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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TAM 200733023: Trust cannot count advisers' work toward material participation
A trust claimed a business loss as nonpassive and sought to count the work of people it called special trustees toward material participation. Their contract left final business decisions with the…
CCA 200733022: Railroad tax coverage limited to rail transportation workforce
The Railroad Retirement Board reconsidered the status of a business under common control of a rail carrier. IRS Chief Counsel agreed that the business was a covered employer under the Railroad…
PLR 200733021: Late dual consolidated loss elections receive filing extension
A taxpayer and its subsidiary held interests in several foreign branches that generated dual consolidated losses. Their tax department had aggregated branch results, so it missed some elections for…
PLR 200733020: Extra time granted for dual loss elections and rebuttal statements
A taxpayer's subsidiaries owned interests in foreign branches that incurred dual consolidated losses when branch assets were sold. The tax department filed elections by loss producing branch rather…
PLR 200733019: Foreign entity receives extra time for classification election
A foreign entity with one owner intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for U.S. tax purposes but missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS found that the requirements for discretionary…
PLR 200733018: Foreign entity receives 60 days to make disregarded entity election
A foreign entity eligible to be disregarded for federal tax purposes missed the deadline to file its Form 8832 classification election. The IRS found that the requirements for discretionary filing…
PLR 200733017: Foreign entity receives 60 days to make disregarded entity election
A foreign entity eligible to be disregarded for federal tax purposes missed the deadline to file its Form 8832 classification election. The IRS found that the requirements for discretionary filing…
PLR 200733016: Foreign entity receives 60 days to make disregarded entity election
A foreign entity eligible to be disregarded for federal tax purposes missed the deadline to file its Form 8832 classification election. The IRS found that the requirements for discretionary filing…
PLR 200733015: Late trust election does not end company's S status
An S corporation's shares passed through an estate to a trust, but the trust's income beneficiary did not make a timely qualified subchapter S trust election. The lapse caused the corporation's S…
PLR 200733014: Early charitable trust termination avoids excise taxes but creates gain
A married couple proposed to end their charitable remainder unitrust early under a court order, taking the actuarial value of their lifetime payment interests and transferring the balance to a…
PLR 200733013: Alaska Native settlement trust gets tax classification rulings
An Alaska Native Corporation proposed a settlement trust to make distributions to older shareholders and preserve assets for their benefit. The IRS ruled that the arrangement was a trust for federal…
PLR 200733012: Trustee replacement change preserves estate and GST tax treatment
Beneficiaries of a trust created before 1942 would gain the ability to remove a trustee and select a qualified bank or trust company as successor. The replacement could not be related or subordinate…
PLR 200733011: Trustee replacement change preserves estate and GST tax treatment
Beneficiaries of a trust created before 1942 would gain the ability to remove a trustee and select a qualified bank or trust company as successor. The replacement could not be related or subordinate…
PLR 200733010: Trustee replacement change preserves estate and GST tax treatment
Beneficiaries of a trust created before 1942 would gain the ability to remove a trustee and select a qualified bank or trust company as successor. The replacement could not be related or subordinate…
PLR 200733009: Trustee replacement change preserves estate and GST tax treatment
Beneficiaries of a trust created before 1942 would gain the ability to remove a trustee and select a qualified bank or trust company as successor. The replacement could not be related or subordinate…
PLR 200733008: Trustee replacement change preserves estate and GST tax treatment
Beneficiaries of a trust created before 1942 would gain the ability to remove a trustee and select a qualified bank or trust company as successor. The replacement could not be related or subordinate…
PLR 200733007: Charitable annuity trust qualifies for estate tax deduction
An estate's revocable trust directed a successor trust to pay 12 charities a fixed annual amount equal to 7% of the assets' value at the decedent's death. The payments would continue for 18 years,…
PLR 200733006: Corporate separation receives rulings on transfers and distributions
A multinational corporate group proposed a long series of transfers and distributions to separate two businesses from its other operations. The IRS issued 164 numbered rulings addressing the stated…
PLR 200733005: Late entity and S corporation elections receive relief
A limited liability company intended to elect corporate tax classification and S corporation status from the date it formed, but filed neither election on time. The IRS granted 60 days to file the…
PLR 200733004: New owners may restore S corporation status before five years
