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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Wildlife charity may accept land with farm and hunting leases
A charity devoted to raptor and wildlife conservation proposed accepting donated land that included farm and hunting leases. It planned to protect the habitat, rehabilitate raptors, and use the site…
Merger of two charity support groups preserves exemption and donor deductions
Two public charities planned to merge, along with their separate fundraising support organizations. The IRS ruled that the support organizations' merger would preserve the surviving group's section…
Public charity merger preserves exemption and charitable gift eligibility
Two public charities that provided social services in the same community planned to merge, with one surviving under a new name. The IRS ruled that the merger would preserve the survivor's section…
Estate tax advice on payments, stock value, settlements, and deductions
An estate sought advice on six sets of estate and gift tax issues involving a closely held corporation, trusts, and family settlements. The IRS said the estate could ask to change how an earlier tax…
Need-based state health insurance subsidies are excluded from income
A state asked whether subsidies that reduce health insurance premiums for eligible residents count as taxable income and require Forms 1099-MISC. The program covers eligible employees of small…
Building systems remain in interest capitalization costs after cost segregation
A retailer used a cost segregation study to reclassify parts of leased-store improvements as tangible personal property for depreciation. It then removed those costs from the store improvements'…
Charitable lead trust gets gift tax deduction with income tax limits
A taxpayer proposed a seven-year charitable lead annuity trust that would pay an annual amount to charity before transferring what remained to two beneficiaries. The IRS ruled that the charity's…
Tribal buildings and public infrastructure serve essential government functions
A tribal government planned to use bond financing for government offices, an emergency services building, a cultural center and museum, and roads and utility improvements. It asked whether owning…
REMIC loan can change government-security timing for defeasance
A real estate mortgage investment conduit (REMIC) held a commercial mortgage whose borrower could replace real estate collateral with government securities to obtain a lien release. The borrower…
Trustee gets 60 days to report QDOT beneficiary's citizenship
A surviving spouse who was not a U.S. citizen at the decedent's death later became a citizen. The trustee of the spouse's qualified domestic trust (QDOT) missed the deadline to notify and certify…
Continuation trusts preserve pre-1985 GST tax exemption
A trust created before September 25, 1985, held separate shares for three grandchildren. Its beneficiaries obtained a court order, contingent on a favorable IRS ruling, to hold descendants' vested…
Continuation trusts preserve pre-1985 GST tax exemption
A trust created before September 25, 1985, held separate shares for three grandchildren. Its beneficiaries obtained a court order, contingent on a favorable IRS ruling, to hold descendants' vested…
Continuation trusts preserve pre-1985 GST tax exemption
A trust created before September 25, 1985, held separate shares for three grandchildren. Its beneficiaries obtained a court order, contingent on a favorable IRS ruling, to hold descendants' vested…
Continuation trusts preserve pre-1985 GST tax exemption
A trust created before September 25, 1985, held separate shares for three grandchildren. Its beneficiaries obtained a court order, contingent on a favorable IRS ruling, to hold descendants' vested…
PLR 200648017: Early trust termination avoids GST and gift tax but creates capital gain
A trustee proposed ending an irrevocable trust early under a court order and distributing its assets among the current income beneficiary and remainder beneficiaries according to their actuarial…
PLR 200648016: Ending one trust share avoids transfer taxes but produces capital gain
A trustee sought to end one beneficiary's share of a family trust early and divide its assets among the income beneficiary, current remainder beneficiaries, and successor remainder beneficiaries by…
PLR 200648015: Parent gets more time to elect subsidiary stock-loss treatment
A parent corporation sold all of a subsidiary's stock and reported a loss, but its consolidated group missed the deadline to file a statement required to seek an exception to the loss disallowance…
PLR 200648014: Late Form 1128 accepted for calendar-year change
A taxpayer wanted to change its federal tax year from a March 31 year-end to December 31, starting with a short tax year from April through December 2005. It missed the deadline for Form 1128, but…
PLR 200648013: Late tax-year change application treated as timely
A corporation filed Form 1128 after the deadline for seeking a change from a June 30 tax year to a December 31 tax year. It requested an extension shortly after the form was due. The IRS concluded…
PLR 200648012: Seller may undo unintended election out of installment reporting
A seller received a down payment and a buyer's note for one asset, but the return preparer reported the entire gain in the sale year. That filing counted as an election out of installment reporting…
