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 200601031: Cooperative's internet and cable services preserve exemption
An exempt rural electric cooperative asked whether it could add landline and wireless internet and cable television service for members, and offer early discounted redemption of patronage capital…
PLR 200601030: Research charity's management bonus program preserves exemption
A scientific research charity proposed a long-term bonus program for senior managers tied to individual goals and distributions from a venture developing commercial uses for its discoveries. Its…
TAM 200601029: Lapsed purchase option cost added to acquired company's basis
A company held an option to buy all the stock of a separate research company, but instead acquired that company through a lower-priced tender offer and merger. It claimed a loss deduction when the…
CCA 200601028: Railroad business ceased to be a tax act employer
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a business had ceased to be an employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment statutes. Chief Counsel reviewed the Board's opinion and the…
CCA 200601027: Railroad employer status ended by a redacted date
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a business ceased to be a railroad employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment statutes. Based on the Board's information, Chief…
CCA 200601026: Reconsidered railroad employer status rejected
After reconsideration, the Railroad Retirement Board concluded that a business was not a covered employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment statutes as of a redacted date. Chief Counsel…
CCA 200601025: Rail carrier ceased to be a covered employer
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a business had ceased to be a covered rail carrier employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment statutes. Chief Counsel reviewed the…
PLR 200601024: Court correction of unitrust drafting error accepted
Two donors intended to create a fixed percentage charitable remainder unitrust, but a drafting error gave their trust net income makeup terms. A court ordered the trust reformed retroactively,…
PLR 200601023: Family change supports reduced home sale gain exclusion
A retired couple sold a recently purchased home after their daughter lost her job and began divorcing. They moved back to another state so their daughter and grandchild could live with them, because…
PLR 200601022: Growing family permits reduced home sale gain exclusion
A family moved out of a home because school transportation became difficult, but initially intended to return and rented it out. After another child was born, they concluded that the home was too…
PLR 200601021: Split ownership does not disqualify integrated housing project
An affordable housing issuer financed a single apartment building with low-income and market-rate units interspersed throughout it. Separate partnerships would own the two groups of units for…
PLR 200601020: Reservation facility qualifies for faster depreciation only in part
An equipment leasing partnership sought accelerated depreciation under § 168(j) for an entire facility it owned for federal tax purposes and leased on an Indian reservation. The facility contained…
PLR 200601019: Reservation lease earns accelerated depreciation for real property only
A partnership jointly owned a facility on an Indian reservation for federal tax purposes and leased it to an unrelated business. It asked whether the whole facility, including buildings and…
PLR 200601018: Late S corporation election granted relief
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation treatment from its incorporation date, but the election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief…
PLR 200601017: Extra time granted to waive consolidated loss carryback
The parent of a consolidated corporate group intended to waive the carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss, but its timely return lacked a valid election statement. The IRS found that…
PLR 200601016: Security proxy leaves subsidiary in consolidated tax group
A domestic parent placed voting power over a wholly owned subsidiary with U.S. proxy holders to insulate sensitive government contract work from foreign influence. The parent retained dividends,…
PLR 200601015: Voting proxy does not sever corporate tax affiliation
A domestic parent transferred voting control of a subsidiary's stock to U.S. proxy holders to meet security clearance rules for government contracts. The parent kept the stock's economic benefits,…
PLR 200601014: Research credit group may return to regular method
A controlled group had used the alternative incremental research credit method for several years and timely asked to switch its group credit back to the regular method. The IRS consented to the…
PLR 200601013: Controlled group may switch research credit calculation
A controlled group had calculated its research credit using the alternative incremental method and timely requested permission to use the regular method instead. The IRS granted consent under § 41…
PLR 200601012: Division of family trusts preserves tax treatment
Trustees proposed to divide each of two family trusts into three equal trusts, one for each child and that child's descendants. The original trusts dated from before the generation-skipping transfer…
PLR 200601011: Late accounting year change application treated as timely
