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 200543060: Foundation's asset transfer to related foundation avoids termination tax
A private foundation planned to transfer all its assets to another private foundation controlled by substantially the same trustees, then dissolve. The IRS ruled that the transfer would fall under…
CCA 200543059: Florida clerk could not redact Social Security number from tax lien notice
In 2005, IRS Chief Counsel considered whether a Florida court clerk could hide a Social Security number when making a federal tax lien notice available to the public. Florida's attorney general had…
CCA 200543058: Deficiency payment deadline starts with notice and demand
A taxpayer filed a return on time, but an IRS examination later produced a deficiency that the taxpayer did not pay within the period stated on a notice and demand. Chief Counsel explained that the…
CCA 200543057: 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 insurance laws. After reviewing the Board's opinion and…
CCA 200543056: Railroad business became a tax act employer
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a business had become an employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. After reviewing the Board's opinion and information,…
CCA 200543055: Railroad employer status report involved a name change
The Railroad Retirement Board reported that a business had ceased to be an employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. After reviewing that opinion and speaking with the…
CCA 200543054: Chief Counsel answers five IRS summons procedure questions
Revenue officers asked Chief Counsel how to identify an LLC on a summons, give notice during a trust fund recovery penalty investigation, and handle other summons procedures. Counsel advised naming…
CCA 200543053: Settlement fund owes increased interest on large tax underpayment
A court-created settlement fund contested the higher interest rate for large corporate tax underpayments, arguing that it was a trust rather than a corporation. Chief Counsel concluded that the fund…
TAM 200543052: Custom trailer delivery charges excluded from retail excise tax price
A manufacturer sold heavy trailers directly to customers who ordered them to their own specifications. It completed the trailers at a facility in Mexico, then incurred charges to import and deliver…
TAM 200543051: Refunded import duties included in income after prior cost recovery
An importer received refunds of antidumping duties it had paid on products in earlier years. It had included those duties in inventory costs and later recovered them through cost of goods sold,…
TAM 200543050: Some electric utility delivery costs must be capitalized
An electric utility argued that its transmission and distribution costs were deductible delivery expenses. The IRS advised that costs of stepping down electricity's voltage to make it usable by most…
PLR 200543049: Investment fund combination qualifies as a Type D reorganization
Two regulated investment companies combined: one transferred all its assets and liabilities to the other for matching classes of stock, distributed that stock to its shareholders, and dissolved. The…
PLR 200543048: Estate receives more time to allocate GST exemption to trust
A decedent's estate timely filed its estate tax return, but its accountant omitted the schedule allocating the decedent's generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption to a trust. The decedent's son…
PLR 200543047: Trust partition preserves grandfathered GST treatment
A trust created under a decedent's will before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax became applicable was to be divided into four subtrusts for the decedent's great-grandchildren. A court…
PLR 200543046: Changing a trust's governing law preserves GST exemption
A trust that was irrevocable before September 25, 1985 planned to change its governing state law to simplify administration with other trusts in an investment partnership. The new state's law…
PLR 200543045: Trust's move to new governing law avoids tax consequences
One of nine related trusts planned to change its governing state law so the trusts could administer their shared investment partnership more simply. The trust was irrevocable before September 25,…
PLR 200543044: Governing law change leaves trust's GST exemption intact
A trust for a grantor's spouse, son, and later beneficiaries planned to change its governing law to simplify accounting for an investment partnership shared with other trusts. The trust had been…
PLR 200543043: Trust law change causes no exchange, gift, or GST tax loss
A trustee wanted to change the law governing a trust so it could coordinate investment partnership accounting with related trusts. The trust had been irrevocable before September 25, 1985 and had…
PLR 200543042: Trust may change governing law without losing GST exemption
A trust for a grantor's son and descendants planned to change its governing law to coordinate accounting with other trusts in a shared investment partnership. The trust was irrevocable by September…
PLR 200543041: Trust's governing law change retains grandfathered GST status
A trust for a grantor's son and later beneficiaries wanted to adopt another state's governing law to ease accounting for a partnership shared with related trusts. The trust was irrevocable by…
