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 200443002: Sale of nuclear plant and transfer of decommissioning funds
Two utilities planned to sell their interests in a nuclear power plant to a buyer that would assume decommissioning duties. The IRS ruled that transferring the sellers' qualified decommissioning…
PLR 200443001: Sale of nuclear plant and transfer of decommissioning funds
Two utilities planned to sell their interests in a nuclear power plant to a buyer that would assume decommissioning duties. The IRS ruled that transferring the sellers' qualified decommissioning…
PLR 200442037: Plan may spin off separate account benefits without surplus assets
An employer proposed separating the defined contribution portion of a mixed retirement plan into its own plan. The IRS ruled that the spin-off would satisfy § 414(l) without moving surplus assets…
PLR 200442036: Foreign banking restrictions justify late IRA rollover
A taxpayer withdrew funds from an IRA and tried to return them within the 60 day rollover period. Banking restrictions between two countries prevented the first check from clearing, and a later…
PLR 200442035: Uncashed retirement plan check receives rollover deadline waiver
An employee changed from full-time to part-time work and believed she could leave her retirement account in the employer's plan until she chose to roll it into an IRA. Instead, she received a…
PLR 200442034: IRA transfer error receives late rollover waiver
A son helping his ill parents moved assets from several IRAs to a new financial adviser, who placed the money in ordinary investment accounts. The family's earlier adviser had not told him or the…
PLR 200442033: IRA withdrawals may be partly returned after payment method changes
A taxpayer began IRA withdrawals under a method the IRS later ruled did not qualify as substantially equal periodic payments. The taxpayer recalculated the annual payment using a method the IRS…
PLR 200442032: IRA rollover election cannot be revoked for employer stock
An employee intended to receive employer stock directly from a retirement plan and use the special tax treatment for its net unrealized appreciation. A financial adviser instead gave the employee…
CCA 200442031: Captive contracts with disregarded LLCs lack risk distribution
A business planned to transfer its branches into single member LLCs and have a captive company owned by its members insure each LLC. The LLCs would be disregarded for federal tax purposes, so Chief…
PLR 200442030: Partnership receives extra time to make section 754 election
A partner's wife died, and part of the partner's partnership interest passed to her estate under state law. The partnership's tax adviser failed to tell it that a § 754 election might be advisable…
PLR 200442029: LLC receives relief for late corporate classification and S elections
The owners of an LLC intended it to be taxed as a corporation and to elect S corporation status from its formation date. The LLC missed both the entity classification election and a valid S…
PLR 200442028: Partnership gets more time for section 754 election after trust transfers
A partner held partnership interests through two trusts. At the partner's death, the interests were treated as transferred to successor trusts, but the tax professional handling the partnership's…
PLR 200442027: Spouse's successive trust disclaimers can qualify under section 2518
A grantor created a trust for a spouse and descendants with terms that sent disclaimed interests through a series of further trusts. The spouse proposed to disclaim all of her interest in the…
PLR 200442026: Controlled group may revoke alternative research credit election
A parent company and its controlled group had used the alternative incremental research credit under § 41(c)(4). Before the filing deadline for a later year, the parent asked the IRS to let the…
PLR 200442025: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation's shareholder wanted S corporation status from the date of incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under § 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200442024: Asbestos claims trust qualifies as a settlement fund
A company in a chapter 11 reorganization planned to transfer assets and a promissory note to a trust that would pay asbestos injury claims. The IRS ruled that the successor trust would be a…
PLR 200442023: Charity's family relief payments are gifts without Form 1099 reporting
A charity planned to make unrestricted payments to families of people who died in an incident. Its board chose the recipients and amounts to relieve financial distress, without directions from…
PLR 200442022: Company gets extra time for dual consolidated loss agreements
A company preparing its first consolidated tax return sought advice about required disclosures, but its tax adviser did not tell the return preparer to include elections and agreements related to…
TAM 200442021: Equipment renter is ultimate purchaser of fuel it uses to refill tanks
A company rented construction equipment with full fuel tanks and charged customers if they returned it with less fuel. The IRS field office argued that the company resold fuel to customers and…
PLR 200442020: Proposed trust remainder sales preserve GST exemption but trigger sale gain
Beneficiaries proposed selling remainder interests in a family trust after seeking a court construction of its spendthrift clause that would permit the sales. The IRS ruled that the construction and…
