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 200529004: Foreign charitable grant exempt from withholding
A U.S. private foundation proposed a grant to a foreign nonprofit for a charitable project. Some grant funds could pay for travel and activities in the United States, but the grantee would provide…
PLR 200529003: More time to file dual resident loss elections
A taxpayer's accounting firm failed to tell it to file election agreements and annual certifications for separate units covered by the dual resident loss regulations. The taxpayer sought an…
PLR 200529002: Extra time to file missing accounting method form copy
A taxpayer timely attached the original Form 3115 to its return to request an accounting method change, but its accountant failed to file the required duplicate with the IRS national office. The…
PLR 200529001: Late duplicate accounting method form allowed
A taxpayer attached Form 3115 to its timely return to request an accounting method change for mixed service and other costs under Code section 263A. Its accountant inadvertently failed to file the…
PLR 200528035: Inherited retirement accounts may be transferred, but distributions use the oldest trust beneficiary's life expectancy
A deceased account holder named a trust as beneficiary of an IRA and a section 403(b) account. The trust allocated interests to a subtrust for five nieces and nephews. The IRS treated one nephew as…
PLR 200528034: Inherited retirement accounts may be transferred, but distributions use the oldest trust beneficiary's life expectancy
A deceased account holder named a trust as beneficiary of an IRA and a section 403(b) account. The trust allocated interests to a subtrust for five nieces and nephews. The IRS treated one…
PLR 200528033: Inherited retirement accounts may be transferred, but distributions use the oldest trust beneficiary's life expectancy
A deceased account holder named a trust as beneficiary of an IRA and a section 403(b) account. The trust allocated interests to a subtrust for five nieces and nephews. The IRS treated one…
PLR 200528032: Inherited retirement accounts may be transferred, but distributions use the oldest trust beneficiary's life expectancy
A deceased account holder named a trust as beneficiary of an IRA and a section 403(b) account. The trust allocated interests to a subtrust for five nieces and nephews. The IRS treated one…
PLR 200528031: Inherited retirement accounts may be transferred, but distributions use the oldest trust beneficiary's life expectancy
A deceased account holder named a trust as beneficiary of an IRA and a section 403(b) account. The trust allocated interests to a subtrust for five nieces and nephews. The IRS treated the oldest…
PLR 200528030: Charity's transfer of endowment assets to its supporting organization preserves exemption and avoids unrelated business income
A charity that runs residential foster care programs proposed to transfer cash, investments, and unencumbered real estate to its supporting organization. The supporting organization was formed to…
PLR 200528029: Business league's indirect investment in an online library does not create unrelated business income
A tax exempt professional association invested through a holding company in a for-profit joint venture that offered an online reference library. The library served the association's members and…
PLR 200528028: Credit counseling organization denied tax exemption for its debt management business
A credit counseling organization applied for tax exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3). It charged clients to enroll in and maintain debt management plans and expected much of its support to come from…
PLR 200528027: Insurance company in liquidation keeps temporary tax exemption
A court-appointed receiver asked whether an insolvent insurance company could remain exempt under IRC § 501(c)(15) while making final distributions and closing its receivership estate. The company…
TAM 200528026: Stock issuance ends a health insurer's special tax benefits for the entire year
A health insurer converted from a nonprofit corporation without stock to a for-profit stock corporation and later issued shares. The IRS concluded that the stock issuance was a material change in…
CCA 200528025: IRS agrees a business became a railroad tax employer
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a business had become an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. After reviewing that opinion and…
CCA 200528024: Assumed lease payments increase basis in purchased notes for an overlapping period
A corporation acquired three promissory notes and leasehold rights, paying cash and assuming lease payment obligations. The IRS advised that the notes' adjusted basis included the cash paid and the…
PLR 200528023: Settlement of employee life insurance claims is taxable income
A corporation had received death benefits from life insurance policies on employees who died. Their estates and heirs later settled claims that the corporation had no insurable interest in those…
PLR 200528022: City payments to bury power lines qualify as capital contributions
An electric utility asked how to treat city payments for moving overhead power lines underground. The city's program aimed to improve public safety and the appearance of the community, and the…
PLR 200528021: S corporation's conversion to a corporate-taxed LLC qualifies as a reorganization
An S corporation proposed to convert under state law into a limited liability company that would elect to be taxed as a corporation effective on the conversion date. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200528020: Estate receives more time to allocate generation-skipping tax exemption
