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 200419031: IRA redeposit qualifies after 60-day rollover waiver
A taxpayer had been taking a fixed series of IRA payments, but a falling account balance raised concern that the IRA would run out too soon. After IRS guidance allowed a one-time switch to the…
PLR 200419030: Two subsidiary stock distributions avoid recognized gain
A corporation planned to distribute the stock of two wholly owned subsidiaries to its parent. The subsidiaries operated businesses that management wanted to separate from the corporation's other…
PLR 200419029: Housing project gets time to make income set-aside election
A taxpayer inadvertently failed to make the required income set-aside election for a low-income housing project under IRC § 42(g)(1). That election determines which income and unit occupancy…
PLR 200419028: Late GST exemption allocations allowed for twelve trust gifts
A decedent made gifts to a life insurance trust over 13 years, but her attorney did not advise her to file gift tax returns allocating generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to them. Her…
PLR 200419027: Wife receives time to correct GST exemption allocations
A couple made gifts to a trust for their children and grandchildren, and several years of gift tax returns contained errors or were never filed. The IRS granted the wife 60 days to allocate her…
PLR 200419026: Husband receives time to correct GST exemption allocations
A couple made gifts to a trust for their children and grandchildren, and several years of gift tax returns contained errors or were never filed. The IRS granted the husband 60 days to allocate his…
PLR 200419025: Actively managed rents avoid S corporation passive income rule
An S corporation with accumulated earnings and profits owned and rented two properties. It arranged inspections, maintenance, repairs, security, and other management services through employees,…
PLR 200419024: Managed commercial property rents avoid passive income rule
A corporation planning to elect S corporation status owned or leased commercial properties, most of which it rented to related businesses. A part-time employee and contractors provided inspections,…
PLR 200419023: Pre-1997 corporation classification supports late S election
An entity formed before the 1997 check-the-box regulations had been classified as a corporation under the prior rules. Its attempted S corporation election was not accepted because its…
PLR 200419022: Late GST allocation uses original value of trust gift
A taxpayer transferred stock to a trust for descendants but did not timely file a gift tax return or allocate generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption. She said her attorney and accountant…
PLR 200419021: Estate may allocate GST exemption to five earlier trust gifts
A decedent funded a trust for his children and their descendants through five lifetime transfers. No gift tax return was filed for the first transfer, and an accounting firm failed to make effective…
PLR 200419020: Family shareholders may separate their business interests tax free
Disputes between two groups of family shareholders had impaired an S corporation's operations. The corporation proposed putting some assets into a new limited liability company, transferring other…
PLR 200419019: Former resident's departure lacked a principal tax avoidance purpose
An individual born in another country became a U.S. permanent resident for work, later returned with his family to his birth country, and relinquished his green card. His net worth exceeded the…
PLR 200419018: Former resident's return to birth country lacked a principal tax avoidance purpose
A woman became a U.S. permanent resident because of her husband's employment, then returned with her family to her birth country and relinquished her green card. Her net worth exceeded the threshold…
PLR 200419017: Late application to change accounting year treated as timely
A corporation sought to change its tax year from a March 31 ending date to December 31 but filed Form 1128 after the deadline for the short-period return. It requested late-filing relief under…
PLR 200419016: Housing agency may correct building credit allocations
A housing agency allocated low-income housing credits to a project as a whole, then issued Forms 8609 showing credit amounts for individual buildings. The partnership owning the project had supplied…
PLR 200419015: Late S corporation election effective from incorporation
A newly incorporated business intended to be taxed as an S corporation from its incorporation date but missed the deadline to file its election. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing…
PLR 200419014: Consolidated group may retain foreign corporations' qualified deficit shares
A U.S. consolidated group proposed moving ownership of two controlled foreign corporations within the group. Other group members had held the corporations when they incurred deficits attributable to…
PLR 200419013: Executives excluded from covered employee status after merger
A domestic target merged into a subsidiary of a foreign private issuer. The IRS considered whether the target's executives were covered employees under the executive compensation deduction limit in…
PLR 200419012: Late application to change tax year treated as timely
A taxpayer sought to change its tax year from a September 30 ending date to December 31, effective in 2002, but filed Form 1128 after its March 2003 deadline. It requested relief within 90 days of…
