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 200527005: Synthetic fuel credit survives sale of partnership interests
A partnership that owned a coal based synthetic fuel plant sought confirmation of earlier IRC § 29 credit rulings after transfers of membership interests, including a 99 percent sale. The IRS…
PLR 200527004: Voting stock recapitalization leaves earlier spin off rulings intact
A company spun off under an earlier IRS ruling had promised that its management would not propose changes to its two classes of voting stock for five years. Unexpected market problems led it to plan…
PLR 200527003: Partnership's tax year election accepted after filing gap
A partnership said it had timely filed Form 8716 to elect a tax year other than its required tax year and had consistently filed returns using that year end. The IRS service center had no record of…
PLR 200527002: Ineligible shareholder receives inadvertent S election relief
A corporation's S election ended when some of its stock was transferred to an ineligible shareholder. The IRS concluded that the termination was inadvertent under IRC § 1362(f). It ruled that the…
PLR 200527001: Relief treats owners of ineligible shareholder as direct S shareholders
A corporation's S election ended when it issued shares to another S corporation, which was an ineligible shareholder. Once the problem was discovered, the ineligible corporation transferred those…
PLR 200526025: County excess benefit plan qualifies under section 415(m)
A county established a separate arrangement to pay employees the employer contributions that could not go into its governmental profit sharing plan because of the IRC § 415(c) limit. Employees could…
PLR 200526024: IRA rollover waiver denied after funds bought charitable annuities
An IRA owner withdrew funds and used nearly all of them to purchase annuities from two charities. After he died, his widow, acting as executor, asked the IRS to waive the 60-day IRA rollover…
PLR 200526023: Surviving spouse may roll over IRAs paid through estate
A deceased IRA owner's bank could not locate a beneficiary designation, so it treated her estate as the beneficiary of two IRAs. Her surviving spouse was the estate's sole executor and sole…
PLR 200526022: Pension contribution may be deducted for preceding tax year
An accrual basis taxpayer planned to fund its defined benefit pension plan with capital received from an indirect owner. It would make one contribution after the close of its 2004 tax year but…
PLR 200526021: Foundation receives five more years to sell excess business holdings
A private foundation received an entire holding company through an estate distribution. The holding company owned a business whose stock became excess business holdings for the foundation under IRC…
PLR 200526020: Private warrant placement does not create market for employee options
A company planned to sell warrants in a private placement while granting nonqualified stock options to employees. The warrants would not be listed on an exchange or quotation system and would carry…
TAM 200526019: Racetrack assets are outside theme park depreciation class
A racetrack operator sought to place property used in its motorsports facilities in the depreciation class for theme and amusement parks. The IRS concluded that the facilities did not fit that class…
CCA 200526018: Employment taxes and reporting for voluntary prison workers
Chief Counsel analyzed payments to incarcerated people who voluntarily worked in a prison industry program for prevailing wages. It treated them as employees under common law rules. Payments by a…
PLR 200526017: Estate gets 60 days to make late QTIP election
A surviving spouse's attorney omitted a qualified terminable interest property election from an estate tax return because the attorney believed the estate had too few assets to fund the spousal…
PLR 200526016: Research credit group may return to standard calculation
A corporation and its controlled group had switched from the standard method for calculating the research credit to the alternative incremental method. Before the filing deadline for a later tax…
PLR 200526015: Taxpayer gets 45 days to file dual consolidated loss statements
A taxpayer claimed dual consolidated losses on federal returns but omitted the statements required by the regulations. Its chief financial officer and outside CPA firm had reviewed the returns…
PLR 200526014: Missed trust elections treated as inadvertent S corporation termination
Shares of an S corporation passed through a shareholder's will to two trusts. Their beneficiary and advisers did not know they needed to file qualified subchapter S trust elections. When the trusts…
PLR 200526013: Late trust elections do not invalidate S corporation status
Three shareholder trusts failed to file complete elections to be electing small business trusts when a corporation sought S corporation status. Their ineligibility made the corporation's S election…
PLR 200526012: Closed farmers' cooperative cannot deduct patronage dividends
A farmers' cooperative had once auctioned crops for local farmers but stopped operating and later sold its property at a gain. It asked to distribute the gain as patronage dividends and use the…
PLR 200526011: Segregated highway fund is issuer for bond diversification test
A municipal money market fund wanted to buy state special obligation bonds payable only from a segregated highway fund funded by pledged gasoline taxes. It asked which entity counted as the bond…
