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 200428024: Isolated fund tender offer causes no deemed stock distribution
A closed-end investment company proposed a tender offer to redeem some shares at net asset value because its shares might trade below the value of their underlying assets. It represented that the…
PLR 200428023: Fund tender offer does not cause deemed distribution to remaining holders
A closed-end investment company proposed to redeem some shares through a tender offer at net asset value. It said the offer was an isolated transaction intended to address a perceived discount in…
PLR 200428022: Restricted trust corpus is not replacement proceeds of refunding bonds
A public board planned to issue bonds to refund taxable bonds used for facility renovations. Some distributable income from an old trust could pay debt service, but the trust's land and permanent…
PLR 200428021: Public hospital corporation's income and wages receive federal exclusions
A local government organized a nonprofit corporation to operate a hospital and related health care services. The government was its sole member, appointed and could remove its directors, and…
PLR 200428020: Changes to like-kind exchange program preserve earlier rulings
A taxpayer had an existing program for exchanging business property through a qualified intermediary under § 1031. It proposed adding another source of replacement property and manually identifying…
PLR 200428019: Cold storage rents qualify while taxable subsidiary handles services
A real estate investment trust planned to rent temperature-controlled storage space directly to customers, while a taxable REIT subsidiary would provide handling, transport, and other services for…
PLR 200428018: Former resident's departure lacked a principal tax avoidance purpose
A former U.S. permanent resident returned with his wife to his country of birth and gave up his green card. His net worth exceeded the threshold that could trigger a presumption of tax avoidance…
PLR 200428017: Trust division preserves GST status and avoids gain or gift tax
After a dispute among three family branches, a court approved dividing an existing trust into three trusts with equal value and the same beneficial terms for each branch. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200428016: Holding company transfers do not trigger branch profits tax disposition
A foreign corporation had transferred former U.S. branch assets into U.S. subsidiaries and made elections that could trigger branch profits tax on a later stock disposition. It then placed the stock…
PLR 200428015: County technology agency's income excluded under section 115
An agency formed by counties and related public entities provided shared technology services to its members. Its revenue came from member contributions, fees, and investments, and its remaining…
PLR 200428014: Foreign subsidiary receives time to elect disregarded entity status
A single-owner foreign entity intended to elect disregarded entity status from a specified date but inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS found that the regulatory extension…
PLR 200428013: Estate trust reformation supports charitable and marital deductions
A decedent's will placed his estate in a charitable trust while giving his spouse use of the home and distributions from trust assets. The spouse disclaimed certain joint account interests and her…
PLR 200428012: Partnership may deduct drilling costs despite omitted short-year return
A partnership intended to elect current deductions for intangible drilling and development costs under § 263(c). After a deemed termination created a short tax year, responsibility for that year's…
PLR 200428011: Partnership may expense drilling costs after missing short-year return
A partnership intended to elect current deductions for intangible drilling and development costs under § 263(c). After a deemed termination created a short tax year, responsibility for that year's…
PLR 200428010: First short-year return omission does not defeat drilling cost election
A partnership intended to elect current deductions for intangible drilling and development costs under § 263(c). After its first deemed termination created a short tax year, responsibility for that…
PLR 200428009: Foreign entity receives 60 days to file late classification election
Two businesses formed a foreign limited liability entity and intended it to elect a federal tax classification effective on its formation date. They inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time.…
PLR 200428008: Late classification election allowed for another foreign entity
Two businesses formed a foreign limited liability entity and intended it to elect a federal tax classification effective on its formation date. They inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time.…
CCA 200428007: Counsel flags deficiencies in dual consolidated loss rebuttals
Chief Counsel reviewed a corporate group's treatment of dual consolidated losses while the IRS was arranging a closing agreement. It identified a group acquisition and four branch asset transfers…
PLR 200428006: REIT receives time to elect taxable subsidiary status
A real estate investment trust formed a corporation to manage a property holding company as required by a lender. The corporation's formation was not brought to the trust's tax advisers, so the…
PLR 200428005: Late application to change corporate tax year treated as timely
