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.
No determinations match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
PLR 200712013: Related party's planned resale does not defeat reverse like-kind exchange
A property owner arranged a reverse like-kind exchange to acquire replacement real estate from an unrelated seller while transferring rental property to a related party through a qualified…
PLR 200712012: Foreign entity gets more time to elect partnership classification
A foreign entity said it was eligible to be taxed as a partnership but had inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. It wanted its partnership classification to take effect from the date…
PLR 200712011: Entity gets time to elect corporate tax classification
A domestic entity began operating and intended to be taxed as a corporation from the start of its business, but it inadvertently missed the deadline for its entity classification election. Without…
PLR 200712010: Estate gets more time to elect qualified domestic trust treatment
A U.S. citizen's estate passed property to a surviving spouse who was not a U.S. citizen. The estate's original Form 706 did not claim a marital deduction or elect qualified domestic trust…
PLR 200712009: Late tax year change application treated as timely filed
A taxpayer sought to change from an August 31 to a December 31 tax year but missed the deadline to file Form 1128. The taxpayer attributed the late filing to an error or misunderstanding and sought…
PLR 200712008: Limited trust appointment preserves most estate and GST treatment
A decedent created a trust before the generation-skipping transfer tax's 1985 cutoff and gave his wife a limited power to direct its assets at her death. She proposed to appoint them to another…
PLR 200712007: Disregarded subsidiary's stock counts as direct ownership under U.K. treaty
A U.K. corporation had owned all shares of a U.S. subsidiary for over 12 months and planned to transfer them to a wholly owned U.K. company treated as disregarded for U.S. tax purposes. The U.S.…
PLR 200712006: City must report tree removal payments to contractors, not owners
A city paid contractors directly to remove dangerous trees after ordering property owners to remove them. Its program provided grants for residents and assistance secured by property liens for…
PLR 200712005: Investor settlement fund has limited payment reporting duties
A settlement fund created after a securities enforcement proceeding planned to compensate investors harmed by improper mutual fund market timing. The IRS ruled that most direct payments to investors…
PLR 200712004: Market timing settlement payments have limited reporting duties
A settlement fund for investors harmed by improper market timing of mutual funds sought guidance on reporting its payments. The IRS ruled that most direct investor payments did not require reporting…
PLR 200712003: Corporate partner gets time for dual consolidated loss elections
A corporate partner claimed losses from foreign branches and hybrid entities held through a domestic partnership. Its partnership tax documents did not alert it that the losses might be dual…
PLR 200712002: Petroleum terminal and pipeline service fees are qualifying income
A publicly traded partnership operated petroleum product terminals and pipelines, including facilities owned by other companies. It also blended biodiesel and ethanol with refined products and…
PLR 200712001: S election protected if restructuring created second stock class
An S corporation was restructured into an entity taxed as a corporation, but was mistakenly formed as a limited partnership before being converted to the intended general partnership. The error…
Determination 200711041: Venture fund plan fails charity exemption test
An organization sought tax-exempt status to teach ethical corporate governance and invest through a venture capital partnership in companies that followed its model. The IRS acknowledged that its…
Determination 200711040: Seller funded down payment program denied charity exemption
A nonprofit applied for tax exemption for a program that would give homebuyers down payment funds and collect a service fee and reimbursement from participating sellers. The IRS proposed to deny…
PLR 200711039: University endowment arrangement avoids unrelated business income
An exempt educational institution served as trustee and remainder beneficiary of several charitable remainder trusts. It proposed to give the trusts contractual rights to returns tied to its…
PLR 200711038: Trust's endowment contract payouts avoid unrelated business income
A charitable remainder trust asked whether a contractual share of its educational institution trustee's endowment would give the trust unrelated business taxable income. The trust would receive…
PLR 200711037: Trust's endowment contract payouts avoid unrelated business income
A charitable remainder trust asked whether a contractual share of its educational institution trustee's endowment would give the trust unrelated business taxable income. The trust would receive…
PLR 200711036: Trust's endowment contract payouts avoid unrelated business income
A charitable remainder trust asked whether a contractual share of its educational institution trustee's endowment would give the trust unrelated business taxable income. The trust would receive…
PLR 200711035: University endowment arrangement avoids unrelated business income
An exempt educational institution served as trustee and remainder beneficiary of several charitable remainder trusts. It proposed to give the trusts contractual rights to returns tied to its…
