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 200453027: Surviving spouse receives IRA rollover deadline waiver
A surviving spouse with Alzheimer's disease relied on her daughter to manage her finances. The daughter liquidated the deceased husband's IRA annuity without realizing it was an IRA and deposited…
PLR 200453026: Rollover to another employer's plan follows receiving plan's distribution date
An employee participated in profit sharing plans of two employers. He was a five percent owner of one employer, whose plan required distributions based on his age, but was not a five percent owner…
PLR 200453025: Two pension plans receive conditional minimum funding waivers
A company sought relief from the minimum funding standard for two pension plans. It described financial hardship, increased funding liabilities, and steps to improve its finances. The IRS granted a…
PLR 200453024: Hospital pension plan receives waiver conditioned on collateral
A nonprofit hospital sought a minimum funding waiver for its pension plan after unreimbursed care, low Medicaid payments, and other costs strained its finances. It reported cost cuts and government…
PLR 200453023: Inherited IRA transfer is tax free, but trust beneficiaries share one payout period
An IRA owner died after reaching age 70½ and had named a trust as beneficiary. One of her children disclaimed his trust interest, leaving four children and three grandchildren as beneficiaries. The…
PLR 200453022: Surviving spouse gets more time to complete deceased participant's rollover
A retirement plan participant elected to roll a lump sum payment into an IRA but died before opening the IRA or completing the rollover. Her surviving spouse received the plan check after her death…
PLR 200453021: Employee gets more time to roll employer stock into an IRA
An employee received employer stock from a retirement plan but did not roll it into an IRA within 60 days. He said the employer gave him no rollover instructions or notice, and he learned of the…
PLR 200453020: Broker's failure to open IRA leads to rollover deadline waiver
A plan participant instructed a bank and its broker to put her plan distribution into an IRA. The broker instead deposited stock proceeds into an ordinary account and purchased an investment fund.…
PLR 200453019: IRA rollover survives mistaken deposit into money market account
An IRA owner received a distribution check while moving his retirement savings to a new advisor. He told a bank officer that the money needed to go into another IRA, but the bank deposited it into a…
PLR 200453018: Late inherited IRA rollover allowed for one trust share, denied for another
A deceased IRA owner's account was split between two trusts. The first trust disclaimed its interest, making the surviving spouse the beneficiary of that share. The IRA custodian distributed both…
PLR 200453017: Couple gets more time to reverse ineligible Roth IRA conversions
A married couple converted traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs believing their income would fall below the conversion limit. Their modified adjusted gross income exceeded the $100,000 limit, and their CPA…
PLR 200453016: Surviving spouse may roll over IRAs paid through an estate
A deceased husband's three IRAs named his estate as beneficiary, and his surviving wife was both the estate's personal representative and its sole residuary beneficiary. She asked whether she could…
PLR 200453015: Rollover into another employer plan follows the receiving plan's distribution date
An employee participated in profit sharing plans at two companies. He was a 5% owner of the company sponsoring Plan Y, which required him to start minimum distributions at age 70½, but not of the…
TAM 200453014: Loss of Blue Cross or Blue Shield license did not end section 833 treatment
A health insurer that once held a Blue Cross or Blue Shield license lost the right to use the organization's name and marks after a failed merger attempt. The IRS was asked whether the insurer could…
TAM 200453013: Vehicle service agreement insurer qualified for domestic tax election
A car dealer sold vehicle service agreements that covered specified repair costs, while a foreign company in the program ultimately bore the insurance risk. The IRS concluded that the foreign…
TAM 200453012: Vehicle service agreement risk qualified as insurance for a foreign company
A car dealer sold vehicle service agreements, and a foreign company in the program bore the cost of covered repairs. The IRS concluded that the risk came from many unrelated customers and that the…
PLR 200453011: Merger of two older trusts preserved tax status and asset basis
A trustee proposed merging two trusts for the same family into one successor trust to simplify administration. Both trusts were established before September 25, 1985, and the trustee represented…
PLR 200453010: Merger of a grandson's two trusts preserved their GST exemption
A decedent had created two irrevocable trusts primarily for a grandson. Their terms were nearly identical, except that they named different charities as final contingent beneficiaries. The trustee…
PLR 200453009: State residential insurance pool qualifies for income exclusion after statutory changes
A state created a nonprofit pool to offer residential property insurance to people unable to buy it in the voluntary market. The IRS found that serving those homeowners was an essential governmental…
PLR 200453008: IRS withdraws earlier section 897 ruling without retroactive effect
