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 200447012: Foreign entity given more time for disregarded entity election
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes, but its Form 8832 was inadvertently filed late. It represented that it was eligible to make the…
PLR 200447011: Foreign entity given more time for partnership election
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as a partnership for federal tax purposes, but its Form 8832 was inadvertently filed late. It represented that it was eligible to make the election. The…
PLR 200447010: Foreign entity given more time for partnership election
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as a partnership for federal tax purposes, but its Form 8832 was inadvertently filed late. It represented that it was eligible to make the election. The…
PLR 200447009: Foreign entity given more time for disregarded entity election
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes, but its Form 8832 was inadvertently filed late. It represented that it was eligible to make the…
PLR 200447008: Foreign entity given more time for disregarded entity election
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes, but its Form 8832 was inadvertently filed late. It represented that it was eligible to make the…
PLR 200447007: Late S corporation election accepted after reasonable-cause finding
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation date, but its shareholders did not timely file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election under section…
PLR 200447006: Late S corporation election accepted if Form 2553 is filed
A corporation and its sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the corporation’s incorporation date, but Form 2553 was filed late. They represented that their tax returns had…
PLR 200447005: Foreign company given time to elect disregarded entity status
A foreign limited company with one owner intended to elect disregarded entity status, but inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The owner had limited liability, so the company needed…
PLR 200447004: Insurance group receives rulings on reinsurance, liquidation, and stock sale
An insurance group proposed moving a life insurer's contracts and related assets to its subsidiary, distributing most remaining assets to its parent, then selling the insurer's stock to an unrelated…
PLR 200447003: S corporation keeps status after inadvertent second class of stock
An S corporation issued preferred stock with distribution rights different from its common stock, creating a second class of stock and terminating its S election. After new counsel identified the…
PLR 200447002: Trust conversion to total return payouts preserves GST exemption
A trust became irrevocable before September 25, 1985, and its trustee sought to change the grandchildren’s payments from income only to the greater of income or a percentage of average trust value.…
PLR 200447001: Corporation receives conditional relief for late S election
A corporation’s sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from a specified date, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election under section…
TAM 200446033: Hospital system's payroll deductions for a political committee violated campaign ban
A tax-exempt hospital system offered employees payroll deductions for a hospital industry political action committee. Managers promoted the plan at employee meetings, the system's chief executive…
PLR 200446032: Retirement accounts may buy shares in a gold holding trust
A company planned a publicly traded investment trust that would hold gold bullion and issue shares representing fractional interests in it. The company asked whether individual retirement accounts…
PLR 200446031: Late rollover allowed after mistaken advice about employer stock
A retiree received employer stock from a qualified plan and rolled only part of it into an IRA. The retiree relied on an advisor's incorrect calculation of the stock's basis and net unrealized…
PLR 200446030: IRA rollover deadline not waived for real estate purchase
An IRA owner withdrew money to buy real estate, expecting to replenish the IRA with a mortgage loan within 60 days. The loan closing was delayed by problems releasing liens on some properties, and…
PLR 200446029: Divorce related retirement distribution receives rollover waiver
A divorce order called for a woman's share of her former husband's retirement plan account to be rolled directly into her own plan account. Instead, the plan mailed her a check after receiving no…
PLR 200446028: Bankruptcy delayed plan distribution receives rollover waiver
After his former employer entered bankruptcy, a worker expected a delay before receiving his retirement plan distribution. A check arrived at his home without his knowledge, and he discovered it…
PLR 200446027: Two day late IRA rollover receives extension
An IRA owner moved assets into a nonretirement brokerage account while arranging to roll them into another IRA. He said he was away from home, did not know when the transfer occurred, and discovered…
PLR 200446026: Later shareholder settlement restores terminated plan benefits
A company's retirement plan had terminated and paid participants before a shareholder lawsuit produced a settlement owed to participants who held company stock through the plan. The acquiring…
