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 200437009: Entity gets relief for late corporate and S corporation elections
A single-owner entity intended to elect corporate tax classification and then S corporation status, both effective on a specified date. It inadvertently filed neither election on time. The IRS…
PLR 200437008: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the date the business began, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under…
PLR 200437007: Partnership sale leaves synthetic fuel credit rulings in place
A partnership that produced solid synthetic fuel from coal asked the IRS to confirm earlier section 29 credit rulings after an ownership interest was sold. The IRS confirmed that fuel made by the…
PLR 200437006: Parent gets more time to send Form 3115 copy
A parent corporation timely attached the original Form 3115 to its consolidated tax return for a subsidiary's proposed inventory accounting changes. It inadvertently failed to send the required…
PLR 200437005: Couple gets more time for Canadian retirement plan elections
A U.S. citizen couple living in Canada each held a Canadian registered retirement savings plan. They filed U.S. returns but missed elections to defer U.S. tax on the plans' current earnings, then…
PLR 200437004: Unitrust payment change preserves GST tax exemption
A trustee proposed changing the payments to a child beneficiary from a trust created under a will of a person who died before September 26, 1985. The child would receive the greater of the trust's…
PLR 200437003: Unitrust payment change preserves GST tax exemption
A trustee proposed changing payments from a trust created under the will of a person who died before September 26, 1985. The beneficiaries, children of the testator's niece or their issue, would…
PLR 200437002: Two-owner LLC gets more time to elect corporate tax status
The owners of a two-member LLC intended it to be taxed as a corporation, but the entity inadvertently missed its Form 8832 filing deadline. The IRS concluded that the requirements for discretionary…
CCA 200437001: Limits on bank account inquiries during criminal tax investigations
Chief Counsel considered whether IRS investigators could use a private financial institution association to ask banks if a person had an account or safe deposit box. It advised that inquiries must…
PLR 200436023: Uncashed plan distribution receives a rollover deadline waiver
An employee requested a distribution from a retirement plan intending to move the money to another tax-deferred account. He did not cash the distribution check, and he said a blackout period…
PLR 200436022: Hospital imaging venture preserves exemption and avoids unrelated business income
A tax-exempt hospital planned to operate a diagnostic imaging center through a partnership with physicians and a management company. The hospital's wholly owned company would control the…
PLR 200436021: Medical conditions support a late IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner moved two distributions into a regular bank account and intended to roll them into a new IRA. His memory impairment and his spouse's medical problems prevented him from completing the…
PLR 200436020: Confusing inherited IRA distribution receives rollover deadline waiver
A surviving spouse intended to move her late spouse's IRA distribution into an IRA of her own. The insurer's claim forms and distribution information did not clearly identify the payment as coming…
PLR 200436019: Public hospital trust qualifies for a Form 990 filing exception
A state-created public trust operated a hospital and asked whether it had to file annual Form 990 returns. Its trustees were appointed by a governmental body, its finances were audited for…
PLR 200436018: IRA withdrawal used as a personal loan does not qualify for rollover waiver
After losing his job, an IRA owner withdrew money to meet personal financial obligations. He expected to repay the IRA with a mortgage loan, but the loan was not approved within the 60-day rollover…
PLR 200436017: Undelivered rollover check leaves plan benefit undistributed
A plan participant died, and her surviving spouse requested a direct rollover of her plan benefit to his IRA. The plan issued a check, but neither the spouse nor the IRA custodian received it, and…
PLR 200436016: Union welfare fund remains collectively bargained with nonunion participants
A union welfare fund covered bargaining unit employees and some employees outside the bargaining unit. It planned to add another employer's bargaining unit employees, which would end its separate…
PLR 200436015: Employers may deduct contributions to three retirement plans within stated limits
Two related employers maintained a money purchase pension plan and a profit sharing plan with a 401(k) arrangement. After a proposed corporate restructuring, they also planned to participate in a…
PLR 200436014: IRS waives IRA rollover deadline after account closure over unpaid fees
An IRA custodian closed a taxpayer's account after he failed to pay its annual maintenance fee. The custodian treated the closure as a taxable distribution, although the assets remained with it and…
PLR 200436013: Retirement plan qualifies as a church plan
A nonprofit corporation sponsored a defined benefit retirement plan for its employees. It was controlled through a church organization, shared the church's religious bonds, and used a committee…
PLR 200436012: IRS waives IRA rollover deadline for securities held outside the account