A corporation filed Form 1128 to change its annual accounting period but missed the filing deadline because of an error or misunderstanding. It filed within 90 days of the due date. The IRS found…
PLR 200428004: Entity gets more time to elect corporate tax classification
A state formed entity intended to elect treatment as an association taxable as a corporation, but it inadvertently filed no Form 8832 by the deadline. The IRS found the regulatory extension…
PLR 200428003: Foreign entity may make late disregarded entity election
A single-owner foreign entity intended to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation date. It later found that Form 8832 had not been filed on time because of inadvertence. The IRS…
PLR 200428001: Late S corporation election effective from formation
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from the date it was formed, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under §…
PLR 200427031: Social club's house sale gain deferred after change to charitable purposes
A tax-exempt social club sold its fraternity house after its campus chapter closed and foreclosure was threatened. The sale produced a gain. The club proposed changing its purposes to charitable and…
PLR 200427030: Township pension contributions treated as employer contributions
A township agreed to pay mandatory employee contributions to its governmental pension plan. Its resolution said employees could not take the amounts as cash instead. The IRS ruled that the picked-up…
PLR 200427029: Waiver granted for late retirement plan rollover
An employee received proceeds from selling stock held in a former employer's retirement plan. After relying on information from the former and new employers, he put the money in a savings account…
PLR 200427028: Late rollover waiver after attorney held divorce plan payment
A former spouse received a retirement plan payment under a divorce order and intended to roll it into an IRA. She asked an attorney to handle the payment after questioning the plan's tax…
PLR 200427027: Rollover deadline waived after plan omitted notice
A participant received a check for a complete distribution from a qualified retirement plan. The plan did not provide the written rollover notice required by § 402(f), and the participant did not…
PLR 200427026: Late request to change accounting year treated as timely
A taxpayer wanted to change its tax year from August 31 to December 31 but filed Form 1128 after the deadline for the required short-period return. The IRS found that the taxpayer acted reasonably…
TAM 200427025: Payment to end a power purchase agreement is ordinary income
A utility paid a power producer's partnership to terminate a long-term agreement to buy electricity at above-market rates. The partnership reported the payment as capital gain. The IRS advised that…
TAM 200427024: Variable annuity reserves qualify as life insurance reserves to a limited extent
An insurer held separate-account reserves for deferred variable annuities based on the contracts' cash surrender values. The question was whether those amounts met the calculation rule for life…
TAM 200427023: Settlement replacing future service fees is ordinary income
A corporate group bought a business that provided administrative and custody services to mutual funds. After a successor to the seller allegedly interfered with agreements meant to preserve those…
PLR 200427022: Late S corporation election effective from incorporation
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from its incorporation date but did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief under §…
PLR 200427021: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
A utility requested a revised schedule of annual payments to its nuclear plant decommissioning fund. The IRS found that the proposed schedule used the utility commission's cost and ratemaking…
PLR 200427020: Late S election allowed from corporation's start date
A corporation's shareholder wanted S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under § 1362(b)(5). It…
PLR 200427019: Asset distribution respected separately from subsidiary stock sale
A parent corporation had its subsidiary distribute one group of assets before selling all of the subsidiary's stock to an unrelated buyer. The IRS ruled that the distribution would be treated under…
PLR 200427018: Children's trust appointments avoid generation-skipping tax
A trust gave the settlor's children annual powers to appoint trust principal to their own children and broader powers effective at death. A state court construed the latter powers as exercisable in…
PLR 200427017: Synthetic fuel credit survives qualifying facility sale and relocation
A partnership planned to buy and operate a coal-based synthetic fuel facility and asked about the § 29 production credit. The IRS ruled that the described fuel and pre-1997 construction contract met…
PLR 200427016: State insurance entity treated as part of the state
A state created a public corporation to run insurance plans for property owners who could not obtain coverage in the voluntary market. The state controlled the entity's leadership and operations and…
PLR 200427015: Pre-acquisition foreign earnings excluded from deemed dividend amount
A domestic parent acquired a foreign corporation over time and proposed reorganizing it as a domestic corporation. The question was which of the foreign corporation's earnings would enter the…
PLR 200427014: Treaty relief for foreign insurer premium excise tax
