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 200602045: Treaty relief for employee contributions and foreign pension earnings
An employee assigned to a US company wanted to continue participating in a pension plan established in his home country. The IRS ruled that the foreign plan generally corresponded to a US pension…
PLR 200602044: One-day-late IRA rollover allowed after incorrect deadline advice
An IRA owner asked a company representative when he had to redeposit an IRA distribution. The representative gave him a date one day beyond the actual 60-day deadline because the calculation…
PLR 200602043: Early patronage capital payouts preserved electric cooperative exemption
A tax-exempt rural electric cooperative proposed giving current and former members a voluntary option to receive their patronage capital early at a discount. Members who waited for the regular…
PLR 200602042: Candidate-signed charity appeals were not campaign intervention
A public charity asked whether fundraising letters signed by two members of Congress would count as political campaign intervention. The letters described the charity's policy work and sought…
PLR 200602041: Hospital nonprofits kept exemption while commercializing research through taxable company
A hospital and two related nonprofits established a taxable company to develop and license research-related intellectual property. They asked how the company would affect their exemptions and how…
PLR 200602040: Hospital nonprofits kept exemption while commercializing research through taxable company
A hospital and two related nonprofits established a taxable company to develop and license research-related intellectual property. They asked how the company would affect their exemptions and how…
PLR 200602039: Hospital nonprofits retained exemption while a taxable company commercialized research
A hospital and two related nonprofits formed a taxable company to develop and license research-related intellectual property. They asked whether forming and funding that company would affect their…
PLR 200602038: Disability plan trust could fund expanded bargained benefits without losing exemption
An employer planned to stop paying sick leave from its general assets and expand sickness and disability benefits under a collectively bargained plan funded by a tax-exempt employee benefit…
PLR 200602037: Disability plan trust could fund expanded bargained benefits without losing exemption
An employer planned to stop paying sick leave from its general assets and expand sickness and disability benefits under a collectively bargained plan funded by a tax-exempt employee benefit…
Determination 200602036: Credit counseling applicant denied charity exemption
A credit counseling organization sought recognition as a § 501(c)(3) charity. The IRS found that selling debt management plans was a substantial commercial purpose, while the applicant had not shown…
PLR 200602035: Electric cooperative's early patronage capital redemption preserved exemption
A tax-exempt rural electric cooperative proposed to let current and former members receive their patronage capital early at a discount. Members could instead wait for redemption at full face value.…
TAM 200602034: Broad intangible asset categories failed like-kind exchange and identification tests
A company claimed tax deferral under § 1031 after disposing of intangible business assets and acquiring other patents, trademarks, designs, software, and know-how. In this 2005 technical advice…
TAM 200602033: Withdrawn QTIP trust assets remained in surviving spouse's estate
A surviving spouse withdrew assets from trusts for which the first spouse's estate had claimed the qualified terminable interest property marital deduction, then held some proceeds with individually…
PLR 200602032: Currency investment fund's forward contract gains qualified as RIC income
A registered investment trust planned a new fund invested in foreign currency markets, including currency forward contracts, options, futures, and short-term securities. It asked whether income and…
PLR 200602031: Splitting marital trust and transferring parcel to charity preserved tax treatment
A surviving spouse proposed to divide a marital trust into two trusts, disclaim her interest in the one holding a parcel of land, and have that parcel pass to a charitable trust. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200602030: Convertible commercial units could receive housing cooperative stock
An apartment cooperative proposed to issue stock tied to commercial units that could legally and reasonably be converted into homes. Stockholders would have the right to occupy those units as…
PLR 200602029: Nuclear plant sale triggered decommissioning fund income and liability deduction
A regulated utility planned to sell part of a nuclear plant to a municipal buyer that would assume the associated decommissioning obligation and receive assets from the utility's decommissioning…
PLR 200602028: Nuclear plant sale triggered decommissioning fund income and liability deduction
A regulated utility planned to sell part of a nuclear plant to a municipal buyer that would assume the associated decommissioning obligation and receive assets from the utility's decommissioning…
PLR 200602027: Taxpayer received 60 days to allocate missed GST exemption to trust
A taxpayer created a trust for his spouse, children, and descendants, but his advisers failed to prepare a gift tax return or allocate generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption to the…
PLR 200602026: Research credit group allowed to return to regular calculation method
