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 200618004: Trust funding plan preserves GST exemption and permits stock exchanges
Two trusts became irrevocable before September 25, 1985, and held company shares they generally could not sell, leaving them short of cash for expenses. A court construed the trust agreement to…
PLR 200618003: Pro rata division of family trust triggers no gain or gift
A family disputed whether two daughters could receive certain distributions from an irrevocable trust that also named two sons. A court-approved agreement interpreted the trust and called for half…
PLR 200618002: Late trust election receives inadvertent S termination relief
A grantor trust held shares in an S corporation. After its owner died, the trust remained an eligible shareholder for two years, but its beneficiary failed to file a qualified subchapter S trust…
PLR 200618001: Estate receives time for GST exemption allocations to two trusts
A decedent funded two trusts but filed no gift tax returns allocating generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to the gifts. His estate tax return also made no allocation, and a later…
PLR 200617040: Brokerage error warrants waiver of IRA rollover deadline
A taxpayer asked her brokerage firm for money from a regular account, but its representative mistakenly took the money from her IRA. She used the funds for personal expenses and did not discover the…
PLR 200617039: Mistaken stock tax strategy does not justify rollover waiver
A retiree received employer stock from one company plan and kept it outside an IRA, believing it qualified for net unrealized appreciation tax treatment. He later learned that earlier distributions…
PLR 200617038: Transfers for new service credit qualify; enhanced formula transfers do not
A government employer proposed letting workers transfer money from a deferred compensation plan into a pension plan for two purposes: to buy a higher benefit formula for past service or to buy…
PLR 200617037: Defaulted 401(k) loan balance qualified for an IRA rollover
After leaving his employer, a worker's 401(k) plan treated his outstanding plan loan as in default. He deposited his own money equal to the loan balance into an IRA within 60 days, along with a…
CCA 200617036: Related-party rules disallow loss on distressed securities transfer
A parent company transferred distressed securities to its subsidiary for stock. The subsidiary moved the securities into a partnership controlled by the parent, while the parent sold one class of…
PLR 200617035: Island vacation property qualifies as a personal residence for trust rules
A property owner planned to transfer an island vacation home and its adjoining land to trusts intended to qualify as qualified personal residence trusts. The property included a bathhouse, a…
PLR 200617034: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A newly incorporated company intended to elect S corporation status but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under section 1362(b)(5). It ruled that the…
PLR 200617033: Foreign insurer gets extra time to elect domestic treatment
A foreign insurance company missed the deadline to elect treatment as a domestic corporation under section 953(d). It had relied on professional advisers, who did not make the election on time. The…
PLR 200617032: Late S corporation election treated as timely if filed within 60 days
A corporation's shareholder wanted S corporation treatment from the date the company was incorporated, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline…
PLR 200617031: Partnership gets extra time to elect a different tax year
An LLC taxed as a partnership intended to elect a tax year other than its required year but missed the deadline for Form 8716. It had hired a qualified tax professional, whose error caused the late…
PLR 200617030: Late Form 8716 accepted for partnership's chosen tax year
An LLC taxed as a partnership hired a tax professional to file Form 8716 so it could use a tax year other than its required year. The form was not filed by the deadline because of the professional's…
PLR 200617029: Extension granted for a late tax-year election
An LLC taxed as a partnership intended to file Form 8716 to elect a tax year other than its required year. Its tax professional failed to file the form on time because of an error or…
PLR 200617028: Form 8716 filing deadline extended for partnership
An LLC taxed as a partnership wanted to elect a tax year different from its required year but missed the deadline for Form 8716. A qualified tax professional had been engaged to make the filing and…
PLR 200617027: Corporation's late S election receives reasonable-cause relief
Two shareholders intended for their newly incorporated company to be an S corporation, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the omission under section 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200617026: Limited early charity payments do not disqualify annuity trust
A charitable remainder annuity trust paid an annual amount to the settlor's son, with the remaining assets ultimately going to its charitable trustee. The trustee proposed limited annual payments of…
PLR 200617025: Sole shareholder's late S election gets relief
A sole shareholder intended for a newly incorporated company to be an S corporation from its incorporation date, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late…
PLR 200617024: Insurance subsidiary's liquidation qualifies for nonrecognition
