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 200647004: Late trust distributions and QSST elections do not end S status
An S corporation's shares remained in a former grantor trust beyond the two-year period after the grantor's death, making the trust an ineligible shareholder. The shares were later moved to two…
PLR 200647003: Foreign holding company may file late partnership election
A foreign holding company missed the deadline to file Form 8832 electing partnership treatment for U.S. federal tax purposes. It represented that the failure was reasonable, that it had acted in…
PLR 200647002: City's gas pipeline relocation payment is taxable to utility
A city paid a gas utility to move two transportation pipelines that limited development of a site intended to include housing. The city argued that the payment served a public purpose and should be…
PLR 200647001: Trust funding is incomplete gift; grantor tax issue partly reserved
A person funded a trust that could distribute property to the grantor and other family members, while retaining a limited power to direct who receives the remainder at death. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200646028: Son may split inherited IRA while keeping decedent's distribution period
An IRA owner died without naming a beneficiary, leaving his estate as the beneficiary and three children entitled to equal shares. The IRS allowed one son's third to be moved directly between…
PLR 200646027: Daughter may split inherited IRA while keeping decedent's distribution period
An IRA owner died without naming a beneficiary, leaving his estate as the beneficiary and three children entitled to equal shares. The IRS allowed one daughter's third to be moved directly between…
PLR 200646026: Widow receives rollover deadline waiver after IRA paid to regular account
A deceased IRA owner's trust was named beneficiary of his IRA, and his widow could demand all trust property without restriction. After a misunderstanding of her representative's instructions, the…
PLR 200646025: Son may receive his inherited IRA share through a direct trustee transfer
An IRA owner died after required distributions had begun and without naming an IRA beneficiary. His estate was the beneficiary, and his three children were each entitled to one-third of the account.…
PLR 200646024: Multiemployer plan receives conditional funding extension
A multiemployer pension plan sought a 10-year extension to amortize an unfunded liability caused by an experience loss. The IRS granted conditional approval after concluding that, without the…
PLR 200646023: Pension plan receives conditional waiver for 2005 funding shortfall
A company sought a waiver of its pension plan's minimum funding standard for the plan year ending December 31, 2005. The IRS granted the waiver after reviewing losses from discontinued business…
PLR 200646022: Medical hardship permits late rollover of unused IRA funds
A taxpayer withdrew money from two IRAs intending to move it to new IRAs, but surgery, rehabilitation, and a continuing medical condition kept her from completing the rollover within 60 days. Her…
PLR 200646021: Pension amortization extension denied after increased contributions
A defined benefit pension plan requested more time to amortize its liabilities under section 412(e). The IRS denied the request because a negotiated increase in contributions addressed the plan's…
Determination 200646020: Inactive religious organization loses tax exemption
The IRS retroactively revoked a religious organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption because it was not operating for an exempt purpose. Its president told the IRS that the organization had never…
Determination 200646019: Organization's business activity ends tax exemption
The IRS retroactively revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption because it operated substantially for a business purpose and private benefit rather than an exempt purpose. In…
Determination 200646018: Poor records lead to revocation of tax exemption
The IRS retroactively revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption after an examination found inadequate records. The organization did not provide documents requested three times, and the…
TAM 200646017: Public school academy's debt is issued on behalf of a state
A public school academy used a lease purchase agreement to finance educational facilities and asked whether its debt counted as state or local governmental debt under section 103. The IRS said the…
CCA 200646016: Daily section 6708 penalties are divisible for refund suits
Chief Counsel considered whether a material advisor must pay an entire section 6708 penalty before bringing a refund suit. Under the version addressed, a failure to provide a required investor list…
CCA 200646015: Appeals may send one initial contact letter to spouses at one address
Chief Counsel considered whether Appeals must send separate examination initial contact letters to each spouse who filed a joint return. It read section 3201(d) of the 1998 IRS Restructuring and…
CCA 200646014: Auditors may consider Form 8332 supplied after a return is filed
A noncustodial parent claimed a child's dependency exemption but did not attach Form 8332, the custodial parent's signed release, to the return. Chief Counsel advised that the IRS may consider a…
PLR 200646013: Parent gets 45 days to file missed section 338 election
A corporate group missed the deadline to file a section 338(g) election after its subsidiary bought a foreign target whose sole asset was stock of another foreign corporation. The group had filed…