A controlled group had been calculating its research credit under the alternative incremental research credit method. It timely requested consent to return to the regular calculation method, because…
PLR 200602025: Corporation permitted to revoke alternative research credit election
A corporation had elected the alternative incremental method for calculating its research credit. Before its tax return was due, it asked the IRS for consent to revoke that election for the…
PLR 200602024: Inadvertent S corporation termination forgiven after shares moved to eligible trusts
An S corporation lost its election when a shareholder transferred shares to another S corporation, which was not an eligible shareholder. That company later moved the shares to two eligible trusts.…
PLR 200602023: Late notice allowed for stock transfer involving US real property holding company
A company received stock in a domestic subsidiary that was a US real property holding corporation. Its advisers treated the exchange as tax free but missed the notice required to avoid withholding…
PLR 200602022: Late S corporation election accepted for incorporation date
A newly formed corporation's shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing…
PLR 200602021: ESOP owned company allowed early S corporation reelection
A corporation had revoked its S election and planned to become wholly owned by an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). It asked to elect S status again before the usual five year waiting period had…
PLR 200602020: Late S corporation election accepted from business start date
Two shareholders intended their corporation to be an S corporation from the date it began business, but they did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline…
PLR 200602019: Research credit group allowed to return to regular calculation method
A controlled group had been calculating its research credit under the alternative incremental research credit method. It timely requested consent to return to the regular calculation method, because…
PLR 200602018: Related party sale of oil reserves avoided ordinary income rule, but improvements did not
An oil and gas S corporation planned to transfer its business and assets to a related partnership through a merger and liquidation. It asked whether § 1239 would treat gain on its oil and gas…
PLR 200602017: Insurance settlement fund qualified as QSF but had claimant reporting duties
A court approved a fund to distribute proceeds from a settlement involving an insolvent insurer's former officers and directors. The IRS ruled that the fund was a qualified settlement fund and that…
PLR 200602016: Insurance settlement fund qualified as QSF but had claimant reporting duties
A court approved a fund to distribute proceeds from a settlement involving an insolvent insurer's former officers and directors. The IRS ruled that the fund was a qualified settlement fund and that…
PLR 200602015: S corporation kept election after deceased owner's trust lost eligibility
An S corporation's shares remained in a deceased owner's trust after the two year period during which that trust could hold S stock. An earlier purported transfer to another, ineligible trust was…
PLR 200602014: Inadvertent loss of S corporation eligibility excused
A corporation elected S status, later became ineligible, and then regained eligibility. It and its shareholders had continued to file as though the S election remained in effect and agreed to make…
PLR 200602013: Corporation allowed late S election after IRS had no filing record
A corporation intended to elect S status from its incorporation date and represented that it had prepared and mailed Form 2553. The IRS had no record of receiving the form. It found reasonable cause…
PLR 200602012: Late S election allowed from corporation's formation
A corporation intended to elect S status from the date it was incorporated, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and granted relief under §…
PLR 200602011: Foreign parent given 30 days to file missed real property transfer notices
A foreign parent received seven property distributions during the liquidation of its US subsidiary, a US real property holding company. Its tax adviser failed to file the required nonrecognition…
PLR 200602010: S election allowed from intended shareholder date despite missed filing
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S status to begin on a specified date, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and granted late-election…
PLR 200602009: Estate given 60 days to make missed 65-day distribution election
An estate distributed funds within the first 65 days of a new tax year and included the payment on its prior year income tax return. It had overlooked the § 663(b) election required to treat that…
PLR 200602008: Late Form 1128 treated as timely for proposed calendar year change
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 late to change its tax year end from September 30 to December 31. The delay resulted from an error or misunderstanding, and the request for relief came within 90 days of…
PLR 200602007: Estate received extra time to elect ranch valuation and family business deduction
An estate's timely filed tax return omitted elections for special use valuation of a cattle and hay ranch and for a qualified family owned business deduction. The IRS found that the estate had acted…
PLR 200602006: Employer funded retiree health coverage excluded from recipients' income
An employer merging its retirement system into a state retirement association's system would make a lump sum payment and later contributions to a trust that subsidized retiree health coverage. The…