PLR 200442019: Proposed trust remainder sales preserve GST exemption but trigger sale gain
Beneficiaries proposed selling remainder interests in a family trust after seeking a court construction of its spendthrift clause that would permit the sales. The IRS ruled that the construction and…
PLR 200442018: REIT and subsidiary get extra time for taxable subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned a corporation through a partnership but had not made a joint election to treat the corporation as a taxable REIT subsidiary. A tax firm discovered the…
PLR 200442017: Revised funding schedule approved for nuclear plant decommissioning
A utility acquired an interest in a nuclear plant through a tax free reorganization and requested a revised schedule of allowable payments to its decommissioning fund. The IRS found that the utility…
PLR 200442016: Late Form 1128 treated as timely for partnership tax year change
A partnership sought to change its tax year end from December 31 to October 31 following a change in ownership. It filed the short period return on time but missed the deadline for Form 1128, filing…
PLR 200442015: Generator's intertie payment excluded as utility capital contribution
A generator built an intertie connecting its project to a utility's electric grid and agreed to pay the utility half of the intertie's cost. The electricity would be sold to third parties before…
PLR 200442014: Coal synfuel facilities retain section 29 credit after changes
A taxpayer moved ownership of one coal synthetic fuel facility into a partnership that already owned another facility and changed the chemical reagents used in production. Based on submitted expert…
PLR 200442013: Late GST exemption allocation may use original gift value
A taxpayer funded an irrevocable trust for her daughter and descendants and timely reported the gift on Form 709. Her advisers inadvertently omitted a notice allocating generation skipping transfer…
PLR 200442012: Late GST allocation may use trust assets' original gift value
A taxpayer funded an irrevocable trust for his son and descendants, but a timely Form 709 reporting the gift was not filed. After the omission was discovered, an accountant filed a later return…
PLR 200442011: Bankruptcy injury trust qualifies as settlement fund with loss limitation rulings
A manufacturer in Chapter 11 planned to settle product related personal injury claims through a trust funded with cash, new company stock, possible notes, and insurance rights. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200442010: Gift splitting spouse receives time to allocate GST exemption
One spouse transferred a partnership interest and cash to a trust for their children and descendants. The spouses elected to split the gifts on their gift tax returns, but the taxpayer's law firm…
PLR 200442009: Gift splitting spouse receives time to allocate GST exemption
The taxpayer transferred a partnership interest and cash to a trust for their children and descendants. The spouses elected to split the gifts on their gift tax returns, but the taxpayer's law firm…
PLR 200442008: Tax treatment of a two-company business combination
Two corporate groups proposed combining their domestic product businesses under a newly formed public company. One group would transfer business assets and liabilities to a new subsidiary; the other…
PLR 200442007: Tax treatment of a two-company business combination
Two corporate groups proposed combining their domestic product businesses under a newly formed public company. One group would transfer business assets and liabilities to a new subsidiary; the other…
PLR 200442006: Medical practice plan may serve as a common paymaster
A university and an affiliated nonprofit medical practice plan jointly employed physicians. The university had served as common paymaster, but the plan wanted to take over that role for physicians…
PLR 200442005: Late historic building certification application accepted
A property owner renovated a building in a certified historic district and placed it in service before applying to the National Park Service for certification of its historic status. The owner said…
PLR 200442004: Green card surrender was not for tax avoidance
A long-term U.S. permanent resident planned to retire, return to his birth country, and surrender his green card. His net worth exceeded the threshold that would ordinarily create a presumption of…
PLR 200442003: Divorce settlement buys out deferred compensation interest
Former spouses agreed that one would pay a lump sum for the other's community property interest in a nonqualified deferred compensation plan. The divorce court approved the later settlement after a…
PLR 200442002: Revocation of bonus depreciation election allowed
An S corporation that rents assets to customers elected out of the 30 percent additional first year depreciation deduction. Its tax preparer had advised that election based on a return that…
PLR 200442001: College tuition assistance excluded from employees' income
A university offered tuition assistance to full-time, permanent college employees for their dependent children's education below the graduate level. The IRS found that the eligibility rule was a…
PLR 200441039: Retiree benefit trusts may divide and use older reserves
An employer proposed dividing a retiree life insurance welfare trust into separate trusts for employees covered by union agreements and those who were not. It also proposed using reserves funded…
