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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IRS determination 200450043: Counseling organization denied tax exemption
A proposed counseling organization applied for recognition as a charity under § 501(c)(3). It planned to charge for counseling, with reduced fees for some uninsured or lower income clients, and to…
IRS determination 200450042: Property holding entity denied tax exemption
A corporation formed within a group of related organizations sought exemption as a property holding company under § 501(c)(25). The IRS denied recognition because its proposed amendments did not…
IRS determination 200450041: Aircraft ownership group denied social club exemption
Four people formed a limited liability company to own and schedule use of an aircraft, then applied for social club exemption under § 501(c)(7). The IRS found that the operating agreement gave each…
PLR 200450040: Surplus welfare trust assets may move to successor VEBA
An employer's former voluntary employees' beneficiary association (VEBA) had paid its liabilities but still held surplus assets after the employer ceased operations. Its trustees proposed…
Determination 200450039: Debt management provider denied charitable exemption
A debt management and debt settlement provider sought recognition as a charitable and educational organization under § 501(c)(3). The IRS denied the application because the provider had not supplied…
Determination 200450037: Consumer credit advocacy group denied exemption
A consumer credit advocacy group applied for exemption under § 501(c)(3). The IRS denied it on several grounds: errors in its organizing documents, stated political campaign activity, and a business…
PLR 200450036: Passive income partnerships avoid excess business holdings tax
Two disqualified persons planned to contribute partnership interests to a private foundation they founded and managed. Their combined holdings would exceed the usual permitted holdings limit. The…
TAM 200450035: Utility's payment for line relocation is taxable income
A public university paid an electric utility to move transmission lines so the university could develop a new campus site. The utility asked whether the payment was an excluded nonshareholder…
PLR 200450034: Spouses receive time to allocate GST exemptions to family trust
A husband and wife intended to allocate their generation skipping transfer tax exemptions to contributions to a family trust. Their accounting firm omitted allocations on earlier gift tax returns,…
PLR 200450033: Court reformation limits spouse's trust appointment power
A trust originally let the grantor's spouse appoint trust property at death without excluding her estate or creditors. After the grantor died, a state court reformed the trust to add those…
PLR 200450032: Parent guarantee does not accelerate deferred compensation income
An employer's parent company guaranteed benefits under an unfunded deferred compensation plan. Plan participants and beneficiaries remained unsecured general creditors, and deferred amounts remained…
PLR 200450031: Late foreign earned income exclusion election allowed
An employee working abroad missed the deadline to elect the foreign earned income exclusion. An accounting firm hired to handle the employee's tax return had not advised him of the consequences of…
PLR 200450030: Subsidiaries deemed to join consolidated return despite missing forms
A parent corporation filed its initial consolidated tax return with ten subsidiaries' income and deductions and listed them on Form 851, but omitted their consent Forms 1122. The parent represented…
PLR 200450029: Bond issuer gets time to file volume cap carryforward elections
A state agency used unused private activity bond volume cap from two years to issue qualified student loan bonds. It had notified the state department of its intended carryforwards but failed to…
PLR 200450028: Late election to apportion a section 382 limit allowed
A consolidated corporate group missed the deadline to allocate part of a subgroup's § 382 loss limitation to a former member after an initial public offering removed that member from the group. The…
PLR 200450027: Estate may make late family business deduction election
An estate's attorney elected special use valuation for real property on its estate tax return, but later advisers concluded that the estate did not qualify for that treatment and should have elected…
PLR 200450026: Inadvertent shareholder transfer preserves S election
An S corporation's sole shareholder transferred stock to an ineligible shareholder, terminating the corporation's S election. After discovering the problem, the stock was moved to eligible…
PLR 200450025: Late dual consolidated loss election agreement allowed
A corporation used an entity's dual consolidated loss on its consolidated return, but its tax preparer failed to attach the required election agreement. The preparer later discovered the omission.…
PLR 200450024: Estate may allocate GST exemption to charitable lead trust late
A taxpayer funded a charitable lead unitrust intended to benefit charities for 15 years and then her grandchildren. She filed a timely gift tax return, but her accountant did not allocate her…
PLR 200450023: Late GST allocations allowed after trust withdrawals are repaid
A grantor and spouse made split gifts to an insurance trust for descendants, but their accountant omitted generation skipping transfer tax exemption allocations for six years. The IRS gave the…
