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 200548009: Taxpayer gets more time to file dual consolidated loss rebuttal documents
A company transferred the stock of an entity that had previously generated deducted dual consolidated losses. Its former tax advisers had not explained that the transfer could trigger recapture or…
PLR 200548008: Corporation can make late S election after showing reasonable cause
A corporation's shareholders intended it to be an S corporation from a specified date, but the company did not file Form 2553 on time. Based on its submissions, the IRS found reasonable cause for…
PLR 200548007: Company gets more time for dual consolidated loss filings
A domestic company had foreign entities that incurred dual consolidated losses over several tax years. Its advisers had not told it that elections, agreements, and annual certifications were needed…
PLR 200548006: LLC receives relief for missed corporate classification and S elections
A limited liability company intended to be taxed as an S corporation but filed neither the election to be classified as a corporation nor the S corporation election. The IRS gave it 60 days to file…
PLR 200548005: Earthquake victims get more time to elect prior-year loss deduction
A married couple suffered an earthquake loss in an area later approved for federal disaster assistance. They wanted to elect under § 165(i) to deduct the loss in the year before the earthquake.…
PLR 200548004: Subsidiary REIT may use functional currency rules to assess euro operations
A U.S. real estate investment trust planned a subsidiary that would make euro-denominated loans, conduct its activities in euros, and keep its books in euros. Ordinarily a domestic corporation uses…
PLR 200548003: Couple's estate and surviving spouse may allocate GST exemption late
A married couple gave assets to three trusts for their children and descendants. Their accountant omitted some transfers from the original gift tax returns and then failed to allocate either…
PLR 200548002: LLC gets more time to elect partnership basis adjustment
An owner of an LLC treated as a partnership died, and the owner's interest passed to two people. The LLC's tax adviser had failed to recommend a § 754 election for the year of the transfer. The IRS…
PLR 200548001: Company gets 45 days to correct dual consolidated loss filings
A company and its advisers found missing or inaccurate dual consolidated loss filings while reviewing prior years after a triggering event. They attributed the errors to uncertainty about the filing…
PLR 200547024: Surviving spouse cannot roll over funds withdrawn before spouse's death
A husband arranged for his wife's IRA custodian to distribute her entire account while she was still alive and in a nursing home. He deposited the check in their joint checking account, and she died…
PLR 200547023: IRA owner receives waiver after misunderstanding rollover deadline
An IRA owner withdrew money and believed she had 90 days to put it back, based on a prior transaction and a conversation with an employee of the IRA custodian. She tried to redeposit part of the…
PLR 200547022: Caregiving emergency supports late IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner intended to roll part of a distribution into another IRA within 60 days. During that period, her mother-in-law suffered a severe stroke and the taxpayer became her primary caregiver…
PLR 200547021: Delayed insurance proceeds justify IRA rollover waiver
A homeowner used money from his IRA to cover expenses after a hurricane damaged his house, expecting to replace it with insurance proceeds. The insurer sent a check jointly payable to him and his…
Determination 200547020: Deadline modified for pension funding waiver security agreement
The IRS notified a taxpayer that it had modified an earlier conditional waiver of a pension plan's minimum funding standard. The change moved the deadline for reaching an agreement with the Pension…
Determination 200547019: Pension plan receives conditional funding amortization extension
A multiple employer pension plan sought more time to amortize unfunded liabilities. The IRS approved a seven year extension for four actuarial loss bases, leaving repayment periods of 9, 10, 11, and…
Determination 200547018: IRS waives excise tax on two pension plan liquidity shortfalls
A company asked the IRS to waive the 10 percent excise tax for liquidity shortfalls in the first two quarters of its multiple employer pension plan's year. The plan's actuary had calculated the…
Determination 200547017: Pension plan receives conditional minimum funding waiver
A family-owned wholesale distributor sought relief from its pension plan's minimum funding standard after business losses strained its finances. The IRS granted a conditional waiver under section…
Determination 200547016: IRS revokes social club's tax exemption retroactively
The IRS revoked an organization's federal income tax exemption as a social club under section 501(c)(7), effective from a redacted date. The agency said the organization had not established that it…
Determination 200547015: IRS proposes adverse action on organization's exempt status
The IRS told an organization that an examination led it to propose changing the organization's exempt status. The letter says the examination report was enclosed, but that report is absent from the…
Determination 200547014: Social club exemption revoked after no response to IRS report