Determination 200446025: Organization denied section 501(c)(3) exemption
The IRS issued a final adverse ruling on an organization's request for section 501(c)(3) tax exemption. It found that the organization was not organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes…
TAM 200446024: Retail buyer departments cannot use mixed service cost method
A retailer treated costs of its merchandising departments as mixed service costs when calculating inventory costs under section 263A. Those employees selected merchandise, negotiated with vendors,…
TAM 200446023: Air charter tax arises when escrowed payment reaches carrier
An air carrier provided taxable charter flights, but transportation rules required charterers to place payments with a bank in an escrow account until service conditions were met. An IRS field…
TAM 200446022: Heavy line trolling board excluded from sport fishing equipment tax
A manufacturer sold a planer board that holds trolling lines away from a boat. A 1989 private letter ruling had treated the board as taxable sport fishing equipment. The IRS now concluded that the…
TAM 200446021: Six-year period for bond arbitrage rebate refund suit began with payment
A bond issuer paid its final arbitrage rebate and later found that it had paid too much. It asked whether the two-year period for tax refund suits applied and, if not, when the applicable period…
PLR 200446020: Splitting an older irrevocable trust preserved its tax treatment
Trustees proposed dividing an irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985, into two trusts so they could pursue different investment objectives. State law authorized a division that…
PLR 200446019: Division of pre-1985 trust did not disturb GST exemption
Trustees asked to divide an irrevocable trust established before September 25, 1985, into two trusts with different investment objectives. A court had approved the division, and state law permitted…
PLR 200446018: Trustee changes preserved older trusts' GST exemption
A family proposed changing the administration of irrevocable trusts created before September 25, 1985. The changes included family trustees and restrictions on decisions that could benefit a trustee…
PLR 200446017: Family trustee provisions preserved trusts' GST exemption
An irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985, held separate shares for seven grandchildren. The family proposed changing its trustee provisions, including naming family trustees and…
PLR 200446016: Merging older trusts preserved GST exemption
A family proposed changing the trustee provisions of three irrevocable trusts created before September 25, 1985, and merging corresponding shares for seven grandchildren into seven new trusts. The…
PLR 200446015: Corporation received relief for late S election
A newly incorporated company intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation date but failed to file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under section…
PLR 200446014: Late S election accepted from incorporation date
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation treatment from its incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline…
PLR 200446013: Funds could revoke calendar-year capital gain elections
Five regulated investment companies had elected to measure capital gain net income on a calendar-year basis for the section 4982 distribution calculation. They asked to return to the usual period…
PLR 200446012: S election relief from corporation's first day
The shareholders of a newly incorporated company wanted S corporation treatment from its incorporation date, but the election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted…
PLR 200446011: Merger was tax-free, but conversion to exempt status triggered deemed sale
A taxable holding company planned to merge into its taxable subsidiary, which would then convert to a tax-exempt entity. The IRS ruled that the merger would qualify as a statutory reorganization if…
PLR 200446010: S corporation retained status after trusts failed to distribute income
Two shareholder trusts elected qualified subchapter S trust treatment but distributed only enough income for their beneficiaries to pay taxes. Their failure to distribute all current income ended…
PLR 200446009: Rental receipts from managed properties were not passive investment income
A real estate company with accumulated earnings and profits planned to elect S corporation status. It asked whether rents from its commercial properties counted as passive investment income under…
PLR 200446008: Couple received extension to allocate GST exemption to trust gifts
A couple intended to allocate their generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions to gifts made to an irrevocable trust. Their accounting firm filed the gift tax returns after an extension had…
PLR 200446007: Deemed S corporation dividend was not distributable trust income
An S corporation planned to elect a deemed dividend of earnings accumulated while it had been a C corporation, avoiding the borrowing needed for a cash dividend. Two qualified subchapter S trusts…
PLR 200446006: Required unemployment reserve was unavailable for bond spending rule
A state issuer deposited proceeds from taxable bonds and another bond series into its unemployment trust account. It asked how the taxable bond proceeds affected the proceeds-spent-last rule for the…