PLR 200526010: Trusts may deduct income from bonds and IRAs paid to charities
Two trusts held savings bonds and inherited IRAs that were to fund charitable residuary bequests. The trusts planned to redeem some assets and distribute the proceeds to charities, while assigning…
PLR 200526009: Late S corporation election accepted for intended year
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from a specified date but missed the deadline to file its election. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under IRC § 1362(b)(5)…
PLR 200526008: Government retirement plan participants exempt from FICA
A state instrumentality offered eligible employees a defined contribution retirement plan as an alternative to state statutory plans. Its plan provided annual allocations above 7.5 percent of…
PLR 200526007: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from a specified date but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under IRC § 1362(b)(5) and ruled that…
PLR 200526006: Passive income termination of S status ruled inadvertent
An S corporation retained accumulated earnings and profits and received passive investment income above 25 percent of gross receipts for three consecutive tax years. That combination terminated its…
PLR 200526005: Passive income termination of S status ruled inadvertent
An S corporation retained accumulated earnings and profits and received passive investment income above 25 percent of gross receipts for three consecutive tax years. That combination terminated its…
PLR 200526004: Company may revoke alternative research credit election
A corporation had elected the alternative incremental method for calculating its research credit. Before the return deadline for a later year, it asked to revoke that election for that year and…
PLR 200526003: Late S corporation reelection accepted
A corporation had revoked an earlier S corporation election and later intended to elect S status again, but missed the filing deadline for the new election. The IRS found reasonable cause for the…
CCA 200526002: Home office in rental apartment building uses residential recovery period
A building owner lived in one of eight apartments and used part of that unit exclusively as a home office. The other seven apartments were rented as dwellings, and the building met the 80 percent…
CCA 200526001: Composite returns are frivolous and invalid
Chief Counsel reviewed packages styled as “Affidavit of Composite Return” that claimed wage deductions eliminated taxable income. It concluded that the packages were frivolous and did not satisfy…
PLR 200525020: Caregiver retreat denied charitable tax exemption
An organization proposed a rural retreat with short stays, relaxation, and therapy instruction for caregivers, most of whom would be paid caregivers. It also planned to make the facilities available…
PLR 200525019: Spouses granted 60 days to undo ineligible Roth IRA conversions
Two spouses converted four traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs in 1999. When their federal return was finally prepared, their combined modified adjusted gross income exceeded the $100,000 limit then…
PLR 200525018: IRA rollover deadline waived after account retitling error
A financial advisor told a taxpayer to put her accounts in joint names with her spouse, but the advisor's records failed to identify two of them as IRAs. The investment firm treated the requested…
PLR 200525017: Foundation's medical equipment set-aside counts as a qualifying distribution
A private foundation planned to reserve funds for medical equipment at a hospital abroad that treats children with lung diseases and educates doctors. Local law required government permission before…
PLR 200525016: Land set aside for church qualifies as foundation distribution
A private foundation agreed to give land to a church, but the church needed time to review title, liabilities, and liens before accepting it. The foundation recorded the land as set aside for the…
PLR 200525015: Foundation may count litigation-related set-aside as a distribution
A charitable trust classified as a private foundation had to distribute more than the annual amounts specified for its named beneficiaries to satisfy IRC § 4942. Its trustee sought court…
PLR 200525014: Early termination of charitable remainder trust avoids self-dealing tax
Two donors received lifetime income from a charitable remainder trust, with the remainder designated for a private foundation. After the trust sold its principal asset, the parties proposed ending…
PLR 200525013: REIT receives rulings on related tenant rents, shopping carts, and reimbursements
A real estate investment trust sought rulings about rents paid by its taxable REIT subsidiaries and their joint ventures, shopping cart rentals at its retail properties, and reimbursements of shared…
PLR 200525012: Governmental deferred compensation plan and trust qualify under section 457
A public instrumentality proposed a model deferred compensation plan and trust for adoption by state or local government employers. The plan restricted when participants could receive deferred pay,…
PLR 200525011: Former permanent resident's departure lacked a principal tax avoidance purpose
A former U.S. long-term resident surrendered his green card and became subject to tax on worldwide income and estate in his country of birth. His net worth exceeded the threshold that, under the law…