PLR 200646012: Controlled group gets 45 days to make value restoration election
A corporate parent and its controlled foreign subsidiaries missed the deadline to elect to restore value under the section 382 controlled-group rules after the parent experienced an ownership…
PLR 200646011: Group gets 60 days for dual consolidated loss filings
A corporate group missed an election and agreement for one dual consolidated loss and several annual certification statements for other losses. The omissions followed inexperience with the dual…
PLR 200646010: Mutual fund settlement payments mostly avoid information returns
A qualified settlement fund created after a securities enforcement case planned payments to investors harmed by mutual fund market timing and late trading. The IRS ruled that its direct investor…
PLR 200646009: Relocated synthetic fuel facilities retain conditional credit treatment
A partnership moved two synthetic fuel facilities and changed the reagent used in its coal processing. The IRS reaffirmed that the described process produced qualified fuel and that the partnership…
PLR 200646008: LLC gets 60 days to elect corporate tax classification
A formerly tax-exempt corporation converted to a limited liability company and missed the deadline to elect corporate tax classification for the new entity. Its owner had relied on a tax…
PLR 200646007: LLC gets 60 days to elect corporate tax classification
A formerly tax-exempt corporation converted to a limited liability company and missed the deadline to elect corporate tax classification for the new entity. Its owner had relied on a tax…
PLR 200646006: LLC gets 60 days to elect corporate tax classification
A formerly tax-exempt corporation converted to a limited liability company and missed the deadline to elect corporate tax classification for the new entity. Its owner had relied on a tax…
PLR 200646005: LLC gets 60 days to elect corporate tax classification
A formerly tax-exempt corporation converted to a limited liability company and missed the deadline to elect corporate tax classification for the new entity. Its owner had relied on a tax…
PLR 200646004: Mortgage trusts receive 30 days for missed REMIC elections
Two mortgage related trusts missed their first-year elections to be treated as real estate mortgage investment conduits. Their original servicer had been told an election was unnecessary and later…
PLR 200646003: Divorced spouse reports option income and claims withholding credit
A divorce settlement gave one spouse an interest in nonstatutory stock options earned by the other spouse, who later exercised them at the recipient's direction. The employer reported the option…
PLR 200646002: Insurers receive waiver for life policy premium-test errors
Two related life insurers found that a group of policies failed guideline premium limits under section 101(f) or 7702. The failures arose from five system and processing errors, including wrong…
CCA 200646001: Withdrawn insurance ruling request drew tentative withholding view
An insurer withdrew its request for a ruling after Chief Counsel advised that it tentatively disagreed with the insurer's position on payments to residents of a treaty country. The memo says those…
CCA 200645027: Special estate tax lien replaces the general lien only on designated property
An estate had deferred most of its estate tax under section 6166 and proposed to secure the deferred amount with stock under a special section 6324A lien. Chief Counsel concluded that this special…
CCA 200645026: Alaska Native corporation may value mineral rights when development begins
An Alaska Native regional corporation received land containing oil and gas under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and later leased the mineral rights. Chief Counsel advised that, under that…
PLR 200645025: Seller-funded down payment program denied charitable exemption
A nonprofit sought recognition as a charity for a program that provided homebuyers with down payment funds. A participating seller would pay the organization the amount advanced to the buyer plus a…
PLR 200645024: IRA rollover deadline waived after institution's errors
A financial institution bought savings bonds in a taxpayer's name outside her IRA even though she believed the bonds would remain inside the account. It also moved the remaining balance into a Roth…
CCA 200645023: Incomplete foreign corporation returns lacked reasonable cause
A U.S. corporation temporarily owned foreign subsidiaries during an acquisition and filed their Forms 5471 on time. The filings omitted most Schedule O forms and required financial information in…
CCA 200645022: Business ceased to be a covered railroad employer
The Railroad Retirement Board informed the IRS that a business had ceased to be a covered employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. After reviewing the…
CCA 200645021: Railroad retirement tax coverage ended for a business
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a business had ceased being a covered employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. Chief Counsel…
CCA 200645020: Rail carrier and affiliates received separate coverage dates
The Railroad Retirement Board reconsidered employer coverage for a rail passenger operation, its predecessor and two affiliated businesses. Chief Counsel accepted the Board's separate start and end…
CCA 200645019: Timely superseding corporate return starts assessment period