A decedent had made transfers to a trust but did not file gift tax returns allocating generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to two of them. The decedent's tax advisor had failed to advise…
PLR 200528019: Estate gets extension for timberland valuation and family business elections
An estate whose principal asset was timberland filed a timely estate tax return without elections for special use valuation under IRC § 2032A or a family-owned business deduction under § 2057. The…
PLR 200528018: Insurer's life policy error qualifies for reasonable-error relief
A life insurer offered policies that could pay an additional amount when surrendered early, but it had omitted that amount when measuring cash surrender value under IRC § 7702. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200528017: Foreign trust payments avoid U.S. dividend and interest reporting
A trustee of foreign trusts asked whether foreign corporations had to report dividend and interest payments deposited into U.S. bank accounts held by the trusts, and whether the trustee had to…
PLR 200528016: Pro rata trust division preserves tax status and asset basis
Trustees proposed to divide a testamentary trust into four successor trusts, each holding a pro rata share for a current beneficiary. The original trust was irrevocable by September 25, 1985, and…
PLR 200528015: Grantor gets more time to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A grantor created a trust and retained an interest that later expired. Counsel initially advised that the trust was not a generation-skipping transfer (GST) trust, so the grantor did not elect out…
PLR 200528014: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A newly incorporated business intended to elect S corporation status but did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief under IRC § 1362(b)(5). It…
PLR 200528013: IRS affirms earlier acquisition ruling after proposed restructuring
A taxpayer asked the IRS to supplement an earlier ruling concerning an acquisition. After the acquisition, the parties sold several acquired subsidiaries and proposed further steps involving a new…
PLR 200528012: Late S election granted from corporation's formation date
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date but failed to file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and granted relief under…
PLR 200528011: Trust termination does not defeat investment purpose of condemnation replacement property
A testamentary trust expected compensation for condemned real estate and planned to buy replacement property for investment. Its governing terms required the trust to end on a fixed date, when some…
PLR 200528010: Spouses receive more time to allocate GST exemptions to trust gifts
A husband and wife made gifts of company stock to two trusts and reported them as split gifts on their gift tax returns. Their law firm failed to allocate either spouse's generation-skipping…
PLR 200528009: Four-way trust division preserves GST exemption and avoids taxable transfers
A court ordered a trust created before September 25, 1985, to be divided pro rata into four trusts for four grandchildren and their descendants. The IRS ruled that the division would preserve the…
PLR 200528008: Real estate subsidiary's commissions are not member income to its parent association
A taxable property owners association owned a real estate brokerage subsidiary that received commissions for helping association members sell or rent their homes. The association asked whether the…
PLR 200528007: Estate gets time for reverse QTIP election and GST exemption allocation
An estate elected qualified terminable interest property treatment for two trusts but omitted a reverse QTIP election and an allocation of the decedent's generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax…
PLR 200528006: Ineligible shareholder does not defeat corrected S election
A corporation's S election was invalid because one shareholder was ineligible when the election took effect. After its tax advisors discovered the problem, the corporation took steps to make that…
PLR 200528005: Late trust election receives relief for S corporation status
An S corporation shareholder died, and the shareholder's estate transferred its stock to a trust intended to qualify as a qualified subchapter S trust (QSST). The trust beneficiary missed the QSST…
PLR 200528004: State cleanup tax credit income excluded from REIT income tests
A real estate developer planned to elect REIT status while building a project on land contaminated by an oil spill. State tax credits for cleaning up and developing the site were expected to…
PLR 200528003: Magazine subscription commissions qualify as circulation expenses
A magazine publisher paid sales agents commissions for new and renewed subscriptions and had been capitalizing those costs over each subscription term. The IRS concluded that the commissions were…
PLR 200528002: Late historic status application accepted for rehabilitation credit
A property owner restored a historic building but did not apply for certification of its historic status before placing it in service. The owner said a longtime accountant had not explained the…
PLR 200528001: Mutual funds may revoke calendar year distribution election
Two regulated investment company funds had elected to use their December 31 tax year to calculate capital gain distributions under IRC § 4982. They asked to revoke that election because it had…
PLR 200527026: Bank withholding error qualifies for IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner asked to transfer funds from five IRAs into two new IRAs. The original custodian treated the transfer as taxable and withheld federal income tax, leaving part of the intended transfer…