PLR 200441038: Charity restructuring preserves exemptions
Three related charities proposed reorganizing their museum, education, exhibition, and investment activities. One would operate the programs, another would hold property and endowment assets, and…
PLR 200441037: Private foundation may transfer assets before termination
A private foundation planned to transfer all its assets to another foundation controlled by the same people, then dissolve. The IRS treated the transfer as a § 507(b)(2) foundation reorganization…
PLR 200441036: Land conservation set-aside counts as a distribution
A nonexempt charitable trust wanted to set aside income to buy two waterfront parcels for ecological preservation and later donate them to a local government. Pending legal actions to establish the…
PLR 200441035: Disabled worker receives late rollover waiver
A worker left employment because of a disability and received a distribution from a qualified retirement plan. He tried to put the money back shortly after the 60-day rollover period ended, but the…
PLR 200441034: Employee family scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed funding scholarships for children or relatives of a company's employees through a public charity's national academic competition. Independent committees would select…
PLR 200441033: Limited use of foundation name is not self-dealing
A research foundation occupied rent-free space on a scientific campus owned by a company controlled by its disqualified persons. The company wanted to rename the campus using part of the…
PLR 200441032: Withheld portion of inherited annuity may be rolled over late
A surviving spouse asked that his death benefit from his wife's § 403(b) plan be transferred directly to an IRA. The plan recordkeeper sent 80 percent to the IRA but mistakenly withheld the other 20…
PLR 200441031: Late IRA rollover allowed after bank opened wrong account
An individual distributed funds from an IRA and intended to place them into IRA accounts at three financial institutions. Two deposits went into IRAs, but one institution put its share in a regular…
CCA 200441030: Foreign tax credit treatment of self-employed pension contributions
Chief Counsel analyzed a hypothetical self-employed U.S. taxpayer who earns income both domestically and abroad and makes deductible contributions to a U.S. Keogh plan. For the foreign tax credit…
CCA 200441029: FICA refund for research fellows requires fact review
A college claimed a refund of FICA taxes on stipends paid to research fellows outside the National Research Service Award program. An earlier private letter ruling to the college had treated those…
CCA 200441028: Pennsylvania public accountant may represent IRS taxpayers
Chief Counsel considered whether a Pennsylvania public accountant who was licensed and registered under earlier state law could represent taxpayers before the IRS without holding a CPA certificate.…
CCA 200441027: Amended return was processible when the IRS received it
A corporation sought interest on a refund arising from a net operating loss carryback. Its amended return also included a separate adjustment that the IRS found was barred by the statute of…
CCA 200441026: Loss carrybacks remain subject to consolidated return limits
A corporation sought to carry losses from later separate return years back to years when it belonged to a consolidated group. It argued that a prior reverse acquisition let it retain the special…
PLR 200441025: City parking project bond allocation and use agreements approved
A city planned to issue bonds for a parking ramp within a larger project that also included retail space and a roof deck. It proposed to use bond proceeds for part of the ramp and other funds for…
PLR 200441024: Early termination of charitable remainder trust approved
A charitable remainder unitrust sought court approval to end early and divide its assets between its income beneficiary and a charitable remainder beneficiary according to the present value of their…
PLR 200441023: Split-dollar insurance did not create a second stock class
An S corporation proposed split-dollar life insurance agreements for several recipients or their trusts. Its voting and nonvoting shares had identical rights to operating and liquidation…
PLR 200441022: Trust severance qualified and reverse QTIP election extended
An estate had elected QTIP treatment for a marital trust and allocated generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to it, but failed to make a reverse QTIP election or divide the trust to reflect the…
PLR 200441021: Parity reserve use would not create a bond refunding
A public utility issuer had a common reserve fund supporting several bond issues. It planned to replace the required cash reserve with bond insurance, then use released funds to redeem some of the…
PLR 200441020: Late foreign earned income election relief denied
A taxpayer who had lived and worked abroad requested more time to elect the foreign earned income exclusion for an earlier year. He filed his return late and provided no documentation or affidavit…
PLR 200441019: Corrected unitrust payout preserved qualification
A charitable remainder unitrust was drafted to pay its income beneficiary 7 percent each year, though the creator intended 5 percent. A state court corrected the drafting error retroactively, and…
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.