A corporation had revoked its S corporation election, then all of its shares were sold to unrelated new owners. Those owners wanted to elect S status again before the usual five year waiting period…
PLR 200733003: Loan seller gets more time to elect out of installment reporting
A partnership sold loans for an upfront payment and possible later payments tied to the buyer's resale profits. It intended to report the sale without the installment method, but its tax director…
PLR 200733002: Foreign parent merger qualifies as a tax reorganization
A foreign parent planned to place a subsidiary's local operations into another subsidiary, then merge the first subsidiary into the parent. The IRS ruled that the contribution would be treated as…
PLR 200733001: Extension granted for dual consolidated loss filings
A taxpayer missed elections and annual certifications for dual consolidated losses associated with an interest in a hybrid entity. It had retained an accounting firm to identify required…
IRS 200732030: Village group loses charitable tax exemption
A civic organization promoted local improvement projects and served as a liaison between residents and local government. It also made charitable donations, but the IRS found that its main activities…
IRS 200732029: Pension plan funding waiver denied
A health care company sought a waiver of its pension plan's minimum funding requirement because it had sustained large losses and could not restructure its debt. The IRS recognized substantial…
PLR 200732028: Separate ESOP loan and other plan contributions are deductible
A corporation used an employee stock ownership plan loan to buy its shares and proposed several types of plan contributions in the same year. The IRS ruled that contributions used to repay loan…
PLR 200732027: Retirement account may hold silver trust shares without a collectible distribution
A trust held physical silver and offered publicly traded shares that retirement accounts could buy. The IRS ruled that an IRA or individually directed qualified plan account would not acquire a…
PLR 200732026: Retirement account may hold gold trust shares without a collectible distribution
A trust held physical gold and offered publicly traded shares that retirement accounts could buy. The IRS ruled that an IRA or individually directed qualified plan account would not acquire a…
PLR 200732025: Adviser error earns more time for an IRA rollover
An IRA owner directed an adviser to move money from a maturing IRA annuity into another IRA. The adviser instead placed it in an ordinary certificate of deposit, although the account statements…
IRS 200732024: Social club exemption revoked over public sales
A social club operated a restaurant and sold cookbooks and other items to nonmembers. Its nonmember receipts exceeded the 15% public use threshold in three consecutive years, reaching 19%, 21%, and…
PLR 200732023: Foundation begins a conditional transition to public charity status
A private foundation planned fundraising events to increase public support for its charitable activities. The IRS agreed that it could reasonably expect to qualify as publicly supported and ruled…
PLR 200732022: Endowment share payments do not create unrelated income for a trust
An educational charity served as trustee and remainder beneficiary of charitable remainder trusts. It proposed giving the trusts contractual shares linked to its endowment, allowing them to receive…
PLR 200732021: Charity endowment shares do not create unrelated income for issuer
An educational charity proposed giving charitable remainder trusts contractual shares tied to its endowment's performance. It was both trustee and remainder beneficiary of the trusts. The IRS ruled…
IRS 200732020: Seller funded down payment program loses charitable exemption
A housing organization gave home buyers down payment assistance, but required the seller of each home to reimburse that amount and pay an additional fee at closing. The IRS concluded that the…
IRS 200732019: Daycare loses exemption after assets benefit founder's businesses
A tax exempt daycare advanced money to businesses controlled by its founder and president. The examination found little or no loan documentation, interest, collateral, or reliable repayment, along…
IRS 200732018: Exemption revoked after missing returns and records
An exempt organization did not file requested Form 990 returns or respond to IRS requests for books and records. Without those materials, the IRS said it could not establish that the organization…
IRS 200732017: Foundation loses exemption over trustees' personal expenses
A private foundation said it would make grants to public charities, but an IRS examination found that much of its spending benefited its trustees and their relatives. The report describes personal…
TAM 200732016: NOL carryback leaves farming suspense account reduction in place
A family farming corporation had reduced an accounting method suspense account and included the reduction in income. It later carried net operating losses back to those years and tried to restore…
TAM 200732015: Toterhomes are taxable tractors, with seller liability split
A manufacturer added living quarters and heavy towing hitches to chassis cabs and sold the finished vehicles through dealers. The IRS concluded that the vehicles were primarily designed to tow…
PLR 200732014: Mortgage note issuance premium passes REIT income tests
A mortgage investing company that elected REIT treatment issued notes backed by mortgage loans through a subsidiary and a trust. Some notes were issued above their stated redemption price, creating…
