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.
No determinations match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
PLR 200414016: IRS will not challenge grantor trust treatment of disputed fund
A tax exempt business league received stock after a health insurer demutualized and sought court guidance over who should receive the proceeds. The league proposed treating the trust created by its…
PLR 200414015: Two regional business separations qualify as reorganizations
A publicly traded corporate group proposed two linked separations to divide operations in two regions and address management conflicts. A subsidiary would first transfer regional assets to a new…
PLR 200414014: Late entity classification and S elections receive relief
An entity's members intended it to be taxed as a corporation and as an S corporation from its formation, but the entity missed the deadlines for Forms 8832 and 2553. The IRS granted 60 days from the…
PLR 200414013: Partnership to LLC conversion avoids gain if debt shares stay the same
A general partnership planned to convert into a limited liability company while keeping each partner's interest and the business unchanged. Its partners had negative capital accounts and were…
PLR 200414012: S status restored after missed trust election
A shareholder's stock passed to a trust intended to be a qualified subchapter S trust, but the beneficiary missed the election deadline. That lapse terminated the corporation's S election. The IRS…
PLR 200414011: Charitable trust fails remainder value test and reformation deadline
An estate asked whether a charitable trust qualified as a charitable remainder unitrust or could be reformed to qualify. The trust paid an annual percentage of its value to individual beneficiaries,…
PLR 200414010: Trust division preserves tax treatment on stated terms
Trustees proposed to divide one irrevocable trust for three grandchildren into separate trusts with equivalent interests. The IRS ruled that the division would not create a taxable sale or…
PLR 200414009: Late S election treated as timely with prompt filing
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation status from incorporation, but the corporation did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline. It…
PLR 200414008: Late election for historic rehabilitation progress expenditures allowed
A bank rehabilitating a property failed to include Form 3468 with its parent's consolidated return to elect a rehabilitation credit for progress expenditures. It said tax department disruptions and…
PLR 200414007: Employee option sale produces income as payments vest
An employer proposed letting employees sell existing nonqualified stock options to an unrelated third party for cash and, for larger sales, deferred payments. The IRS ruled that adding the transfer…
PLR 200414006: Late historic status application treated as timely
A property owner began rehabilitation and placed the building in service under a temporary occupancy permit. Relying on its architect's statement, the owner believed the building was already listed…
PLR 200414005: Historic status application receives late filing relief
Property owners rehabilitated a building in a registered historic district and intended to claim the historic rehabilitation credit. They consulted preservation and tax advisers but did not learn…
PLR 200414004: Missed trust election treated as inadvertent S termination
An S corporation's shares passed to a trust whose beneficiary intended to elect qualified subchapter S trust status but missed the deadline. The trust was therefore an ineligible shareholder, ending…
PLR 200414003: Late disregarded entity election receives extension
A company acquired a foreign limited liability company that it said was eligible to elect disregarded entity status for federal tax purposes. The classification election on Form 8832 was…
PLR 200414002: Late GST exemption allocations allowed for trust gifts
A donor established a trust for descendants and intended to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to gifts made over seven years. A tax preparer reported the first year's gifts without…
PLR 200414001: Group's foreign target acquisition is a qualified stock purchase
A corporate group planned to acquire a foreign target through both its parent and a subsidiary. Neither buyer would individually acquire 80 percent of the target shares, but together they would…
Other 200412009: Criminal Tax Bulletin surveys court decisions
The IRS Criminal Tax Division's bulletin summarizes court decisions for informational purposes. Its case notes cover criminal tax charges, searches of packages and computer disks, speedy trial…
Other 200412008: Criminal Tax Bulletin reviews federal cases
The IRS Criminal Tax Division's August 2003 bulletin collects case notes for informational purposes. It discusses bank and wire fraud, search and seizure, investigative techniques, and sentencing in…
Other 200412006: Criminal Tax Bulletin reviews federal cases
The IRS Criminal Tax Division's August 2002 bulletin collects case notes for informational purposes. It discusses the limitation period for failing to pay over taxes, civil audits that reveal fraud,…
PLR 200413015: Supporting organization does not impair parent's exempt status
A publicly supported charity planned to transfer its endowment assets to a supporting organization that would manage investments. The two organizations also planned to share personnel, facilities,…
