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 200604012: Extra time to file low-income housing disposition bond
A taxpayer disposed of an interest in low-income housing property and inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8693 for a bond intended to prevent credit recapture. The IRS granted 60 days…
PLR 200604011: Extra time to file low-income housing disposition bond
A taxpayer disposed of an interest in low-income housing property and inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8693 for a bond intended to prevent credit recapture. The IRS granted 60 days…
PLR 200604010: Late dual consolidated loss filings allowed
A U.S. consolidated group used losses from a foreign entity treated as a partnership for U.S. tax purposes to offset group income. Its tax advisers failed to identify required elections, agreements,…
PLR 200604009: More time to file dual consolidated loss rebuttal documents
A foreign entity in a U.S. consolidated group transferred assets to another foreign entity after generating dual consolidated losses used by the group. The transfer raised a presumption of a…
PLR 200604008: Fund's proposed dividend designations are not preferential
A regulated investment company with common and remarketed preferred shares planned to issue a new class of auction preferred shares. It proposed to designate income eligible for the corporate…
PLR 200604007: Mutual fund gets extra time for PFIC mark-to-market election
A regulated investment company held stock in a passive foreign investment company and intended to elect mark-to-market treatment. Its tax adviser prepared Form 8621 with the election, but an…
PLR 200604006: Spouse's QTIP disclaimer produces two gift tax transfers
A surviving spouse proposed to disclaim all interests in a marital trust for which the deceased spouse's estate had made a qualified terminable interest property election. The disclaimer would not…
PLR 200604005: Couple may allocate GST exemption to past trust gifts
A couple made gifts of partnership interests to three trusts for their children and later descendants. Their first accounting firm failed to attach generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption…
PLR 200604004: Late small business stock rollover election denied
A taxpayer sold qualified small business stock but failed to elect the section 1045 gain rollover on the return for the sale year. The taxpayer asked for permission to make the election late. The…
PLR 200604003: Family disclaimers let estate property pass directly to spouse
A person died without a will, leaving property in two states. Children, grandchildren, and other relatives disclaimed their inherited interests within nine months; under the states' laws the…
PLR 200604002: Four years of late GST exemption allocations allowed
A couple made securities and cash gifts to an irrevocable trust for their children and later descendants over four years. Their accountant prepared gift tax returns for the first two years without…
CCA 200604001: Bank is not liable for employer's missed tax deposits
A taxpayer persuaded a bank employee to stamp federal tax deposit receipts as paid while holding the checks, then showed the receipts to an IRS revenue officer. Chief Counsel advised that the bank…
PLR 200603040: Equal-value trust asset swap has no stated estate, gift, or income tax effect
A person who created an irrevocable trust retained a fiduciary power to replace trust assets with property of equal value. The person proposed to exchange publicly traded stock with the trust,…
PLR 200603039: Pension funding waiver denied after continuing business losses
A printing and mailing company requested a waiver of its pension plan's minimum funding standard. Its sales had declined and it had reported losses while facing lower prices from larger competitors.…
PLR 200603038: Stroke-related disability excuses late IRA rollover
An IRA owner withdrew funds intending to move them to another IRA, but returned the amount to the original IRA after the 60-day rollover deadline. A recent stroke had impaired the person's memory,…
PLR 200603037: Financial firm's error permits partial IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner gave a financial firm two checks and instructed it to put the funds into a rollover IRA. The firm instead deposited them in an account that was not an IRA. The owner learned of the…
PLR 200603036: Surviving spouse may roll plan proceeds through trust into IRA
A deceased employee named a trust as beneficiary of his retirement plan. The surviving spouse was the trust's sole trustee and primary beneficiary, and the plan proceeds were allocated to a…
PLR 200603035: Bank's account error leads to IRA rollover deadline waivers
Two IRA owners asked a financial institution to move their IRA balances into new IRAs. The institution put the money into certificates of deposit that were not IRAs, and the error was discovered…
PLR 200603034: Surviving spouse may roll over unused IRA funds after account mistake
A surviving spouse inherited an annuity IRA and relied on a financial institution's guidance about moving the money. The institution placed the funds in an account that was not an IRA, and the…
PLR 200603033: IRS waives IRA rollover deadline after account owner's spouse dies
A 79-year-old IRA owner withdrew funds while planning to pay for her spouse's nursing home care. She placed the funds in a non-IRA certificate of deposit, and her spouse died before the 60-day…
PLR 200603032: Surviving spouse may receive IRA through trust and transfer it to her own IRAs
