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.
No determinations match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
PLR 200517013: Corporation's late S election accepted from formation date
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under IRC § 1362(b)(5). It ruled that…
PLR 200517012: Trust receives extension for charitable deduction election
A trust made charitable distributions in the year after its grantor died and later amended its prior-year income tax return to claim a deduction. An estate tax audit had reduced the estate's…
PLR 200517011: Actively managed property rents excluded from S corporation passive income
A corporation that owned and managed nonresidential real estate planned to elect S corporation status. It asked whether rents from properties it managed through employees and contractors would count…
PLR 200517010: Company gets more time for entity classification election
A company and its parent intended the company to be disregarded as a separate tax entity from its formation date, but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832. The IRS granted a 60-day extension under…
PLR 200517009: Trust payment reform preserves GST exemption without gain
An older irrevocable trust sought to change how it calculated annual payments to a community charity, using the greater of trust income or a percentage of trust value. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200517008: Former resident rebuts tax avoidance presumption on expatriation
A former U.S. lawful permanent resident surrendered her green card and became subject to tax on worldwide income in her country of birth. Her net worth exceeded a threshold that, under the law…
PLR 200517007: Green card surrender found free of tax avoidance purpose
A former U.S. lawful permanent resident surrendered his green card and became subject to tax on worldwide income in his country of birth. His net worth exceeded the threshold that, under the law…
PLR 200517006: Trust merger preserves GST exemption and supports S corporation ownership
An irrevocable trust held stock in a company whose shareholders wanted to elect S corporation status. Its power to make payments to an unrestricted group of charities raised concerns about…
PLR 200517005: Updated public employer deferred compensation plan qualifies under section 457
A state board requested a ruling on an updated model deferred compensation plan for local public employers. The IRS concluded that the revised plan qualified as an eligible governmental plan under…
PLR 200517004: State deferred compensation plan and trust qualify under section 457
A state board sought a ruling on an updated deferred compensation plan for state and local government employers and its associated trust. The IRS concluded that the amended plan was an eligible plan…
PLR 200517003: Splitting older trust preserves GST tax exemption
Trustees of a trust irrevocable before September 25, 1985 proposed distributing its assets proportionately into three new trusts, one for each of the grantor's children and that child's descendants.…
PLR 200517002: Unitrust conversion preserves older trust's GST exemption
Trustees and beneficiaries proposed changing an older trust so its primary beneficiary could receive the greater of annual trust income or six percent of a five-year average of trust value. The…
PLR 200517001: Missing trust elections treated as inadvertent S corporation defect
A corporation's S election was invalid because beneficiaries of two shareholder trusts had not filed qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) elections and the trustee of another shareholder trust had…
PLR 200516023: Caregiving emergency excuses four-day IRA rollover delay
An IRA owner missed the 60-day rollover deadline by four days while providing full-time care for his seriously disabled wife. He had moved funds to a non-IRA account and later deposited the rollover…
PLR 200516022: Estate receives IRA rollover waiver after annuity error
A widow's attorney in fact intended to roll her deceased husband's IRA annuity into an IRA for the widow, but an application instead created a non-IRA annuity. The annuity company did not issue a…
PLR 200516021: Estate receives IRA rollover waiver after account owner's incapacity
An IRA owner withdrew money and put it in a checking account after a fall and stroke caused memory loss. She did not understand the consequences of the withdrawal and died without returning the…
PLR 200516020: Plan participant receives rollover waiver after annuity purchase was treated as a distribution
A retirement plan participant followed a custodian's advice to move plan investments into an annuity. She understood the annuity to be an investment within the plan, and she received no distribution…
PLR 200516019: Participant receives rollover waiver after annuity transfers from two plans
A participant followed a custodian's advice to move investments from two retirement plans into an annuity. He believed the annuity remained an investment within the plans, and he received no…
PLR 200516018: Pension plan receives minimum funding waivers after business closures
A company requested relief from the minimum funding requirement for its defined benefit pension plan. It had closed a manufacturing plant and distribution centers, causing significant business…
IRS 200516017: Organization denied tax exemption because its activities served a nonexempt purpose
An organization sought federal income tax exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3). The IRS issued a final adverse ruling because, in its view, the organization did not primarily conduct activities that…