PLR 200602005: Ditch companies could distribute shareholder owned water rights on dissolution
Three tax-exempt mutual ditch companies planned to dissolve and distribute the water rights they held for their shareholders. State law treated the shareholders as the beneficial owners of those…
PLR 200602004: Foreign entity received 60 days for missed classification election
A foreign entity wanted to be disregarded as separate from its owner for US federal tax purposes from the date it was formed. It had missed the deadline to file Form 8832 for that classification.…
PLR 200602003: Former long-term resident's green card surrender lacked tax avoidance purpose
A former US long-term resident surrendered his green card and became subject to tax on worldwide income and estate in his country of birth. His net worth exceeded the threshold that, under the law…
PLR 200602002: Direct prepaid tuition for grandchildren escaped gift and GST taxes
A grandparent proposed to prepay several years of tuition directly to a school for six grandchildren already attending it. Separate agreements identified each child's tuition; the payments would be…
PLR 200602001: Late S corporation election accepted for intended effective date
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation treatment from a specified date after incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline…
PLR 200601046: Direct pension plan merger transfer does not tax employees
Two governmental pension plans proposed a merger in which one plan's assets and obligations would pass directly to the other. The IRS ruled that the direct transfer would not be a distribution…
PLR 200601045: New plan loan after a default needs payroll withholding or extra security
A retirement plan participant sought another plan loan after defaulting on an earlier loan that had been treated as a distribution. The IRS explained that, if the first loan remained unpaid, the new…
PLR 200601044: IRA payment shortfall and later make-up do not break equal payments
An IRA owner began a series of distributions intended to qualify for the substantially equal periodic payment exception to the 10 percent early distribution tax. A mathematical error left the first…
PLR 200601043: Pension plan receives conditional minimum funding waiver
A manufacturer experiencing financial hardship requested a waiver of its pension plan's minimum funding standard. The IRS granted the waiver under § 412(d), conditioned on timely quarterly…
PLR 200601042: Ignored retirement plan mail does not justify late rollover waiver
A former employee received an unexpected check cashing out her retirement plan account. She did not open the trustee's mail until after the 60-day rollover period expired because earlier account…
PLR 200601041: IRA rollover deadline waived after custodian misunderstanding
An IRA owner withdrew funds and bought shares of her employer's privately traded stock, intending to hold the shares through an IRA. The stock documents named an IRA as owner, but the employer was…
PLR 200601040: Manufacturing plan receives conditional funding waiver
A manufacturer facing falling sales and rising losses received a conditional waiver of its pension plan's minimum funding standard. If it sold a manufacturing property, it had to contribute the…
PLR 200601039: University health care affiliate need not file Form 990
A tax-exempt supporting organization in a state university health care system asked whether it had to file Form 990. The IRS found that the university effectively controlled the organization and…
PLR 200601038: University hospital affiliate need not file Form 990
A tax-exempt hospital in a state university health care system asked whether it had to file Form 990. The IRS found that the university effectively controlled the hospital and that it met multiple…
PLR 200601037: University health care supporting organization need not file Form 990
A tax-exempt supporting organization that provided medical services within a state university health care system asked whether it had to file Form 990. The IRS found that the university effectively…
PLR 200601036: University health care manager need not file Form 990
A tax-exempt organization managed health care entities in a state university system and asked whether it had to file Form 990. The IRS found that the university effectively controlled it and that…
Determination 200601035: Civic advocacy group denied business league exemption
An organization promoting broad social, ethical, educational, and governmental goals applied for tax exemption as a business league under § 501(c)(6). The IRS denied the application because the…
Determination 200601034: Credit repair membership seller denied charity exemption
An organization selling credit repair services through paid memberships sought exemption as a charity under § 501(c)(3). It offered free seminars, but the IRS found that those seminars helped sell…
PLR 200601033: Payments for licensing an exempt organization's marks treated as royalties
A tax-exempt association of state entities licensed its names, themes, and designs to a commercial business. It asked whether payments tied to sales and leases of units using that intellectual…
Determination 200601032: Business league exemption denied for member services
An organization sought exemption as a business league under § 501(c)(6). In a final adverse ruling, the IRS said its activities primarily provided particular services to individuals instead of…
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.