PLR 200711034: Trust's endowment contract payouts avoid unrelated business income
A charitable remainder trust asked whether a contractual share of its educational institution trustee's endowment would give the trust unrelated business taxable income. The trust would receive…
PLR 200711033: University endowment arrangement avoids unrelated business income
An exempt educational institution served as trustee and remainder beneficiary of several charitable remainder trusts. It proposed to give the trusts contractual rights to returns tied to its…
PLR 200711032: Endowment linked units do not create unrelated business income for charitable remainder trust
An exempt educational institution served as trustee and sole charitable remainder beneficiary of several charitable remainder trusts. It proposed to issue the trusts contract rights tied to the…
PLR 200711031: Endowment units do not create unrelated business income for educational institution
An exempt educational institution served as trustee and sole charitable remainder beneficiary of several trusts. It proposed to issue the trusts contract rights tied to its endowment's value and…
PLR 200711030: Endowment share contracts avoid unrelated business income for educational institution
An exempt educational institution served as trustee and remainder beneficiary of charitable remainder trusts. It proposed to give the trusts contractual rights to returns tied to its endowment,…
PLR 200711029: Endowment contracts do not create unrelated business income for charitable trust
An exempt educational institution was trustee and sole charitable remainder beneficiary of several charitable remainder trusts. It proposed to issue the trusts contractual units whose value and…
PLR 200711028: Endowment contracts avoid unrelated business income for educational institution
An exempt educational institution served as trustee and remainder beneficiary of charitable remainder trusts. It proposed to issue contractual units that would give the trusts returns tied to its…
PLR 200711027: Endowment fund units do not create unrelated business income for school
An exempt educational institution wanted its charitable remainder trusts to receive returns tied to an internal investment fund. The trusts would own contractual units, not the fund's underlying…
PLR 200711026: Trust units in university fund do not create unrelated business income
An exempt university proposed to let charitable remainder trusts it managed buy contractual units tied to its investment fund. The trusts would receive the fund's return without owning or…
PLR 200711025: University fund contracts avoid unrelated business income for unitrust
A charitable remainder unitrust would buy contractual units tied to the investment fund of an exempt university that served as its trustee and remainder beneficiary. The trust would receive payments…
PLR 200711024: Foundation may end outreach activities without self-dealing
A private foundation funded by its corporate founder asked whether its educational outreach, conducted while the founder planned consumer advertising, would threaten its tax exemption or amount to…
PLR 200711023: Foundation may end outreach activities without self-dealing
A letter concerning a private foundation funded by its corporate founder asked whether the foundation’s educational outreach, conducted while the founder planned consumer advertising, would threaten…
PLR 200711022: Employee pension contributions reduce taxable annuity payments
A U.S. citizen who had worked abroad asked how to tax a pension's lump sum and later monthly annuity payments. The employee's own contributions had already been included in income, while the foreign…
PLR 200711021: IRS grants conditional pension funding waiver for 2005
A company sought relief from the minimum funding requirement for its pension plan after business and financing difficulties. It withdrew a request for a 2006 waiver, which the IRS closed. The IRS…
PLR 200711020: Parent receives more time to elect subsidiary stock loss treatment
A corporate parent sold a subsidiary's stock at a loss but missed the deadline to file the statement needed to claim an exception to a consolidated group loss disallowance rule. The parent asked for…
PLR 200711019: Foreign subsidiary gets time to elect disregarded entity status
An affiliated group acquired a foreign entity and timely made a section 338 election for the acquisition, but inadvertently omitted Form 8832 to classify the entity as disregarded from its owner. It…
PLR 200711018: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A newly incorporated company intended to elect S corporation status effective on its incorporation date, but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and ruled that…
PLR 200711017: Transfer of existing loss reserves is not tax insurance
A non-life reinsurer transferred its liabilities for already incurred losses to its parent under an agreement treated as reinsurance for state accounting purposes. The reinsurer asked whether the…
PLR 200711016: Insurance investment portfolio can elect partnership status
Two life insurers held shares in a segregated investment portfolio supporting their variable insurance contracts. The portfolio planned to elect partnership tax status and asked whether it would be…
PLR 200711015: Nuclear plant costs qualify for specified liability loss treatment
An energy company's consolidated group reported a net operating loss that included costs for storing spent nuclear fuel and removing retired steam generators and reactor vessel heads. The IRS ruled…
