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 200716014: Merger qualifies as a reorganization with cash gain consequences
A nonstock corporation proposed to merge into a subsidiary of a publicly traded corporation. Its members could receive stock, cash, or a combination for their equity interests, while their trading…
PLR 200716013: Required escrow deposits qualify as deductible settlement fund payments
A product manufacturer that was not a defendant in an industry lawsuit had to make annual deposits into escrow accounts under laws adopted by government claimants. The IRS ruled that each account…
PLR 200716012: Two corporate distributions receive reorganization and nonrecognition rulings
A corporate group proposed to convert a disregarded subsidiary into a corporation, distribute its stock within the group, contribute other holdings to it, then exchange its stock with shareholders…
PLR 200716011: Missing trust election was an inadvertent invalid S corporation election
A corporation elected S corporation status while a trust held its shares. The trust beneficiary missed the required qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) election because former accountants believed…
PLR 200716010: IRS classifies foreign units for dual consolidated loss calculations
A U.S. consolidated group held foreign branches and entities through several domestic owners. It asked how those interests should be treated when calculating dual consolidated losses under section…
PLR 200716009: Foreign entity gets more time to elect partnership classification
A foreign entity represented that it was eligible to be treated as a partnership for U.S. tax purposes and intended to elect that treatment, but inadvertently missed the Form 8832 deadline. The IRS…
PLR 200716008: Spouses get more time to allocate GST exemptions after residence trust term
A donor placed a residence in a trust that reserved use of the property for a set term. The donor and spouse elected to split the gift and each became the transferor of half the value for…
PLR 200716007: Investment fund may retain common shareholders' share of capital gains
A regulated investment company with common and preferred shares planned to pay required preferred dividends while retaining some net capital gain attributable to its common shares. It would…
PLR 200716006: Spouses get more time to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocations
A couple created several trusts and intended that transfers to them would not receive automatic generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption allocations. Their preparer missed elections for some…
PLR 200716005: Executor gets more time to allocate GST exemption to estate trust
A decedent's will directed that part of the estate go to a trust sized by the unused generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption. The executor filed the estate tax return on time but did not…
PLR 200716004: Husband may make late GST exemption allocations to four children's trusts
A wife transferred closely held company stock to four trusts for the couple's children and their descendants. The spouses elected to split the gifts, but their attorney allocated generation-skipping…
PLR 200716003: Wife may make late GST exemption allocations to four children's trusts
A wife transferred closely held company stock to four trusts for the couple's children and their descendants. The spouses elected to split the gifts, but their attorney allocated generation-skipping…
PLR 200716002: Spouses may allocate remaining GST exemptions to later trust gifts
A husband and wife each created a trust with potential generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax consequences. They allocated GST exemptions to initial gifts but did not allocate exemptions to later…
PLR 200716001: Corporation may file late S election for intended effective date
A corporation intended to elect S corporation treatment but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under section 1362(b)(5). It ruled that an election…
PLR 200715016: Duplicate IRA distribution qualifies for late rollover relief
A former employee asked an IRA administrator to return after-tax money that had come from an employer plan. He made two requests referring to the same funds, but the administrator sent two…
PLR 200715015: Foundation may receive trademark partnership interest and royalties
A private foundation proposed to accept a limited partnership interest from a family-controlled manufacturer. The partnership held trademarks licensed to that manufacturer and would distribute…
PLR 200715014: Foundation division preserves status and excise tax treatment
A private foundation planned to transfer one quarter of its assets to each of three other private foundations and retain the remaining quarter. The IRS granted the requested rulings that the…
PLR 200715013: Advisor error qualifies annuity distribution for late IRA rollover
A taxpayer wanted to roll a distribution from a section 403(b) annuity into an IRA. Her financial advisor instead completed a form for a transfer to a nonqualified annuity, and she learned of the…
CCA 200715011: IRS agrees a business is a railroad retirement tax employer
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a redacted business was an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. The IRS Chief Counsel reviewed the…
CCA 200715010: Business is outside railroad retirement employer coverage on submitted facts
