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 200728029: Domestic and foreign businesses split into separate S corporations
An S corporation with two equal owners proposed moving its foreign business to a new corporation and distributing that corporation's stock to one owner in exchange for the owner's existing shares.…
PLR 200728028: Possible S corporation termination treated as inadvertent
An S corporation converted to a limited partnership while electing to remain taxable as a corporation. Its ownership arrangements may have created a second class of stock, which could have ended its…
PLR 200728027: IRA stock transfer caused an inadvertent S election termination
An owner transferred shares of an S corporation to an individual retirement account, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The transfer ended the corporation's S election, though the…
PLR 200728026: Divorce related split of charitable remainder trust approved
Two former spouses proposed dividing a charitable remainder unitrust equally into separate trusts, each paying one spouse for life and leaving its remainder to charity. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200728025: CDO subsidiary income qualifies under partnership income test
An investment company organized as a limited liability company planned to hold interests in corporations that issued collateralized debt obligations. It sought to meet the qualifying income test…
PLR 200728024: Nuclear plant sale disqualifies seller's decommissioning fund
A utility planned to sell a nuclear power plant and transfer its decommissioning obligation to the buyer. It asked the IRS to disqualify its qualified nuclear decommissioning fund because it would…
PLR 200728023: Foreign entity gets more time to elect partnership treatment
A foreign entity intended to be classified as a partnership for U.S. tax purposes but missed the deadline to file Form 8832. It requested an extension under the regulatory election relief rules. The…
PLR 200728022: Late S election accepted for corporation's formation date
A corporation's shareholder intended to elect S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under…
PLR 200728021: Foreign entity gets time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity and two related entities had treated themselves as disregarded for U.S. tax purposes but missed their Form 8832 filing deadlines. The ruling request concerned one of those entities.…
PLR 200728020: Late disregarded entity election allowed for foreign affiliate
Three related foreign entities were intended to be disregarded for U.S. tax purposes, but each missed its Form 8832 deadline. This letter addresses one affiliate's request. The IRS found that…
PLR 200728019: Foreign affiliate receives late disregarded entity election relief
Three related foreign entities intended to be disregarded for U.S. tax purposes, but their Form 8832 elections were late. This letter rules only on one affiliate's request. The IRS found that it met…
PLR 200728018: Sale of residence remainder interest does not create a gift
A married couple proposed placing their second home in a personal residence trust, retaining lifetime use, and selling the remainder interest to another trust for cash and securities. The IRS ruled…
PLR 200728017: Partition of family trust preserves GST exemption without gift or gain
Trustees sought to formally divide a family trust into five trusts for different branches of a family, as ordered by a state court. The original trust was irrevocable before September 25, 1985, and…
PLR 200728016: Married taxpayers get more time to group rental properties
A married couple reported that they qualified as real property business taxpayers but omitted the statement electing to treat all their rental real estate interests as one activity. The IRS granted…
PLR 200728015: Split dollar premiums were not gifts if trusts paid for coverage
A married couple's partnership paid part of the premiums on a second-to-die life insurance policy owned by trusts for their descendants. The IRS ruled that the premium payments before the agreement…
PLR 200728014: Foreign subsidiary may file late disregarded entity election
A U.S. parent intended its wholly owned foreign subsidiary to be treated as a disregarded entity from the subsidiary's formation date. The subsidiary represented that it was eligible for that…
PLR 200728013: Late Form 1128 treated as timely for tax year change request
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 after the deadline to request a change from a December 31 to a June 30 tax year. It promptly sought relief from the filing deadline. The IRS found that the taxpayer acted…
PLR 200728012: REIT election on late return treated as timely
A real estate company elected REIT status on its initial Form 1120-REIT, but the return was late because its service provider had not filed a requested extension. The IRS treated the REIT election…
PLR 200728011: Early termination of family trusts preserves GST exemption
Two family trusts were scheduled to run for years after the deaths of their original beneficiaries. Their current beneficiaries sought early termination, and a state court ordered it subject to a…
PLR 200728010: Exchange offer substituted for tax free stock distribution
A corporation had received an earlier ruling on a planned tax free distribution of subsidiary shares. It changed the plan to offer those shares in exchange for its own shares, using a capped…