PLR 200446005: Foreign entity received extra time for disregarded entity election
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes, but its Form 8832 was inadvertently filed late. The entity represented that it was eligible to make…
PLR 200446004: Extension granted for foreign entity's Form 8832 election
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes, but it did not file Form 8832 by the election deadline. It represented that it was eligible to make the…
PLR 200446003: Settlor could make GST exemption allocation effective on original gift date
A settlor funded a trust with a life insurance policy and intended to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to the gift. His attorney filed a timely gift tax return but omitted the…
PLR 200446002: Total return trust reformation kept pre-1985 GST exemption
A trustee proposed changing an irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985, from paying its beneficiary net income to paying the greater of net income or a percentage of the trust's average…
PLR 200446001: Insurer received reasonable-error finding for life policy premium failures
A group life insurer requested a waiver because some employee certificates failed section 7702's guideline premium limit. Its third-party administrator had used the issue date of an earlier…
CCA 200445046: Using purchased Massachusetts tax credits counted as tax payment
Chief Counsel considered purchasers of transferable Massachusetts historic rehabilitation and low-income housing tax credits. Paying a seller for a credit was not itself a tax payment under section…
PLR 200445045: Employer family scholarships avoided foundation taxable expenditure tax
A private foundation proposed funding scholarships for children and relatives of an employer's employees through a public charity's competitive program. Independent committees would select…
PLR 200445044: Defined benefit plan received minimum funding waiver
The IRS granted a waiver of the minimum funding standard for a company's defined benefit pension plan for a redacted plan year. The company reported rising material costs, weak sales, price…
PLR 200445043: Pension plan granted minimum funding waiver after sales decline
The IRS granted a minimum funding waiver for a defined benefit pension plan for a plan year ending January 31. The company reported declining sales and reductions in salary and hourly payroll costs,…
PLR 200445042: Retiree received rollover deadline waiver after broker misunderstanding
A retiree received a lump sum distribution from a retirement plan and asked a broker to invest funds in what she believed was an IRA. The broker instead placed the money in another account, and she…
PLR 200445041: Rollover deadline waived for IRA and plan withdrawals
A retiree withdrew money from an IRA and a retirement plan after receiving advice about funding his wife's long-term nursing care. He said English was his third language, he misunderstood the…
PLR 200445040: Pension funding waiver denied after company bankruptcy
A company asked the IRS to waive a defined benefit pension plan's minimum funding standard for a plan year. The company reported significant losses, a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, and an…
PLR 200445039: Rollover deadline waived for unspent pension distribution
A retiree received a pension distribution that he believed was severance pay. He used part of it to pay debts and living expenses and placed the remaining balance in a regular brokerage account.…
PLR 200445038: Extra IRA withdrawal allowed back after calculation errors
An IRA owner's accountant used the wrong distribution factor, and the IRA company multiplied the account value by a decimal instead of dividing by the factor. The owner received more than the…
PLR 200445037: College pension contributions treated as employer payments
A public college proposed an optional retirement plan for a group of employees. Its board would pay the required contributions on their behalf, and participants could not take those amounts as cash.…
PLR 200445036: Public employer may pick up mandatory pension contributions
A public employer adopted a resolution to pay mandatory employee contributions to its pension plan. Plan participants could not receive those amounts in cash instead. The IRS ruled that the payments…
PLR 200445035: Pension funding waiver granted on conditions
A company with falling revenue asked the IRS to waive the minimum funding standard for a defined benefit pension plan year. The plan's assets were 76% of its current liability, and the IRS granted a…
PLR 200445034: Pension funding waiver granted on conditions
A company with falling revenue asked the IRS to waive the minimum funding standard for a defined benefit pension plan year. The plan's assets were 76% of its current liability, and the IRS granted a…
PLR 200445033: Pension funding waiver granted after company setbacks
A company requested a waiver of the minimum funding standard for its defined benefit pension plan. It had closed facilities, lost a key employee, and taken steps to reduce costs and collect overdue…
PLR 200445032: Pension funding waiver granted after litigation and weak sales
A company sought relief from the minimum funding standard for its defined benefit pension plan for the year ended December 31, 2003. The letter describes litigation costs, a weather related sales…
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.