The IRS wrote to the representative of a taxpayer who had received an earlier private letter ruling. It said it was reconsidering that letter's first ruling, which applied IRC § 897 to liquidating…
PLR 200453007: S corporation may make new election after stock sale and reacquisition
A C corporation bought all the stock of an S corporation, and the parties elected under IRC § 338(h)(10) to treat the purchase as an asset sale. The buyer later transferred the stock back to two…
PLR 200453006: Missing trust election treated as inadvertent S corporation termination
An S corporation's stock passed from a deceased shareholder's estate to a trust that intended to qualify as a qualified subchapter S trust (QSST). The trust beneficiary did not file a timely QSST…
PLR 200453005: Foreign entity gets more time to file classification election
A foreign company owned through other disregarded entities requested more time to file Form 8832. Its request sought classification as an entity disregarded from its owner, effective on a redacted…
PLR 200453004: Consolidated group gets more time to waive loss carryback
The parent of a consolidated group intended to waive the carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss, but its timely filed return lacked a valid election statement. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200453003: Related corporate spin offs qualify for specified tax deferral rulings
A publicly traded parent proposed to separate several businesses through contributions to two new corporations and three successive stock distributions, ending with a distribution of one new…
PLR 200453002: Shared generator parts pool avoids private business use of utility bonds
A public electric utility used tax exempt bond proceeds to finance generators and spare parts. It planned to combine generator components with those of two other public utilities in a shared pool,…
PLR 200453001: Uncollectible court judgment qualifies for bad debt deduction
A corporation won a court judgment requiring defendants to repay dividends and interest after a wrongful transfer of its stock. It collected some of the judgment, but further efforts against several…
PLR 200452054: IRA annuity settlement payment qualifies for rollover
An individual rolled retirement plan funds into an IRA annuity that later fell substantially in value. After suing the insurer and others over the annuity's sale, he received a settlement payment,…
PLR 200452053: Settlement replacing IRA annuity loss may be rolled over
An individual invested retirement plan distributions in an IRA annuity and later sued the insurer and others after its value dropped. He received a settlement check, paid attorney fees, and…
PLR 200452052: IRA annuity lawsuit proceeds count as a valid rollover
An individual rolled retirement plan money into an IRA annuity and later sued the insurer and others after the annuity lost substantial value. A settlement payment was made to him through his…
PLR 200452051: Two spouses may roll IRA annuity settlement proceeds into separate IRAs
Two spouses rolled distributions from their respective retirement plans into separate IRA annuities, then sued the insurer and others after the annuities lost substantial value. A settlement paid…
PLR 200452050: Net IRA annuity settlement payment may be rolled over
An individual rolled qualified retirement plan funds into an IRA annuity, then sued the insurer and others after the annuity lost substantial value. The settlement paid money intended to replace…
PLR 200452049: Spouses' annuity settlement payments qualify for IRA rollovers
Two spouses each rolled distributions from the same employer's qualified retirement plans into separate IRA annuities. After the annuities lost value, they sued the insurer and others and received…
PLR 200452048: IRA annuity settlement payment qualifies for rollover
An individual rolled distributions from a qualified retirement plan into an IRA annuity, then sued the insurer and others after its value fell substantially. A settlement paid him an amount intended…
PLR 200452047: IRS denies extension for second IRA rollover within one year
An individual moved money from one IRA into an IRA annuity, then canceled the annuity about six weeks later and used its proceeds to buy another IRA certificate of deposit. He asked for more time to…
PLR 200452046: Settlement replacing IRA annuity losses qualifies for rollover
An individual rolled retirement plan distributions into an IRA annuity over three dates and later sued the insurer and others after the annuity lost value. The settlement paid an amount intended to…
PLR 200452045: Spouses may roll annuity settlement proceeds into separate IRAs
Two spouses each rolled retirement plan distributions into separate IRA annuities and later sued the insurer and others after the annuities lost value. The settlement paid each spouse an amount…
PLR 200452044: Net settlement for IRA annuity losses qualifies for rollover
An individual rolled retirement plan distributions into an IRA annuity and later sued the insurer and others after the annuity lost substantial value. The settlement paid him an amount intended to…
PLR 200452043: Settlement proceeds replacing IRA annuity losses qualify for two rollovers
Two spouses rolled retirement plan distributions into separate IRA annuities that later lost substantial value. They sued the insurer and others, then settled. The insurer paid each spouse a…
PLR 200452042: IRS denies late rollover waiver after IRA funds pay personal expenses