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 late to request a change from a January 31 tax year end to December 31. The IRS found that an error or misunderstanding caused the delay and that the taxpayer sought…
PLR 200601010: Court approved trust changes preserve GST exemption
A trust created before the 1985 generation-skipping transfer tax cutoff operated through many separate trusts for members of a family. After litigation, a court proposed new trusts for limited…
PLR 200601009: Neighborhood assaults support reduced home sale exclusion
A couple bought a home after moving for a job, then learned of crime in the neighborhood. Their son was assaulted and threatened, and one spouse was assaulted by neighbors. The couple sold the home…
PLR 200601008: Late corporate classification election gets 60-day extension
A domestic eligible entity inadvertently missed the deadline to elect corporate tax classification on Form 8832. The IRS found that it satisfied the standards for late election relief and gave it 60…
PLR 200601007: Insurer not treated as owner of pension contract investments
A life insurer issued group variable annuity contracts through a foreign branch for pension plans in that country. Plan members directed allocations among investment assets also available for direct…
PLR 200601006: Insurer owns assets in new variable annuity subaccounts
A life insurer planned new investment subaccounts for its variable annuity contracts, organized around contract holders' expected retirement dates. Contract holders could choose among broad options,…
PLR 200601005: Option to donate paid leave does not tax nonparticipants
A tax-exempt health care organization proposed allowing employees to surrender paid leave so their employers could send its cash value, after withholding, to charities. The IRS ruled that employees…
PLR 200601004: S corporation election effective despite late filing
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and granted…
PLR 200601003: Mistaken transfer can be returned from charitable unitrust
A donor's personal investment proceeds were mistakenly wired into her charitable remainder unitrust account, although she had not intended a gift. A court ordered the trust to return the money after…
PLR 200601002: Foreign entity given time for disregarded status election
A foreign entity missed the deadline to file Form 8832 to be treated as disregarded for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date. The IRS found that it qualified for discretionary late…
PLR 200601001: Corporate group gets time for consolidated return election
A parent and four wholly owned subsidiaries had filed separate returns with different tax year ends, without making a valid consolidated return election. The IRS found that the parent reasonably…
PLR 200552021: Insolvent insurer retains temporary exemption during liquidation
The receiver of an insolvent insurance company asked about the federal tax effect of final creditor distributions and closing the receivership. The company no longer issued policies, so it did not…
PLR 200552020: Pension contribution return preserves plan qualification
A defined benefit pension plan sought permission to return employer contributions for the plan year beginning July 1, 2004. The IRS said contributions of up to $238,394 could be treated as…
Determination 200552019: Section 501(c)(5) exemption revoked retroactively
The IRS issued a final letter revoking an organization's § 501(c)(5) exemption retroactively to a redacted date. The letter says the organization had not established that it continued to meet the…
PLR 200552018: Foundation gets a short extension to sell excess business holdings
A private foundation received a large block of publicly traded stock by gift and had not sold enough shares within the initial five year period allowed by § 4943. It asked for an additional five…
PLR 200552017: Foundation may split its assets between two related foundations
A private foundation controlled by three siblings planned to transfer all its assets to two other private foundations after disagreements over its management and charitable work. One recipient was…
Determination 200552016: Tax exemption revoked after organization failed to provide records
The IRS issued a final determination revoking an organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption retroactively to a redacted date. It said the organization failed to provide documents or other information…
PLR 200552015: Early trust termination does not trigger self-dealing or termination tax
The income beneficiary of a charitable remainder unitrust proposed to end the trust early by selling his income interest to its charitable remainder beneficiary. The price would equal the actuarial…
PLR 200552014: Organization reclassified as a supporting organization
An exempt organization asked the IRS to change its classification from a publicly supported organization under §§ 509(a)(1) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) to a supporting organization under § 509(a)(3). Its…
Determination 200552013: Charity's exemption revoked after records went missing
The IRS issued a final letter revoking an organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption effective January 1, 2001. The organization could not provide financial records for a period before a redacted date;…
TAM 200552012: Land developer cannot use home construction contract accounting