The IRS issued a final letter revoking an organization's section 501(c)(7) social club exemption retroactively. It said the organization had not shown that it continued to meet the requirements for…
Determination 200547013: IRS denies section 501(c)(3) exemption claim
The IRS issued a final adverse ruling on an organization's claim of exemption under section 501(c)(3). It said the organization had not established that it was organized and operated exclusively for…
CCA 200547012: Incomplete Fifth Amendment tax forms do not start assessment clock
A taxpayer filed Forms 1040 with asterisks instead of key income and tax figures and invoked the Fifth Amendment. Chief Counsel concluded that the original forms were not valid returns because the…
CCA 200547011: One dollar refunds leave larger protective claims pending
A taxpayer filed protective FICA refund claims seeking a nominal $1 each while stating that the actual potential refunds were much larger and depended on pending litigation. The IRS refunded or…
PLR 200547010: Consolidating family trusts preserves tax treatment of assets
A beneficiary proposed combining five family trusts into two to reduce administration costs. The trusts had similar beneficiary rights but could terminate on different dates, so the plan preserved…
PLR 200547009: IRS grants more time for dual consolidated loss filings
A consolidated group used losses from foreign entities it treated as disregarded for U.S. tax purposes. Its tax director said he did not know those losses required dual consolidated loss elections…
PLR 200547008: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from a specified date, but the election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief under section…
PLR 200547007: Employee stock purchase plan keeps qualification after eligibility change
A company asked whether its employee stock purchase plan would still qualify under section 423 after it changed who could participate. The amendment would exclude certain people treated as…
PLR 200547006: Former chief executive is outside executive pay deduction cap
A company's chief executive resigned that office and his board seat but remained an employee for the rest of the year. The company asked whether he was still a covered employee for the section…
PLR 200547005: IRS approves revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule
A utility owner sought a revised schedule for payments to a nuclear plant decommissioning fund after its public utility commission increased the decommissioning costs included in rates. The IRS…
PLR 200547004: IRS extends deadline for consolidated stock basis election
A holding company sought to make an election that would apply a former consolidated return rule when calculating its basis in a subsidiary's stock after an earlier group restructuring. The election…
PLR 200547003: Shareholder may use alternative basis recovery for stock redemption
A corporation redeemed stock from several shareholders for an initial payment and later payments tied partly to distributions from another entity. The eventual total price was uncertain, but the…
PLR 200547002: Former resident avoids tax motive presumption, purpose undecided
+A former U.S. long-term resident surrendered her green card and asked the IRS to rule that avoiding U.S. tax was not a principal purpose. Her net worth exceeded the threshold that ordinarily…
PLR 200547001: Former resident avoids tax motive presumption, purpose undecided
+A former U.S. long-term resident surrendered his green card and asked the IRS to rule that avoiding U.S. tax was not a principal purpose. His net worth exceeded the threshold that ordinarily…
PLR 200546055: Family trust company may serve as trustee with distribution safeguards
+A family proposed using a family-owned trust company as trustee of several trusts while its bylaws kept family members out of discretionary distribution decisions. The IRS ruled that, with those…
PLR 200546054: Family trust company may serve as trustee with distribution safeguards
+A family proposed appointing a family-owned trust company as trustee of numerous trusts while its bylaws kept family members out of discretionary distribution decisions. The IRS ruled that, with…
PLR 200546053: Family trust company may serve as trustee with distribution safeguards
+A family proposed appointing a family-owned trust company as trustee of several trusts. The company's bylaws barred family members from discretionary distribution decisions for affected trusts. The…
PLR 200546052: Family trust company may serve as trustee with distribution safeguards
+A family proposed appointing a family-owned trust company as trustee of many trusts while keeping family members out of decisions about discretionary distributions. The IRS found that the company's…
PLR 200546051: IRA rollover deadline waived after illness and annuity delay
An IRA owner received a distribution and promptly applied to put it into an individual retirement annuity. The annuity contract arrived only four days before the normal 60 day rollover deadline, and…
PLR 200546050: Funding waivers for two plans do not restrict a separate pilot plan
A company operated three defined benefit pension plans. Two had minimum funding waivers, and it asked whether the waiver related restriction on benefit increasing amendments also applied to its…
PLR 200546049: Pension amendment does not restrict deficit reduction election
A company and union agreed in 2004 to remove a pension benefit offset for certain workers who returned from disability retirement. The company later made an alternative deficit reduction…