A parent company planned to liquidate its wholly owned, tax-exempt insurance subsidiary after the companies had entered receivership. The subsidiary had become solvent, and the plan called for…
PLR 200617023: Extra time granted for dual consolidated loss filings
A corporation had not properly filed several elections and annual certifications for dual consolidated losses from foreign branches and hybrid entities. Its outside tax firm missed filings for two…
PLR 200617022: Foreign limited partnership gets time to file classification election
A limited partnership formed under foreign law inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832 to elect partnership classification for U.S. federal tax purposes. The IRS concluded that the…
PLR 200617021: Late S election allowed for corporation that moved states
A corporation was formed in one state and later filed incorporation papers in another. Its sole shareholder wanted S corporation treatment from the original formation date, but Form 2553 was not…
PLR 200617020: Estate may assign inherited IRA to residuary charity without recognizing IRD
A decedent named the estate as beneficiary of an IRA and a charity as a residuary beneficiary under the will. The executor proposed assigning the IRA to the charity as part of its share of the…
PLR 200617019: Dividend adjustment preserves stock option treatment under former section 162(m) rules
A company planned an extraordinary dividend as part of an acquisition. Because option holders would not receive the dividend, the company proposed adjusting the exercise price and number of…
PLR 200617018: Reserving separate bonuses does not itself disqualify performance plan
A public company's proxy statement said it could pay discretionary bonuses outside a proposed shareholder-approved performance bonus plan. The IRS ruled that merely reserving that right would not…
PLR 200617017: Foreign entity gets more time to elect corporate classification
A foreign entity said it was eligible to elect treatment as a corporation for U.S. federal tax purposes but had inadvertently missed the deadline for Form 8832. The IRS found that the entity met the…
PLR 200617016: Parent gets time to file election for foreign hybrid entity loss
A U.S. consolidated group used a loss from a wholly owned foreign entity to offset group income. The entity was disregarded for U.S. tax purposes but taxed as a corporation abroad, making its loss a…
PLR 200617015: Late estate election accepted under the 65-day rule
An estate distributed money within 65 days after the close of its tax year. Its executor intended to elect under section 663(b) to treat the payment as made in the prior year, but filed the election…
PLR 200617014: Housing developer may elect alternative depreciation after return error
A developer of a low-income rental housing building planned to use the alternative depreciation system for the property. Its tax opinion and financial projections reflected that plan, but its return…
PLR 200617013: Four-building housing project may make late depreciation election
A developer intended to use the alternative depreciation system for a four-building low-income rental housing project. Its tax opinion and financial projections assumed that method, but its return…
PLR 200617012: Missed trust elections treated as an inadvertent S termination
A shareholder transferred S corporation stock to two trusts intended to qualify as qualified subchapter S trusts for grandchildren. The trusts' beneficiaries did not timely file the required…
PLR 200617011: LLC receives extra time for disregarded entity election
An LLC changed hands so that one buyer owned it directly and also owned its other buyer, which was itself disregarded for U.S. tax purposes. The LLC intended to file Form 8832 to be treated as…
PLR 200617010: Synthetic fuel credit rulings survive ownership changes and facility move
A partnership sought confirmation of earlier rulings on credits for synthetic fuel made from coal after membership interests were sold and its production facility moved. The IRS reissued the…
PLR 200617009: Coal-derived fuel credit rulings reaffirmed after facility move
A partnership asked the IRS to reaffirm earlier synthetic fuel credit rulings after sales of membership interests and a move of its coal processing facility. The IRS reissued seven favorable…
PLR 200617008: Trust insurance proceeds excluded after insured resigns as trustee
A trust established by a husband for his wife proposed buying life insurance on the wife's life. She would resign as co-trustee before the trust acquired the policy, and the trust would own it and…
PLR 200617007: Consolidated group gets time for hybrid entity loss filings
A consolidated corporate group failed to file elections for dual consolidated losses from interests in three hybrid entities in two tax years. It also missed annual certifications for the first…
PLR 200617006: Fair-value employee options do not create second S corporation stock class
An S corporation proposed offering options on its stock to employees of foreign affiliates of another company with the same shareholders. Each option's strike price would be at least the stock's…
PLR 200617005: Foreign subsidiary gets time to elect disregarded treatment
A foreign entity intended to elect disregarded status for U.S. federal tax purposes when it began operations, but inadvertently missed the Form 8832 deadline. Its corporate ownership later changed…