A deceased IRA owner named a trust as beneficiary because his spouse was not then a U.S. citizen. The spouse later became a citizen and the sole trustee, with authority to distribute the IRA to…
PLR 200603031: Global health research funding qualifies as private foundation distributions
A private foundation planned to fund work with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies on health tools for developing countries. Its proposed grants, contracts, and program-related investments…
Determination 200603030: Small insurance company exemption denied for lack of risk pooling
A company sought tax exemption as a small insurance company under section 501(c)(15). It had issued five contracts, including one covering an entity owned by its own shareholder, and had substantial…
PLR 200603029: Foundation's scholarship selection procedures approved
A private foundation sought advance approval for scholarships at a boarding school. Applicants would provide academic records, test results, references, and a personal letter, while the foundation…
TAM 200603028: Tribal bond borrower gets governmental status only for essential functions
A bond issuer loaned proceeds to an Indian tribe's authority for hotel and convention facilities on the tribe's reservation. The issuer argued that the tribe should count as a governmental unit for…
TAM 200603027: IRS revokes LIFO pool approvals prospectively
A company used dollar-value LIFO inventory pools but accounted for some items inside those pools under non-LIFO methods. The IRS concluded that a LIFO election must cover every item within a…
CCA 200603026: Counsel advises on willful FBAR penalties and offshore card accounts
IRS Counsel addressed when examiners could impose a civil penalty for willfully failing to report a foreign financial account. The memorandum said willfulness requires knowledge of the FBAR filing…
CCA 200603025: Counsel advises against medical deduction for gender reassignment costs
In this 2005 advice, IRS Counsel considered a taxpayer's deduction for gender reassignment surgery and related care under section 213. The record described a diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder…
PLR 200603024: Estate gets extra time to allocate GST exemption to trust gift
A married couple treated a gift to a family trust as made half by each spouse, but their accountant omitted GST exemption allocations from their gift tax returns. The wife later died, and another…
PLR 200603023: Husband gets extra time to allocate GST exemption to trust gift
A husband made a gift to a family trust that the couple reported as made half by each spouse. Their accountant failed to allocate either spouse's GST exemption on the timely filed gift tax returns.…
PLR 200603022: Trust division preserves GST status, but income waiver creates gifts
Trustees proposed to restate and divide a trust created before the GST tax's grandfather date into three trusts for the settlor's sons and descendants. The IRS ruled that the pro rata division would…
PLR 200603021: Company may change tax classification within 60 months of prior election
A foreign company had elected partnership tax status, then became a disregarded entity after a new owner acquired it through two disregarded LLCs. It wanted to elect corporate tax status before the…
PLR 200603020: Late Form 1128 treated as timely after adviser error
A company timely filed an S corporation election but missed the deadline to file Form 1128 to request a change in tax year. It said its tax professional's advice or error caused the omission. The…
PLR 200603019: Debt buyer may report canceled principal account by account
A company bought large portfolios of charged off consumer debt and continued collection through calls, letters, collectors, and litigation when appropriate. The IRS found that its collection efforts…
PLR 200603018: Consumer debt buyer must report qualifying debt cancellations
A company bought, collected, and sold charged off consumer accounts receivable as its entire business. It asked whether that activity made it an entity subject to debt cancellation information…
PLR 200603017: Shareholders may recover basis faster on contingent installment sale
Two shareholders sold all stock of an S corporation for fixed payments and uncapped contingent payments tied to future operating income. The parties made a section 338(h)(10) election, and the…
PLR 200603016: Subsidiary liquidation and business spin off receive tax free treatment
A corporate group proposed to separate one business from another through a subsidiary liquidation, an asset contribution to a new corporation, and a pro rata distribution of that corporation's stock…
PLR 200603015: Corporate group gets more time for section 382 value election
A parent corporation and a controlled foreign subsidiary missed the deadline for an election that can restore value when computing the parent's section 382 loss limitation. They attributed the…
PLR 200603014: Parent and subsidiary get extension for section 382 value election
A corporate parent and a controlled foreign subsidiary failed to file a valid election to restore value for the parent's section 382 loss limitation. The IRS found that they reasonably relied on a…
PLR 200603013: Corporate group may file late section 382 value election
A corporate parent and a controlled foreign subsidiary sought extra time to elect restoration of value in computing a section 382 net operating loss limitation. They missed the filing deadline after…
