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 200633021: Corporation receives relief for late S corporation election
A corporation intended S corporation status from its incorporation date, but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and granted relief under IRC §…
PLR 200633020: Late S election relief depends on adopting a permitted tax year
Two shareholders intended their corporation to be an S corporation from incorporation, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS allowed S treatment from that date, provided the corporation…
PLR 200633019: Trust's investment LLC can become a partnership at final distribution
A trust planned to transfer securities to a wholly owned LLC, then distribute LLC interests to its remainder beneficiaries when the trust ended. The IRS ruled that the LLC would be disregarded while…
PLR 200633018: Ineligible trust owners receive inadvertent S termination relief
An S corporation issued shares to two trusts that were not eligible S corporation shareholders. After learning of the problem, it reissued the shares to the trusts' individual beneficiaries. The IRS…
PLR 200633017: Gifts to grandchildren's trusts qualify for gift exclusion and GST exemption allocation
Two grandparents funded three trusts, one for each grandchild. Before each grandchild turns 21, the trustee can spend trust assets for that grandchild, and the grandchild can take the remaining…
PLR 200633016: Gifts to grandchildren's trusts qualify for gift exclusion and GST exemption allocation
Two grandparents funded three trusts, one for each grandchild. Before each grandchild turns 21, the trustee can spend trust assets for that grandchild, and the grandchild can take the remaining…
PLR 200633015: Gifts to grandchildren's trusts qualify for gift exclusion and GST exemption allocation
Two grandparents funded three trusts, one for each grandchild. Before each grandchild turns 21, the trustee can spend trust assets for that grandchild, and the grandchild can take the remaining…
PLR 200633014: Spouses get more time to allocate GST exemption to seven trusts
A married couple transferred private stock to seven trusts and elected to split the gifts. Their tax professional omitted or mishandled generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption allocations on…
PLR 200633013: Same day ESOP share distributions preserve S corporation status
An employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) distributed S corporation shares to participants for diversification, and the corporation immediately repurchased them. It handled participants in batches so…
PLR 200633012: Division into four trusts preserves GST exemption without gift or gain
A court authorized a pre-1985 trust to divide one existing trust into four separate trusts for a daughter and each of her four children. The IRS ruled that the pro rata division would preserve the…
PLR 200633011: Couple may deduct surrendered charitable remainder trust interests
A husband created a charitable remainder unitrust that paid him for life, then his wife if she survived him, with the remainder going to a charity selected under the trust's terms. The family…
PLR 200633010: IRS reissues late entity election relief with corrected effective date
The IRS had granted a foreign entity extra time to elect treatment as disregarded from its sole owner, but its earlier ruling used a different effective date than the entity had requested. This…
PLR 200633009: Estate may assign inherited IRAs to residuary charity without recognizing income
An estate was the named beneficiary of the decedent's individual retirement accounts and proposed assigning some or all of them to a charity that was a residuary beneficiary under the will. The IRS…
PLR 200633008: Merger into new holding structure qualifies as an F reorganization
An S corporation group planned to separate an operating business from investments and old contingent liabilities before its shareholders sold stock. The IRS ruled that a merger into a new company's…
PLR 200633007: Group gets 45 days to waive consolidated loss carryback
A consolidated corporate group intended to waive the carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss, but did not include a valid election with its timely return. The IRS found that the group…
PLR 200633006: Former soldier gets time to elect foreign earned income exclusion
After retiring from the U.S. Army, a taxpayer worked as a civilian in a foreign country. His employers told him that his foreign earnings were exempt from U.S. income tax, and he did not know that…
PLR 200633005: Corporation receives relief for late S corporation election
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation status from the corporation's formation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and…
PLR 200633004: Subsidiary gets relief after parent discovers outside shares
An S corporation elected to treat another corporation as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub), unaware that it did not own all of that subsidiary's shares. The election was ineffective because…
PLR 200633003: Trust may move states and adopt 5 percent unitrust payments
An irrevocable trust established before September 25, 1985, paid its beneficiary net income for life. Because that income had declined, its trustees proposed moving the trust to another state and…
PLR 200633002: Trust may move states and adopt 5 percent unitrust payments
