benefit laws. IRS Chief Counsel reviewed the Board's opinion and agreed that the business…
PLR 200737042: LLC receives more time to elect partnership tax treatment
An LLC had elected to be taxed as an S corporation before its owners transferred their interests to three grantor trusts. A buyer later acquired all interests while mistakenly believing the LLC was…
PLR 200737041: Late S corporation election allowed if filed within 60 days
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from a redacted date but did not file Form 2553 on time. It asked the IRS to treat the election as timely under section 1362(b)(5). Based on the…
PLR 200737040: Missed trust election does not end S corporation status
A shareholder transferred S corporation shares to a trust that initially qualified as a grantor trust. When that status ended, the trustee failed to elect treatment as an electing small business…
PLR 200737039: Business separation qualifies for specified tax-free spin-off treatment
A corporation planned to place one of its two businesses in a new subsidiary and distribute that subsidiary's shares to its two shareholders. Two key employees would then buy newly issued shares in…
CCA 200737038: Railroad business ceased to be an employer after merger
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a business ceased to be an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act when it lost its separate legal…
PLR 200737037: Foreign entity gets 60 days to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes, but it missed the filing deadline. It represented that it was eligible for that…
PLR 200737036: Higher housing co-op payment tier does not create a second stock class
A housing cooperative offered members several ways to pay more cash up front for their units. Extra payments would reduce the cooperative's shared mortgage and the paying members' allocated…
PLR 200737035: IRS denies extra time to document merger success fees
Two companies incurred success-based investment banking fees in corporate acquisitions. Their accounting firm finished records allocating some fees to activities that did not facilitate the deals,…
PLR 200737034: Foreign corporation gets more time to file transfer notice
A foreign corporation received assets from a related foreign corporation in a transaction described as a Type D reorganization. The assets included stock of a U.S. real property holding corporation.…
PLR 200737033: Corporation may file late S election for intended start date
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but the corporation did not file Form 2553 on time. Both the corporation and shareholder represented…
PLR 200737032: Debt refinancing and convertible notes do not change prior rulings
A corporation asked the IRS to supplement earlier rulings about a planned separation of businesses. It described refinancing public debt and having several companies assume the new loan facilities.…
PLR 200737031: LLC gets more time to elect corporate tax treatment
An LLC intended to be treated as a corporation for federal tax purposes from its formation date but missed the election deadline. It represented that allowing a late election would not prejudice the…
PLR 200737030: Toll bridge bonds are not refunding bonds of state bonds
A public issuer planned to sell bonds and use the proceeds to pay or defease earlier state agency bonds that financed toll bridge work. The IRS concluded that the two bond issues had different…
PLR 200737029: Nuclear decommissioning fund transfers retain tax treatment
Four utilities transferred interests in a nuclear power plant and assets from their decommissioning funds to a related generation company and its fund. The IRS ruled that moving the fund assets…
PLR 200737028: Nuclear decommissioning fund transfers retain tax treatment
Four utilities transferred interests in a nuclear power plant and assets from their decommissioning funds to a related generation company and its fund. The IRS ruled that moving the fund assets…
PLR 200737027: Nuclear decommissioning fund transfers retain tax treatment
Four utilities transferred interests in a nuclear power plant and assets from their decommissioning funds to a related generation company and its fund. The IRS ruled that moving the fund assets…
PLR 200737026: Nuclear decommissioning fund transfers retain tax treatment
Four utilities transferred interests in a nuclear power plant and assets from their decommissioning funds to a related generation company and its fund. The IRS ruled that moving the fund assets…
PLR 200737025: Nuclear decommissioning fund transfers retain tax treatment
Four utilities transferred interests in a nuclear power plant and assets from their decommissioning funds to a related generation company and its fund. The IRS ruled that moving the fund assets…
PLR 200737024: Nuclear decommissioning fund transfers retain tax treatment
Four utilities transferred interests in a nuclear power plant and assets from their decommissioning funds to a related generation company and its fund. The IRS ruled that moving the fund assets…
PLR 200737023: Nuclear decommissioning fund transfers retain tax treatment
Four utilities transferred interests in a nuclear power plant and assets from their decommissioning funds to a related generation company and its fund. The IRS ruled that moving the fund assets…
PLR 200737022: Nuclear decommissioning fund transfers retain tax treatment
Four utilities transferred interests in a nuclear power plant and assets from their decommissioning funds to a related generation company and its fund. The IRS ruled that moving the fund assets…
PLR 200737021: Nuclear decommissioning fund transfers retain tax treatment
Four utilities transferred interests in a nuclear power plant and assets from their decommissioning funds to a related generation company and its fund. The IRS ruled that moving the fund assets…
PLR 200737020: Late S election accepted if corporation files within 60 days
A corporation's sole shareholder intended it to be an S corporation, but the IRS service center had no record of a timely Form 2553. The corporation sought S treatment from a redacted date. Based on…
PLR 200737019: Corporate inversion gives shareholders tax-free exchange but may tax parent
A publicly traded parent planned to place itself beneath its wholly owned subsidiary in the corporate structure. The IRS treated the merger step as a transfer of the parent's common shares by its…
PLR 200737018: New corporate group may file late waiver of old group loss carrybacks
A parent and its subsidiaries left one consolidated tax group and formed another. They meant to elect against carrying the new group's losses back to years when they belonged to the former group,…
PLR 200737017: Planned business spin-off receives specified reorganization rulings
A publicly traded parent planned to separate one business through a series of subsidiary mergers, a liquidation, stock contributions, and internal distributions. It would then transfer several…
PLR 200737016: LLC receives relief for two missed tax elections
An LLC intended to be taxed first as a corporation and then as an S corporation from its formation date. It failed to file both the entity classification election on Form 8832 and the S election on…
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.