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 200650016: Revised nuclear decommissioning contribution schedule approved for two rate jurisdictions
A utility owning an interest in a nuclear plant requested a revised contribution schedule because its earlier schedule was limited to five years. Two public utility commissions had authorized…
CCA 200650015: Railroad employer coverage begins with a separate prior payroll entity noted
Chief Counsel reviewed the Railroad Retirement Board's opinion that a redacted business had become a covered railroad employer. Based on the board's information, it agreed that Railroad Retirement…
CCA 200650014: Partnership cannot avoid cash-distribution gain by buying a retiring partner's home
A family partnership bought a residence through a disregarded LLC solely to transfer it to a retiring partner whose partnership basis was zero. The partner claimed that the house was a noncash…
PLR 200650013: Late S corporation election accepted with a 60-day filing condition
A corporation intended S corporation status from inception but failed to file Form 2553 on time. The corporation and its shareholder timely filed returns consistent with that intended status. The…
PLR 200650012: Parent receives 45 days to elect consolidated return treatment
A parent company missed the election to file a consolidated federal income tax return with its wholly owned subsidiary. The IRS found that the parent reasonably relied on a qualified tax…
PLR 200650011: Holding-company restructuring qualifies as a B reorganization before an IPO
An employee-owned operating company planned a holding-company restructuring immediately before a public stock offering to give its shareholders liquidity. The IRS disregards the formation and merger…
PLR 200650010: Pre-IPO stock exchange qualifies as a holding-company B reorganization
An operating company largely owned by employees, former employees, and a retirement plan proposed a holding-company restructuring before an initial public offering. The IRS treats the temporary…
PLR 200650009: Business split-off qualifies as a D reorganization with limited partnership-stock rulings
A corporate group proposed separating two operating businesses through subsidiary conversions, an asset contribution, and a split-off to a partnership shareholder. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200650008: Corporation receives relief for an omitted inception-date S election
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation treatment from incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause and granted relief under section 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200650007: 60 days granted to file dual consolidated loss rebuttal documents
A taxpayer changed two foreign hybrid entities from U.S. partnership treatment to corporate treatment, triggering dual consolidated loss recapture. It reported recapture net of relevant income but…
PLR 200650006: Reasonable cause supports late S election from incorporation
A corporation intended S corporation status from incorporation but did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the omission and granted relief under section 1362(b)(5). The…
PLR 200650005: Options originally granted outside a plan do not count against its annual limit
A public corporation granted its chief executive stock options outside its stock incentive plan, then canceled and regranted them under the plan on otherwise matching terms. The corporation sought…
PLR 200650004: Foreign entity receives 60 days to elect partnership treatment
A foreign entity eligible for partnership classification inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found the regulatory election relief requirements satisfied and granted 60 days from…
PLR 200650003: Revised nuclear decommissioning schedule approved for two rate jurisdictions
A utility with ownership and leasehold interests in a nuclear plant requested a revised section 468A funding schedule after its previous schedule was limited to five years. The IRS approved the…
PLR 200650002: Utility's revised nuclear decommissioning funding schedule approved
A utility requested a revised section 468A nuclear decommissioning funding schedule because its prior schedule was limited to five years. The IRS approved the proposed payments based on the two rate…
PLR 200650001: Trust consolidation and principal-income adjustments preserve GST exemption and ESBT eligibility
Eleven separately administered subtrusts under a pre-1985 irrevocable trust were consolidated to reduce administrative burden. A court-approved modification would permit income allocation and…
PLR 200649039: Child-welfare nonprofit receives a conditional pension funding waiver
A child-welfare nonprofit sought a waiver of its pension plan's minimum funding standard after investment losses, government funding cuts, and canceled contracts undermined an expansion. Expense…
PLR 200649038: Bank's mistaken non-IRA CD transfer supports rollover deadline waiver
A 65-year-old IRA owner instructed his bank to move IRA funds into a certificate of deposit within the IRA. The bank instead placed the funds in a non-IRA account and treated the transfer as a…
OTHER 200649037: Exemption revoked for private benefit, nonexempt operation, and inadequate records
The IRS revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption because it failed to substantiate exempt operations, maintain adequate records, and file required returns, and because its earnings…
