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 200422006: Late association classification election allowed
An entity formed under state law intended to elect association status for federal tax purposes from its formation date but inadvertently missed the Form 8832 deadline. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200422005: Court reformation can preserve intended charitable annuity trust treatment
Two donors intended to create a charitable remainder annuity trust, but their attorney later found errors in the trust agreement that prevented it from qualifying as written. A court, after notice…
PLR 200422004: School bond interest remains eligible for exclusion under hedge bond exception
A school district planned a long construction and renovation program financed with notes, proposed bonds, earlier bonds, and state matching funds. Its notes and proposed bonds were hedge bonds…
PLR 200422003: Corporate spin-off preserves later nonrecognition but triggers earlier asset gains or losses
A public corporation planned to separate one business segment through transfers among subsidiaries, conversion of a limited liability company to a corporation, and distribution of the new…
PLR 200422002: Foreign subsidiary gets time for disregarded entity election
A U.S. corporation transferred its shares in one foreign subsidiary to another foreign subsidiary as part of a reorganization. The transferred company intended to elect disregarded entity treatment…
PLR 200422001: Surviving merger corporation may use overall cash accounting method
Two corporations using different overall accounting methods merged and planned to operate one integrated business. The surviving corporation had used the cash method, while the acquired corporation…
PLR 200421010: Foundation asset transfer and shared services receive favorable rulings
A charitable trust planned to transfer all its assets to a charitable corporation controlled by the same people, then dissolve. The IRS ruled that the transfer would qualify as a private foundation…
PLR 200421009: IRA owner receives waiver for a late rollover after fund liquidation
An IRA owner's mutual fund was unexpectedly liquidated, and the fund manager sent the IRA proceeds directly to her. She did not receive the advance notice or an explanation of the 60-day rollover…
PLR 200421008: IRA owner receives a rollover waiver after custodian error
An IRA owner asked for a partial distribution, but an employee of the custodian mistakenly marked a form for a full distribution. The custodian moved the IRA balance into the owner's regular…
PLR 200421007: IRA owner receives a rollover waiver after misunderstanding the deadline
An IRA owner received a distribution and mistakenly believed he had 90 days to roll it into another IRA. After 75 days, he learned that the deadline was 60 days and promptly contacted the IRS. He…
PLR 200421006: Late IRA rollover relief excludes the required distribution
A retired, legally blind IRA owner withdrew more than the required minimum distribution after misunderstanding the amount due. The excess was placed in a credit union money market account. Her son…
PLR 200421005: City pension contributions qualify as employer pick-ups
A city proposed to pay mandatory pension contributions for a group of employees by reducing their pay and sending the amounts directly to its defined benefit plan. The employees would have no option…
PLR 200421004: Company receives more time to file separate business line notices
A petroleum company treated its retail subsidiary as a qualified separate line of business for retirement plan testing. Its law firm did not tell it that later IRS guidance required notices, and…
PLR 200421003: IRS denies waiver of missed IRA rollover deadline
A surviving spouse received a distribution from an inherited IRA and deposited it in a savings account. The spouse learned from a tax preparer, after the 60-day deadline had passed, that the…
CCA 200421002: Later taxpayer return does not restart the collection clock
The IRS prepared a substitute return for a taxpayer who had not filed, issued a deficiency notice, and assessed the tax after the taxpayer did not respond. The taxpayer later filed a return showing…
TAM 200421001: Prior audits support employment tax relief for residential community workers
A tax-exempt residential community treated the people who cared for its residents as volunteers and paid many of their living expenses. The IRS concluded that the community qualified for employment…
PLR 200420037: Illness and death justify waiver of an IRA rollover deadline
An IRA owner took a distribution, became seriously ill, and died before completing a rollover. After the 60-day deadline, his surviving spouse deposited the distributed amount into an IRA in her…
PLR 200420036: Cash and escrow certificates from an ESOP qualify for rollover
An employee stock ownership plan held cash and an interest in an escrow fund after its employer's stock was exchanged in a merger. The companies wanted to terminate the plan before the escrow fund…
PLR 200420035: Bank error permits late IRA rollover of a partial distribution
A taxpayer moved money from an IRA at one bank to another bank and later instructed the second bank to put $25,000 into an IRA. The second bank placed that amount in a regular savings account…
PLR 200420034: Bank failure supports waiver of IRA rollover deadline
