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 200536023: Industry certification and patent administration income are related to exempt purpose
A tax exempt business league developed technical standards and tested products for a redacted industry. It also owned an interest in a partnership that administered patents needed to use an industry…
IRS determination 200536022: IRS denies exemption to a debt management plan provider
An applicant sought section 501(c)(3) exemption to help people with financial problems and reduce personal bankruptcy. Its proposed main activity was selling debt management plans, funded by client…
IRS determination 200536021: IRS denies exemption for an insufficiently described care program
An organization sought section 501(c)(3) exemption for services and programming connected with a planned residential care facility. A separate for profit company would build and own the facility,…
CCA 200536020: Former director's signature alone does not establish power of attorney authority
A dissolved Virginia corporation sought to contest collection of employment taxes through an attorney whose power of attorney was signed by one former director. IRS counsel advised returning the…
CCA 200536019: Unassessed advance tax payment remains with IRS after assessment deadline
A taxpayer made an advance payment of a disputed tax deficiency and interest while the assessment period was open. The parties later settled, but the IRS failed to assess the amount before the…
PLR 200536018: Trust changes create gifts and split the treatment of legal fees
A family sought to modify separate trusts for five children, including a change that would let great-grandchildren take a deceased parent's contingent share. The IRS ruled that the resulting shifts…
PLR 200536017: Stock exchange in foreign acquisition qualifies for section 367 exception
U.S. shareholders of a domestic company exchanged their shares for stock of a foreign acquirer in a merger. That exchange was treated as an indirect transfer of domestic stock to a foreign…
PLR 200536016: Estate receives more time to elect a family business deduction
An estate initially believed it did not meet the threshold for the qualified family owned business interest deduction, so it did not make the section 2057 election with its estate tax return. During…
PLR 200536015: Existing QTIP election reaches later discovered trust asset
An estate timely elected qualified terminable interest property treatment for two marital trusts on its estate tax return. After filing, it discovered a promissory note that should have funded one…
PLR 200536014: Transfer of annuity to former spouse follows annuity tax rules
A divorce agreement required monthly support payments to a former spouse even if her former husband died. After his death, his estate bought an annuity and proposed transferring it to her in…
PLR 200536013: Charitable lead trust receives annuity and income deduction rulings
A settlor proposed an irrevocable trust that would pay a fixed annual annuity to qualifying charities for a set period, then pass the remainder to the settlor's children. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200536012: Shareholder agreement preserves trusts' GST exemption
A group of trusts created before September 25, 1985 held shares in a family company that had elected S corporation treatment. The company and shareholders proposed an agreement to prevent stock…
PLR 200536011: Shareholder agreement preserves trusts' GST exemption
A group of trusts created before September 25, 1985 held shares in a family company that had elected S corporation treatment. The company and shareholders proposed an agreement to prevent stock…
PLR 200536010: Late accounting year change application treated as timely
A corporation sought to change its tax year end from July 31 to December 31, but filed Form 1128 after the deadline for its short period return. It then requested an extension to file the form. The…
PLR 200536009: Cooperative business separation qualifies as a tax-free split off
A tax-exempt agricultural cooperative proposed to separate two businesses by transferring one to another cooperative, with the second business's members receiving interests in the new cooperative.…
PLR 200536008: IRS rules on subsidiary liquidation and corporate spin off
A corporate group planned to separate two businesses from another through a series of mergers, transfers, and a distribution of stock in a controlled corporation to the parent's shareholders. The…
PLR 200536007: Court construction preserves pre-1985 trust's GST exemption
The trustee of an irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985 asked a state court to resolve ambiguities about how income and principal would be divided among descendants. The IRS found that…
PLR 200536006: Fleet card supplier is ultimate diesel fuel vendor
A local government bought undyed diesel fuel at retail stations using a fleet charge card. Under its agreement, the government acted as the card supplier's agent when it pumped the fuel: title first…
PLR 200536005: REITs receive filing extensions for subsidiary elections
Real estate investment trusts sought relief after Forms 8875 for taxable REIT subsidiary elections omitted corporations from their schedules and one election listed an effective date too far before…
PLR 200536004: Active commercial property rents are not passive investment income
