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 200550011: Utility receives revised nuclear decommissioning funding schedule
A utility sought a revised schedule for contributions to a qualified nuclear decommissioning fund after a utility commission allowed a higher decommissioning cost in its rates. The IRS found that…
PLR 200550010: Property venture entities may use foreign currency selection rules
A domestic company planning to qualify as a real estate investment trust and five related entities expected most of their property venture transactions and records to use a foreign currency. They…
PLR 200550009: Former resident's green card surrender lacked tax avoidance purpose
A former U.S. long term resident surrendered her green card and became subject to tax on her worldwide income and estate in the country where she was born. Her net worth exceeded the threshold that…
PLR 200550008: One day filing delay excused for elections and certifications
A parent corporation prepared its consolidated return and attached elections by the extended deadline, but a security situation prevented its courier from reaching the post office until the next…
PLR 200550007: New option exercise method leaves section 162(m) treatment intact
A corporation proposed allowing employees to exercise outstanding nonqualified stock options by having the company withhold shares to cover the exercise price and tax withholding. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200550006: Gift tax return made timely GST allocation despite wrong donee name
A donor transferred limited partnership units to an irrevocable trust and filed a gift tax return allocating generation skipping transfer tax exemption. The return correctly identified the units and…
PLR 200550005: Late S corporation election may take effect at incorporation
A corporation's sole shareholder intended it to be an S corporation from its incorporation date, but no Form 2553 was filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline. It ruled…
PLR 200550004: Pension lawsuit fees deductible in calculating adjusted gross income
A retiree sued a former employer over pension benefits after learning that prior service had been omitted from the benefit calculation. A proposed settlement would pay the retiree and pay part of…
PLR 200550003: Partnership gets extra time for section 754 election
A partnership missed the deadline to elect a basis adjustment under section 754 for the year one of its partners died. The IRS found that the partnership satisfied the standards for late election…
CCA 200550002: IRS access to custom software must follow section 7612 safeguards
IRS examiners asked what rules apply when they need a taxpayer's custom software to search electronic records during an examination. Chief Counsel advised that the IRS can request or summon the…
IRS 200550001: Notice says the item was pulled
The official IRS PDF for this number contains only a notice saying the item was pulled under Notice 2003-022. It contains no determination, analysis, issue date, or substantive discussion of the…
PLR 200549023: Waiver denied for retirement withdrawals used to pay bills
A married couple withdrew money from their former employers' retirement plans while one spouse's disability prevented her from working. They said they needed the money for bills and other personal…
PLR 200549022: Medical conditions justify waiver for a late retirement rollover
A former employee received a distribution from a 401(k) plan while undergoing treatment for serious medical and emotional conditions. He said his condition and medication impaired his ability to…
PLR 200549021: Spouse may roll inherited IRA through her revocable trust
A deceased IRA owner's named beneficiary was a trust established by his surviving spouse. The spouse could revoke the trust and withdraw its assets, so the IRS treated her as the trust's owner for…
PLR 200549020: Misplaced plan rollover funds receive a deadline waiver
A former employee requested direct rollovers from his employer's retirement plan to an IRA at a financial company. The company received two distributions but placed them in the employee's regular…
PLR 200549019: Undelivered plan check qualifies for a rollover deadline waiver
A former employee sought relief after her terminated retirement plan sent a distribution check to an old address. The check was returned, and the plan administrator redeposited the funds in the…
PLR 200549018: Late Roth IRA recharacterization receives a 60 day extension
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, then learned that his and his spouse's combined income exceeded the limit for that conversion. He prepared a request to recharacterize the Roth…
PLR 200549017: Electing a cash plan distribution did not justify a rollover waiver
After leaving her employer, an employee directed one retirement plan balance to an IRA but chose a cash distribution from a second plan. She deposited that distribution in a regular account held…
PLR 200549016: Plan funding waiver requests withdrawn; excise tax waivers granted
A company had requested a waiver of its retirement plan's minimum funding standard and a change to an earlier funding waiver. It withdrew those requests, and the IRS closed that part of the case.…
PLR 200549015: Retirement community receives a conditional funding waiver
A church affiliated retirement community sought relief from the minimum funding requirement for its retirement plan. It reported a decline in skilled nursing patient days, fewer private pay…
