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 200518039: Acquired LLC received time to elect corporate classification
An entity bought all membership interests in an LLC that had previously been taxed as a partnership. The buyer intended the LLC to elect corporate classification from the acquisition date, but Form…
PLR 200518038: Managed commercial property rents were not S corporation passive investment income
An S corporation owned and managed commercial real estate. It represented that it performed substantial maintenance, safety, landscaping, utility, and renovation services for one property and bore…
PLR 200518037: Venture fund wind-down trust was taxed as a partnership
A venture capital partnership planned to move its portfolio investments and some cash into a trust while winding down. The trust could continue investing in existing portfolio companies and would…
PLR 200518036: Investment fund received time to elect prior-year treatment for dividend
A regulated investment company declared a dividend after its tax year ended and intended to elect to treat it as paid during that year under IRC § 855(a). Its return preparers completed the return…
PLR 200518035: Late request to change tax year treated as timely
A taxpayer missed the deadline for Form 1128 to change from a September 30 tax year to a December 31 tax year. The IRS found reasonable conduct and no prejudice to the government, then treated the…
PLR 200518034: Five-way business split received tax-free reorganization rulings
An S corporation with ten shareholders proposed dividing its business among five new corporations, each going to a pair of shareholders, after which the original company would cease to exist. The…
PLR 200518033: HUD-insured hospital mortgage could qualify as real property secured for REMIC
Lenders planned to finance construction of an acute care hospital with a federally insured mortgage and later place the permanent loan in a real estate mortgage investment conduit (REMIC). Because…
PLR 200518032: LLC received relief for late corporate and S corporation elections
An LLC intended from formation to be taxed as a corporation and to elect S corporation status, but filed neither election on time. The IRS granted an extension under the regulatory election relief…
PLR 200518031: Partnership received time for basis adjustment election after partner's death
A limited partnership failed to file an IRC § 754 election for the year one of its partners died. That election can adjust the basis of partnership property when an interest transfers. The IRS found…
PLR 200518030: Converted partnership received time to retain corporate tax classification
A business converted from a corporation under state law to a limited partnership. It intended to keep corporate classification for federal tax purposes from the conversion date but did not make the…
PLR 200518029: Foreign entity received time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes but missed the deadline for Form 8832. The IRS concluded that it met the requirements for…
PLR 200518028: Foreign entity received time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes but missed the deadline for Form 8832. The IRS concluded that it met the requirements for…
PLR 200518027: Foreign entity received time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes but missed the deadline for Form 8832. The IRS concluded that it met the requirements for…
PLR 200518026: Foreign entity received time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes but missed the deadline for Form 8832. The IRS concluded that it met the requirements for…
PLR 200518025: Foreign entity received time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes but missed the deadline for Form 8832. The IRS concluded that it met the requirements for…
PLR 200518024: Foreign entity received time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes but missed the deadline for Form 8832. The IRS concluded that it met the requirements for…
PLR 200518023: Foreign entity received time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes but missed the deadline for Form 8832. The IRS concluded that it met the requirements for…
PLR 200518022: Foreign entity received time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes but missed the deadline for Form 8832. The IRS concluded that it met the requirements for…
PLR 200518021: LLC received relief for late corporate classification and S elections
An LLC intended to be taxed as an S corporation from its formation date, but it did not timely file either the corporate classification election on Form 8832 or the S corporation election on Form…
PLR 200518020: Missing trust election did not end S corporation treatment
After a shareholder's death, a new trust received stock in an S corporation, but its beneficiary did not file a qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) election. The IRS concluded that the corporation's…
PLR 200518019: Former resident's green card surrender lacked a tax avoidance purpose
A woman who had obtained U.S. permanent residence for work retired, returned to her birth country, and later surrendered her green card. Her net worth exceeded the threshold that could trigger a…
PLR 200518018: Holding company received relief for late S and QSub elections