PLR 200732013: Partnership shareholder causes inadvertent S election termination
A corporation's S election terminated when a partnership became a shareholder, because that ownership was not permitted under the small business corporation rules. After discovering the problem, the…
PLR 200732012: Disregarded LLCs may carry out a like kind exchange
A partnership owned hotel property through two wholly owned LLCs that were disregarded for federal tax purposes. It planned to sell the property through an intermediary and acquire replacement…
PLR 200732011: Foreign entity gets time to elect partnership classification
A foreign entity wanted partnership classification from the date it formed, but it missed the deadline for Form 8832 and was classified by default as a corporation. The IRS found that it met the…
PLR 200732010: Grantor trust remains a permitted S corporation shareholder
A married couple placed S corporation stock in a trust for their children. The children could withdraw some contributions, raising a question about who owned the trust for tax purposes and whether…
PLR 200732009: Foreign entity gets more time to elect disregarded status
A U.S. corporation acquired a foreign entity and intended to treat it as disregarded for federal tax purposes from the acquisition date. The entity missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS…
PLR 200732008: Active real estate income avoids S corporation passive investment income test
A real estate company planning an S corporation election asked whether specified rents, dividends, and management fees would count as passive investment income. It owned interests in many rental…
PLR 200732007: S corporation gets time to elect out of bonus depreciation for two years
An S corporation engaged in short term automobile leasing deducted additional first year depreciation for property placed in service in two tax years. After reviewing state tax consequences, it…
PLR 200732006: Late bonus depreciation opt out allowed for two tax years
An S corporation that leased automobiles deducted additional first year depreciation for property placed in service during two tax years. It later sought to elect out of those deductions after…
PLR 200732005: S corporation gets late bonus depreciation elections for three years
An S corporation in the automobile leasing business deducted additional first year depreciation over three tax years. After reviewing the state tax effects, it asked to elect out of the federal…
PLR 200732004: Consolidated group may make two late depreciation elections
A corporate group missed two depreciation elections on a timely filed consolidated return: an election out of additional first year depreciation and an election to use the alternative depreciation…
PLR 200732003: Parent gets 45 days for late loss subgroup election
A consolidated group acquired two corporations but did not timely file an election to treat the loss subgroup parent requirement as satisfied. Its returns had nevertheless been filed consistently…
PLR 200732002: Business spin off and related debt exchange receive tax rulings
A corporate group proposed to separate one business from its other operations. Its plan included merging a holding company into the parent, transferring subsidiaries to a new controlled company for…
PLR 200732001: Foreign group restructuring receives reorganization and contribution rulings
A U.S. corporate group proposed to convert a wholly owned foreign corporation to a private company and move its business under other foreign subsidiaries. The plan combined a preferred stock…
PLR 200731035: University support organization may change its supported affiliate
A university supporting organization planned to replace its foundation with another university affiliate as its sole member and one of its supported organizations. The change would also shift board…
PLR 200731034: University support organization can affiliate with a new public charity
A university supporting organization wanted a different university affiliate to become its sole member and one of its supported organizations. The plan revised its governing documents and board…
CCA 200731033: Railroad business ceased to be a covered employer
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a redacted business had ceased to be an employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. Chief Counsel reviewed that opinion…
CCA 200731032: Reconsidered railroad employer status found not covered
On reconsideration, the Railroad Retirement Board concluded that a redacted business was not a covered employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. Chief Counsel reviewed…
CCA 200731031: Railroad business became a covered employer
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a redacted business had become a covered employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. Chief Counsel reviewed the Board's…
CCA 200731030: Railroad employer status ended after operations ceased
The Railroad Retirement Board reported that a redacted business ceased to be an employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. Chief Counsel agreed that its Railroad…
CCA 200731029: Bank loan records support mark to market exception
Chief Counsel reviewed how a consolidated banking group identified loans held for sale and loans held for investment under § 475. It agreed the members were securities dealers but found that a tax…
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.