PLR 200728009: Corporate group gets extension for consolidated return election
A corporate group failed to elect consolidated federal income tax filing on time after relying on a tax professional who did not make or advise it to make the election. The IRS found that the group…
PLR 200728008: Related party resale does not trigger exchange gain under section 1031(f)
A taxpayer used exchange intermediaries to replace two investment properties acquired from unrelated sellers, while a related party bought the taxpayer's relinquished properties for cash. The…
PLR 200728007: Late low-income housing disposition bonds allowed
A taxpayer sold interests in three low-income housing properties without timely filing the forms needed to post bonds against credit recapture. The IRS granted an extension to file the required…
PLR 200728006: S election accepted from incorporation if form is filed
Two shareholders intended their newly incorporated company to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date. The IRS service center had not received Form 2553, although the company and…
PLR 200728005: Estate gets extension for partial QTIP election
An executor timely filed an estate tax return, but the tax professional preparing it omitted a partial qualified terminable interest property election for assets in a trust benefiting the surviving…
PLR 200728004: Late ESBT election cures inadvertent S corporation termination
An S corporation transferred shares to a trust that had not elected to be an electing small business trust, making the trust an ineligible shareholder. The IRS found that the company's S election…
PLR 200728003: Late dual consolidated loss elections allowed for foreign branch
A U.S. consolidated group reported losses from a subsidiary's foreign branch in two tax years. Its accounting firm did not identify the branch as a separate unit and omitted the elections and…
PLR 200728002: Ten-year holding period waived for troubled housing project
A partnership planned to buy and rehabilitate a federally assisted housing project and sought low-income housing tax credits. It asked the IRS to waive the usual 10-year holding period for existing…
CCA 200728001: Installment to cash treatment is an accounting method change
A taxpayer reported a partnership interest sale on the installment method, including the portion attributable to the partnership's unrealized receivables. Examination believed that portion should…
PLR 200729037: Couple receives more time to reverse Roth IRA conversions
A married couple converted traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs after expecting their 2005 income to stay below the then applicable $100,000 limit. Late Schedule K-1s showed that their income exceeded the…
PLR 200727027: IRA rollover deadline waived after advisor's deposit error
An IRA owner intended to roll a distribution into another IRA, but a financial advisor's error led to its deposit in an account that was not an IRA. The owner, who was legally blind, discovered the…
PLR 200727026: IRA rollover waiver granted after account classification error
An IRA owner intended to move investments between providers, but the receiving company placed two amounts in a taxable brokerage account rather than an IRA account. The owner learned of the mistake…
PLR 200727025: Plan distribution gets rollover waiver after brokerage error
A former employee received a distribution from an employer retirement plan and intended to roll part of it into an IRA. Within the usual 60-day period, the employee met with brokerage staff to…
PLR 200727024: Return of unused pension funding advance avoids reversion tax
An agency advanced funds to cover the expected cost of terminating a pension plan. After all participants received their benefits, part of the advance remained unused. The unused amount had been…
PLR 200727023: IRA rollover waiver denied after funds combined with inheritance
An IRA owner withdrew funds after being told that combining them with inherited money could earn a better rate on a large certificate of deposit. The owner placed part of the IRA distribution in a…
PLR 200727022: IRA rollover deadline waived after bank deposit error
An IRA owner received distributions from two IRAs and instructed a financial institution to place the proceeds in a rollover IRA. Its representative instead deposited the funds in a regular account,…
PLR 200727021: Mission agency denied church classification
A mission agency asked the IRS to reclassify it as a church. The agency established and supported local churches, but those churches governed themselves and were distinct from the agency. The IRS…
TAM 200727020: Civic attraction furthered charity's purpose of aiding city
A tax-exempt foundation operated a city-owned complex with an aquarium, hotel, convention center, and other attractions. The IRS concluded that the operation furthered the foundation's charitable…
TAM 200727019: Loans between related companies were not indirect self-dealing
A company controlled by a private foundation trustee lent money to another company in which the foundation held a 34% stake. The lender was a disqualified person with respect to the foundation, so…
TAM 200727018: Bank clearing account permitted; related lease remained unresolved
A bank related to a private foundation kept the foundation's disbursement funds in a non-interest-paying clearing account. The IRS found that this common trust department practice fit the exception…