A holding company intended to elect S corporation status and treat its wholly owned subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub), but missed both filing deadlines. The IRS found…
PLR 200518017: Class action legal fees excluded from class members' income
A company settling an opt-out class action asked whether legal fees paid from the settlement fund counted as income to class members and representatives. The court was to award counsel's fees from…
PLR 200518016: New exterior stair tower did not qualify for rehabilitation credit
An owner rehabilitating a historic building needed to replace an undersized exterior stair to meet local building rules. The proposed brick stair tower would be attached to the building and increase…
PLR 200518015: Utility excluded city surcharge collections and relocation payments
A public utility collected a customer surcharge for a city's program to move overhead power lines underground and passed the proceeds to the city. The IRS ruled that the collections were not the…
PLR 200518014: Payment for carrying back acquired subsidiaries' losses was deductible
After a buyer acquired two subsidiaries, a change in the loss carryback law made it possible to apply their later losses to tax years when the seller owned them. The buyer agreed not to waive the…
PLR 200518013: Stock issued to ineligible shareholders caused inadvertent S termination
An S corporation issued shares to two people who were not permitted S corporation shareholders, terminating its S election. After discovering the problem, the company canceled their shares and…
PLR 200518012: Grandchildren's disclaimers qualified despite advisory role at charity
Seven grandchildren proposed to disclaim all or part of the tangible property left to them by a family trust. The trust directed disclaimed property to donor advised funds at a charitable…
PLR 200518011: Auto dealerships and leased sites counted as one closely held business
A decedent controlled two automobile dealerships through a trust and personally owned the sites he leased to them. The IRS ruled that his interests in the dealerships and their specialized…
PLR 200518010: Captive arrangement failed insurance risk tests
A health care group used admitted insurers to cover liability risks and arranged for those insurers to cede the risks to a foreign subsidiary of the group's parent. The parent guaranteed the…
PLR 200518009: Estate received time to elect alternate valuation
An executor provided an accountant with asset values for an estate's alternate valuation date, but the accountant filed Form 706 using date of death values and omitted the election. The election…
PLR 200518008: Hospital system's deferred compensation plan qualified under section 457
A tax-exempt health care employer offered deferred compensation to a select group of management and highly compensated employees. It placed assets in a trust that remained available to its general…
PLR 200518007: Government employer's amended deferred compensation plan qualified
A government employer amended a deferred compensation plan for executive employees and restated its trust to comply with updated regulations. The plan limited when participants could receive…
PLR 200518006: Corporation received relief for a late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the company's incorporation date, but Form 2553 was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for missing the election…
PLR 200518005: Trust life insurance proceeds excluded after co-trustee renunciation
A trust beneficiary renounced her co-trustee powers over life insurance on her life before the trusts bought the policies, then resigned as co-trustee. The IRS concluded that she held no incidents…
PLR 200518004: Missing QSST election caused inadvertent S corporation termination
Stock in an S corporation passed through an estate to a testamentary trust, but the trust's beneficiary did not elect qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) status. The IRS concluded that this…
PLR 200518003: Corporation received relief for late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation treatment effective on a redacted date, but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under IRC §…
CCA 200518002: Chapter 12 administrative tax claims should be paid before lower-priority claims
Chief Counsel considered whether a Chapter 12 bankruptcy plan could pay lower-priority creditors while a federal tax administrative expense remained unpaid, without the government's consent. It…
CCA 200518001: IRS must process late returns after automated substitute returns
Chief Counsel advised the IRS on how to handle an original tax return filed after the agency prepared an automated substitute for return under IRC § 6020(b). Preparing the substitute was not an…
PLR 200517034: Pension fund could credit late contributions only for prior year work
A multiemployer pension fund expected a minimum funding shortfall and wanted to credit employer contributions received after its plan year ended to that earlier year. The IRS said the post-year…
PLR 200517033: Scholarship grant procedures received advance approval