A foreign insurer covered risks connected to its corporate group's operations, including risks in the United States. It sought relief from the federal excise tax on premiums paid to foreign insurers…
PLR 200427013: Treaty exemption for foreign reinsurance premiums
A foreign reinsurer planned to cover U.S. risks and sought treaty relief from the federal excise tax on premiums paid to foreign insurers. It represented that its business activity and specified…
PLR 200427012: Lean gas and water injection qualifies as tertiary oil recovery method
An oil producer replaced a suspended recovery project with alternating injections of lean hydrocarbon gas and water into an undersaturated reservoir. It represented that the gas would swell the oil,…
PLR 200427011: Subsidiary divestiture qualifies for Section 338 stock purchase treatment
A corporate group planned to put numerous subsidiaries into a new corporation, sell part of the new company's stock to the public, and reduce its remaining ownership below half. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200427010: Estate receives time to allocate missed GST exemption
A couple contributed to a trust for their descendants and intended to use generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption. Tax professionals reported the gifts but failed to allocate the deceased…
PLR 200427009: Estate excludes judgment shares assigned before recovery was certain
A deceased insured's estate faced tax questions after a judgment against an insurer for its handling of an earlier lawsuit. Before a recovery was certain, the insured and spouse had given the…
PLR 200427008: Estate receives time for reverse QTIP elections and GST allocation
An estate had made marital deduction elections for two trusts but missed related reverse QTIP elections and generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption allocations. Without the reverse elections,…
PLR 200427007: Late reverse QTIP elections and GST allocation allowed
An estate had made marital deduction elections for two trusts but missed the associated reverse QTIP elections and generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption allocations. The IRS found the…
PLR 200427006: Estate receives late reverse QTIP and GST allocation relief
An estate had made marital deduction elections for two trusts but missed reverse QTIP elections and related generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption allocations. The IRS concluded that the…
PLR 200427005: Inadvertently ineffective S election receives conditional relief
A corporation's S election was ineffective because two trust shareholders were ineligible and had not consented to the election. The IRS found the mistake inadvertent and granted relief under §…
PLR 200427004: Time granted to file dual consolidated loss agreement
A corporation acquired another company in a transaction that could trigger recapture of dual consolidated losses. Revised regulations offered a path that required a new agreement, but the taxpayer…
PLR 200427003: Inadvertent S election termination from ineligible shareholder relieved
Two shareholders transferred S corporation stock to an ineligible shareholder, ending the corporation's S election. Once the mistake was discovered, the stock was transferred to eligible…
PLR 200427002: Late accounting period application treated as timely
A corporation filed Form 1128 to request a change in its tax year after the filing deadline. The letter attributes the delay to an error or misunderstanding and says the form was filed within 90…
IRS determination 200427001: Service declines factual insurance agent status request
A requester asked the IRS to approve procedures for deciding whether sales agents were full-time life insurance salesmen under § 3121(d)(3)(B). After reviewing the submission and discussing it at a…
PLR 200426027: Federal garnishment of qualified retirement benefits
An employer asked how its qualified retirement plans should respond to federal garnishment orders for criminal fines and restitution. The IRS ruled that honoring the orders would not violate the…
PLR 200426026: IRA rollover deadline waived after accident-related impairment
An IRA owner requested a distribution that he later could not explain and missed the 60-day rollover deadline. The letter describes lasting effects of injuries from a hit-and-run accident and says…
PLR 200426025: IRA rollover deadline waived after deposit into a bank account
An IRA owner withdrew his full IRA balance and deposited it into a regular bank account within two weeks. He missed the 60-day rollover deadline and later said he did not remember moving the money.…
PLR 200426024: IRA rollover deadline waived after bank error
A taxpayer asked a bank to redeem maturing investments and bought investment bonds with the proceeds. He later learned that part of the money had come from his IRA and that the 60-day rollover…
PLR 200426023: Extra time to undo an ineligible Roth IRA conversion
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, then learned that the couple's combined income exceeded the limit for that conversion. The couple paid a 6-percent excise tax on the excess…
PLR 200426022: Late plan rollover allowed for unspent distribution
A retiree repeatedly asked for her qualified plan benefits to be rolled directly into an IRA. After a change of plan administrators and confusing distribution forms, the money was deposited into her…
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.