A taxpayer took a distribution from one IRA and asked another bank to roll it into a new IRA. The bank did not follow her instructions, and she learned of the error only after her accountant asked…
PLR 200420033: City pension contributions count as employer contributions
A city proposed to pay its employees' mandatory pension contributions directly to a governmental plan by reducing their compensation. Employees would have no option to receive the amounts as pay…
PLR 200420032: Foundation employee-child scholarships receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed three types of college scholarships for children of a company's employees. An independent committee would select recipients using academic achievement, service or…
PLR 200420031: Charity-run employee-child scholarship procedures approved
An organization planned to fund scholarships for a company's employees' children through a separate tax-exempt public charity. That charity would handle applications, choose recipients using…
PLR 200420030: Pension plan may pay full benefits at age 60 while members keep working
A state police pension plan asked whether it could pay retirement benefits to members who reach age 60 with at least five years of service while they continue working in covered jobs. The plan sets…
PLR 200420029: Foundation's joint investments do not constitute self-dealing
A private foundation proposed investing through partnerships alongside relatives of its founder and their entities. Those other investors would own enough of each partnership for it to be a…
TAM 200420028: Tribe must report cash prizes of $600 or more to powwow winners
A federally recognized Indian tribe awarded cash prizes to winners of dance contests at its annual powwow. It asked whether it had to issue Forms 1099 for prizes of $600 or more, arguing that its…
PLR 200420027: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation's shareholders wanted S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but the S election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and…
PLR 200420026: Omitted subsidiary may join consolidated return
A parent corporation filed a consolidated return with one subsidiary but inadvertently left out another, dormant subsidiary. The parent said its official and tax preparer did not know about the…
PLR 200420025: Partnership may make retroactive QEF election
A U.S. partnership invested in a foreign holding company that was a passive foreign investment company, but it did not make a timely qualified electing fund (QEF) election. Its international tax…
PLR 200420024: Separation of two businesses qualifies as tax-free spin-off
A corporation operated two businesses exposed to uninsured product liability claims. To separate their risks, it proposed transferring one business to a new corporation and distributing the new…
PLR 200420023: Retroactive QEF elections allowed for four foreign companies
A U.S. limited liability company indirectly held interests in four foreign companies that were passive foreign investment companies (PFICs). Its international tax adviser failed to identify that…
PLR 200420022: Post-IPO distribution of subsidiary stock qualifies as spin-off
A publicly traded corporation planned to recapitalize a subsidiary, have the subsidiary issue a limited amount of stock in an initial public offering, and later distribute its remaining subsidiary…
PLR 200420021: Dividing and merging grandfathered trusts preserves tax treatment
Trustees proposed dividing two family trusts into separate trusts for three beneficiary groups, then merging the matching trusts. A court had ordered the arrangement to take effect after a favorable…
PLR 200420020: Two spin-offs and related contributions receive nonrecognition treatment
Shareholders proposed contributing their parent company stock to a limited partnership. The parent would then distribute the stock of one subsidiary to that partnership, and the subsidiary would…
PLR 200420019: Corporate realignment and distributions receive reorganization treatment
A publicly traded corporate group proposed placing a new holding company above its existing parent and separating a growing business from a declining, heavily regulated business. The plan included…
PLR 200420018: Consolidated group continues after new parent is inserted
Four shareholders planned to exchange their stock in a parent corporation for stock in a new parent with identical ownership, after which the former parent would distribute its subsidiary's stock to…
PLR 200420017: Insurer owns assets backing new variable contract options
A life insurer proposed four new investment portfolios for its variable annuity and life insurance contracts. Contract owners could choose among broad investment options, but an investment manager…
PLR 200420016: Late S corporation election receives relief
A corporation intended to be treated as an S corporation from a specified date but did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and granted relief under IRC…
PLR 200420015: Extended building leases do not affect earlier spin-off rulings
A corporation had distributed a subsidiary's stock under an earlier IRS ruling. The two companies later extended a shared services agreement and wanted to extend their related building lease,…
PLR 200420014: Late S corporation election may take effect in requested year
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment to begin in a later tax year, but a timely Form 2553 was not filed. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election under IRC…
