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 200411031: Shareholder split-off avoids immediate gain or loss
Two brothers had already separated part of their corporation's operations into a subsidiary, but continued to disagree about management. The parent proposed giving all of the subsidiary's stock to…
PLR 200411030: Foreign entity receives more time to elect disregarded status
A domestic corporation formed a foreign entity that intended to be treated as disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation date. The entity inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form…
PLR 200411029: Relief for late S corporation and QSub elections
A corporation failed to file its intended S corporation election. After a related corporation acquired it, that corporation also failed to file an election to treat the acquired company as a…
PLR 200411028: Golf club recognizes no gain on founder contributions
A nonexempt nonprofit golf club planned to collect initial contributions from founder members to buy land and build its facilities. The founder memberships carried voting and liquidation rights, and…
PLR 200411027: Company may reelect S status after prior termination
A company's S corporation election ended when a C corporation bought all its shares. A later individual owner filed a new S election. IRC § 1362(g) generally bars a new election until the fifth…
PLR 200411026: Company may reelect S status after prior termination
A company's S corporation election ended when a C corporation bought all its shares. A later individual owner filed a new S election. IRC § 1362(g) generally bars a new election until the fifth…
PLR 200411025: New holding-company shares qualify for tax-free exchange treatment
A family-owned corporate shareholder and a family trust exchanged shares and contractual rights for shares in a new holding company as part of a broader capital-raising transaction. The IRS treated…
PLR 200411024: Trust agreement avoids gift, estate, and GST tax changes
A trustee and beneficiaries of a trust created before September 25, 1985, entered a nonjudicial agreement about retaining bank stock and interpreting how descendants would share the trust property.…
PLR 200411023: Partition of one property creates no taxable exchange
Three owners held equal undivided interests in a single parcel of real estate and proposed dividing it into three separately owned parcels under state law. An independent appraisal and boundary…
PLR 200411022: Partition of one property creates no taxable exchange
Three owners held equal undivided interests in a single parcel of real estate and proposed dividing it into three separately owned parcels under state law. An independent appraisal and boundary…
PLR 200411021: Three-step distribution of subsidiary stock avoids gain
A corporate group proposed moving a U.S. subsidiary engaged in one business segment up through three levels of its ownership chain. Each level would distribute all the subsidiary's shares to its own…
PLR 200411020: IRS will not challenge trust treatment of disputed stock fund
A tax-exempt business league received insurer stock after a company that had provided health coverage to its members converted from mutual to stock ownership. The league filed a court action to…
PLR 200411019: Two shareholder split-offs and debt exchange qualify for tax relief
Three equal shareholders disagreed about management of their corporation's business. The company proposed transferring parts of that business to two new corporations, giving one new company to each…
PLR 200411018: Affiliate loan interest counts as qualifying partnership income
A publicly traded partnership owned an interest in an operating partnership that earned interest on loans to companies it owned directly or indirectly. The loans paid fixed interest that did not…
PLR 200411017: IRS will not challenge trust treatment of disputed stock fund
A tax-exempt business league received insurer stock after a company that had provided health coverage to its members converted from mutual to stock ownership. The league filed a court action to…
200411016: IRS revokes an earlier ruling for later software purchases
The IRS revoked an earlier private letter ruling issued to a taxpayer concerning software. Using its authority under IRC § 7805(b), it limited the revocation so that it applies only to software the…
PLR 200411015: Post-conversion franchise fees are not built-in gain
A C corporation that owned a franchising subsidiary planned to elect S corporation status and treat the subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. The subsidiary granted franchise licenses…
PLR 200411014: Cross-border corporate split-off avoids immediate gain
A U.S. company owned by a foreign parent proposed distributing the shares of a U.S. subsidiary to that parent in exchange for part of the parent's shares in the distributing company. The group…
PLR 200411013: Holding-company spin-off qualifies as a reorganization
A holding company wanted to separate a subsidiary's business so that a key employee could obtain a meaningful ownership stake in it. The company proposed transferring that subsidiary's shares and an…
PLR 200411012: Stock value changes can be factored out of ownership testing
A company had common and several classes of preferred stock whose relative values changed, even though holders had not necessarily changed their share ownership. It planned another stock issuance…
PLR 200411011: Film licensing income is not passive investment income
An S corporation produced films and licensed literary, film, merchandising, and related rights. It had spent money developing a film and remained actively involved in production, marketing, and…
PLR 200411010: Two spin-offs and a subsidiary liquidation receive tax-free treatment
A public corporate group wanted to separate two businesses that it had operated together. Its plan used two contributions of business assets to new subsidiaries and two distributions of the new…
PLR 200411009: Late allocation of GST exemption allowed for trust transfers
A taxpayer transferred property to a trust for her daughter and later descendants. Her accountant filed the gift tax return on time but failed to allocate generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax…
TAM 200411008: Utility transition charges are taxable income
An electric utility collected transition charges from distribution customers after its state opened electricity generation to competition. The charges recovered stranded generation costs and…
PLR 200411007: Corporation may revoke alternative research credit election
A corporation had elected the alternative incremental research credit for itself and a subsidiary. It asked to revoke that election before the extended due date for a later year's return. IRC §…
PLR 200411006: Spouses may allocate GST exemptions to two trusts late
A taxpayer funded two trusts for her daughters and their descendants. She and her spouse elected gift splitting, so each was treated as making half of the transfers, but their accounting firm failed…
PLR 200411005: Parent receives more time to elect consolidated filing
A corporate parent and subsidiary missed the deadline to elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return for a prior year. They requested relief before the IRS discovered the omission. The…