An S corporation that leased commercial property asked whether its rents counted as passive investment income. It described substantial property maintenance, tenant screening, lease negotiation,…
PLR 200536003: Revised share repurchases do not trigger gain for the fund
A fund had received a ruling that it would not recognize gain when it used portfolio securities to redeem shares in proposed tender offers. After shareholder pressure, the fund replaced that plan…
PLR 200536002: Fund avoids gain on securities used for share redemptions
A closed-end regulated investment company planned a series of tender offers to address the discount at which its shares traded. It would pay shareholders who tendered shares mainly with proportional…
PLR 200536001: Late S corporation election accepted with a new filing
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from the date it was formed. Its president said a former accountant timely mailed the election form, but the IRS service center had no record of…
PLR 200535032: IRS replaces conditions on a pension funding waiver
The IRS had previously granted a company a conditional waiver of a pension plan's minimum funding standard and related excise taxes. This letter replaces the conditions in that earlier ruling. The…
PLR 200535031: Taxpayer gets more time to undo an ineligible Roth conversion
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 2003, when the income limit in effect barred the conversion. The CPA firm that prepared the joint return reported the transfer as tax free and…
PLR 200535030: Brokerage errors qualify for a late IRA rollover waiver
A taxpayer directed the transfer of money from two retirement plans into an IRA, but a financial firm placed the money in a non-IRA account after errors with its application forms and account…
Determination 200535029: Proposed rehabilitation ministry denied tax exemption
A nonprofit sought section 501(c)(3) exemption for a planned residential program offering addiction rehabilitation, counseling, education, and job training. The IRS accepted that amended articles…
TAM 200535028: Oil recovery project changes are not a significant expansion
An oil producer claimed the enhanced oil recovery credit for changes made after 1990 to a carbon dioxide injection project that had started earlier. The producer said its adjustments increased…
PLR 200535027: Extension granted for dual resident corporation filings
A taxpayer missed elections, agreements, and annual certifications required under the dual resident corporation regulations for the entities and years listed in an attached schedule. It said it had…
PLR 200535026: Unneeded QTIP election for exemption trust is void
An estate elected qualified terminable interest property treatment for both a marital trust and a separate exemption trust. The election for the exemption trust was unnecessary because the estate…
PLR 200535025: Spouses get more time to opt out of automatic GST allocation
Two spouses made transfers to a trust that held a life insurance policy for their children. When automatic allocation of generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption began to apply, they did not…
PLR 200535024: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation status to begin when the company was formed, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election…
PLR 200535023: Late GST exemption allocations allowed for two trust years
A taxpayer made transfers to a trust over five years and relied on advisers to file gift tax returns and allocate her generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption. The advisers failed to file…
PLR 200535022: Testamentary appointment preserves trust's GST tax exemption
A trust created before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect gave a beneficiary a limited power to direct where her trust share would go at death. She proposed to use that power in…
PLR 200535021: Late S election receives relief from formation date
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation status from the company's formation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under…
PLR 200535020: Research credit group may return to the standard method
A corporation and its controlled group had elected the alternative incremental research credit method. The corporation asked to revoke that election before the due date of its return for a later…
PLR 200535019: Spouses get time to allocate GST exemption to earlier gifts
A husband and wife funded an irrevocable trust and initially allocated their generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemptions to the first year's gifts. They made more transfers in later years, but…
PLR 200535018: Estate may make late GST allocations and reverse QTIP election
A decedent made cash gifts to a trust over six years, and the estate also held a marital trust for which it made a QTIP election. Tax professionals failed to allocate the decedent's…
PLR 200535017: State dissolution did not end federal corporate status
An S corporation was administratively dissolved under state law and later retroactively reinstated after a lease dispute arose. The company had kept lease obligations, and the IRS concluded that…
PLR 200535016: Entity may change classification within 60 months
A foreign eligible entity had elected to be disregarded for federal tax purposes and wanted to elect corporate treatment less than 60 months later. A new ownership group had acquired 99% of it after…
PLR 200535015: Employer medical reimbursements remain tax free after retirement