CCA 200516016: Railroad business treated as an employer for railroad retirement tax
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a redacted business had become an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. Chief Counsel reviewed…
CCA 200516015: Railroad employer changes did not settle tax act successor status
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that one redacted business ceased to be an employer and another became an employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance acts. Chief…
PLR 200516014: Corporation receives relief for a late S corporation election
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from its incorporation date but did not file its election on time. It requested relief under IRC § 1362(b)(5). The IRS found reasonable cause…
PLR 200516013: Mutual fund receives relief for late RIC and dividend elections
A mutual fund missed its extended income tax return deadline after its service providers were unsure which one would prepare the return. The fund had intended to elect regulated investment company…
PLR 200516012: Parent receives time to file missing subsidiary stock loss statement
A parent corporation's investment in a subsidiary became entirely worthless. Its consolidated group filed a return consistent with a regulatory election concerning the stock loss, but omitted the…
PLR 200516011: City land transfer excluded as a corporate capital contribution
A retailer acquired land from a local government as part of an incentive to build and operate a retail and warehouse facility in a redevelopment district. The IRS found that the transfer was…
PLR 200516010: Estate receives time to allocate GST exemption to a grandchildren's trust
A decedent funded an irrevocable trust for her grandchildren but did not file a gift tax return or allocate her generation skipping transfer (GST) exemption to the gift. The omission was discovered…
PLR 200516009: Foreign entity receives time to elect disregarded entity status
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes, but did not file Form 8832 on time. It represented that it was eligible to make that classification…
PLR 200516008: Partnership receives time to elect corporate tax classification
An S corporation converted into a limited partnership under state law. The new entity intended to elect treatment as a corporation for federal tax purposes as of the conversion date, but did not…
PLR 200516007: Former resident's departure found to lack a tax avoidance purpose
A long-term U.S. resident gave up lawful permanent resident status. At that time, he was resident and fully subject to income tax in the country of his birth. His net worth exceeded a threshold…
PLR 200516006: Foreign company receives time to elect disregarded entity status
A foreign company had one owner for federal tax purposes, a U.S. individual. Its owner intended the company to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from its owner beginning on the company's…
PLR 200516005: Charitable lead trust receives limited income and gift tax rulings
A husband and wife proposed an irrevocable trust that would pay an annual amount to qualified charities for a set term, then distribute the remainder to their children. The IRS ruled that the trust…
PLR 200516004: Disclaimers of future trust interests avoid gift tax if conditions are met
A beneficiary proposed to disclaim contingent remainder interests in four family trusts created before 1977. He planned to sign the disclaimers within nine months after reaching the age of majority,…
PLR 200516003: Entity receives time to make a missed disregarded entity election
A corporation formed another entity during a restructuring and intended it to be disregarded as separate from its owner for federal tax purposes from its formation date. The corporation's tax…
PLR 200516002: Trust merger preserves tax treatment and permits ESBT status
Trustees proposed merging an older irrevocable trust into a new trust with substantially similar terms, but narrower rules for which charities could receive income. The older trust held stock in a…
PLR 200516001: Dividing a family trust into four trusts preserves stated tax treatment
The trustees of an older family trust proposed dividing it into four trusts, one for each grandchild, and allocating its company stock equally among them. A state court had authorized the division…
PLR 200515021: Public benefit grants count fully toward charity's public support
An exempt organization educated city officials and residents and received substantial funding from another organization. The IRS found that the payments supported programs for the general public,…
CCA 200515020: Railroad employer status shifts between two businesses
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that one redacted business became an employer and another ceased to be an employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment insurance acts. Chief…
CCA 200515019: Trading rights conversions did not create gain or loss
A securities membership organization planned to convert members' trading rights into nontransferable interests and then replace those interests with trading permits during a two step restructuring.…
CCA 200515018: NIH visiting fellow stipends qualify for China treaty exemption
A resident of China came to the United States for research training in the National Institutes of Health Visiting Fellow Program and received monthly stipends. An IRS office had denied a treaty…
PLR 200515017: Former resident rebuts tax avoidance presumption but receives no ruling on actual purpose