OTHER 200649036: Debt-management sales organization denied charitable exemption
A newly formed credit-counseling organization sought section 501(c)(3) recognition before beginning operations. Its proposed activities centered on selling and maintaining debt-management plans,…
OTHER 200649035: Credit counseling operation fails exemption tests
A credit-counseling corporation sought charitable exemption after converting from a for-profit business. The IRS denied exemption under section 501(c)(3), finding that its stated purposes and…
OTHER 200649034: Youth golf charity benefits the president's businesses
An organization formed to teach golf and support minority youth lost its section 501(c)(3) exemption retroactively to January 1, 2002. Its president owned a golf course whose customers used…
OTHER 200649033: Debt-management sales defeat credit counselor's exemption
The IRS revoked a credit-counseling organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption retroactively to January 1, 2002. Its principal activity was enrolling clients in debt-management plans, and client…
PLR 200649032: Foundation may protect directors serving as charitable trustees
A private foundation wanted to indemnify or insure directors who also served as co-trustees of charitable trusts in which the foundation held remainder interests. The IRS ruled that these payments…
PLR 200649031: Trustee defense coverage qualifies for self-dealing exception
A private foundation proposed indemnification and errors-and-omissions insurance for directors serving as co-trustees of charitable trusts. The foundation was the trusts' remainder beneficiary, and…
PLR 200649030: Foundation trustee indemnification is conditionally permitted
A private foundation sought to protect directors who also served as co-trustees of charitable remainder trusts benefiting the foundation. It proposed indemnification and trustee errors-and-omissions…
PLR 200649029: Training scholarships and wage reimbursement preserve labor exemption
A union employee training trust proposed expanding its benefits to cover training costs and wages lost while employees attended courses. The plan offered journeyman employees 75 percent of wages for…
PLR 200649028: Perpetual stewardship easement is like kind to other real estate
A ranching corporation proposed relinquishing perpetual development rights through a rural land stewardship program and acquiring replacement real estate. The easement generated transferable…
PLR 200649027: Converting an income-limited charitable unitrust would disqualify it
Two donors who were also trustees and income beneficiaries sought to convert their net-income makeup charitable remainder unitrust into a standard charitable remainder unitrust. They argued that…
PLR 200649026: Consent granted to revoke dual-capacity foreign-tax safe harbor
A domestic corporate group asked to revoke its safe-harbor election for determining foreign income taxes paid by dual-capacity taxpayers in one country. The IRS granted consent effective for the…
PLR 200649025: Corporate group may revoke foreign-tax safe-harbor election
A domestic consolidated corporate group requested consent to revoke a foreign-tax safe-harbor election that had originally been made retroactively. The election concerned subsidiaries that were…
PLR 200649024: Late S election relief granted with inconsistent effective-date labels
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from incorporation, but no timely Form 2553 was filed. The IRS found reasonable cause and granted late-election relief under section…
PLR 200649023: Restricted foundation account permits qualified disclaimer and estate deduction
A decedent's daughter proposed disclaiming a special power to appoint a stated amount of trust property, causing that property to pass to a charitable foundation. Because she also controlled the…
PLR 200649022: Foreign entity receives extra time for disregarded-entity election
A foreign entity intended to elect disregarded-entity treatment from a specified date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the requirements for discretionary…
PLR 200649021: Late foreign disregarded-entity election allowed
A foreign entity inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832 for its intended disregarded-entity classification. It sought discretionary relief to make the election effective on its…
PLR 200649020: Foreign partnership election receives filing extension
A foreign entity intended partnership classification for federal tax purposes from a specified date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity met the…
PLR 200649019: Partnership receives extra time for basis-adjustment election
A limited partnership timely filed its return after a partner sold part of its interest, but inadvertently omitted the section 754 election. The IRS granted 60 days from the letter date to make the…
PLR 200649018: Three-member foreign entity may elect partnership status late
Three members with limited liability formed a foreign entity and intended partnership treatment from formation. The entity inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 within the normal deadline. The IRS…
PLR 200649017: Foreign merger avoids immediate branch-profits stock disposition
A foreign real-estate business had previously transferred its U.S. business interests to a domestic subsidiary and allocated effectively connected earnings and profits to that subsidiary under a…
PLR 200649016: Tracking-stock split-off qualifies but recently purchased shares trigger gain