PLR 200549014: Nursing facility receives a conditional pension funding waiver
A skilled nursing facility requested relief from the minimum funding standard for its retirement plan. It reported fewer referrals, a lower bed census, reduced reimbursements, higher staffing costs,…
PLR 200549013: Hospital funding request withdrawn; excise tax waivers granted
A hospital withdrew its request for a waiver of its retirement plan's minimum funding standard, and the IRS closed that request. The IRS granted waivers of the 100 percent excise tax under section…
PLR 200549012: Hospital receives a conditional pension funding waiver
A hospital requested relief from the minimum funding standard for its retirement plan. It reported rising staffing and plan costs, lower reimbursements, and a growing uninsured patient population.…
PLR 200549011: Manufacturer receives a conditional pension funding waiver
A privately held manufacturer sought a waiver of its retirement plan's minimum funding standard after investments and a downturn led to operating losses. The company reported improved results after…
Determination 200549010: Debt management company denied charitable tax exemption
An organization offering debt management plans applied for exemption under section 501(c)(3). The IRS found that its proposed activities centered on selling those plans and promoting financial…
PLR 200549009: University insurance affiliate excused from filing Form 990
A tax exempt organization that provides liability insurance for a public university asked whether it had to file Form 990. The university created the organization, is its sole member, and…
PLR 200549008: Retiree health reimbursement plan preserves trust exemption
A tax exempt employee benefit trust proposed a health reimbursement plan funded only by employer contributions. Active employees would build account balances, but eligible former employees and their…
TAM 200549007: Worthless stock loss faces life insurance group limit, not ownership change limit
An affiliated group asked when a subsidiary's stock became worthless after the subsidiary sold most of its assets and went through bankruptcy liquidation. The IRS concluded that the stock loss arose…
PLR 200549006: Company receives more time to elect disregarded entity status
A company owned by a trust missed the deadline to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from its owner. It said its legal and tax adviser had not explained how amended regulations affected its…
PLR 200549005: Adding a successor trustee preserves a trust's GST exemption
The trustees and beneficiaries of a trust that was irrevocable by September 25, 1985, proposed adding another successor trustee under a state law agreement. They sought assurance that the change…
PLR 200549004: Company may revoke its foreign levy safe harbor election
A domestic corporate group had elected a safe harbor method for measuring foreign taxes paid to a country where it operated. After a reorganization, it wanted to use a different method previously…
PLR 200549003: Late GST exemption allocations allowed for two trusts
A taxpayer funded two irrevocable trusts for his children but did not file a gift tax return or allocate his generation skipping transfer tax exemption. He said his accountant had not advised him…
PLR 200549002: Late S corporation election accepted for its intended date
A corporation intended to elect S corporation tax treatment but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under section 1362(b)(5). It ruled that the…
PLR 200549001: Spouses receive more time to allocate GST exemptions to a trust
A taxpayer funded an irrevocable trust for his children and their descendants, and he and his spouse timely filed gift tax returns to split the gifts. Their accountant inadvertently failed to…
PLR 200548035: Family trust company can serve as trustee, with one income tax question deferred
A family planned to appoint a family owned trust company as trustee of several trusts for descendants. Its bylaws barred family members and other interested people from making discretionary…
PLR 200548034: Manufacturer receives a conditional pension funding waiver
A manufacturer of gas detection instruments sought relief from its pension plan's minimum funding standard after disappointing product line acquisitions, new competition, and poor plan investment…
PLR 200548033: Manufacturer receives a conditional pension funding waiver
A manufacturer of gas detection instruments sought relief from its pension plan's minimum funding standard after disappointing product line acquisitions, new competition, and poor plan investment…
PLR 200548032: IRS waives additional tax on pension funding deficiencies
A privately held manufacturer withdrew its requests for minimum funding waivers for three pension plan years. The IRS closed that request but granted waivers of the 100 percent additional tax under…
PLR 200548031: IRS waives additional tax on pension funding deficiencies
A privately held manufacturer withdrew its requests for minimum funding waivers for two pension plan years. The IRS closed that request but granted waivers of the 100 percent additional tax under §…
PLR 200548030: IRA rollover deadline waiver denied after deposit into an ordinary bank account
An IRA owner withdrew funds to avoid investment losses and deposited them the next day into an ordinary insured bank account. The owner never told the bank the money came from an IRA or asked it to…
PLR 200548029: Custodian error earns two IRA owners a rollover deadline waiver