PLR 200413014: Hospital bond auction counts as competitive bidding evidence
A charitable hospital planned to finance an expansion with bonds, including subordinated bonds partly purchased by an entity owned by staff physicians. An independent broker would set the…
PLR 200413013: Welfare trust merger preserves exemption and avoids reversion tax
An employer planned to combine two tax exempt employee welfare benefit trusts after consolidating their benefit plans. Existing disability and survivor obligations would be covered, and the…
TAM 200413012: Restricted funds count toward prior year working capital spending
A bond issuer borrowed to cover a projected cash shortfall and used a working capital reserve in its calculation. An IRS agent and the issuer disagreed over whether the reserve limit, set at 5…
PLR 200413011: Spousal trust gifts and QTIP treatment turn on retained powers
A married taxpayer planned to transfer separate property to a trust paying income to the spouse while retaining a power to redirect trust property. The IRS ruled that transfers to the trust were…
PLR 200413010: State cash flow warrants are obligations under section 103
A state planned to issue registered warrants if it lacked cash to repay short-term notes or reimburse banks for letter of credit draws. The warrants would bear interest and be enforceable against…
PLR 200413009: Active rental operations avoid S corporation passive income rule
An S corporation owned and managed renovated rental homes and duplexes. Its employees performed extensive maintenance and repairs, while the corporation hired contractors for larger jobs. The IRS…
PLR 200413008: Commercial property rents are active income for S election rule
A corporation with accumulated earnings and profits planned to elect S corporation status and asked how rents from its commercial properties would be treated. Its staff and contractors inspected the…
PLR 200413007: League plan may exclude foreign clubs and retain section 457 exception
A tax exempt league maintained a nonelective deferred compensation plan for general managers of its member teams. It proposed excluding managers of clubs based in another country because of possible…
PLR 200413006: Partnership receives time to elect corporate tax classification
An S corporation's successor converted into a limited partnership and intended to be taxed as a corporation from the conversion date. It failed to file the entity classification election on time.…
PLR 200413005: Coal processing qualifies for synthetic fuel credit on stated facts
A partnership operated facilities that treated coal with a chemical reagent to make solid synthetic fuel. Based on submitted tests showing a significant chemical change, the IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200413004: Relocated coal fuel facility retains section 29 credit treatment
A partnership sought confirmation of earlier rulings after relocating its coal based synthetic fuel facility, changing chemical reagents, and selling a membership interest. Based on submitted…
PLR 200413003: Late REMIC election treated as timely filed
A mortgage securitization trust intended to elect real estate mortgage investment conduit status, but its tax administrator missed the first Form 1066 filing deadline. The administrator later filed…
PLR 200413002: LLC gets extension to elect partnership tax treatment
A limited liability company had elected to be taxed as a corporation from formation. It later intended to change its classification to a partnership but missed the Form 8832 filing deadline. The IRS…
PLR 200413001: Court supervised tort trust qualifies as settlement fund
A company in bankruptcy planned to transfer assets to a trust to resolve former employees' personal injury claims. A court had approved the reorganization plan and would retain jurisdiction over the…
Other 200412007: Criminal Tax Bulletin reviews federal cases
The IRS Criminal Tax Division's October 2002 bulletin collects case notes for informational purposes. It discusses false tax returns, tax evasion, search and seizure, investigative techniques, and…
Other 200412004: Criminal Tax Bulletin reviews federal cases
The IRS Criminal Tax Division's April 2002 bulletin collects case notes for informational purposes. It discusses tax evasion, attorney fees after a criminal prosecution, grand jury subpoenas,…
Other 200412003: Criminal Tax Bulletin reviews federal court decisions
The IRS Criminal Tax Division's February 2002 bulletin collects summaries of federal court decisions for informational purposes. It covers tax evasion and false returns, searches, forfeiture, money…
PLR 200412002: IRS waives a late rollover deadline after hospitalization
A participant received a distribution from a section 457 deferred compensation plan and intended to roll it into an IRA. An employee of the receiving company failed to tell her about the 60 day…
PLR 200412001: IRS grants time to undo an ineligible Roth IRA conversion
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 1999, believing that his income was below the limit for conversion. While preparing amended returns in 2002, he learned that his 1999 income…
PLR 200411052: IRS waives IRA rollover deadline after custodian closes early
A taxpayer received a traditional IRA distribution and tried to redeposit it on the 58th day. The IRA custodian had closed early for the Labor Day holiday and did not reopen until the 62nd day,…