A corporation filed an initial income tax return during an approved filing extension, then submitted a replacement return on the extended due date with revised figures and Forms 5471. Chief Counsel…
CCA 200645018: Reverse hybrid rule turns deemed interest into dividends
A U.S. parent was taxed as a corporation in the United States but treated as a partnership in its foreign owners' country. It treated payments tied to its U.S. subsidiary's preferred stock as deemed…
PLR 200645017: Mutual fund settlement payments have limited reporting duties
A qualified settlement fund would compensate mutual fund investors for losses linked to market timing, late trading, and advisory fees. The IRS ruled that most direct investor payments did not…
PLR 200645016: Extra time granted for missing dual consolidated loss certifications
A corporate group used losses from foreign hybrid entities on its U.S. consolidated returns, but its former accounting firm failed to file required annual dual consolidated loss certifications for…
PLR 200645015: Tracking stock restructuring qualifies as an F reorganization
A public company inserted a new parent above itself and issued separate stock series intended to track two business groups. This supplemental ruling held that the restructuring qualified as an F…
PLR 200645014: Ten-year holding period waived for assisted housing acquisition
A partnership planned to buy and rehabilitate a federally assisted apartment project for low-income seniors. The project had been placed in service too recently to meet the usual ten-year holding…
PLR 200645013: Business split-off receives D reorganization treatment
A corporation moved one of its two businesses into a new company, then distributed all of that company's stock to one shareholder in exchange for the shareholder's stock in the original corporation.…
PLR 200645012: Business spin-off and preparatory liquidations receive specified tax treatment
A public company planned to separate one business by moving its assets to a new corporation and distributing that corporation's stock to shareholders. Before the spin-off, several subsidiaries would…
PLR 200645011: Pro rata business spin-off receives stated nonrecognition treatment
A public company planned to distribute its remaining controlling stake in a separately operated subsidiary to its shareholders, separating two businesses that increasingly competed for customers.…
PLR 200645010: Family business split receives specified tax-free reorganization rulings
A family-owned S corporation operated the same business at two locations. It proposed putting one location's operations into a new corporation and distributing that corporation's shares to two…
PLR 200645009: Late application to change tax year treated as timely
A taxpayer filed a return for a proposed January 31 tax year but missed the deadline to file Form 1128, the application to change its annual accounting period from December 31. The taxpayer said the…
PLR 200645008: Mutual fund settlement payments mostly avoid information reporting
A qualified settlement fund planned to compensate mutual fund investors harmed by improper market timing and related fees. The IRS ruled that the fund generally did not have to report direct…
PLR 200645007: Consolidated group gets more time to waive loss carryback
A consolidated corporate group intended to waive the carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss but failed to include a valid election with its timely return. The common parent said it…
PLR 200645006: Bank combination treated as a Type D reorganization
A bank holding company combined two banks while a foreign bank acquired one bank's state charter. A government agency required a transaction structure involving a merger for cash and a purchase of…
PLR 200645005: Pro rata trust division preserves tax treatment
The trustee of a trust created before 1985 proposed dividing it into nine separate trusts, each funded with a proportional share of the original assets. The beneficiaries and trust terms would…
PLR 200645004: Mortgage trust receives extension to elect REMIC status
A mortgage securitization trust intended to make four real estate mortgage investment conduit (REMIC) elections. A tax preparer used an earlier agreement showing only three REMICs and missed the…
PLR 200645003: S corporation split-off receives reorganization and subsidiary rulings
An S corporation operated businesses at three locations through qualified S subsidiaries. It proposed separating one business by distributing the subsidiary that ran it to one of three owners in…
PLR 200645002: Sale of shares tied to convertible commercial unit preserves cooperative status
A cooperative housing corporation planned to issue shares carrying a proprietary lease for a building's commercial unit. The buyer could continue commercial use but would have the right to convert…
PLR 200645001: Cooperative condominium conversion brings different tax results for corporation and residents
A housing cooperative proposed converting its buildings into condominium units and transferring units to residents who surrendered their cooperative shares. The IRS ruled that subdividing the…
PLR 200644050: Foundation asset transfer avoids termination tax but is not itself a qualifying distribution
A private foundation organized as a nonprofit corporation proposed transferring all its assets to a related charitable trust controlled by substantially the same people, then dissolving. The IRS…
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.