PLR 200543040: Moving trust situs and governing law preserves GST exemption
A trust benefiting a grantor's family planned to move its situs and governing law to another state to simplify accounting for a partnership shared with other trusts. It had been irrevocable by…
PLR 200543039: Governing law change preserves older trust's GST exemption
A trust for a grantor's spouse and their descendants planned to change its governing state law to simplify investment partnership accounting with related trusts. It was irrevocable by September 25,…
PLR 200543038: Late debt discharge election denied after depreciation years closed
A partner excluded its share of a partnership's canceled debt income and filed a notice saying its treatment differed from the partnership's report. It argued that this notice also made the election…
PLR 200543037: IRS recognizes five trusts and taxes skips to grandchildren
After a spouse died, a state court construed her will to divide a nonexempt marital trust into five separate trusts for two children and three grandchildren. The IRS accepted that interpretation for…
PLR 200543036: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status effective on its incorporation date but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and granted…
PLR 200543035: Another corporation obtains late S election relief
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from the day it was incorporated, but its election was not filed by the deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause and treated the late election…
PLR 200543034: Late S election receives reasonable cause relief
A corporation missed the deadline to elect S corporation status effective from its incorporation date. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and granted relief under section 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200543033: Missed S election deadline excused for corporation
A newly incorporated company intended S corporation tax treatment from its incorporation date but filed its election late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and allowed the…
PLR 200543032: Late application to change tax year treated as timely
A corporation missed the filing deadline for Form 1128, which it used to request a change to a calendar tax year under the automatic consent procedure. It sought deadline relief shortly afterward.…
PLR 200543031: Research credit method election may be revoked
A corporation had elected to calculate the research credit using the alternative incremental research credit method for itself and its controlled group. It asked the IRS for consent to revoke that…
PLR 200543030: Late Form 1128 accepted after adviser omitted it
A corporation wanted to change its tax year while electing S corporation status. Its tax professionals told it to file a short-year return and the S election, which it did on time, but did not tell…
PLR 200543029: Inadvertently missed S election may take effect late
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation status from a specified date, but the company inadvertently failed to file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 200543028: Parent receives 45 days to file subsidiary stock loss election
A parent corporation sold all the stock of a subsidiary to an unrelated buyer and filed its group return as though it had made an election concerning recognition of a stock loss. Its tax…
PLR 200543027: Late election allowed for subsidiary stock basis on deconsolidation
A subsidiary left its parent's consolidated group when it was reincorporated in another country. The parent had missed the deadline to attach a statement seeking an exception to the usual reduction…
PLR 200543026: Controlled group gets more time for section 382 value election
A parent corporation reported an ownership change that limited its use of earlier net operating losses. It and a foreign subsidiary missed the deadline to elect to restore some subsidiary stock…
PLR 200543025: Missed trust election treated as inadvertent S status termination
An S corporation shareholder died, and shares passed under the will to a trust. The trust's beneficiary failed to elect qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) treatment, causing the company's S…
PLR 200543024: Late S election may start with business operations
A corporation began operations intending to be treated as an S corporation from that date, but inadvertently missed the Form 2553 filing deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause and allowed the…
PLR 200543023: Business split-off receives specified tax-free treatment
An S corporation's shareholders disagreed over management of its two businesses. It proposed transferring assets and liabilities to a new corporation, then giving all the new corporation's stock to…
PLR 200543022: IRS approves a revised nuclear decommissioning fund payment schedule
An electric utility requested a revised schedule of deductible payments to its nuclear plant decommissioning fund. Three public utility commissions set decommissioning costs included in the…
PLR 200543021: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund payment schedule approved
A company that owns part of a nuclear power plant sought a revised schedule of payments to its decommissioning fund after a utility commission increased the decommissioning costs collected through…