A corporate group proposed contributing subsidiary shares to its controlled corporation and distributing that corporation to holders of one class of tracking stock in exchange for their shares. The…
PLR 200649015: Late QSub election allowed after deemed asset acquisition
An S corporation acquired all the stock of a subsidiary and joined the seller in making a section 338(h)(10) election. It intended and actually treated the subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S…
PLR 200649014: Buy-sell stock amendments do not create compensation
An employee-owned corporation amended its buy-sell agreement after establishing an employee stock ownership plan. The amendments replaced book-value repurchases with appraised-value repurchases,…
Late S election relief requires filing within 60 days
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS granted relief under section 1362(b)(5), allowing the election to take…
Foreign partnership receives 60 days for corporate classification election
A general partnership formed under foreign law intended to elect treatment as a corporation for federal tax purposes but inadvertently missed the filing deadline. The IRS found that the requirements…
Accounting fraud settlement and litigation costs are deductible
A company acquired another corporation and later settled securities class actions after discovering longstanding accounting fraud at the acquired business. It asked whether the settlement, legal…
Late partnership basis election requires consistent amended returns
A general partnership timely filed its return for the year a partner died but inadvertently omitted the section 754 election to adjust partnership property basis. The IRS granted 60 days from the…
Missing S election may take effect from incorporation
A corporation’s sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from incorporation, but the IRS had no record of a timely Form 2553. The IRS granted late-election relief under section 1362(b)(5).…
Potential S termination from departing shareholder is inadvertent
An S corporation issued shares to an employee who was a resident alien. After employment ended, a dispute delayed the contractual transfer of those shares, and the employee returned to a foreign…
Foreign entity receives extension for partnership election
A foreign entity represented that it was eligible to elect partnership classification for federal tax purposes from its organization date. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS…
Reasonable cause permits S election from incorporation
A corporation’s shareholder intended S status from incorporation, but the election was not timely filed. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and granted relief under section…
Limited partnership conversion receives inadvertent S termination relief
An S corporation converted to a limited partnership without filing new classification or S election forms and admitted an ineligible general partner. It later substituted an individual general…
Missed elections for three trusts receive S termination relief
Shareholders transferred S corporation shares to three trusts whose beneficiaries intended to elect qualified subchapter S trust treatment but did not file the elections on time. The IRS concluded…
Partnership mergers receive time to file nonrecognition notices
Two partnerships merged into other partnerships, and foreign owners exchanged interests that were U.S. real property interests. A later tax review discovered that the required notices of…
Integrated development avoids tax exempt use property classification
A partnership and affiliated developers planned to rehabilitate a historic building and construct two nearby buildings, with some space leased for government use. The historic building’s government…
Partnership receives late basis election relief after owner death
An individual held an interest in a limited partnership through a grantor trust and died during the year for which the partnership missed its section 754 election. The IRS granted the partnership 60…
Hospital pension amortization extension requires timely future contributions
A hospital sought more time to amortize existing unfunded liabilities in its frozen defined benefit pension plan because of cash-flow problems. The IRS approved a ten-year extension for the charge…
Multiemployer pension extension carries credit balance and funding conditions
A multiemployer pension plan covering steel-industry workers sought seven more years to amortize unfunded liabilities after investment losses damaged its finances. The IRS approved the extension for…
Bank account error earns a new IRA rollover window
A taxpayer took money from an IRA and asked a bank to place it in another IRA, but the bank opened a non-IRA account. The taxpayer discovered the error while preparing a tax return, after the usual…
Union welfare trust contributions are deductible and exempt from unrelated business tax
A manufacturer contributed to two trusts that funded collectively bargained supplemental unemployment benefits at its plants. The IRS concluded that contributions made during the stated period were…
Surviving spouse gets a new rollover window after inherited IRA funds entered a bridge account
A surviving spouse sought larger withdrawals from her deceased spouse's IRA, and the custodian recommended a bridge account. She believed the new account would be an IRA, but it was a non-IRA…
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.