A former long-term U.S. resident gave up lawful permanent resident status with a net worth above the threshold discussed in IRC § 877(a)(2). At that time he was resident and fully subject to income…
PLR 200515016: Affordable housing project receives ten year holding period waiver
A partnership planned to buy and rehabilitate a federally assisted apartment complex for low income families. The buildings had been placed in service less than ten years before the planned…
PLR 200515015: Taxpayer receives time to file dual consolidated loss agreement
A taxpayer incurred a dual consolidated loss through an entity but did not include the required elective relief agreement with its consolidated federal income tax return. A tax services coordinator…
PLR 200515014: Corporation may revoke alternative research credit election
A corporation had elected to calculate its research credit using the alternative incremental research credit rules in IRC § 41(c)(4). It asked to revoke that election before the return deadline for…
PLR 200515013: Business separation qualifies for stated reorganization and distribution treatment
A corporate group proposed moving one business into a newly formed company and distributing that company's stock to its parent, separating it from another business. The IRS ruled that the specified…
PLR 200515012: Downstream transaction qualifies as a Type C reorganization
A corporate group proposed exchanging its shares in a publicly held acquiring company for new shares of that company, then distributing the new shares as part of a downstream reorganization. The IRS…
PLR 200515011: Housing cooperative may issue shares for convertible commercial space
A housing cooperative proposed issuing shares for a commercial unit that local rules permit converting to residential use. It would distribute the new shares to its existing tenant-stockholders, who…
PLR 200515010: Buyer and sellers get more time to file a stock purchase election
A buyer purchased all the stock of an S corporation, and the buyer and sellers intended to make a joint IRC § 338(h)(10) election to treat the purchase as an asset acquisition. After the filing…
PLR 200515009: Division into ten corporations gets favorable reorganization rulings
A corporation proposed transferring parts of its existing business to ten newly formed corporations and distributing their stock equally to its two shareholders. The IRS ruled that the contribution…
PLR 200515008: Family business split among shareholders receives reorganization rulings
A family-owned corporation proposed dividing its business among three new corporations, then exchanging each new company's stock for the existing shares held by one of three family members. The…
PLR 200515007: REIT receives time to make its first-year election
A corporation intended to elect real estate investment trust treatment for its first tax year. It requested an automatic filing extension on Form 7004 but checked the box for a corporate income tax…
PLR 200515006: Bond-financed software may have an economic life longer than three years
A government bond issuer planned to finance software for administrative functions and asked how to determine the software's economic life for bond maturity rules. The IRS ruled that the reasonably…
PLR 200515005: Foreign entity gets 60 days to file a classification election
The owners of a foreign entity transferred all its shares to another foreign corporation and intended for the first entity to become disregarded for federal tax purposes the next day. The transfer…
PLR 200515004: Foreign group relief payments treated as nontaxable stock distributions
A corporate group proposed contracts governing payments among foreign affiliates that could reduce their tax liability in another country. Each group relief payment would be paired with offsetting…
PLR 200515003: Converted entity gets time to elect corporate tax classification
A wholly owned subsidiary converted into a new entity whose default federal tax classification was disregarded. The new entity sought to elect treatment as an association taxable as a corporation…
PLR 200515002: Trust ownership caused an inadvertent S corporation termination
After a shareholder died, a trust continued holding an S corporation's shares beyond its two-year period as an eligible shareholder. Shares later passed to a successor trust whose beneficiary had…
PLR 200515001: Former citizen rebuts expatriation tax avoidance presumption
A person born abroad later became a naturalized U.S. citizen for work and subsequently relinquished U.S. citizenship while living and working in another country. His net worth exceeded the threshold…
PLR 200514027: Medical treatment supports a late IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner deposited a distribution into a savings account and missed the 60-day deadline for an IRA rollover by 15 days. She had chronic pain and frequent medical treatments during the rollover…
PLR 200514026: ESOP may repay its loan from a stock sale without losing the loan exemption
An employee stock ownership plan held employer shares bought with an exempt loan. In an unexpected sale of the company, its trustee planned to sell the shares, repay the loan from the sale proceeds,…
PLR 200514025: Church affiliated organization's benefit plans receive church plan treatment
A tax-exempt organization providing care to people with developmental disabilities asked whether its retirement and health plans counted as church plans. Its governing documents and board linked it…
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.