PLR 200711014: Life insurer can exchange employee life policies without gain
A life insurance company owned policies on employees, officers, or directors and planned to exchange some for new policies from an unrelated insurer. The insured person and death benefit would stay…
PLR 200711013: Insurance investment portfolio can elect partnership status
Two life insurers held shares in a segregated investment portfolio supporting their variable insurance contracts. The portfolio planned to elect partnership tax status and asked whether it would be…
PLR 200711012: Insurance investment portfolio can elect partnership status
Two life insurers held shares in a segregated investment portfolio supporting their variable insurance contracts. The portfolio planned to elect partnership tax status and asked whether it would be…
PLR 200711011: Insurance investment portfolio can elect partnership status
Two life insurers held shares in a segregated investment portfolio supporting their variable insurance contracts. The portfolio planned to elect partnership tax status and asked whether it would be…
PLR 200711010: Foreign subsidiary gets time to elect disregarded entity status
An affiliated group acquired a foreign entity and timely made a section 338 election for the acquisition, but inadvertently omitted Form 8832 to classify the entity as disregarded from its owner. It…
PLR 200711009: Insurance investment portfolio can elect partnership status
Two life insurers held shares in a segregated investment portfolio supporting their variable insurance contracts. The portfolio planned to elect partnership tax status and asked whether it would be…
PLR 200711008: Insurance investment portfolio can elect partnership status
Two life insurers held shares in a segregated investment portfolio supporting their variable insurance contracts. The portfolio planned to elect partnership tax status and asked whether it would be…
PLR 200711007: Extension to file dual consolidated loss elections
A taxpayer missed elections and annual certifications tied to dual consolidated losses from an interest in a hybrid entity. Its outside accountants and in-house staff had failed to identify the…
PLR 200711006: Tractor auxiliary power units trigger excise tax
A freight hauler planned to install auxiliary power unit packages on its taxable highway tractors within six months after the tractors entered service. The packages cost more than $1,000 and powered…
PLR 200711005: Estate gets time to split marital trust and make reverse QTIP election
An estate elected the marital deduction for a trust but failed to make a reverse QTIP election or allocate the decedent's generation-skipping transfer tax exemption. The estate wanted to divide the…
PLR 200711004: Foreign entity gets time to file classification election
A company incorporated abroad intended to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes as of its incorporation date. It missed the Form 8832 filing deadline and…
PLR 200711003: Late tax year change application treated as timely filed
A corporation changed its intended tax year to match a newly acquired operating subsidiary, but its return preparer did not file Form 1128 because it believed the necessary steps had already been…
PLR 200711002: Late tax year change application treated as timely filed
A corporation asked to change its tax year under an automatic consent procedure. Its representative filed the income tax return on time but missed Form 1128 through an administrative oversight; the…
PLR 200711001: Estate gets time to allocate GST exemption to lifetime trust gift
A donor created a trust for her children and grandchildren, but her tax return preparer failed to allocate generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to the gift. After the donor's death, her…
TAM 200710019: Credit union owes tax on insurance and warranty income, but not check sales
A state-chartered credit union asked whether income from six products it offered to members was taxable as unrelated business income. The IRS concluded that fees and commissions from accidental…
TAM 200710018: Credit union pays tax on four product lines, but not collateral insurance or checks
A state-chartered credit union asked whether income from six products offered to members was unrelated business taxable income. The IRS found that cancer insurance, a financial services program, car…
TAM 200710017: Four credit union product lines taxable, collateral insurance and checks exempt
A state-chartered credit union asked whether income from six products offered to its members was taxable as unrelated business income. The IRS concluded that accidental death and dismemberment…
PLR 200710016: Endowment contracts with charitable remainder trusts do not create taxable business income for educational organization
An educational organization served as trustee and remainder beneficiary of several charitable remainder trusts. It proposed contracts giving the trusts units tied to the value and payouts of its…
PLR 200710015: Trust's endowment payout will not create unrelated business taxable income
A charitable remainder unitrust would receive endowment linked payouts from an educational organization that served as its trustee and remainder beneficiary. Under the proposed contract, the trust…
PLR 200710014: University endowment contracts will not create unrelated business taxable income for university
An educational organization proposed to give charitable remainder trusts contractual interests tied to its endowment's performance. The organization was trustee and remainder beneficiary of those…
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.