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 200538006: Missed trust election treated as inadvertent S termination
An S corporation shareholder placed shares in a trust and later died. The trust’s income beneficiary did not timely elect qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) treatment, causing the corporation’s S…
PLR 200538005: Partnership conversion leaves tax status and EIN intact
A general partnership planned to convert to a limited partnership under state law while continuing the same business and keeping each partner’s share of profits, losses, debt, and capital unchanged.…
PLR 200538004: Public utility insurance pool’s income excluded under section 115
A captive insurer formed by a public utility association pooled insurance risks for member utilities. Membership and distributions were limited to qualifying public entities, and the IRS found that…
PLR 200538003: S election relief where IRS had no filing record
A corporation’s president said a Form 2553 to elect S corporation status had been prepared and mailed, but the IRS had no record of the filing. The IRS found reasonable cause for the failure to make…
PLR 200538002: Entity gets extra time to elect disregarded status
A foreign partnership formed an entity that later converted to a different legal form. The entity inadvertently failed to elect treatment as disregarded from the conversion date. The IRS found that…
PLR 200538001: Two classes of stock did not prevent S status relief
A corporation elected S status while it had common and preferred stock with different liquidation rights. That meant it had two classes of stock and its S election was ineffective. The corporation…
PLR 200537045: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A newly incorporated company intended to be taxed as an S corporation from its incorporation date but did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted…
PLR 200537044: Separate IRA trusts may use their beneficiaries’ life expectancies
An IRA owner named nine separate trusts as beneficiaries and died before the required beginning date for distributions. The IRS ruled that assets in each trust would not be included in its primary…
IRS letter 200537043: Annuity payment question left open pending more facts
A taxpayer asked how payments from an annuity contract should be taxed. The IRS explained that regular annuity payments generally include a tax-free return of investment, while amounts withdrawn…
PLR 200537042: Spin off shares retain employer stock treatment in retirement plan
A company spun off a subsidiary, and the parent’s employee stock ownership plan received shares of the subsidiary. The IRS ruled that those shares would remain employer corporation securities for…
PLR 200537041: Transferred spin off shares keep employer stock treatment and basis
After a company spun off a subsidiary, employees of the subsidiary moved to a new retirement plan that would hold shares of both companies. The IRS ruled that the former parent’s shares transferred…
PLR 200537040: Bank’s missing IRA check leads to rollover deadline relief
An IRA owner asked her bank to send funds for a rollover, but said the first check never arrived. The bank’s records showed an incorrect owner name and no mailing address, and the first check was…
PLR 200537039: Mistaken death benefit advice leads to IRA rollover waiver
A surviving spouse received two checks from her late husband's IRA. An insurance company salesman told her they were nontaxable death benefits, so she did not roll the money into her own IRA within…
PLR 200537038: Technology center rents support a foundation's charitable mission
A charitable foundation built technology and training centers in an economically distressed area. It asked whether renting space to market rate tenants, using borrowed funds for development, and…
PLR 200537037: Church parking land qualifies for the 15 year development rule
A church bought two parcels with borrowed money for a planned expansion and leased the land for public parking when church was not in session. It asked whether the land qualified for the special…
PLR 200537036: Limited coverage for former dependents preserves VEBA exemption
A tax exempt employee benefit association wanted to extend group insurance coverage to former employees who retired without retirement benefits and to adult former dependents of eligible employees.…
PLR 200537035: Foundation may count a staged building grant when set aside
A private foundation proposed to reserve funds for a grant to renovate a building on another charitable organization's campus. It planned five annual installments, with payments tied to construction…
TAM 200537034: Synthetic fuel facilities were in service before July 1998
A taxpayer built three facilities to make synthetic fuel from coal and needed to know whether they were placed in service before July 1, 1998, a cutoff in the section 29 credit rules. The IRS…
CCA 200537033: Railroad business ceased to be an employer for tax purposes
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 200537032: Railroad business ceased to be an employer for tax purposes
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 200537031: Business is outside railroad employer classification