A taxpayer moved securities out of his IRA and later deposited cash into it after the 60-day rollover period. He said he had relied on advice about using cash instead of returning the securities,…
TAM 200436011: Preferred gross income allocation does not justify all excess partnership debt
A partnership borrowed against contributed assets and distributed cash to one partner. Its agreement assigned that partner all of the excess nonrecourse debt based on a right to receive the first…
PLR 200436010: Cooperative may issue shares for a unit that can become a residence
A housing cooperative planned to issue shares and a proprietary lease for a unit then used commercially. The lease would let the purchaser use the unit as a dwelling and convert it to residential…
PLR 200436009: Trust settlement preserves exemption from generation-skipping transfer tax
Two donors created trusts for their grandchildren before September 25, 1985, and the trusts were represented to have received no later additions. A family dispute over administration and trust terms…
PLR 200436008: Settlement preserves two trusts' generation-skipping tax exemption
Two trusts for an after-born grandchild arose under provisions of family trusts established before September 25, 1985. The trusts were represented to have received no later additions. A family…
PLR 200436007: Settlement preserves a trust's generation-skipping tax exemption
A trust for an after-born grandchild arose under an equalization provision in trusts established before September 25, 1985. The trustee represented that it received no later additions. Family…
PLR 200436006: Family trust settlement keeps generation-skipping tax exemption
A donor established an irrevocable trust for a grandchild before September 25, 1985, and the trustee represented that no later additions were made. Family members settled disputes over trust…
PLR 200436005: Settlement preserves an after-born grandchild's trust exemption
A trust for an after-born grandchild arose from family trusts established before September 25, 1985, and was represented to have received no later additions. Family members reached a settlement over…
PLR 200436004: Settlement leaves grandchild trust's GST exemption intact
A trust for an after-born grandchild arose under an equalization provision in trusts established before September 25, 1985. The trustee represented that the trust received no later additions. A…
PLR 200436003: Settlement preserves a grandchild trust's GST exemption
A trustee asked whether a family settlement would disturb the generation-skipping transfer tax exemption of a trust created before September 25, 1985. The trust had received no later additions. The…
PLR 200436002: Corporation may revoke an unintended debt discharge election
An insolvent corporation repurchased its debt and excluded the resulting discharge income under section 108. Its return preparer accidentally entered the discharged amount on a line of Form 982 that…
PLR 200436001: Estate receives more time to elect QTIP treatment
A decedent's revocable trust provided a marital share for the surviving spouse, who was entitled to its income for life. The estate's accountant filed Form 706 without claiming a marital deduction…
TAM 200435022: Church officer's unsubstantiated spending draws excess benefit taxes
A church officer who was the founder's son used organization credit cards and a cell phone, and received a payment described as a computer purchase. The IRS concluded he was a disqualified person…
TAM 200435021: Church founder's wife received excess benefits from organization assets
The wife of a church's founder was its secretary-treasurer and a director. She used church credit cards and a cell phone, while the organization paid costs tied to properties used or controlled by…
TAM 200435020: Church founder liable for personal use of charitable assets
The founder and president of a church used organization credit cards, a vehicle, and real estate, while the church also paid expenses tied to his personal residences. Chief Counsel concluded he was…
TAM 200435019: Church director's undocumented charges are excess benefits
A church director who was the founder's son used organization credit cards for gasoline, received a church-paid cell phone, and received a check described as a travel expense. The IRS found that the…
TAM 200435018: Unsubstantiated truck use by church founder's son-in-law is an excess benefit
A church provided a truck for the exclusive use of its founder's son-in-law. His counsel said he used it for work at church-owned property, but supplied no sworn statement or records showing when he…
PLR 200435017: IRA owner receives a waiver of the 60-day rollover deadline
An IRA owner withdrew funds and believed there were 90 days to roll them into another IRA. The brokerage firm had not told the owner about the actual 60-day deadline, and the money was instead…
PLR 200435016: Return of nondeductible pension contributions may preserve plan qualification
An employer asked about returning contributions made to a defined benefit pension plan for the plan year beginning January 1, 2003. The IRS determined that the contributions could be treated as…
TAM 200435015: Life insurer must reduce reserves for yearly renewable term reinsurance
A life insurer bought yearly renewable term reinsurance for mortality risk on some policies. It argued that reserves measured by a policy's net surrender value should not be reduced for reinsured…