An irrevocable trust established before September 25, 1985, paid its beneficiary net income for life. Because that income had declined, its trustees proposed moving the trust to another state and…
PLR 200633001: Historic property certification application treated as timely
A property owner renovated a building in a certified historic district and put it into service before applying to the Department of the Interior for historic status certification. The owner said it…
PLR 200632017: Utility cannot pass excess deferred taxes to customers after plant sale
A regulated utility sold its interest in an electric plant and asked whether it could pass the plant's remaining excess deferred federal income taxes to customers as part of the sale's net gain. The…
PLR 200632016: Foreign entity gets more time for disregarded entity election
A foreign entity intended to be disregarded as separate from its owner for federal tax purposes from its formation date but failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the requirements for…
TAM 200632015: Utilities must report disputed rate increase collections when received
Four related public utilities charged customers higher rates while an agency reviewed and later reduced an affiliated supplier's requested rate increase. The utilities eventually returned excess…
PLR 200632014: Business contribution and stock exchange qualify as D reorganization
A corporation planned to place one of its two businesses in a new company, then transfer all of that company's stock to one shareholder in exchange for part of the shareholder's existing stock. The…
PLR 200632013: Court reformation permits estate tax deduction for charitable remainder
A decedent's will left a trust that paid income to three people during their lives and ultimately benefited charity. As written, it did not qualify for an estate tax charitable deduction because it…
PLR 200632012: Foreign entity receives more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity with one owner intended to elect treatment as a disregarded entity from the date it was formed. It inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200632011: Utility cannot pass excess deferred taxes from a plant sale to customers
An electric utility sold its interest in a regulated generation plant. It asked whether it could include the plant's excess deferred federal income taxes in the sale gain passed through to…
PLR 200632010: Utility cannot use old tax benefits to reduce stranded costs after asset sales
An electric utility sold generation assets as its state opened the power market to competition. The utility asked whether it could reduce the stranded costs it recovers from customers by its…
PLR 200632009: Spouses receive time to allocate GST exemption to trust gifts
A couple made gifts to a trust for their children and grandchildren over six years. Their first three gift tax returns omitted or misstated transfers and allocated too little generation-skipping…
PLR 200632008: Supplemental spin-off ruling addresses cash for fractional shares
A corporation sought another supplement to earlier rulings on a planned separation and stock distribution. Its updated plan included using the spun-off company's securities and cash to repay debt…
PLR 200632007: Late accounting-period application treated as timely
A corporation filed Form 1128 late when it sought to move from a December 31 tax year to a September 30 tax year. The IRS found that the corporation acted reasonably and in good faith and that…
PLR 200632006: Passing tax balances from sold power plants to customers would violate normalization rules
An electric utility sold generating plants under a state restructuring plan. Regulators proposed using remaining excess deferred federal income taxes and deferred investment tax credits from those…
PLR 200632005: Tribal housing assistance excluded from members' income
A tribal government offered needs-based grants for home construction, repairs, and temporary rent on its reservation. Eligible families had to meet an income limit, and the program paid contractors…
PLR 200632004: Bank holding company gets relief for invalid S corporation election
A bank holding company sold shares to directors of several subsidiary banks and required them to sell the shares back at the original price when they left office. It asked whether those agreements…
PLR 200632003: Trust may change state and adopt unitrust payments without losing GST exemption
A trust created before September 25, 1985, paid its beneficiary net income for life. Its trustees proposed moving the trust to another state and replacing those income payments with annual payments…
PLR 200632002: Trust situs change and unitrust payout preserve GST exemption
An irrevocable trust for a child and the child's descendants paid the child its net income. Its trustees proposed moving the trust's legal home to another state and using that state's law to pay the…
PLR 200632001: Late trust elections do not end corporation's S status after relief
A trust acquired stock in an S corporation, but its income beneficiaries failed to file timely qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) elections for their separate shares. That lapse terminated the…
TAM 200631029: IRS retroactively revokes retailer's simplified resale method approval
A retailer had received IRS consent to use the simplified resale method for allocating inventory costs. It designed virtually all its goods and had vendors make them to its specifications. In this…
Revocation 200631028: Inactive housing charity loses tax exemption