An employer's plan reimbursed employees for substantiated medical expenses not paid by another plan, with unused amounts carried forward. It proposed to let eligible retirees use their accumulated…
PLR 200535014: Foreign entity gets time to elect partnership treatment
A foreign entity owned by two corporations wanted to be classified as a partnership for U.S. tax purposes from its formation date. Because both owners had limited liability, it otherwise would be…
PLR 200535013: Taxpayer gets time to file dual resident corporation forms
A taxpayer's senior tax officer had concluded that certain dual resident corporation filing requirements did not apply to its entities and tax years, then learned that conclusion was wrong. The…
PLR 200535012: Timely disclaimers of old trust remainders avoid gift tax
A beneficiary proposed to disclaim contingent rights to the remaining property in four trusts created before 1977. She would make the disclaimers within nine months after reaching the age of…
PLR 200535011: Foreign entity may file a late partnership election
A foreign entity intended to elect partnership treatment for U.S. tax purposes but inadvertently missed the Form 8832 deadline. The IRS concluded that the entity met the standards for a…
PLR 200535010: Late Form 8832 accepted for partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect partnership treatment for federal tax purposes, but inadvertently failed to file the entity classification form on time. The IRS found that the entity met…
PLR 200535009: Limited appointments preserve a grandfathered trust's GST status
A trust created before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect gave a granddaughter a testamentary power to direct its property. She proposed to leave part to her children and appoint…
PLR 200535008: Estate gets time for QTIP election after spouse's court order
An estate filed its estate tax return without a qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) election. After that filing, a court approved the surviving spouse's election under state law to receive…
PLR 200535007: Court correction of unitrust terms does not cause self-dealing
Donors intended a charitable remainder unitrust to count gains realized after contributions as trust income, but its document omitted that direction. The trustee had administered the trust as…
PLR 200535006: Trust reformation preserves charitable deduction without gain
A decedent's trust provided benefits to his son and charitable remainders that did not initially qualify for an estate tax deduction. The son disclaimed a discretionary right to principal, and a…
PLR 200535005: Estate may allocate GST exemption to earlier trust gifts
A donor made transfers to two trusts for descendants and filed gift tax returns for them. The accountant preparing those returns failed to allocate the donor's generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax…
PLR 200535004: Group may file late election to waive loss carryback
A consolidated corporate group intended to give up the carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss, but failed to attach a valid election to its timely filed return. The IRS found that…
PLR 200535003: Spouse may allocate GST exemption to six years of gifts
A decedent made cash gifts to a trust over six years, and the decedent and spouse agreed to split the gifts on filed gift tax returns. The tax professionals preparing those returns failed to…
PLR 200535002: Transfer to a partnership causes inadvertent S termination
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a family limited partnership, an ineligible S corporation shareholder. After the problem was discovered, the shares were transferred to the…
CCA 200535001: Postal contractor payments qualify as federal payments, but a direct continuous levy was unauthorized
A revenue officer served a continuous levy on payments owed to a delinquent payroll taxpayer under contracts with the U.S. Postal Service. Chief Counsel advised that Postal Service contractor…
PLR 200534028: Municipal pension contributions picked up by the employer avoid current income tax and withholding
A municipality proposed to pay mandatory employee contributions to its qualified pension plan under a resolution that gave employees no choice to receive the amounts in cash. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200534027: Late separate line of business notice treated as timely
A company with retail and agribusiness operations wanted to test its profit sharing plan's employee deferrals by qualified separate lines of business. Its consultant had told it to file Form 5310-A,…
PLR 200534026: Settlement money replacing IRA losses qualifies for rollover
A married couple settled claims that investment advisers had mishandled both a joint account and one spouse's IRA. The settlements did not say how much compensated each account. The IRS accepted an…
PLR 200534025: University renovation loan avoids acquisition indebtedness classification
A state university borrowed to renovate buildings that it leased to third parties. Although rent from the property would secure the loan and could be used to repay it, the amended credit agreement…
PLR 200534024: Foundation set-aside for historic site restoration counts as a qualifying distribution
A private foundation planned a grant to a public charity to restore a historic site. It proposed to set aside the funds while the charity sought community support and completed renovation plans,…
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.