PLR 200450022: Parent gets time to elect subsidiary's QSub status
An S corporation wholly owned a newly incorporated subsidiary and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status from the subsidiary's incorporation date. It failed to file a proper…
PLR 200450021: Late QSub election permitted for a newly formed subsidiary
An S corporation wholly owned a subsidiary formed under state law and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from its incorporation date. The parent inadvertently missed the…
PLR 200450020: Late QSub election allowed after subsidiary acquisition
An S corporation acquired all interests in another company and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status from the acquisition date. It inadvertently failed to file a proper election…
PLR 200450019: Bond issuer may add omitted volume cap carryforwards
A state housing bond issuer filed Form 8328 on time but left out two portions of its unused private activity bond volume cap. It missed one allocation because the approval was attached to another…
PLR 200450018: Real estate partnership unit exchange qualifies under section 351
Members of a real estate partnership planned to transfer units to a corporation in exchange for stock as the corporation prepared a public offering and intended to elect REIT status. The IRS ruled…
PLR 200450017: Late S corporation election accepted for incorporation year
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from the company's incorporation date but missed the Form 2553 filing deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election…
PLR 200450016: Cash settlement of stock purchase contracts produces unrecognized gain
A public company proposed an exchange offer to cancel stock purchase contracts and redeem notes that together formed publicly traded units. The IRS ruled that cash received by the company to settle…
PLR 200450015: Corporate distributions receive mixed gain treatment
A corporate group proposed three distributions to move a subsidiary and business assets, then exchange that subsidiary's stock for shares held by four parent shareholders. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200450014: Personal service corporation may file late tax year election
A personal service corporation intended to elect a tax year under § 444 but missed the deadline for Form 8716 through an error or misunderstanding. The IRS found that the corporation acted…
PLR 200450013: Late taxable REIT subsidiary election receives extension
A real estate investment trust and a subsidiary intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary treatment, but two advisory firms each assumed the other had filed Form 8875. A third firm found the…
PLR 200450012: S corporation's state law partnership conversion qualifies as F reorganization
An S corporation proposed merging into a new state law general partnership that would elect to be taxed as a corporation from the merger date. The IRS ruled that the transaction qualified as an F…
PLR 200450011: Partnership may file late basis adjustment election
A partner died, and the partnership filed its tax return for that year on time but inadvertently omitted a § 754 election to adjust the basis of partnership property. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200450010: City leave cash out elections do not cause early income
A city proposed allowing eligible employees to elect in advance to cash out limited sick or vacation leave earned the next year, and it also maintained compensatory time and retiree sick leave…
PLR 200450009: Late GST allocation to trust may secure zero inclusion ratio
A taxpayer funded a trust for a child and grandchild but, after relying on advisers, filed no gift tax return for the transfer and allocated no generation skipping transfer tax exemption. Later…
PLR 200450008: Co-op parking payments count toward tenant income test
A cooperative housing corporation planned to lease spaces in a nearby garage and charge only tenant stockholders who used them. It would pass their payments to the garage without retaining an excess…
PLR 200450007: Foreign government employees' wages exempt under treaty
An agency of a foreign government employed staff in the United States to carry out governmental trade and enterprise work. The employees were not U.S. citizens and had not lived in the United States…
PLR 200450006: Foreign agency staff wages exempt under government service treaty article
An agency of a foreign government had employees working in the United States to provide trade policy advice and encourage investment in their home country. The employees were not U.S. citizens and…
PLR 200450005: SUV and passenger car exchange program satisfies historical section 1031 rules
A vehicle leasing company sought rulings on its ongoing deferred exchange program for used leased vehicles and replacements. The IRS concluded that sport utility vehicles and passenger cars were…
PLR 200450004: QTIP election survives miscalculation of spouse's statutory share
A surviving spouse elected a statutory life estate share of property passing under a will. The estate's accountant timely elected qualified terminable interest property treatment for all property in…
PLR 200450003: Bank may withhold and report separately for custody pool participants
A bank planned to combine institutional investors' assets in custody and investment accounts while tracking each participant's assets and income separately. The participants did not jointly own all…
PLR 200450002: Foreign company receives time for entity classification election