PLR 200419011: GST allocation extension granted, but valuation fixed at end of estate tax inclusion period
A donor and spouse funded seven trusts for their children and grandchildren but missed generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption allocations. A state court later reformed the trusts to narrow…
PLR 200419010: Late elections for five taxable REIT subsidiaries granted
A real estate investment trust formed five subsidiaries for a planned leasing structure but failed to file their joint taxable REIT subsidiary elections on time. An officer believed the elections…
PLR 200419009: Foreign company gets more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign limited company wholly owned by a U.S. partnership intended to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation date. Its single owner had limited liability, so the company…
PLR 200419008: Foreign company gets more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign limited company wholly owned by a U.S. partnership intended to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation date. Its single owner had limited liability, so the company…
PLR 200419007: Foreign company gets more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign limited company wholly owned by a U.S. partnership intended to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation date. Its single owner had limited liability, so the company…
PLR 200419006: Unfunded deferred compensation plan avoids current employee income
A company asked whether employees would owe tax immediately on amounts deferred under its nonqualified compensation plan. Participants elect deferrals in advance, and the plan gives them only an…
PLR 200419005: Estate denied late alternate valuation election
An estate asked for more time to elect alternate valuation of its property under IRC § 2032. Its estate tax return was filed three months after the due date, and its representative made the election…
PLR 200419004: Gas pipeline interconnection excluded as a capital contribution
A gas pipeline company agreed to build and own interconnection facilities paid for by a gas well owner. The company asked whether the transfer would be a taxable contribution in aid of construction…
PLR 200419003: Late Form 1128 accepted for calendar-year change
A taxpayer wanted to change its tax year end from September 30 to December 31 but filed Form 1128 after its due date. The filing was late because of an error or misunderstanding, and the taxpayer…
PLR 200419002: Extra time granted for nuclear decommissioning fund election
A member of an electric utility group had a nuclear decommissioning fund for its interest in a generating plant. The group's parent inadvertently omitted the member's IRC § 468A election statement…
TAM 200419001: Foreign note treatment does not breach debt-equity consistency rule
A U.S. parent held notes issued by a foreign subsidiary. The subsidiary treated the notes as debt under foreign law, while the parent treated them as equity on its U.S. tax returns and on its…
PLR 200418053: Foundation receives two more years to spend building set-aside
A private operating foundation had an approved set-aside for a building to house historical materials and support its research and museum work. Construction costs rose above the original estimate,…
PLR 200418052: Medical condition supports waiver of IRA rollover deadline
An IRA owner withdrew funds after becoming concerned about the account's value, placed them in a savings account, and later deposited them in another IRA after the 60-day rollover deadline. The…
PLR 200418051: Foreign pension transfer preserves exclusive benefit and funding rules
A U.S. employer planned to move pension benefits for employees and retirees in another country from its qualified U.S. plan through a new plan to a local retirement plan. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200418050: School employee benefit plans qualify as church plans
A religious school associated with a convention of churches asked whether its five employee benefit plans were church plans under IRC § 414(e). The convention controlled the school's board and key…
PLR 200418049: Pension plan receives minimum funding waiver
The IRS granted a defined benefit pension plan a waiver of its minimum funding standard for a redacted plan year under IRC § 412(d). The letter says the company's sales had declined and its health…
PLR 200418048: Worker granted more time to roll over retirement plan payment
A worker received a distribution from an employer retirement plan after a disability leave and termination. The worker did not understand the plan materials and relied on a tax preparer who gave…
PLR 200418047: Revised hospital reorganization preserves exempt status
A healthcare system had already received an IRS ruling on a proposed reorganization, then reported changes to the plan. The changes included keeping one hospital as a division of another entity,…
PLR 200418046: Foundation's construction set-aside meets suitability test
A private operating foundation planned a multiyear construction project to support its activities for residents and visitors of a community. It asked whether funds reserved for a facility could…
PLR 200418045: Surviving spouse gets more time to roll over retirement stock
A retired worker received company stock from an employer retirement plan, then suffered a heart attack and died before the 60-day rollover period ended. His surviving spouse held the stock and asked…
