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 200615005: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from a specified date but did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief under section…
PLR 200615004: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from a specified date but missed the election deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and granted relief under section…
PLR 200615003: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from a specified date but filed no timely election. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and granted relief under section…
PLR 200615002: Foreign company gets time for disregarded entity election
A foreign company became wholly owned by one shareholder, who intended it to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes from the acquisition date. The shareholder inadvertently…
PLR 200615001: Revised trust payouts do not themselves end GST exemption
A trustee and two grandchild beneficiaries sought to change their trust's payout formula so each would receive the greater of annual net income or five percent of trust value. The trust was…
IRS letter 200614032: Earlier foundation termination ruling is revoked
The IRS revoked an earlier private letter ruling about whether a foundation's early termination was self-dealing under section 4941 or terminated its private foundation status under section 507(a).…
IRS letter 200614031: Fee based debt management program denied charity status
An organization applied for recognition as a section 501(c)(3) charity while planning to sell debt management plans through paid memberships. The IRS accepted that its articles stated charitable…
PLR 200614030: College support group may fund early stage businesses
A tax-exempt organization supporting a community college proposed a business incubator and a fund to supply early stage capital to participating enterprises. It said the program would give students…
PLR 200614029: Bankruptcy plan amendment may vest discharged workers' benefits
A company in bankruptcy proposed to amend a pension plan so workers discharged between a court motion and the plan's termination would become fully vested in accrued benefits. The company estimated…
PLR 200614028: Family medical crisis justifies late IRA rollover waiver
A 71-year-old IRA owner missed the 60 day rollover deadline shortly after a daughter's operation and hospitalization. The owner said concern over her medical care caused the delay, although the…
PLR 200614027: Bank error permits late retirement plan rollover
A retiring plan participant instructed four financial institutions to roll his profit sharing plan balances into IRAs. Three did so, but one bank placed a plan distribution into a non-IRA account.…
PLR 200614026: Company may file late S corporation election
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from its formation date, but the company did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election deadline…
PLR 200614025: Donor gets more time to allocate GST exemption to trust gift
A donor transferred cash to a family trust, but the law firm preparing the trust did not advise her to file a gift tax return and allocate generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption. She later…
PLR 200614024: State cleanup credits excluded from REIT income tests
A real estate developer planned to elect real estate investment trust (REIT) status and develop rental property on land contaminated by an oil spill. State tax credits for cleanup and development…
PLR 200614023: Business separation receives spin-off tax rulings
An S corporation planned to transfer one of its two businesses into its wholly owned subsidiary, then distribute the subsidiary's stock to its shareholders so it could meet a manufacturer's separate…
PLR 200614022: Partnership gets time for late basis adjustment election
A limited liability company missed the deadline to elect under section 754 after an owner who held an interest through a grantor trust died. That election allows adjustments to the basis of…
PLR 200614021: Partnership gets time for late basis adjustment election
A limited liability company failed to file a section 754 election on time after an owner who held an interest through a grantor trust died. The election permits adjustments to the basis of…
PLR 200614020: Partnership gets time for late basis adjustment election
A limited liability company missed the deadline to elect under section 754 after an owner who held an interest through a grantor trust died. The election allows partnership property basis…
PLR 200614019: Partnership interest transfers do not restart housing credit wait
A buyer planned to rehabilitate an apartment project and claim the low-income housing credit for acquiring existing buildings. The project had stayed in a partnership while a large limited partner…
PLR 200614018: Foreign company gets time to elect partnership classification
A foreign private limited company intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date. Its owners had limited liability, and the company inadvertently…
PLR 200614017: Foreign entity gets time to elect corporate tax treatment
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as an association taxable as a corporation from the date it was formed, but inadvertently missed the Form 8832 deadline. It requested an extension to…