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a business was not an employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance laws. IRS counsel reviewed that opinion and the board's…
CCA 200537030: Business became a railroad employer for tax purposes
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 200537029: Counsel analyzes six year assessment period for overstated basis
A partnership reported all proceeds from selling business property but may have overstated the property's basis after a partnership interest transaction. IRS counsel was asked whether that possible…
PLR 200537028: LLC receives time to file corporation and S elections
An LLC's owner intended to elect corporate tax classification and S corporation status from the LLC's formation date, but the LLC did not timely file the required forms. The IRS found that the LLC…
PLR 200537027: Late GST exemption allocation receives filing extension
A taxpayer and spouse created a trust and said they allocated generation skipping transfer (GST) exemption to its initial funding. When the taxpayer later transferred more cash and stock, a tax…
PLR 200537026: IRS rules on contributed debt in corporate restructuring
As part of a court approved bankruptcy plan, two foreign corporate shareholders contributed loans owed by a U.S. subsidiary during a restructuring of its ownership. The IRS ruled that one loan was a…
PLR 200537025: Trust division preserves GST exemption without taxable exchange
A family sought to separate one grandson's share from a trust created before the generation skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, so his share could follow a different investment policy. A state…
PLR 200537024: Former resident avoids tax avoidance presumption, but receives no finding on purpose
A former U.S. lawful permanent 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 200537023: Former resident avoids tax avoidance presumption, but receives no finding on purpose
A former U.S. lawful permanent 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 200537022: Taxpayer receives time to file dual consolidated loss election
A taxpayer prepared its own federal income tax return and omitted a required election and agreement concerning dual consolidated losses of two entities. A review after filing found the omission; the…
PLR 200537021: More time to contest a dual consolidated loss triggering event
A taxpayer sold the operating assets of two entities to an unrelated foreign buyer. After filing its return, it discovered it had missed documents needed to rebut a presumed triggering event under…
PLR 200537020: Charitable lead unitrust funding earns gift deduction without estate inclusion
A married couple planned to fund an irrevocable trust that would pay a charitable foundation 9 percent of the trust's annual value for 15 years, then distribute the remainder to grandchildren. The…
PLR 200537019: Estate must report annuity income and correct its tax year
An estate surrendered a deferred annuity inherited from the decedent and planned to distribute the remaining estate to ten charities. The IRS ruled that the annuity's value at death above the…
PLR 200537018: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation's shareholder intended to elect S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but the corporation missed the filing deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 200537017: Foreign entity gets time to elect disregarded status
A trust owned all of a foreign entity and intended to elect to have that entity disregarded for U.S. federal tax purposes. A miscommunication caused the entity to miss the Form 8832 filing deadline.…
PLR 200537016: Lower tier partnership may make late basis adjustment election
After a partner in an upper tier partnership died, that partnership made a section 754 election to adjust partnership property basis. The lower tier entity, in which it held an interest,…
PLR 200537015: Entity may file late partnership classification election
An entity intended to elect partnership classification for federal income tax purposes from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. It asked the IRS for an extension under Treasury…
PLR 200537014: Commuter rail district qualifies as a political subdivision
A commuter rail district formed as a municipal corporation under state law asked whether it was a political subdivision for federal tax purposes. The district could operate and regulate a railroad,…
PLR 200537013: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but it missed the filing deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section…
PLR 200537012: S status restored after trust beneficiary's marriage
Several electing small business trusts held shares of an S corporation. A beneficiary's marriage made a nonresident alien spouse a potential current beneficiary of the trusts, which terminated the…
PLR 200537011: Research credit group may revoke alternative incremental method
A corporation and its controlled group had elected the alternative incremental research credit method. They asked to revoke that election for a later tax year and subsequent years. The IRS granted…
PLR 200537010: Employee stock bonus plan does not create second S stock class