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a redacted business was not a covered employer under the Railroad Retirement Act or the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. Chief Counsel reviewed…
PLR 200715009: Estates get 60 days to allocate missed GST exemptions to trusts
Two spouses had made gifts to family trusts, but their accountants omitted or only partly made several allocations of generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption on gift tax returns. Their…
PLR 200715008: Estates get 60 days to allocate missed GST exemptions to trusts
Two spouses had made gifts to family trusts, but their accountants omitted or only partly made several allocations of generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption on gift tax returns. Their…
CCA 200715007: Farm corporation's suspense account continues after transfer to subsidiary
A family farming corporation held a section 447 suspense account after changing from cash to accrual accounting. It transferred substantially all its assets and liabilities to a wholly owned…
PLR 200715006: Employee life insurance exchanges keep tax free treatment
A corporation planned to exchange life insurance policies covering active employees for new policies covering the same people. Some existing coverage was held through certificates under master…
PLR 200715005: Retained trust power leaves contribution an incomplete gift
A person proposed a family trust whose distribution committee would consist initially of two beneficiaries. The IRS said the trust terms alone did not make the creator or another person the owner of…
PLR 200715004: Staged corporate spin offs receive favorable reorganization rulings
A corporate group proposed a long sequence of contributions, stock distributions, borrowing, and an acquisition to separate businesses through several domestic and foreign entities. The IRS issued…
PLR 200715003: Foreign entity gets more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes but inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. It asked the IRS for more time to make the…
PLR 200715002: Estate gets time to reallocate GST exemption between charitable trusts
An estate divided a charitable lead unitrust into GST exempt and nonexempt portions. Its attorney allocated more generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption to the exempt portion than was needed…
PLR 200715001: Couple gets 60 days to allocate GST exemptions to three trusts
A married couple created three trusts, one for each child, and each spouse transferred assets to all three. They filed timely gift tax returns, but the accountant preparing them omitted allocations…
PLR 200714030: Payments replacing misappropriated IRA assets are restorative
A widow's retirement assets fell sharply while a financial advisor handled investments that she believed would be made through IRA rollovers. She brought claims over the handling of the assets, and…
PLR 200714029: Missing rollover notice leads IRS to waive widow's deadline
A widow received her late husband's benefit from his employer's retirement plan. The plan administrator gave her neither the required written explanation of rollover rules nor oral advice, and she…
Revocation 200714028: Business league loses exemption after unanswered record requests
The IRS sought records from an organization exempt as a business league under section 501(c)(6). The organization did not respond to repeated requests, so the IRS said it could not determine whether…
Denial 200714027: HMO's corporate powers prevent social welfare exemption
A health maintenance organization sought exemption as a social welfare organization under section 501(c)(4). It was a stock corporation owned by a for-profit insurer, and its governing documents…
PLR 200714026: Research group's expanded mission preserves its exemption
A tax-exempt research organization studied indoor environmental quality and shared its findings with the public. It amended its articles to use that research to attract businesses and jobs to its…
PLR 200714025: Discretionary gifts do not make a trust a split-interest trust
A taxable trust could make discretionary distributions of income to charities. It represented that no prior charitable deduction had been allowed for amounts contributed to or retained in the trust…
PLR 200714024: Charity reorganization preserves exemption and public charity status
A charity serving dependent and neglected children planned to reorganize with four related charities under a parent organization. The group would move care programs, real estate, and endowments…
PLR 200714023: Charity reorganization preserves exemption and public charity status
A charity serving dependent and neglected children planned to reorganize with four related charities under a parent organization. The group would move care programs, real estate, and endowments…
PLR 200714022: Charity reorganization preserves exemption and public charity status
A charity serving dependent and neglected children planned to reorganize with four related charities under a parent organization. The group would move care programs, real estate, and endowments…
PLR 200714021: Charity reorganization preserves exemption and public charity status
A charity serving dependent and neglected children planned to reorganize with four related charities under a parent organization. The group would move care programs, real estate, and endowments…
PLR 200714020: Charity reorganization preserves exemption and public charity status
A charity serving dependent and neglected children planned to reorganize with four related charities under a parent organization. The group would move care programs, real estate, and endowments…