PLR 200603012: Group receives conditional extension for value restoration election
A corporate parent and its controlled foreign subsidiary failed to file a valid section 382 value restoration election by the required deadline. They submitted affidavits explaining their reliance…
PLR 200603011: Puerto Rico decedent treated as nonresident noncitizen for estate tax
An executor asked how to classify a deceased U.S. citizen who lived in Puerto Rico for federal estate tax purposes. The decedent had become a Puerto Rican citizen under the Foraker Act and received…
PLR 200603010: Inadvertent S corporation termination relieved after partnership stock transfer
An S corporation's sole shareholder transferred all its stock to a limited partnership without knowing the partnership was an ineligible shareholder. He later learned that this terminated the S…
PLR 200603009: Target's consolidated group survives holding company acquisition
A parent company planned to place a holding company above the corporation that headed an existing consolidated tax group. The IRS ruled that the holding company's acquisition would be a reverse…
PLR 200603008: Extra time granted to file low income housing disposition bond
A taxpayer disposed of a low income housing credit property and intended to file a surety bond to avoid credit recapture, but failed to file Form 8693 on time. The IRS gave the taxpayer 60 days from…
PLR 200603007: Housing credit property seller gets time to post disposition bond
A taxpayer disposed of low income housing credit property and inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8693 for a surety bond. The IRS granted an additional 60 days from the letter date to…
PLR 200603006: Late tax year change application treated as timely
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 late to request a change from a 52–53 week year ending near October 31 to a December 31 tax year. The application was late because of an error or misunderstanding, and the…
PLR 200603005: Acquired LLC gets time to elect corporate tax status
A corporate group acquired an LLC and its subsidiaries and intended the LLC to be taxed as a corporation. The LLC inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200603004: Unneeded QTIP election for credit shelter trust is void
An estate elected to treat property in a credit shelter trust as qualified terminable interest property (QTIP), even though the election was unnecessary to reduce its estate tax to zero. The IRS…
PLR 200603003: Time extended to file dual consolidated loss elections and certifications
A company deducted dual consolidated losses from its foreign operations but later found that it had omitted or filed defective elections, agreements, and annual certifications required by the dual…
PLR 200603002: Insurance policy correction allowed, but earlier transfer was a gift
A married couple intended to transfer life insurance policies to a trust for their children, but an insurance agent left the couple listed as owners of a replacement policy. The IRS ruled that…
CCA 200603001: Weekend filing rule does not extend bankruptcy tax priority period
Chief Counsel considered whether income taxes fell within the Bankruptcy Code's three-year priority rule when a debtor filed a bankruptcy petition on the third anniversary of the tax return's due…
PLR 200602053: Rollover deadline waived after plan address errors
An alternate payee under a divorce decree tried to move a retirement plan interest to an IRA but did not receive the PIN needed to arrange a direct transfer. The employer had failed to update her…
PLR 200602052: IRA rollover deadline waived after account mix-up
An older IRA owner withdrew funds while preparing to move and deposited them into an account with a financial adviser. She later learned that the adviser had not established an IRA for those funds…
PLR 200602051: IRA rollover waiver denied after owner delayed reinvestment
An IRA owner withdrew funds while considering an investment, then kept the check while he attended seminars and looked at other options. By the time he tried to return the money to his IRA, the…
PLR 200602050: IRS waived rollover deadline after illness and son's mistaken deposit
An IRA beneficiary received a distribution after her husband's death and intended to move it to another IRA. She was recovering from a back injury and surgery, so she asked her son to deposit the…
PLR 200602049: Widow received IRA rollover waiver after insurer obscured account type
A widow received proceeds from her husband's annuity and life insurance policy in a regular account. She knew the annuity existed but did not know it was an IRA. The insurer's letter and account…
PLR 200602048: Pension funding waiver denied because plan was expected to terminate
A company requested a waiver of the minimum funding standard for its defined benefit pension plan. Company representatives told the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation that the company was filing…
PLR 200602047: Retirement plan rollover accepted despite missed 60-day deadline
A woman received a distribution from her former husband's retirement plan under a divorce settlement. Her attorney returned the check and asked the plan to send the money directly to an IRA, but the…
PLR 200602046: Treaty permitted US employer deduction for foreign pension contributions
A US company wanted to contribute to a pension plan in another country for an employee working in the United States. The employee had participated in that plan before his assignment and was a US…
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.