PLR 200543020: Revised nuclear plant decommissioning schedule approved
A part owner of a nuclear power plant requested a revised schedule of payments to its decommissioning fund. A public utility commission had raised the decommissioning costs collected through…
PLR 200543019: Revised decommissioning schedule approved after rate reduction
A part owner of a nuclear power plant asked to revise its decommissioning fund payment schedule after a public utility commission decreased decommissioning costs included in customer rates. The IRS…
PLR 200543018: Revised nuclear decommissioning schedule approved after rate reduction
A part owner of a nuclear power plant asked to revise its decommissioning fund payment schedule after a public utility commission decreased decommissioning costs included in customer rates. The IRS…
PLR 200543017: Late duplicate accounting method form accepted as timely
A partnership filed a Form 3115 with its timely tax return to request an automatic change in depreciation accounting method. Its accountant failed to send the required signed duplicate to the IRS…
PLR 200543016: Estate receives more time for family business deduction election
An estate did not elect the section 2057 family business interest deduction on its original estate tax return because the reported business interests did not meet the stated value threshold. An IRS…
PLR 200543015: Trust settlement preserves GST exemption without triggering gain
A trust created before the generation skipping transfer tax took effect faced litigation over whether a grandchild and her descendants were beneficiaries. The parties reached a court approved…
PLR 200543014: Foreign corporation receives more time to file branch tax consent
A foreign corporation missed the deadline for Form 8848, a consent extending the time the IRS can assess branch profits tax after a U.S. business ends. Its tax preparer later concluded that the…
PLR 200543013: Late S corporation election accepted from incorporation date
A corporation's sole shareholder intended it to be an S corporation from the date it was incorporated, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election…
PLR 200543012: Former resident gets more time to request expatriation ruling
A former long term U.S. resident did not renew a green card and missed the deadline to ask whether the resulting expatriation had a principal purpose of avoiding U.S. tax. The person said they had…
PLR 200543011: Late S corporation election recognized from formation
A corporation intended S corporation treatment from its incorporation date, but did not file its S election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under section 1362(b)(5). It…
PLR 200543010: More time granted to elect housing credit disposition bonds
A taxpayer disposed of interests in two low income housing projects but missed the deadline to file the bond forms used to avoid credit recapture on a disposition. The IRS granted 60 days from the…
PLR 200543009: Late S election allowed from start of operations
A corporation's shareholder wanted S corporation treatment, but the election was not filed on time. Although the shareholder originally wanted treatment from incorporation, the corporation requested…
PLR 200543008: Oil recovery process qualifies as a tertiary recovery method
An oil producer planned to alternate water and enriched gas injection in part of a field where the oil would not mix with the gas. The producer said the process would reduce the oil's viscosity and…
PLR 200543007: Revised nuclear decommissioning payment schedule approved
An electric utility requested a revised schedule of payments to its nuclear plant decommissioning fund. Two utility commissions had reallocated decommissioning costs among the utility's plants, and…
PLR 200543006: Revised nuclear decommissioning payment schedule approved
An electric utility requested a revised schedule of payments to its nuclear plant decommissioning fund. Two utility commissions had reallocated decommissioning costs among the utility's plants, and…
PLR 200543005: Late S corporation election recognized from formation
A corporation intended S corporation treatment from its incorporation date, but did not file its S election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under section 1362(b)(5). It…
PLR 200543004: More time granted for dual consolidated loss filings
A company with a foreign branch and hybrid entity omitted dual consolidated loss election statements and annual certifications from several years of tax returns. Its accounting firm later concluded…
PLR 200543003: Late dual consolidated loss elections get 45 day extension
A corporate group included a subsidiary's dual consolidated losses in two years of consolidated tax returns without filing the related election and agreement statements. A later review identified…
PLR 200543002: Former holding company status no longer bars dividend rate treatment
A foreign company had previously been classified as a foreign personal holding company and expected to make distributions after a 2004 tax law change took effect for its new tax year. The IRS ruled…
PLR 200543001: Division into four trusts preserves GST tax exemption
An irrevocable trust that qualified for the older trust exemption from generation skipping transfer tax proposed to close its beneficiary class and divide into four trusts for its current…
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.