An organization had been recognized as a charity for work intended to improve life for public housing tenants. Its examination report says it stopped all activities, primarily after its president…
Revocation 200631027: Social club's public bingo activity threatens exemption
A social club conducted bingo and instant bingo games open to the public at an off-site hall. It had no records separating member from nonmember gambling receipts and gave the IRS no figures for…
Denial 200631026: Debt settlement business does not qualify as a charity
An organization sought recognition as a charity while selling debt settlement and negotiation services to people facing creditor lawsuits. The IRS found that it operated like a commercial business:…
PLR 200631025: Adviser paperwork error does not trigger IRA payment recapture tax
An IRA owner was taking substantially equal periodic payments and switched to the required minimum distribution method permitted by IRS guidance. After an IRA rollover, the investment adviser failed…
PLR 200631024: City's picked-up pension contributions excluded from current wages
A municipal employer adopted an ordinance to pay required employee pension contributions through reductions in cash salary. Employees could not choose to receive those amounts in cash. The IRS ruled…
TAM 200631023: Utility sale proceeds taxable when received despite trust restrictions
An electric utility sold generating assets during a state restructuring and used the proceeds to offset costs that might otherwise be recovered from customers. Some proceeds went into trusts…
PLR 200631022: Company gets time to file dual consolidated loss election
A company owned a foreign entity disregarded for U.S. tax purposes that incurred a dual consolidated loss. Its accounting firm did not file the required election and agreement with the consolidated…
PLR 200631021: Late S corporation election allowed from incorporation date
A corporation's sole shareholder wanted S corporation status from the date it was formed, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief…
PLR 200631020: Foreign group gets time to meet stock transfer filing requirements
A foreign corporate group transferred stock of two U.S. subsidiaries during a reorganization. Its advisers concluded the transfers produced no U.S. tax liability and did not complete related…
PLR 200631019: U.S. parent gets 60 days to file dual consolidated loss elections
A U.S. parent included losses from two foreign hybrid entities in its consolidated tax return but inadvertently omitted the required election and agreement for those dual consolidated losses. It…
PLR 200631018: Corporation may make its S election effective from formation
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its formation date but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section 1362(b)(5). It will…
PLR 200631017: Foreign entity gets more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date but missed the deadline to elect that classification. The IRS concluded that the…
PLR 200631016: Parent gets time to file agreement for acquired group's losses
A corporate parent acquired the remaining stock of another company, bringing that company's group into its consolidated tax group. The acquisition could trigger consequences for the acquired group's…
PLR 200631015: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from a specified date but did not timely file Form 2553. It told the IRS that it had conducted no business and earned no income until a later…
PLR 200631014: Partnership liquidation avoids specified gain rules after merger
Two partnerships with identical owners in identical proportions merged, and the survivor proposed to distribute all its assets to the partners in liquidation. Some assets had built-in gain, and an…
PLR 200631013: Corporation may file a late S election for its intended date
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from a specified date but did not file Form 2553 by the deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed filing under section 1362(b)(5). It will…
PLR 200631012: New York cooperative apartment interests qualify as like kind real estate
A partnership and an S corporation rented out New York cooperative apartments and planned to exchange their interests for improved and unimproved real property. They asked whether the cooperative…
PLR 200631011: Missed trust elections do not permanently end S corporation status
Trusts holding shares in an S corporation became ineligible shareholders after failing to timely make electing small business trust elections. The corporation's S election therefore terminated. The…
PLR 200631010: Partnership gets 60 days to make a section 754 election
A limited liability company made cash distributions to a member that caused the member to recognize gain, but it inadvertently missed the deadline for a section 754 election. That election allows…
PLR 200631009: Appointment of old trust assets preserves generation skipping exemption
A trust created under a will before September 25, 1985 was exempt from generation skipping transfer tax. A beneficiary proposed to use a limited power of appointment to place its assets in separate…
PLR 200631008: Trust settlement preserves generation skipping exemption without taxable exchanges
Beneficiaries disputed how to divide a trust's assets when it terminated: by the grantor's children or by the grandchildren. A court approved a settlement, subject to a favorable IRS ruling, that…
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.