PLR 200418044: Municipal retiree health trust income excluded from tax
A public corporation administered a trust that invested employer contributions for municipal retirees' health benefits. The IRS ruled that the trust's income would be excluded under IRC § 115(1),…
PLR 200418043: More time to file dual consolidated loss agreements and certification
A parent company asked for more time to file agreements concerning dual consolidated losses of two entities and an annual certification for one of those losses. Its tax staff and outside advisers…
PLR 200418042: More time to elect disregarded status for a foreign subsidiary
An S corporation intended its wholly owned foreign subsidiary to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from the subsidiary's formation. While preparing its tax return, it discovered that it had…
PLR 200418041: More time to elect a consolidated return after an acquisition
After acquiring a corporation and its subsidiaries, a company intended to file a consolidated federal income tax return with them but missed the election deadline. The IRS found that the company…
PLR 200418040: Trust gets more time to elect an earlier charitable deduction
A trust claimed a charitable deduction in its first tax year without making a payment to the charity that year. After the IRS found the claimed set-aside deduction unavailable, the trust requested…
PLR 200418039: Partnership gets more time to make a basis adjustment election
A partnership timely filed its return after a partner died but inadvertently omitted its § 754 election to adjust the basis of partnership property. The IRS found that the requirements for late…
PLR 200418038: Late mortgage investment conduit election treated as timely
A trust formed to securitize mortgage loans intended to elect real estate mortgage investment conduit (REMIC) status on its first Form 1066. Its accounting firm omitted the return from its deadline…
PLR 200418037: Former resident's departure found not driven by tax avoidance
A former U.S. long-term resident surrendered her green card and returned to the country where she was born and remained a citizen. Her net worth exceeded a statutory threshold that could trigger a…
PLR 200418036: More time for foreign partnership to elect corporate status
A foreign limited partnership with multiple members intended to elect corporate classification for U.S. federal tax purposes but inadvertently missed the Form 8832 filing deadline. The IRS found…
PLR 200418035: Disability services center treated as a state instrumentality
A nonprofit center that coordinated and provided services for people with developmental disabilities asked whether it was an instrumentality of its state for Social Security tax purposes. The IRS…
PLR 200418034: Late S corporation election effective from incorporation
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from the date it was incorporated, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under…
PLR 200418033: More time for acquired group to elect a consolidated return
A corporate parent acquired subsidiaries that had been filing consolidated returns, but the group did not make a valid consolidated return election by the deadline for the year at issue. The IRS…
PLR 200418032: Governance changes leave specified prior rulings in effect
A taxpayer proposed changes to its governance structure after restructuring as a for-profit stock corporation and asked whether specified rulings in an earlier IRS letter would still apply. The IRS…
PLR 200418031: More time to elect qualified S subsidiary treatment
An S corporation intended to treat its wholly owned subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) from a specified date but failed to file the election on time. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200418030: S corporation election may take effect for earlier tax year
Two shareholders intended their corporation to be taxed as an S corporation for a specified year, but the IRS service center had no record of a timely Form 2553. An accountant's letter supported…
PLR 200418029: Late disregarded entity election allowed for foreign subsidiary
An S corporation owned a foreign subsidiary and intended the subsidiary to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation. More than 75 days after formation, the parent discovered that…
PLR 200418028: Vehicle lease financing entities treated as disregarded
A fleet leasing company used a statutory business trust and related entities to finance vehicle leases with terminal rental adjustment clauses. The IRS ruled that the described master lease and…
PLR 200418027: Sole shareholder's late S corporation election gets relief
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment, but no Form 2553 was filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the failure under § 1362(b)(5). It ruled that an election…
PLR 200418026: More time to elect nuclear decommissioning fund treatment
An affiliated corporate group discovered that it had omitted the election statement and revised schedule of ruling amounts needed for a subsidiary's nuclear decommissioning fund election under §…
PLR 200418025: Late election relief for a nuclear decommissioning fund
A corporate parent discovered that its consolidated return lacked the election statement and revised schedule of ruling amounts for a subsidiary's nuclear decommissioning fund. The parent attributed…
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.