PLR 200614016: Foreign company gets time for disregarded entity election
A foreign private limited company had one owner with limited liability and intended to be disregarded as a separate entity for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date. It inadvertently…
PLR 200614015: Foreign company gets time to elect partnership classification
A foreign private limited company intended to elect partnership treatment for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date. Its owners had limited liability, and it inadvertently missed the…
PLR 200614014: Foreign company gets time for disregarded entity election
A foreign private limited company with one owner intended to elect disregarded entity treatment for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date. Its owner had limited liability, and the…
PLR 200614013: Foreign company gets time for disregarded entity election
A foreign private limited company with one owner intended to elect disregarded entity treatment for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date. Its owner had limited liability, and the…
PLR 200614012: Foreign company gets time for election after ownership change
A foreign private limited company came under a single owner with limited liability and intended to elect treatment as a disregarded entity from the date that owner acquired all its interests. The…
PLR 200614011: Foreign company gets time for disregarded entity election
A foreign private limited company had one owner with limited liability and intended to elect disregarded entity treatment for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date. The company…
PLR 200614010: Foreign company gets time for disregarded entity election
A foreign private limited company had one owner with limited liability and intended to elect disregarded entity treatment for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date. The company…
PLR 200614009: Foreign company receives late entity classification election relief
A foreign private limited company with one owner intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date. It inadvertently missed the deadline to file…
PLR 200614008: Partnership gets more time to elect basis adjustments
A corporation's merger transferred its interest in a general partnership to the surviving corporation. The partnership said the transfer caused a termination under the tax rules then in effect, but…
PLR 200614007: Late election allowed for environmental remediation deduction
An S corporation incurred expenses related to an office and warehouse project but capitalized them on its tax return instead of electing to deduct qualified environmental remediation costs under…
CCA 200614006: IRS may levy fixed trust interests despite spendthrift clause
A taxpayer who owed federal taxes was both trustee and beneficiary of a trust with a spendthrift clause. The taxpayer had a mandatory right to trust income and a vested right to specified future…
TAM 200614005: Inventory cost change was allowed but implemented incorrectly
A reseller obtained IRS consent to reclassify certain assembling, repackaging, and transportation costs from section 471 inventory costs to additional section 263A costs. In this technical advice…
PLR 200614004: Foreign insurer gets time to elect domestic tax treatment
A foreign insurance company intended to elect treatment as a domestic corporation for U.S. tax purposes under section 953(d). Its board approved the election, but a local audit waiver led its…
PLR 200614003: Corporation may renew S election before five year waiting period
A corporation's S election ended when an ineligible trust acquired all of its stock. After the trust sold the stock to two individuals, the corporation sought to elect S status again before the…
PLR 200614002: Executive pay for partnership services escapes corporate deduction cap
Executives of a real estate investment trust also worked for a partnership in which the trust held an interest. The executives' contracts allocated compensation between services for the corporation…
PLR 200614001: Electricity contracts excluded from section 197 intangibles
A purchaser acquired entities holding contracts to buy electricity at fixed below market prices and sell matching amounts to a utility at fixed above market prices. The contracts specified…
TAM 200613038: Foundation owes no investment income tax after first year termination
A private foundation distributed its assets to public charities and terminated its private foundation status before the end of its first taxable year. The IRS technical advice concluded that the…
PLR 200613037: Late rollover waiver denied for refunded withholding
A beneficiary rolled the cash received from a retirement plan into an IRA within 60 days, but the plan had withheld 20 percent for federal taxes. After receiving a refund the next year, the…
PLR 200613036: Waiver granted after IRA annuity ownership mistake
An IRA annuity owner believed he was changing its beneficiary, but a declaration instead changed the contract owner from the IRA custodian to him personally. He learned almost two years later that…
PLR 200613035: Mental illness supports late IRA rollover waiver