A foreign limited company wanted a U.S. tax classification different from its default classification from the date it was incorporated. It inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The…
CCA 200450001: Counsel advises recasting partnership interest transfers
Chief Counsel reviewed a draft examination explanation for transactions involving purported partnerships and transfers of partnership interests. It advised arguing that an initial participant had no…
IRS determination 200449044: Charity exemption revoked after records were not provided
The IRS revoked an organization's exemption under § 501(c)(3). Its final letter said the organization was neither organized nor operated exclusively for exempt purposes and stated that contributions…
PLR 200449043: Multiple employer pension plan may use plan-wide liability test
A tax-exempt organization sponsored a defined benefit pension plan covering its employees and employees of affiliated organizations that were not in the same controlled group. The plan limited…
PLR 200449042: Trust beneficiaries may divide inherited IRA and use older daughter's life expectancy
A deceased IRA owner named a trust for his spouse and two daughters as the IRA beneficiary. The IRS ruled that the trust met the requirements for a see-through trust and that the IRA could be…
PLR 200449041: Older daughter may use her own life expectancy for inherited IRA distributions
A deceased IRA owner named a trust for his spouse and two daughters as the IRA beneficiary. The IRS ruled that the trust met the requirements for a see-through trust and that the IRA could be…
PLR 200449040: Surviving spouse may roll inherited IRA share into her own IRA
A deceased IRA owner named a trust for his spouse and two daughters as the IRA beneficiary. The IRS ruled that the trust met the requirements for a see-through trust and approved a direct transfer…
PLR 200449039: IRS waives IRA rollover deadline after delayed funds and paperwork
A taxpayer withdrew money from his traditional IRA but misunderstood when the 60 day rollover period ended. He tried to return part of the distribution using funds held by a broker and two checks.…
PLR 200449038: Bank error qualifies Roth IRA owner for rollover deadline waiver
A Roth IRA owner asked her bank to reinvest expiring certificates of deposit in Series I savings bonds for her IRA. The bank bought the bonds with IRA assets but distributed them to her instead of…
PLR 200449037: IRA rollover deadline waived after firm opened the wrong account
A taxpayer withdrew his IRA balance and, within seven days, asked a financial firm to roll it into an IRA invested in demand notes. The firm accepted the money but opened a joint account outside an…
PLR 200449036: VEBA reserves may fund retiree health benefits without income or excise tax
A corporation proposed using reserves in two employee benefit trusts that had originally funded retiree life insurance to pay retiree health benefits for the same employee groups. The reserves came…
PLR 200449035: Anti-gambling group denied charity status over ballot campaign
A nonprofit sought recognition as a § 501(c)(3) charity, saying it educated the public about the effects of gambling. It also funded litigation challenging a gambling ballot initiative and reported…
PLR 200449034: Family owned property company denied title holding exemption
A family owned corporation held land and mineral interests and sought exemption as a title holding company under § 501(c)(2). Its articles allowed business activities beyond holding property and…
PLR 200449033: Donor's flexible start date qualifies deferred charitable gift annuity
A charity proposed a deferred gift annuity that would let a donor choose when payments begin during an eight year window. Later starts would produce larger annual payments, but payments would last…
PLR 200449032: Estate receives more time to allocate GST exemption to trusts
A decedent's gift tax return reported gifts to children, although the transfers went to trusts, and it omitted a notice allocating the generation skipping transfer tax exemption. An attorney…
PLR 200449031: Estate tax loan interest may be deductible if borrowing was necessary
An estate and a trust jointly borrowed from a bank to pay state estate tax and the balance of federal estate tax. The estate held a large interest in a closely held corporation, and the executors…
PLR 200449030: Foreign subsidiary gets time to elect corporate tax status
A corporation formed a subsidiary abroad and intended to elect corporate treatment for it under the federal entity classification rules. The subsidiary was classified as a partnership by default,…
PLR 200449029: Trust changes preserve estate and GST tax treatment
An irrevocable trust for a taxpayer's children held stock in a family business and was exempt from the generation skipping transfer tax under the rules for older trusts. A court approved proposed…
PLR 200449028: Estate receives extension for alternate valuation election
An estate timely filed its estate tax return without electing alternate valuation under § 2032. Its attorneys had not advised the co executors to make the election. The estate later filed a…
PLR 200449027: Foreign entities denied late classification elections for lack of eligibility proof
A parent company sought late Form 8832 elections to treat a foreign subsidiary and an arrangement it created as disregarded entities from their respective formation dates. The IRS found 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.