A developer sold building lots in planned communities to a related partnership and agreed to provide roads, utilities, and other improvements. The partnership and its subcontractors built the homes;…
CCA 200552011: Counsel transmits a technical advice memorandum
This Chief Counsel memorandum is a cover letter transmitting a technical advice memorandum to an IRS office in a case involving tax years 1995 through 1998. It explains the procedures for providing…
CCA 200552010: Counsel transmits technical advice on an accounting method issue
This Chief Counsel memorandum is a transmittal for a technical advice memorandum in a case indexed under § 446, the general rule for accounting methods. It describes how the advice should be…
PLR 200552009: Family trust merger and division preserves tax basis and holding periods
Four family trusts with the same terms and beneficiaries planned to merge into one trust and then divide pro rata into separate trusts for the settlor's descendants. Each new trust would hold equal…
PLR 200552008: Former resident's expatriation lacked a principal tax avoidance purpose
A former long-term U.S. resident sought a ruling about the tax purpose of her loss of lawful permanent resident status. Her net worth exceeded the threshold in the version of § 877 discussed in the…
PLR 200552007: Broker may use escrow procedure for foreign holders in stock tender offers
A broker asked how to withhold and report payments to foreign account holders when U.S. corporations buy back their own shares through tender offers. Whether a payment is treated as a dividend or an…
PLR 200552006: Late election allowed for Canadian retirement plan income
A Canadian citizen who was a U.S. lawful permanent resident had contributed to Canadian registered retirement savings plans for years. He filed timely U.S. returns but did not attach the statements…
PLR 200552005: Corporate asset transfer and stock distribution qualify as a reorganization
A corporate group proposed to separate two businesses. A distributing corporation would contribute subsidiary stock and related intercompany items to a controlled corporation, then distribute all of…
PLR 200552004: Corporate group gets more time to elect consolidated filing
A corporate group intended to file a consolidated federal income tax return after a change in ownership but did not make a valid election by the deadline. The IRS found that the parent had…
PLR 200552003: Late annual certifications allowed for dual consolidated losses
A taxpayer failed to include annual certifications with its consolidated return for dual consolidated losses incurred by two foreign entities in earlier years. Its tax officer prepared the later…
PLR 200552002: Utility may exclude an intertie transfer as a capital contribution
A county reimbursed a regulated electric utility for an intertie connecting the county's power project to the utility's grid. The project would use the connection to transmit electricity for sale to…
PLR 200552001: LLC gets time to elect corporate tax classification
A limited liability company wanted to be taxed as a corporation from the date it was formed, but inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. It asked for an extension under the regulatory…
PLR 200551034: Gifts for public purposes to county arts authority are deductible
A county-created public corporation that ran arts, heritage, historic preservation, and public art programs asked whether gifts to it could be deducted under § 170. The county appointed and could…
PLR 200551033: Recalculated IRA payments qualify for early distribution tax exception
A 47-year-old taxpayer asked whether her payment method for two rollover IRAs produced a series of substantially equal periodic payments under § 72(t)(2)(A)(iv). She used an amortization method but…
PLR 200551032: Recalculated payments from one IRA avoid early distribution tax
A 49-year-old taxpayer sought a ruling on payments from a rollover IRA under the substantially equal periodic payment exception to the 10% tax on early distributions. He proposed to recalculate the…
PLR 200551031: Pension plan receives conditional minimum funding waiver
A publicly held company asked for a waiver of the minimum funding standard for its defined benefit pension plan. The letter describes declining sales, rising expenses, closed manufacturing…
PLR 200551030: Funding waiver request withdrawn; pension excise tax waived
A company withdrew its request for a waiver of its pension plan's minimum funding standard, and the IRS closed that part of the case. The IRS separately granted waivers of the 100% tax under §…
PLR 200551029: Insurer conversion proceeds were outside a terminated pension plan
A union's pension plan had terminated and used all its assets to buy annuities for participants. Years later, the insurer converted to a stock company and gave shares to the union as the annuity…
PLR 200551028: Insurer conversion proceeds did not trigger pension reversion tax
A company had terminated three pension plans and bought annuity contracts to pay their benefits. The insurer later converted to a stock company, issuing shares tied to those contracts. A receiver…
PLR 200551027: Extra IRA withdrawal received a rollover deadline waiver
An 89-year-old IRA owner had already taken a required distribution for 2004 before moving the account to a new bank. The new bank did not know about that payment and told the owner to take another…
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.