PLR 200648011: Nonprofit corporation merger qualifies as tax-free reorganization
A corporation organized as a nonprofit under state law, but taxable as a C corporation federally, proposed merging into a new corporation in another state. Its members would exchange their…
PLR 200648010: LLC gets 60 days to make late section 754 election
A limited liability company missed the deadline to elect a basis adjustment under section 754 after a member died. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith, was not using hindsight,…
PLR 200648009: Corporation receives relief for missed S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the year the business began, but no Form 2553 was filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election and…
PLR 200648008: Late entity election and conditional S status relief granted
An S corporation converted into a state-law limited partnership and later converted back to a corporation. It meant for the partnership to be classified federally as a corporation, but failed to…
PLR 200648007: Parent gets more time for dual resident loss certifications
A consolidated group's parent omitted annual certifications for several dual resident corporations and separate units from returns covering multiple tax years. Its tax department had intended to…
PLR 200648006: S corporation gets extra time for subsidiary election
A corporation formed a wholly owned subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary when the parent's S election took effect. The parent missed the deadline to file the…
PLR 200648005: Late corporate election denied for closed year, granted for later year
A single-owner limited liability company had been treated as disregarded for federal tax purposes, although it intended to elect corporate classification on Form 8832. The IRS denied relief for the…
PLR 200648004: Foreign entity gets time for disregarded status election
A foreign entity missed the deadline to elect treatment as disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes. It represented that the late filing was reasonable, that it acted in good faith, and…
PLR 200648003: Foreign holding company gets late partnership election relief
A foreign holding company missed the deadline to elect partnership classification for federal tax purposes. It represented that failing to file Form 8832 on time was reasonable, that it acted in…
PLR 200648002: Late dual consolidated loss elections allowed for foreign branches
A corporate taxpayer used losses from three foreign branch or separate-unit interests to offset income of its U.S. consolidated group across five years. Its return preparer did not advise it to make…
PLR 200648001: Late S election accepted from incorporation date
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but Form 2553 was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and granted…
PLR 200647033: Late Roth IRA recharacterization allowed after missed deadline
An individual moved part of a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA before knowing whether his 2002 income met the then-applicable $100,000 limit for that conversion. His income exceeded the limit, but…
PLR 200647032: Custodian's account error earns IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner requested a direct transfer to another IRA, but the receiving company placed the funds in a non-IRA account after a delayed transfer. She discovered the error later, and the funds…
PLR 200647031: IRA owner gets rollover waiver after misleading transfer advice
An IRA owner sought a higher-yield account and was told by a financial company representative that moving her funds would be tax free. The money was instead placed in a non-IRA account, and she…
PLR 200647030: Daughter may split inherited IRA without changing distribution period
A deceased IRA owner had named his estate as beneficiary, and his will divided the estate equally between his two children. The IRS allowed one daughter’s half of the IRA to move directly between…
PLR 200647029: Son may split inherited IRA without changing distribution period
A deceased IRA owner had named his estate as beneficiary, and his will divided the estate equally between his two children. The IRS allowed the son's half of the IRA to move directly between…
PLR 200647028: Real estate bought with IRA funds could not be rolled into another IRA
An IRA owner withdrew funds to set up a real estate IRA but bought the property in the owner's own name. The planned IRA custodian could not open the account, and a replacement account was…
PLR 200647027: LLC receives time to file corporate classification and S elections
An LLC's members intended it to be taxed as an S corporation from its formation date, but the LLC missed both its entity classification election and its S corporation election. The IRS found that…
PLR 200647026: Managed rental income is not passive investment income for S corporation test
An S corporation received rent from properties it owned directly and through interests in several rental entities. It represented that it managed those properties and provided tenant services,…
PLR 200647025: Foreign entity may file late disregarded entity election
A foreign entity's indirect owner intended the entity to be disregarded for federal tax purposes, but the entity missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS accepted the entity's representation…