After a divorce, a taxpayer received funds in an IRA under a property settlement. On her lawyer's advice, she withdrew money from that IRA to pay legal fees and tax obligations. By the time her…
PLR 200452041: Named trust and inherited IRA rules bar requested rollovers
An IRA owner named a trust as the account's beneficiary. After the owner died, the trustee followed the custodian's advice and distributed the IRA balance to the trust, then asked the IRS to allow…
PLR 200452040: Pension funding waiver granted subject to collateral and payment conditions
A company sought relief from the minimum funding standard for its pension plan after business losses and a subsidiary's bankruptcy strained its finances. The IRS granted a conditional waiver under…
PLR 200452039: Pension benefit cap must account for promised annual increases
A governmental defined benefit plan promised retired participants a 3 percent increase each year, starting after their third retirement anniversary. The plan asked whether it could ignore those…
PLR 200452038: Two pension plans receive conditional funding waivers
A company had taken over the pension obligations of an older business that had suffered contract losses and financing trouble. It sought minimum funding waivers for its salaried and hourly plans for…
TAM 200452037: IRS advises abating foundation tax after corrected grant reports
A private foundation left required expenditure responsibility reports for two groups of grants off its timely filed Form 990-PF. Its new tax adviser discovered the omissions and filed an amended…
Determination 200452036: Debt management company denied tax exemption
An organization offering credit counseling and debt management programs applied for exemption under section 501(c)(3). The IRS denied the application, finding that its articles did not adequately…
Determination 200452035: Final denial of section 501(c)(3) exemption
The IRS issued a final adverse ruling on an organization's claim for exemption under section 501(c)(3). The letter says the organization was pursuing substantial purposes that were not exempt, but…
TAM 200452034: Spent nuclear fuel rods are outside the bond rule for solid waste facilities
An issuer sold private activity bonds as exempt facility bonds to finance storage of spent fuel rods. The rods were solid, had no value under the cited regulation, and were radioactive waste. The…
TAM 200452033: Life policy surrender gains retain ordinary income character
A corporation owned whole life insurance policies on employees and later surrendered many of them. It received cash and had policy loan obligations satisfied from the surrender proceeds. A closing…
TAM 200452032: Gross research expenses provide reasonable group credit allocation
Two corporations in the same controlled group calculated the same total research credit but used different methods to divide it between them. Together, they claimed more than the group's total…
PLR 200452031: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation status from the date the corporation was formed, but the election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief…
PLR 200452030: Estate receives more time for alternate valuation election
An estate's executor filed Form 706 without electing alternate valuation after an accountant mistakenly concluded that the estate's assets were worth less at death. The accountant later found that…
PLR 200452029: Late GST exemption allocations allowed for trust gifts
A donor made gifts to a trust for a spouse and descendants over several years. The couple's original law firm advised that gift tax returns were unnecessary, so they did not allocate their…
PLR 200452028: Parent receives 30 days to file subsidiaries' LIFO elections
An S corporation parent had elected the LIFO inventory method while three subsidiaries were treated as its divisions for tax purposes. After their qualified subchapter S subsidiary elections were…
PLR 200452027: Hospital tuition loans become taxable wages when forgiven for nursing service
A hospital paid a nursing student's tuition under promissory notes that required repayment unless the student worked at the hospital as a registered nurse for two years. The student asked when the…
PLR 200452026: Court fund for fraud victims qualifies when cash is transferred
A court created a fund to pay claims by victims of a pyramid scheme, and the county transferred seized cash to it. The fund asked whether it qualified as a qualified settlement fund and whether…
PLR 200452025: Corporation receives relief for late S corporation election
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the date the corporation was formed, but the election was not filed on time. The corporation asked the IRS to treat its election as…
PLR 200452024: Inadvertent S election termination cured after share transfer
An S corporation transferred shares to an ineligible shareholder, which terminated its S election. After discovering the problem, the corporation moved the shares to eligible shareholders and…
PLR 200452023: S corporation receives 60 days to make late subsidiary election
An S corporation intended to treat its wholly owned subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub), but missed the Form 8869 filing deadline. The parent requested an extension under the…
PLR 200452022: S corporation receives 60 days to make late subsidiary election
An S corporation intended to treat its wholly owned subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub), but missed the Form 8869 filing deadline. The parent requested an extension under 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.