An S corporation proposed an incentive stock bonus plan for key employees. It would grant options to buy stock at fair market value and could repurchase a departing employee's vested shares at fair…
PLR 200537009: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation treatment from a requested date, but it missed the filing deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section 1362(b)(5). It…
PLR 200537008: LLC may make late section 754 election after partner's death
An LLC missed the deadline to make a section 754 election for the year one of its partners died. Such an election can adjust the basis of partnership property after a transfer of a partnership…
PLR 200537007: Relief covers possible S termination during partnership conversion
An S corporation converted under state law to a limited partnership that elected corporate tax classification. Its corporate general partner may have been an ineligible S shareholder, and the…
PLR 200537006: Public ambulance authority's income is excluded under section 115
Local governments created an authority to provide ambulance and other emergency medical services across their county. The authority pooled funding and operations, received member subsidies and…
PLR 200537005: Foreign parent's reporting does not trigger executive pay deduction cap
A foreign parent company and its U.S. subsidiaries asked whether the executive compensation deduction limit in section 162(m) applied to their employees. The foreign parent included a compensation…
PLR 200537004: LLC receives time for corporate classification and S elections
An LLC intended to be treated as an S corporation from its formation date but missed both the corporate classification and S election filing deadlines. The IRS found that the LLC qualified for…
PLR 200537003: Parent receives late S and subsidiary election relief
A corporation intended to become an S corporation when it first had shareholders but missed the election filing deadline. It later filed an election for its wholly owned subsidiary to be a qualified…
PLR 200537002: Service intensive commercial rents are not passive S income
An S corporation leased commercial real estate and asked whether the rent was passive investment income under section 1362. It paid for maintenance and utilities and provided security, cleaning,…
PLR 200537001: Missing trust elections do not end requested S treatment
Two trusts held shares in a corporation that elected S status, but their income beneficiaries did not timely file qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) elections. The IRS concluded that the missing…
CCA 200536032: Counsel recommends redeeming two foreclosed lots to protect tax liens
IRS counsel considered whether federal tax liens survived a trustee's foreclosure sale of two lots or whether the IRS should redeem them. A first deed of trust had priority over the tax liens on one…
PLR 200536031: IRS approves ESOP loan repayment and account transfers on plan termination
A company planned to terminate its leveraged employee stock ownership plan after store closures and falling employee participation. It would redeem enough unallocated company shares to repay an…
PLR 200536030: State pension contributions qualify for employer pick-up treatment
A state pension system asked about contributions that participating public employers would take from members' pay and pay into a defined benefit plan. The state had changed its rules so some…
IRS determination 200536029: IRS returns an annuity ruling request without a ruling
An annuity recipient asked the IRS for a ruling on how much of each payment could be excluded from income. The IRS returned the request and the $95 fee without issuing a ruling because it could not…
PLR 200536028: IRS approves ESOP loan repayment and account transfers on plan termination
A company planned to terminate its leveraged employee stock ownership plan after store closures and falling employee participation. It would redeem enough unallocated company shares to repay an…
PLR 200536027: Foundation's school program may work alongside a corporate donor's program
A private foundation offered free online educational resources and teacher training. A corporate donor that was a disqualified person would donate funds and employee volunteer time while running its…
IRS determination 200536026: IRS denies business league exemption to an entrepreneurship network
An organization that arranged meetings among entrepreneurs, investors, and service providers sought exemption as a business league under section 501(c)(6). The IRS denied the application. It found…
IRS determination 200536025: IRS denies exemption to a workers' compensation insurance trust
A trust formed by participating employers to fund workers' compensation coverage sought tax exemption under sections 501(c)(27) and 501(c)(6). The IRS denied both grounds. For section 501(c)(27), it…
PLR 200536024: Public golf course supports a youth charity's exempt purpose
A charity taught young people life skills through golf and planned to lease a city golf course. It would offer youth programs with nominal fees and scholarships, while keeping course play available…
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.