PLR 200617004: Trust may consistently exclude capital gains from distributable net income
A marital trust paid its beneficiary an amount tied to investment value under a court order. It sold some investments to fund payments and reported the resulting capital gains on the trust's…
PLR 200617003: Related surety may provide low-income housing disposition bonds
A corporate group regularly invested in low-income housing credit projects and wanted an affiliated surety company to provide disposition bonds. One subsidiary planned to replace existing bonds from…
PLR 200617002: Daughters report home sale gain after resolving trust dispute
A couple placed their home in two irrevocable personal residence trusts whose remainder beneficiaries were their four daughters. Before the trust terms ended, the couple transferred the home into…
PLR 200617001: Court-modified trusts preserve charity deduction and tax status
Two older trusts paid income to family beneficiaries and reserved their principal for a charitable foundation. After the IRS rejected earlier charitable deductions because the trustee could allocate…
PLR 200616047: Municipal pension contributions qualify as employer pickups
A municipality adopted an ordinance to pay the required two percent pension contributions of a group of its employees. The ordinance treated the payments as employer contributions and gave employees…
PLR 200616046: Adviser error does not disrupt IRA periodic payment exception
A taxpayer was receiving substantially equal periodic payments from an IRA, an exception to the 10 percent early distribution tax. He directed a financial adviser to roll funds from another IRA into…
PLR 200616045: Annual IRA payment recalculation qualifies for early distribution exception
A 57-year-old taxpayer asked whether he could recalculate his IRA payment each year and still use the exception to the 10 percent early distribution tax for substantially equal periodic payments. He…
PLR 200616044: IRS waives IRA rollover deadline after confusing online transfer
A 75-year-old IRA owner tried to switch mutual funds through her financial institution's website but instead moved the money to an account outside her IRA. She said the transfer screens gave no…
PLR 200616043: IRS waives IRA rollover deadline for disabled taxpayer
A taxpayer with a chronic disability withdrew funds from an IRA and sent part of the proceeds to a new financial adviser. The adviser put that amount in a non-IRA account, and the taxpayer assumed…
PLR 200616042: Bank account mix-up qualifies for IRA rollover deadline waiver
Two taxpayers withdrew funds from their IRAs and deposited the proceeds at another bank the next day, intending to open separate rollover IRAs. A miscommunication led the bank to put the funds in a…
PLR 200616041: Estate's IRA disclaimer sends proceeds to two daughters
A man named his wife as the beneficiary of a new IRA but left off the two daughters he had named as contingent beneficiaries of his former IRA. After both spouses died, the wife's estate disclaimed…
PLR 200616040: Daughters may divide inherited IRA without a taxable distribution
Two daughters became contingent beneficiaries of their father's IRA after his wife's estate disclaimed its interest and a court reformed the beneficiary designation. The IRA trustee divided the…
PLR 200616039: Inherited IRA division does not trigger tax for older daughter
A deceased IRA owner's two daughters became contingent beneficiaries after his wife's estate disclaimed its interest. The IRA trustee divided the account into two inherited IRAs by direct transfer,…
PLR 200616038: Couple gets more time to reverse ineligible Roth IRA conversions
A married couple converted traditional IRA funds to Roth IRAs in two tax years, believing they met the income limit. Their modified adjusted gross income exceeded the conversion limit in both years,…
PLR 200616037: City-controlled nonprofit need not file Form 990
A tax-exempt nonprofit operated an educational facility for a city's redevelopment agency. The city council appointed all five directors, the nonprofit was included in the city's financial…
PLR 200616036: County workforce nonprofit need not file Form 990
Three counties formed a tax-exempt nonprofit to provide workforce development, employment services, and job training. Their county commissioners appointed all of its directors and approved its…
PLR 200616035: Early charitable remainder trust termination avoids self-dealing tax
A charitable remainder unitrust's income beneficiary proposed to end the trust early by selling his income interest to six public charities that held the remainder interest. The payment would equal…
PLR 200616034: City bridge corporation need not file Form 990
A tax-exempt corporation was developing an international toll bridge for two cities. One city had withdrawn from the project, and all five current directors were members of the other city's council.…
PLR 200616033: Green building project denied tax-exempt bond designation
A project applicant sought designation as a qualified green building and sustainable design project, which would permit tax-exempt private activity bond financing under section 142. The IRS found…
PLR 200616032: Green building application lacks proof for bond designation
An applicant sought qualified green building and sustainable design designation for a project that could receive tax-exempt bond financing. The IRS found no documentation to support the…
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.