Two former employees asked their IRA custodian to move distributions into new IRAs invested in certificates of deposit. The custodian mistakenly placed the funds in ordinary accounts and admitted…
PLR 200548028: Beneficiary may receive inherited pension benefits through a variable annuity
A deceased pension participant named his son and daughter as equal beneficiaries. The plan trustee proposed buying a nontransferable variable annuity for the daughter's share and then transferring…
PLR 200548027: Son may receive inherited pension benefits through a variable annuity
A deceased pension participant named his son and daughter as equal beneficiaries. The plan trustee proposed buying a nontransferable variable annuity for the son's share and then transferring the…
PLR 200548026: Foundation may receive a family partnership interest under stated limits
A private foundation was due to receive a limited interest in a family partnership from a charitable remainder trust. The IRS ruled that the foundation would include the interest in its minimum…
PLR 200548025: Hospital system merger preserves exemption and public charity status
A charitable health care holding company, nursing home, and physician practice planned to merge into a related hospital corporation. The surviving organization would continue their activities,…
PLR 200548024: Combining employee benefit trusts preserves exemption and avoids unrelated business income
A sponsor planned to merge two employee benefit trusts into a third trust after their members became eligible for benefits from the third trust. The transferred assets would pay permitted benefits,…
PLR 200548023: Early unitrust termination avoids self-dealing and termination tax
The trustee of a charitable remainder unitrust proposed to end it early and divide its assets between the individual income beneficiary and the charitable remainder beneficiary. The trustee would…
TAM 200548022: Acquisition target fees belong on the targets' final returns
A corporate group acquired two companies and initially amortized some acquisition related fees as start-up costs. During an audit, it sought an immediate deduction for the full amount, including…
PLR 200548021: Planned LLC agreement will not create a second class of S corporation stock
An S corporation planned to convert under state law to a limited liability company that would remain taxed as a corporation. A prior ruling addressed the conversion and said the S election would…
PLR 200548020: Couple receives more time to combine rental real estate activities
A married couple wanted to elect to treat all their rental real estate interests as one activity for the passive loss rules. Their tax preparer told them about the election but failed to include the…
PLR 200548019: IRS cannot extend statutory deadline for charitable trust reformation
An estate sought to reform a trust so its charitable remainder would qualify for an estate tax deduction. The trustee's first attorney filed the estate tax return late and did not seek an extension;…
PLR 200548018: Consolidating similar trusts preserves tax attributes
A beneficiary proposed to combine five similar trusts into two trusts to reduce administration costs. The plan tracked each original trust's share and termination date so beneficiaries would keep…
PLR 200548017: Estate receives 60 days to make reverse QTIP election
An estate elected qualified terminable interest property treatment for a marital trust but omitted the separate reverse QTIP election for generation-skipping transfer tax purposes. The omission came…
PLR 200548016: New corporate group gets 90 days to elect consolidated filing
A corporation acquired a subsidiary and formed a new affiliated group but failed to make a valid election to file a consolidated federal income tax return for its first year. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200548015: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A newly incorporated company intended to be treated as an S corporation from its incorporation date but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and…
PLR 200548014: Gift to ineligible shareholder causes an inadvertent S election termination
Two shareholders gave S corporation shares to a person who was ineligible to hold them, causing the S election to terminate. The company discovered the problem later and took corrective steps. The…
PLR 200548013: Single-owner entity gets more time to elect corporate tax treatment
A domestic entity with one owner intended to elect treatment as an association taxable as a corporation from its formation date but missed the filing deadline. Without an election, a domestic…
PLR 200548012: Charter violation does not end corporation's S status
An S corporation discovered that more people held its stock than its articles of incorporation permitted. It corrected the state law violation and represented that it never lost its corporate…
PLR 200548011: S corporation receives 60 days to elect QSub treatment
An S corporation wholly owned a subsidiary and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary treatment for it, but missed the filing deadline. The IRS granted 60 days from the ruling date to…
PLR 200548010: Estate gets more time to elect family business deduction
An estate held interests in a family partnership and corporation but its tax adviser failed to tell the executor about an election for the qualified family-owned business interest deduction. 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.