CCA 200714019: Railroad business treated as an employer for tax purposes
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a redacted business had become an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. IRS Chief Counsel reviewed the…
CCA 200714018: School district retirement contributions excluded from FICA wages
A public school district paid retirement contributions that state law designated as employee contributions. The district picked up those payments as employer contributions without reducing or…
CCA 200714017: Consolidated losses and credits reduced at group level
Chief Counsel analyzed how a consolidated group should reduce tax attributes after a member excluded income from discharged debt. For periods before temporary regulation section 1.1502-28T, Counsel…
PLR 200714016: Trust divisions and situs change preserve GST treatment
A family sought rulings on dividing a trust that became irrevocable before September 25, 1985, modifying the resulting trusts, merging two other trusts, and moving the situs of a son's trusts to…
PLR 200714015: Captive insurer gets more time to elect alternative tax
A small captive insurer missed the deadline to elect the alternative tax under section 831(b) after its tax preparer treated it as exempt under section 501(c)(15). The preparer later learned that…
PLR 200714014: Foreign parent gets more time for property interest filings
A foreign parent merged a U.S. subsidiary into a U.S. parent company. It represented that the shares exchanged were not U.S. real property interests, but it missed the required statement to the…
PLR 200714013: Coal fuel facility acquisition preserves section 45K rulings
A company bought a facility that processed coal into synthetic fuel and asked the IRS to reconfirm an earlier ruling after the change in ownership. The IRS reissued rulings that the construction…
PLR 200714012: Late dual consolidated loss elections allowed for foreign branch
A taxpayer missed elections for eight years of dual consolidated losses from a foreign branch after its tax department concluded the rules did not apply. The IRS granted 60 days from the ruling date…
PLR 200714011: Omitted subsidiaries allowed to join consolidated return
A corporate parent left several subsidiaries off its first consolidated return because it mistakenly believed their stock had been transferred to another entity. The omitted subsidiaries had no…
PLR 200714010: Rural telephone cooperative's stock redemption yields patronage income
A rural telephone cooperative received a liquidation payment for stock it had to buy to obtain financing from the Rural Telephone Bank. It had lost its section 501(c)(12) exemption after failing the…
PLR 200714009: Early family distributions do not end trust's GST exemption
A trust created before September 25, 1985, was modified by court order after a beneficiary and his wife faced financial hardship. The court allowed the remaining charitable annuity payments to be…
PLR 200714008: Consultant's uncollectible loan qualifies as business bad debt
A consultant lent money to a client pursuing a business acquisition after financing repeatedly fell through. The project failed, and the borrower later discharged the debt in bankruptcy. The IRS…
PLR 200714007: Contested demutualization proceeds treated as disputed ownership fund
A court supervised proceeds from an insurer's demutualization while multiple parties contested ownership. The IRS said it would not challenge the fund's consistent use of proposed section 468B…
PLR 200714006: Partnership gets 60 days to make late basis adjustment election
A foreign partnership missed the deadline for a section 754 election after a transaction treated as a transfer of a partnership interest. The election would allow adjustments to the basis of…
PLR 200714005: Partnership gets 60 days to make late basis adjustment election
A foreign partnership missed the deadline for a section 754 election after a transaction treated as a transfer of a partnership interest. The election would allow adjustments to the basis of…
PLR 200714004: Passenger vessel taxed, shuttle voyages excluded
An operator planned a large gambling and lodging vessel beyond U.S. territorial waters, with smaller shuttle vessels carrying passengers to and from a U.S. port. The IRS ruled that the large…
PLR 200714003: Late dual consolidated loss elections allowed for several branches
A taxpayer missed dual consolidated loss elections for several foreign branches and disregarded entities over multiple years. The IRS granted 60 days from the ruling date to file the elections for…
PLR 200714002: State sale of unclaimed shares qualifies for gain deferral
A state took and sold a taxpayer's shares under its unclaimed property law, then returned the sale proceeds after the taxpayer filed a claim. The IRS treated the state's taking and use of the…
PLR 200714001: Late GST exemption allocation allowed for family trust
A taxpayer and her husband funded an irrevocable trust for their daughter's descendants with community property. Her attorney did not advise her to file a gift tax return allocating her…
Denial 200713027: Pension plan denied extra time to amortize unfunded liabilities
A multiemployer defined benefit pension plan requested more time to amortize its unfunded liabilities. An earlier projection had shown a future funding deficiency. A later actuarial valuation showed…
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.