PLR 200647024: Foreign entity may file late disregarded entity election
A foreign entity's indirect owner intended the entity to be disregarded for federal tax purposes, but the entity missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS accepted the entity's representation…
PLR 200647023: Foreign entity may file late disregarded entity election
A foreign entity's indirect owner intended the entity to be disregarded for federal tax purposes, but the entity missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS accepted the entity's representation…
PLR 200647022: Dividing old family trust preserves GST exemption and tax basis
The trustees of a family trust that was irrevocable before September 25, 1985, proposed dividing it into nine trusts for its current beneficiaries and clarifying distribution and trustee powers. On…
PLR 200647021: Corporation may revoke foreign tax safe harbor election
A domestic corporate group had elected a safe harbor method for determining the creditable portion of levies paid by its dual capacity taxpayers to a foreign country. The parent sought permission to…
PLR 200647020: Late tax year election treated as timely filed
A taxpayer intended to retain a November 30 tax year but missed the deadline to file Form 8716 after engaging a qualified tax professional. The IRS found that the taxpayer acted reasonably and in…
PLR 200647019: Subsidiaries treated as joining consolidated return despite missing consents
A parent corporation filed an initial consolidated income tax return that included three subsidiaries' income and deductions and listed them on the affiliation schedule. Its accounting firm…
PLR 200647018: Foreign entity may file late partnership election
A foreign entity represented that it was eligible to be classified as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes but inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. Based on the entity's…
PLR 200647017: Commodity notes and foreign subsidiary income qualify for RIC income test
A fund seeking regulated investment company status planned to invest in notes whose returns tracked commodity indices and in a wholly owned foreign subsidiary. It asked whether income from those…
PLR 200647016: Corporation granted relief for late S election
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and ruled that…
PLR 200647015: Parent granted extension for section 338 election on foreign subsidiary
After a subsidiary bought a target company, its parent missed a valid section 338 election for the target's foreign subsidiary. The group had filed relevant returns consistently with the election,…
PLR 200647014: Buyer and seller granted extension for section 338 election
A corporate buyer acquired two target companies and, together with the seller, intended a section 338(h)(10) election but failed to file a valid election on time. The IRS found that the parent had…
PLR 200647013: Bond issuer receives more time to elect unused volume cap carryforward
A county instrumentality received state approval to carry forward unused private activity bond volume cap for a solid waste disposal project and issued bonds using that amount. It failed to file…
PLR 200647012: LLC may file late election to switch to partnership classification
An LLC elected corporate tax classification when it was formed and later intended to elect partnership classification. It did not file Form 8832 on time for the later change. Based on the submitted…
PLR 200647011: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
An owner of a nuclear power plant requested a revised schedule of ruling amounts for its decommissioning fund after a substantial change in amounts calculated under its approved formula. The IRS…
PLR 200647010: Trade association legal fees do not disqualify outside director
A public company's director was a partner in a law firm paid by a trade association whose members included the company's subsidiary. The association selected and paid the firm directly, and the firm…
PLR 200647009: Consolidated group may file late election to waive loss carryback
A consolidated group intended to waive the carryback period for its consolidated net operating loss and carry the entire loss forward, but omitted the required election statement from its timely…
PLR 200647008: Group may file late consolidated loss carryback waiver
A consolidated group intended to waive the carryback period for its consolidated net operating loss but omitted the required election statement from its timely return. It represented that the full…
PLR 200647007: LLC may file late corporate classification election
A domestic LLC with three foreign resident members was classified as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes. Its members intended to change its classification to a taxable corporation from a…
PLR 200647006: S corporation status restored after trust shareholder election missed
An S corporation's election terminated when its shares were transferred to a trust that had not elected to be an eligible S corporation shareholder. The IRS found the termination inadvertent and…
PLR 200647005: Restated state deferred compensation plan qualifies under section 457
A state asked whether its restated deferred compensation plan, with proposed amendments, met the requirements for an eligible governmental plan under section 457(b). The IRS ruled that it did.…
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.