PLR 200435014: Omitted subsidiary may join a consolidated return
A corporate parent filed a consolidated return without one subsidiary it had acquired during the tax year. Its tax director had been told, incorrectly, that the subsidiary was outside the parent…
PLR 200435013: Late election allowed for Canadian retirement savings plan
A U.S. citizen living in Canada timely filed her U.S. tax return but missed an election to defer U.S. tax on current earnings in her Canadian registered retirement savings plan. She and her…
PLR 200435012: Settlement preserves GST exemption for two grandchild trusts
A beneficiary sought a ruling on two trusts created for her under equalization provisions in family trusts established before September 25, 1985. The trusts had received no later additions. A family…
PLR 200435011: Settlement leaves two original trusts' GST exemption intact
Two trusts for a grandchild were among family trusts established before September 25, 1985, and had received no later additions. A family settlement resolved disputes about trustee selection, income…
PLR 200435010: Family settlement preserves two trusts' GST exemption
Two trusts for a grandchild were established before September 25, 1985, and had received no later additions. A family settlement addressed disputes involving trustees, income rights, accounting, and…
PLR 200435009: Settlement preserves GST exemption for a grandchild's two trusts
Two family trusts for a grandchild were established before September 25, 1985, and had received no later additions. A settlement resolved family disputes about trustee appointments, income rights,…
PLR 200435008: Family agreement leaves two trusts' GST exemption in place
Two trusts for a grandchild were established before September 25, 1985, and had received no later additions. A family settlement addressed trustee appointments, income rights, accounting, and the…
PLR 200435007: Receivership excludes transferred interest from settlement fund income
Federal officials seized assets from an alleged Ponzi scheme, and the U.S. Marshals Service held the money while it earned interest. A court later appointed a receiver to review victims' claims and…
PLR 200435006: Timely disclaimers of tribal gaming payments avoid income and gift tax
A member of a federally recognized tribe disclaimed quarterly per capita payments from the tribe's gaming revenue. The tribe's ordinance required a written disclaimer before the payment's record…
PLR 200435005: Corporate distribution to exempt owner avoids gain recognition
A corporation owned by a tax-exempt supporting organization proposed to distribute the stock of two subsidiaries to that owner. The owner would then transfer the subsidiaries to another supporting…
PLR 200435004: Entity receives more time to elect corporate tax status
A business entity intended to be taxed as a corporation from the date it was formed, but it did not file Form 8832 on time. It asked the IRS for more time to make the entity classification election.…
PLR 200435003: Corporate split receives reorganization and stock distribution rulings
A corporation proposed to move part of its business property into a new corporation, then distribute the new company's stock to two shareholders in exchange for their shares in the original company.…
PLR 200435002: S corporation business split receives reorganization and stock distribution rulings
An S corporation transferred one of its two businesses and related liabilities to a new corporation, then proposed to distribute the new corporation's stock to its sole shareholder, a revocable…
CCA 200435001: Oregon child care credit raises federal deduction questions
Chief Counsel reviewed proposed text for an IRS information letter about contributions under Oregon's child care tax credit program. The advice says an expected state tax credit raises serious…
TAM 200434029: Banks must include investment subsidiaries in tax-exempt interest calculations
A bank holding company owned banks that had placed investment assets in wholly owned subsidiaries. On amended returns, the banks counted only some of the subsidiaries' tax-exempt bonds when…
PLR 200434028: Student loan organization may become a private foundation
A tax exempt scholarship funding corporation planned to elect out of that status and transfer its student loan notes and related bond obligations to a taxable subsidiary in exchange for senior…
PLR 200434027: Late rollover of inherited IRA distributions receives waiver
A surviving spouse received distributions from a deceased spouse's IRAs and deposited them in a regular checking account. After an investment adviser explained the rollover option, the survivor used…
PLR 200434026: Tuition grant set-aside qualifies as a foundation distribution
A private foundation wanted to reserve funds for tuition grants to students who needed help but did not qualify for another source of financial aid. It could not identify eligible students or know…
PLR 200434025: Bank account error leads to IRA rollover deadline waiver
An IRA owner withdrew funds intending to roll them into an IRA at a different bank. The bank instead opened a certificate of deposit and savings account in the owner's and spouse's joint names. The…
PLR 200434024: Pension plan minimum funding waiver denied
A company asked the IRS to waive the minimum funding standard for its defined benefit pension plan. The company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, closed, and sold its assets. 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.