PLR 200727017: Welfare trust could use nondeducted funds for active employees
An employer planned to end its retiree medical subsidy and amend its tax-exempt employee benefit trust. It proposed using trust assets attributable to contributions for which it had taken no…
TAM 200727016: Subsidiary dividends counted against ordinary stock loss
A corporation claimed an ordinary loss after the stock of its foreign holding company became worthless. More than 90% of the holding company's receipts were dividends from subsidiaries, some earned…
CCA 200727015: Timely credit of overpayment did not require assessment
A closing agreement established a taxpayer's overpayment for one year and liabilities for four others. The IRS credited the overpayment against those liabilities within one year, but never assessed…
CCA 200727014: Advertising-supported publication required inventory accounting
A publisher distributed a printed publication free to subscribers and earned revenue from advertisers. Chief Counsel advised that the publication was merchandise for inventory purposes because…
PLR 200727013: Early unitrust terminations produced long-term gain without excise taxes
The income beneficiaries and charitable remainder beneficiaries of two charitable remainder unitrusts agreed to end the trusts early. The individual beneficiaries would receive the actuarial value…
PLR 200727012: Late S corporation election accepted for incorporation date
A corporation intended S corporation treatment beginning on its incorporation date but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and granted relief under…
PLR 200727011: Late S corporation election granted from incorporation
A corporation intended to be treated as an S corporation from its incorporation date but missed the election deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause and granted late election relief under IRC §…
PLR 200727010: Extension granted for controlled group value election
A parent company and controlled foreign subsidiaries missed the deadline to elect to restore value under the rules for the IRC § 382 limit on pre-change losses. The IRS found that the parent…
PLR 200727009: Reasonable cause excused late S election
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from its incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief…
PLR 200727008: Executive pay for partnership work outside corporate deduction cap
A publicly held real estate investment trust owned an interest in a partnership, and some executives worked for both entities. The IRS ruled that the then-applicable IRC § 162(m) deduction limit did…
PLR 200727007: Foreign entity given time for disregarded entity election
A foreign eligible entity wanted to be disregarded for U.S. tax purposes from its formation date, but it did not file Form 8832 on time. Its default classification was a corporation. The IRS found…
PLR 200727006: Late rental real estate grouping election allowed
Married taxpayers omitted the statement needed to elect to treat all their rental real estate interests as one activity. The IRS granted an extension to make the election by attaching the statement…
PLR 200727005: Government deferred compensation plan qualified under § 457
A political subdivision amended its deferred compensation plan and sought confirmation of its tax treatment. The plan held assets in trust solely for participants and beneficiaries and set rules for…
PLR 200727004: Late accounting year change application treated as timely
A corporation filed Form 1128 after the deadline to seek a change from a September 30 tax year to a December 31 tax year. The IRS found that it acted reasonably and in good faith and that relief…
PLR 200727003: Split-off exchange received limited nonrecognition ruling
A corporation proposed to separate a business into a controlled company and exchange that company's shares for all the parent shares held by two shareholders. Based on the submitted facts and…
PLR 200727002: Municipal retiree health fund income and premiums excluded
A municipality established an irrevocable trust to fund health insurance premiums for eligible retirees and their families. The IRS ruled that the fund's income was excluded from gross income under…
PLR 200727001: Merger into disregarded subsidiary qualified as reorganization
A corporation merged into a limited liability company disregarded as separate from its corporate owner. A partnership interest acquired in the merger was to be transferred through several controlled…
Determination 200726032: Charity exemption revoked after real estate sales
An organization formed to provide food, shelter, training, and child care for battered women never opened the planned shelter. Instead, it bought discounted properties, rehabilitated and rented…
PLR 200726031: Plan rollover deadline waived for funds put in regular account
A retiree split a qualified plan distribution between a direct IRA rollover and a check intended for another IRA. A misunderstanding at the credit union led to the check being deposited in a regular…
PLR 200726030: Product licensing income was not passive income for S corporation rule
An S corporation licensed rights associated with its products to another company. It represented that it had performed substantial services and incurred substantial costs to create, develop, and…
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.