PLR 200527025: Withheld IRA transfer funds receive rollover deadline waiver
An IRA owner requested a direct transfer from two IRAs to a new IRA, but the original custodian treated the transfer as taxable and withheld federal income tax. Only the amount remaining after…
PLR 200527024: Bank error permits late IRA rollover from checking account
An IRA owner intended to reinvest a maturing certificate of deposit within her IRA, but a bank representative caused the funds to be distributed into her checking account. She did not realize the…
PLR 200527023: Employer paid public pension contributions excluded from current income
A public employee retirement system asked how mandatory employee contributions would be taxed when participating government employers paid them on employees' behalf. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200527022: Employee family scholarships meet private foundation grant rules
A private foundation proposed to fund scholarships for children and relatives of employees through a public charity's existing competition. The charity selected finalists through testing and…
Determination 200527021: Private school denied tax exemption
The IRS issued a final adverse ruling on a private school's claim for federal income tax exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3). It said the school had not established that it operated in a racially…
PLR 200527020: Conservation trust spending qualifies despite developer land ownership
A private operating foundation planned conservation, education, and public access work on a reserve partly owned by a company that substantially supported the foundation. The IRS ruled that payments…
PLR 200527019: County affiliated charity excused from Form 990 filing
A tax exempt organization created by a county finances public facilities for that county. County officials make up its board, approve its expenses, and receive its annual audit; the county would…
PLR 200527018: Scholarship procedures approved with limits on special awards
A private foundation proposed to fund scholarships for children and relatives of an employer's workers through a public charity's competition. Independent committees would choose recipients, usually…
PLR 200527017: Finalist scholarships for employees' children approved
A private foundation proposed to fund scholarships for employees' children through a public charity's existing competition. Students had to reach finalist status through testing and academic…
CCA 200527016: Business found outside Railroad Retirement Tax Act coverage
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a business was not a covered employer under the Railroad Retirement Act or the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. After reviewing the board's…
PLR 200527015: Late election to waive consolidated loss carryback allowed
A consolidated corporate group intended to give up the carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss, but its timely filed return did not include a valid election. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200527014: State school bond guarantee fund excluded from replacement proceeds
A public school district planned to issue bonds backed by a state constitutional trust fund for public schools. It asked whether the guarantee would make assets in that fund replacement proceeds of…
PLR 200527013: Actively managed farmland rent is not passive investment income
An S corporation planned to lease farmland to multiple tenants while sharing operating costs and taking part in major farming decisions. Its president would also spend substantial time on the…
PLR 200527012: After tax disability premiums make benefits excludable
An employer planned to let employees choose, before each disability insurance plan year, whether premiums would be paid on a pretax basis or included in their taxable income. The choice would cover…
PLR 200527011: Foreign entity gets more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity changed from a form treated as a corporation under the federal classification rules to one eligible to choose its tax classification. It had one owner and intended to elect…
PLR 200527010: Late disregarded entity election receives 60 day extension
A company owned by another company intended to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from its owner, but did not file Form 8832 through inadvertence. The IRS concluded that the requirements for…
PLR 200527009: State deficit bond funds excluded from replacement proceeds
A state issued bonds to cover a continuing budget deficit and asked whether money in its general, special, and budget accounts would count as replacement proceeds under the tax exempt bond arbitrage…
PLR 200527008: Trust reformation preserves generation skipping tax inclusion ratio
A couple created trusts for their descendants, allocating generation skipping tax exemption to one trust. A drafting error could have sent a deceased child's separate trust share to another family's…
PLR 200527007: Trust division and merger preserve tax treatment
Two old family trusts were to be divided into separate shares for two descendant lines, then matching shares merged into one trust for each line. The plan addressed ambiguities in the wills while…
PLR 200527006: Coal fuel partnership retains production credit after ownership changes
A partnership that owned a coal based synthetic fuel facility sought confirmation of earlier IRC § 29 credit rulings after sales of partnership interests. The IRS ruled that fuel made by 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.