PLR 200546048: Widow receives rollover waiver after inherited IRA was misdirected
A widow tried to move her late husband's IRA balance into an IRA in her own name. She changed the account information and wrote that the funds should go to her IRA, but the company transferred them…
PLR 200546047: IRA withdrawal for a house does not qualify for rollover deadline waiver
A taxpayer withdrew money from his IRA for a house down payment, though he and his spouse also held a non-IRA annuity. He later concluded that using the IRA money had been more costly than using the…
PLR 200546046: Rollover waiver granted after uncashed IRA check was returned
A taxpayer withdrew IRA money to buy a home, but the purchase fell through. He mailed the uncashed distribution check back to the financial firm 60 days after the check's date. The firm refused to…
PLR 200546045: Plan rollover waiver granted after bank accepted check payable to IRA firm
A taxpayer planned a direct rollover from her retirement plan to an IRA. After losing the first check, she received a replacement payable to the IRA firm but mistakenly deposited it into a savings…
PLR 200546044: Hurricane damage supports waiver of IRA rollover deadline
A taxpayer withdrew money from an IRA to change investments and placed it in a non-IRA account, intending to redeposit it into an IRA. Three hurricanes then damaged his home and business, closed…
CCA 200546043: IRS confirms railroad employer status after Board review
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a redacted business had become an employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. After reviewing the Board's opinion and…
CCA 200546042: IRS agrees a railroad business is an employer despite contracted crews
The Railroad Retirement Board concluded that a redacted business was an employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. After reviewing the Board's opinion and information,…
CCA 200546041: IRS agrees with railroad employer finding and notes uncertain employee start date
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a redacted business had become an employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. IRS Chief Counsel reviewed the Board's…
CCA 200546040: Railroad employer name change reported without identification number
The Railroad Retirement Board sent the IRS notice of a name change for a covered railroad employer. The memorandum tells the IRS processing office that no Employer Identification Number was provided…
PLR 200546039: Late dual consolidated loss filings receive 60 day extension
A taxpayer relied on a CPA firm to review its returns, but the firm's professionals said they inadvertently failed to advise it to file a dual consolidated loss election agreement and annual…
PLR 200546038: Nuclear decommissioning funds remain qualified after utility stock sale
A utility proposed to sell the stock of a corporation that held interests in a nuclear plant and its decommissioning funds. The corporation would keep separate qualified funds for interests financed…
PLR 200546037: Nuclear plant sale preserves qualified decommissioning funds with conditions
A utility planned to sell part of its interest in a nuclear plant, with associated decommissioning funds and liabilities, to another utility. The IRS used its discretion under section 468A to treat…
PLR 200546036: Nuclear plant sale preserves qualified decommissioning funds with conditions
A utility planned to sell part of its interest in a nuclear plant, with associated decommissioning funds and liabilities, to another utility. The IRS used its discretion under section 468A to treat…
PLR 200546035: Late S corporation election accepted if filed within 60 days
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status for a redacted effective date but inadvertently failed to file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election under…
PLR 200546034: Late dual consolidated loss certifications receive filing extension
A taxpayer filed election agreements for years with dual consolidated losses but omitted the required annual certifications. Its tax manager said he had not known of the certification requirement,…
PLR 200546033: Corporation may revoke foreign tax credit safe harbor elections
A corporation and companies it acquired had elected the safe harbor method for determining foreign tax credits on levies in five countries. The corporation asked to revoke those elections beginning…
PLR 200546032: Late S election relief granted for incorporation date
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation status from its incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief under…
PLR 200546031: Late dual consolidated loss election receives 60 day extension
A taxpayer included a foreign entity's loss in its consolidated return after electing to treat the entity as disregarded for federal tax purposes. Its CPA firm's staff missed the required dual…
PLR 200546030: Fund may revoke calendar year capital gain distribution election
A regulated investment company had elected to use its calendar tax year, rather than the usual period ending October 31, to calculate capital gain income for the required distribution under section…
PLR 200546029: Bankruptcy court asbestos fund qualifies as settlement fund after funding
A company in Chapter 11 faced asbestos related injury claims and obtained a bankruptcy court order establishing a segregated fund to resolve them. It planned to transfer insurance proceeds and other…
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.