PLR 200420013: Late S election treated as timely after S return was filed
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation status for a specified tax year. The corporation filed an S corporation return for that year, and correspondence with its accountant showed…
PLR 200420012: IRS revokes earlier treaty ruling on German law firm partners
A German law partnership had a New York office served by a U.S. resident partner. In 1993, the IRS had ruled that German resident partners were not taxable in the United States on shares of income…
PLR 200420011: Court-approved trust division avoids income and gift tax consequences
After litigation among family beneficiaries, a court approved changes that would convert their separate shares of a trust into separate trusts and clarify what happens if a beneficiary dies before…
PLR 200420010: Trustees receive more time for transitional reverse QTIP election
An estate had allocated generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to a trust and made a reverse qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) election. A later transitional rule allowed a…
PLR 200420009: Late S election allowed from corporation's first tax year
A corporation intended S corporation status from its first tax year, as reflected in its organizational board minutes, but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the…
PLR 200420008: Partnership receives more time to make section 754 election
A limited liability company treated as a partnership missed the deadline to elect basis adjustments under IRC § 754 after a partner sold an interest. Its tax professional said they had not…
PLR 200420007: Fractional disclaimer to family foundation qualifies for estate deduction
A decedent's child proposed disclaiming a fractional share of a trust's residuary distribution, which would pass to a family foundation. Because the child was also involved in running the…
PLR 200420006: Family business split-off qualifies as reorganization
Two branches of a family disagreed over the direction of a corporation's two businesses. The corporation proposed transferring one business to another company and giving that company's stock to one…
PLR 200420005: Family business split-off qualifies as reorganization
Two branches of a family disagreed over the direction of a corporation's two businesses. The corporation proposed transferring one business to another company and giving that company's stock to one…
PLR 200420004: Family business split-off qualifies as reorganization
Two branches of a family disagreed over the direction of a corporation's two businesses. The corporation proposed transferring one business to another company and giving that company's stock to one…
PLR 200420003: Family business split-off qualifies as reorganization
Two branches of a family disagreed over the direction of a corporation's two businesses. The corporation proposed transferring one business to another company and giving that company's stock to one…
TAM 200420002: Insurer may gross up qualifying acquisition interest deductions
A life insurer inherited partnership interests through a merger with two insurers that had helped finance a 1981 stock acquisition. A narrow transitional rule in the 1984 tax law, later amended in…
PLR 200420001: Family business split-off qualifies as reorganization
Two branches of a family disagreed over the direction of a corporation's two businesses. The corporation proposed transferring one business to another company and giving that company's stock to one…
PLR 200419038: Pension trust mergers do not tax plan participants
A corporate group proposed merging six pension trusts into two surviving trusts. Each plan would keep the same beneficial interest in the assets, and no participant or beneficiary would receive a…
PLR 200419037: State police pension lump sum receives special basis treatment
A state police pension system asked how to tax a lump sum paid when a member begins receiving monthly retirement benefits. The plan had allowed members to withdraw their after-tax contributions on…
PLR 200419036: State pension lump sum gets limited pre-1987 basis relief
A state pension system asked how to tax a lump sum paid when a member begins receiving monthly retirement benefits. The IRS ruled that after-tax employee contributions, less earlier tax-free…
PLR 200419035: Arts awards for past work need no grant procedure approval
A private foundation planned to give awards to artists selected by an expert committee, without an application process. Recipients would be recognized for past achievements and would not have to…
PLR 200419034: Pension plan receives 2002 minimum funding waiver
The IRS granted a defined benefit pension plan a waiver of its minimum funding standard for the plan year ended December 31, 2002, under IRC § 412(d). The employer had losses in 1999 through 2001,…
PLR 200419033: Municipal pension contributions qualify as employer pickup
A municipality proposed paying mandatory employee pension contributions in place of its employees. Its proposed resolution would reduce cash salaries by the contributed amount and give employees no…
PLR 200419032: Mistaken taxable account receives rollover deadline waiver
After leaving an employer, a taxpayer tried to move three retirement plan distributions directly into a rollover IRA. He clicked the wrong option in an online application, so the receiving firm…
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.