An organization proposed funding scholarships for minority youth through a public charity that would select recipients and supervise use of the awards. The charity would judge applicants using…
PLR 200517032: Government grant program met expenditure responsibility standards
A U.S. government agency made development grants to organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean, using pre-grant inquiries, written agreements, financial reports, audits, and recovery…
PLR 200517031: Foundation's shared real estate investment avoided self-dealing and excess holdings
A private foundation proposed joining two other foundations in a company that would own land and lease it at market rent to a separate building company owned by people associated with the…
TAM 200517030: Insurer could deduct initial assessment to state insurance fund
A homeowners insurer paid an initial assessment to join a state-created fund that issued coverage for a catastrophic risk. Joining the fund let the insurer satisfy a legal coverage requirement…
PLR 200517029: Federally assisted housing received waiver of ten-year credit rule
A partnership planned to acquire and rehabilitate a federally assisted rental housing project. The buildings had last been placed in service less than ten years earlier, preventing the usual…
PLR 200517028: Shareholder received consent for retroactive QEF elections
A U.S. taxpayer held interests in two foreign corporations that became passive foreign investment companies (PFICs). His longtime accountant knew of the holdings but did not identify the PFIC issue…
PLR 200517027: Taxpayers could revoke accidental election out of installment reporting
Taxpayers sold two properties for promissory notes, but their accountant reported all the gains in the sale year instead of using the installment method. When they discovered the error, they asked…
PLR 200517026: Late S election allowed from incorporation date
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the incorporation date, but the company did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline…
PLR 200517025: Entity received time to elect partnership classification
A corporation formed an entity during a restructuring and intended it to be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes. Its tax adviser inadvertently missed the deadline to file the entity…
PLR 200517024: Former subsidiaries received waiver to rejoin consolidated return
A corporate group was acquired and joined the buyer's consolidated tax return, then left that group after its parent company was sold to an unrelated purchaser. The former parent wanted to file a…
PLR 200517023: Employee stock options led to consolidated return waiver
A corporate parent and its subsidiaries joined an acquiring group's consolidated return after a stock purchase. Employees later exercised stock options, reducing the acquirer's ownership of the…
PLR 200517022: Late S corporation election accepted for a newly formed company
A newly formed corporation and its shareholders intended it to be an S corporation from its first tax year, but its Form 2553 election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 200517021: Newly formed corporation receives late S election relief
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from the date it was incorporated, but missed the deadline to elect that status. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election under IRC…
PLR 200517020: Venture fund wind-down trust classified as a partnership
A venture capital limited partnership planned to transfer investments and cash to a trust as it wound down. The trust could make additional investments in existing portfolio companies and would have…
PLR 200517019: Sole shareholder's corporation receives late S election relief
A newly formed corporation's sole shareholder intended it to be an S corporation from its first tax year, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election…
PLR 200517018: Synthetic fuel credit rulings confirmed after ownership changes
A partnership that produced synthetic fuel from coal asked whether earlier tax credit rulings still applied after sales of ownership interests and a change in chemical reagent. The IRS confirmed…
PLR 200517017: Investor receives confirmation of synthetic fuel credit rulings
An investor in a coal-based synthetic fuel partnership requested rulings after ownership changes and a change in chemical reagent. The IRS confirmed that the described production process yielded…
PLR 200517016: New partner's synthetic fuel credit rulings confirmed
A new member of a partnership that made synthetic fuel from coal sought confirmation of earlier tax credit rulings after ownership and reagent changes. The IRS ruled that the described fuel…
PLR 200517015: Partnership gets more time to elect corporate tax treatment
A general partnership wanted to be taxed as a corporation from its formation date, but inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. Under the entity classification regulations, a domestic…
PLR 200517014: Estate gets more time to elect charitable deduction year
An estate paid money to a charity in the year after the decedent died and amended its earlier income tax return to claim a charitable deduction. It missed the deadline for the IRC § 642(c)(1)…
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.