PLR 200525010: Cooperative may invest in lender, but investment interest is not patronage income
A cooperative that arranged card processing services for its members proposed investing in an industrial loan corporation or its holding company. It also planned to buy the lender's certificates of…
PLR 200525009: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended it to be an S corporation from the date it was incorporated, but the corporation did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late…
PLR 200525008: Division of charitable remainder trust permits gift of unitrust interest
A taxpayer proposed dividing her charitable remainder unitrust into two trusts, then giving her entire income interest in one trust to a family foundation that would also receive its remainder. The…
PLR 200525007: Insurer receives waiver for life policy premium-limit errors
A life insurer identified variable universal life policies whose premiums exceeded the guideline premium limit in IRC § 7702. Its computer system flagged the excess payments, but staff mistook the…
PLR 200525006: Parent company receives more time for foreign entity classification election
A U.S. parent company formed an entity abroad with two owners to comply with local law. It intended the entity to make a federal tax classification election effective on its formation date, but did…
PLR 200525005: Late S corporation election granted conditional relief
A corporation's sole shareholder wanted S corporation treatment from a specified date, but the corporation did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under…
PLR 200525004: Vehicle service contracts qualify as insurance contracts
A new company proposed selling vehicle service contracts through affiliated car dealers. The contracts would cover certain repair expenses from mechanical breakdowns, plus some related rental,…
PLR 200525003: Four-way trust division preserves generation-skipping tax exemption
A court ordered a trust created before September 25, 1985, for four grandchildren and their descendants to be divided proportionately into four trusts, one for each family branch. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200525002: Treaty analysis for interest earned by affiliated finance company
A foreign finance company received interest from U.S. affiliates and asked how a treaty's business activity test applied to that income. The IRS said the company's own investment activities did not…
PLR 200525001: Callable step-rate debt uses unadjusted term to allocate issuance costs
A debt issuer asked which term to use when allocating issuance costs for callable debt whose interest rate increases over time. The call date that minimizes yield could differ depending on whether…
PLR 200524036: Bank error earns waiver of IRA rollover deadline
A taxpayer asked her bank to withdraw money from an ordinary certificate of deposit, but an employee distributed the same amount from her IRA instead. She put the cashier's check in a money market…
PLR 200524035: Caregiver receives extra time to roll over unused IRA funds
A taxpayer moved her IRA balance into a non-IRA account in her daughter's name before traveling abroad to care for a seriously ill sister. She planned to roll over the money after returning, and the…
PLR 200524034: IRA owner gets more time to roll over funds placed in ordinary accounts
A 78-year-old IRA owner withdrew funds from two IRAs to consolidate them with one custodian. He meant to put the money into rollover IRAs, but it went into certificates of deposit and a checking…
PLR 200524033: Unexpected retirement plan check qualifies for a late rollover
A former employee received an unexpected check from his employer's retirement plan without an explanation of the payment or his rollover rights. He had been receiving treatment for a disability and…
PLR 200524032: Working law firm partner may defer required plan distributions
An attorney continued working for a law firm after reaching age 70½. His interests in the partnership's capital and profits were each below 5 percent in the relevant plan year. The IRS ruled that he…
PLR 200524031: Hospital stay earns extra time for IRA rollover
An IRA owner withdrew money and intended to return it to the IRA within 60 days. An unexpected hospital stay, open-heart surgery, and complications kept the owner in medical care until after the…
PLR 200524030: Foundation gets more time to sell excess business holdings
A private foundation received stock in a closely held company and held more of it than the excess business holdings rules allowed. The foundation could not find a buyer for its shares, while the…
IRS 200524029: Museum charity loses exemption after only storing founder's collection
An organization was formed to open a public museum for its founder's collection of dolls, teddy bears, and other memorabilia. The museum never opened. The examination report says the organization…
PLR 200524028: Foundation may divide its assets among four other foundations
A private foundation's directors disagreed about grantmaking and investments, so they planned to distribute all its assets in four shares to four other private foundations. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200524027: Foundation may divide its assets among four other foundations
A private foundation's directors disagreed about grantmaking and investments, so they planned to distribute all its assets in four shares to four other private foundations. The IRS ruled that 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.