A taxpayer withdrew money from an IRA but missed the 60 day rollover deadline. Medical documentation showed that a debilitating mental condition impaired his ability to manage financial matters…
TAM 200613034: Tax benefit sharing payments were not business deductions
A company acquiring a failed thrift agreed to share specified tax benefits with a federal agency. After a merger, a related company paid the agency amounts tied to use of the thrift successor's loss…
TAM 200613033: Mixed service departments must include all service costs
An electric utility used the simplified service cost method to allocate costs between construction and other activities. The utility and IRS field office disagreed over whether several departments…
TAM 200613032: Dehydrating purchased ethanol did not earn producer credit
A claimant bought hydrous ethanol made abroad and arranged for an unrelated facility in another country to dehydrate it into anhydrous ethanol. The finished ethanol was then distributed in the…
CCA 200613031: Partnership anti-abuse rule reaches stock sale and charitable trusts
A taxpayer and spouse put appreciated stock into family partnerships, then gave large nonvoting interests in those partnerships to charitable remainder trusts. The partnerships sold the stock and…
CCA 200613030: Partner's combat service did not suspend partnership payroll tax interest
A partnership sought relief from interest on overdue payroll taxes because its principal partner had served in a combat zone. Chief Counsel concluded that section 7508 did not suspend the…
PLR 200613029: Extra time granted to file dual consolidated loss rebuttal documents
A taxpayer's foreign partnership transferred assets of a loss making foreign branch to another entity in its affiliated group. The taxpayer had missed the deadline to file documents rebutting the…
PLR 200613028: Pension plan investors do not defeat variable contract look-through
A life insurer asked whether qualified pension or retirement plans could invest in funds used for variable insurance contracts without defeating the funds' look-through treatment under the…
PLR 200613027: Failed IPO incorporation may be rescinded within the tax year
A partnership taxed as an LLC converted to a corporation in anticipation of an initial public offering, but the offering was canceled after market conditions worsened. The owners planned to convert…
PLR 200613026: Related corporation stock sale treated as dividend distribution
A corporate group proposed to move one foreign subsidiary beneath another through a cash purchase of its stock. Because the buyer and seller were related, the IRS ruled that section 304 treated the…
PLR 200613025: Successor partnership may allocate interest on inherited debt
A terminating trust planned to borrow against its assets to make a mix of cash and property distributions to beneficiaries. A successor LLC would receive the assets and debt, then become a…
PLR 200613024: Group gets 45 days to file late section 382 value election
A corporate parent underwent an ownership change and missed the deadline for a controlled group election to restore value under the section 382 loss limitation rules. It said a qualified tax…
PLR 200613023: Disability benefits taxed according to who paid for coverage
An employer proposed to pay for disability coverage providing benefits during an employee's first two years of disability. Employees could separately buy supplemental coverage with after tax payroll…
PLR 200613022: IRS retroactively revokes earlier payment ruling
The IRS revoked an earlier letter ruling that had treated a taxpayer's payment to another party as ordinary income to the recipient and a deductible business expense to the payer. It said the…
PLR 200613021: Parents receive late GST exemption allocation relief
A parent funded separate trusts for two sons, and the parent and spouse elected to split gifts for the year. Their accountant reported the transfers on gift tax returns but failed to allocate either…
PLR 200613020: Trust distributions to daughter do not accelerate estate tax
An estate had elected to pay estate tax in installments based on an interest in a closely held partnership. A testamentary trust held that interest, and the decedent's daughter could withdraw trust…
PLR 200613019: Business split-off receives tax-free reorganization rulings
Shareholders of a corporation disagreed over how to run its business and proposed to separate part of it into a new corporation. The original corporation would transfer assets and liabilities to the…
PLR 200613018: Missed trust election was an inadvertent S corporation termination
An S corporation shareholder transferred stock to a trust whose income beneficiary intended to elect qualified subchapter S trust status. The beneficiary missed the election deadline, causing the…
PLR 200613017: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
An electric utility requested a revised annual contribution schedule for its qualified nuclear decommissioning fund under one public utility commission's jurisdiction. The IRS found the proposed…
PLR 200613016: Late dual consolidated loss filings granted relief
A U.S. consolidated group missed elections and annual certifications for dual consolidated losses of two disregarded entities. It also filed elections for a branch under another group member's name.…
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.