PLR 200411051: IRS gives mixed rulings on replacing military service credit payments
A public school pension plan asked whether teachers who had bought military service credit with after tax money could use pretax retirement funds to buy the same credit and then receive a refund of…
PLR 200411050: IRS approves a foundation's matching grant set aside
A private foundation planned a five year matching grant to help a university launch an entrepreneurship center and build its endowment. It asked to set aside the matching funds and count them as a…
PLR 200411049: IRS approves a school building and language program set aside
A private foundation wanted to reserve funds in 2003 for a new school building and an intensive language program at two schools serving a low income community. The building would take more than a…
PLR 200411048: IRS approves excess benefits arrangement but declines FICA ruling
A state retirement system proposed a separate trust to pay pension benefits above the section 415(b) limit to participants in its governmental plan. The IRS ruled that the design qualified as a…
PLR 200411047: IRS waives deadline for IRA rollover after delayed fund return
A university professor directed money from an IRA toward a proposed gift to the university without being told the transfer would be taxable. Before the 60 day rollover deadline, the professor asked…
PLR 200411046: IRS rules on transfers among three governmental pension plans
A state retirement system offered a traditional defined benefit plan, a defined contribution plan, and a combined plan. It asked how participant elections and direct asset transfers among those…
PLR 200411045: IRS extends deadline for pension tax payment agreement
An earlier IRS letter conditionally waived a pension plan's minimum funding standard for 2002 and waived the 100 percent excise tax under section 4971(b) for tax years linked to the 1998 through…
PLR 200411044: IRS approves exempt groups' land development partnership
Several exempt hospitals, universities, and research organizations formed a limited liability company to acquire and hold land in a deteriorated urban area. Their plan was to encourage research,…
CCA 200411043: Required payments, credits, and refunds after a taxable year election
Chief Counsel advised the IRS on required payments from partnerships and S corporations that elect a taxable year under IRC § 444. If an entity fails to pay for one year but terminates its election…
CCA 200411042: Limits on the disabled access credit for software and services
Chief Counsel addressed claims for the disabled access credit involving software, subscriptions, and a website program sold to small businesses. A claimant must operate a trade or business, and the…
PLR 200411041: IRS extends time for a tax-exempt controlled entity election
A corporation owned by tax-exempt organizations held a small general partner interest in a low-income housing partnership. It intended to elect under IRC § 168(h)(6)(F)(ii) to be treated as taxable…
PLR 200411040: IRS accepts a late S corporation election
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its first taxable year but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election under IRC § 1362(b)(5). It ruled…
PLR 200411039: More time to elect corporate treatment for a foreign company
A foreign company with two members intended to elect treatment as a corporation for federal tax purposes from its formation date. Without an election, it would be treated as a partnership because…
PLR 200411038: Estate gets more time to elect a marital deduction
An estate's tax return was filed late without an election to treat property in a marital trust as qualified terminable interest property (QTIP). The surviving spouse had relied on an accountant to…
PLR 200411037: Shareholder split-off qualifies for tax-free reorganization treatment
Two equal owners of an S corporation disagreed over the operation of its businesses. The corporation proposed placing one business in a new subsidiary, then giving that subsidiary's shares to one…
PLR 200411036: Two corporate split-offs qualify as reorganizations
Three siblings owned an S corporation whose businesses and management were affected by shareholder disputes. The corporation proposed separating two businesses into companies that two of the…
PLR 200411035: Business split-off qualifies for tax-free treatment
Two groups of shareholders disagreed about whether to expand a corporation's business. The corporation proposed transferring part of that business to a new company and giving the new company's stock…
PLR 200411034: Corporate spin-off qualifies for reorganization treatment
A corporation wanted key employees to receive shares tied only to one of its businesses. It proposed moving other businesses to a controlled company and distributing that company's shares to its…
PLR 200411033: Stock recapitalization and spin-off receive tax-free treatment
An S corporation proposed separating its investment in another company so that the other company could change its organizational form. The plan called for that company to create two classes of…
PLR 200411032: Business spin-off qualifies for tax-free treatment
An S corporation wanted to give a key employee an ownership stake in one of its businesses. It proposed moving its other business into a new company and distributing the new company's stock to its…
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.