PLR 200411004: Estate receives more time for reverse QTIP election
An estate elected qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) treatment for two trusts and allocated the decedent's generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to one of them. Its tax…
CCA 200411003: Interest netting differs for two corporations in consolidated groups
Chief Counsel considered whether interest on tax overpayments and underpayments could be netted across years when corporations changed consolidated groups. For one corporation, netting was possible…
CCA 200411002: When a synthetic fuel facility is placed in service for the section 29 credit
Chief Counsel advised examiners how to decide whether a coal-based synthetic fuel facility was placed in service before the July 1, 1998 deadline for the section 29 credit. The facility had to be…
TAM 200411001: Replacement power facility qualifies after an involuntary conversion
A partnership's interests in a power facility were involuntarily converted, and it acquired an interest in another power facility through a merger with a related partnership. The IRS concluded that…
PLR 200410028: Multiemployer pension contributions remain deductible despite higher actual payments
The trustees of a collectively bargained pension plan asked whether employers could deduct contributions for a plan year even though actual payments exceeded the plan's deduction limit. The plan had…
PLR 200410027: Late IRA rollover allowed after a bank employee's error
An IRA owner with serious hearing loss signed a bank document believing it would reinvest funds already in the IRA. Instead, a bank employee's mistake caused a distribution into a savings account,…
PLR 200410026: Government pension contributions picked up by the employer are excluded from current income
A government employer arranged to pay mandatory employee contributions to a state retirement plan in place of its employees. Its resolution stated that employees could not take those amounts in…
PLR 200410025: State pension service-credit purchases qualify for employer pickup treatment
A state pension system proposed to let employees buy additional service credit through irrevocable payroll deductions paid to the plan by their employers. The IRS ruled that these payments would…
PLR 200410024: Government excess benefit plan qualifies, but FICA question remains open
A state retirement system proposed a separate arrangement to pay benefits above the section 415 limit that applied to its regular governmental pension plan. The IRS ruled that the arrangement…
PLR 200410023: Employer stock appreciation excluded from a lump sum plan distribution
A worker over age 59½ planned to take a lump sum distribution from his employer's profit sharing plan while continuing to work. He would keep the employer stock and directly roll the cash and other…
PLR 200410022: Separate state pension excess benefit plan qualifies under section 415(m)
A state retirement system proposed an excess benefit plan to pay the portion of a member's pension above the section 415 limit. The proposed plan would be funded by participating government…
PLR 200410021: Inherited IRA division preserves deferral but uses the oldest trust beneficiary's lifespan
An IRA owner died before his required distribution start date and had named a trust for his spouse and children as beneficiary. After the spouse died, the IRA was split into equal inherited accounts…
PLR 200410020: Inherited IRA split uses the oldest trust beneficiary's distribution period
An IRA owner died before his required distribution start date, naming a trust for his spouse and children as beneficiary. After the spouse died, the IRA was divided into two equal inherited…
PLR 200410019: Daughter's inherited IRA keeps tax deferral after division through a trust
An IRA owner left his account to a trust benefiting his spouse and children. After his spouse died, the IRA was divided into equal inherited accounts, including one for his daughter. The IRS ruled…
PLR 200410018: Consolidated municipal pension plan qualifies as a governmental plan
A state created a defined benefit plan that consolidated retirement plans for municipal employees. The IRS ruled that the consolidated plan was a governmental plan under section 414(d). State law…
PLR 200410017: State firefighters' pension system qualifies as a governmental plan
A state created a defined benefit plan that consolidated retirement plans for municipal firefighters. The IRS ruled that the plan was a governmental plan under section 414(d). State legislation…
PLR 200410016: State law enforcement retirement plan qualifies as a governmental plan
A state continued an existing retirement plan under a new name and expanded it to law enforcement officers in designated state agencies. The IRS ruled that the plan was a governmental plan under…
PLR 200410015: Family trust restructuring preserves estate and GST tax treatment
The trustees of several trusts created before September 25, 1985, proposed moving assets from sixteen trusts into six new trusts for family beneficiaries. They also proposed revised trustee…
PLR 200410014: Trustee changes avoid estate inclusion and preserve GST ratios
Trustees proposed updating the administration, trustee selection, and succession rules for six family trusts. The changes included appointing a trust company connected to the families as an…
PLR 200410013: Subsidiary stock distribution qualifies under reorganization rules
A holding company planned to transfer stock it owned in another corporation to a subsidiary, receive subsidiary shares and a promissory note, then distribute the subsidiary shares to its own…
PLR 200410012: Finnish insurer qualifies for treaty relief from premium excise tax
A Finland-based insurer sought relief from the federal excise tax on premiums for insurance and reinsurance covering U.S. risks. Based on the insurer's representations and financial ratios, the IRS…
PLR 200410011: Estate receives more time to elect QTIP treatment for marital trust
An executor filed an estate tax return without electing qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) treatment for a trust benefiting the decedent's spouse. A codicil directing property to the…
PLR 200410010: Office build-outs do not taint REIT rental income
A real estate investment trust (REIT) asked about tenant-requested improvements to leased office space. Four arrangements varied in who arranged and paid for the work, but independent contractors…
PLR 200410009: Family business split qualifies as a Type D reorganization
Two family groups each owned half of a corporation and disagreed over how to run its business. The corporation proposed transferring about half its business assets to a new corporation and…
PLR 200410008: Dividing family trust preserves GST tax exemption
A family trust became irrevocable before September 25, 1985. A court ordered income distributions to balance prior payments among family lines, then a division into three trusts, one for each child…
PLR 200410007: Duty-related firefighter disability benefits are partly tax-free
A local firefighter plan paid disability benefits tied to a state statute covering injuries or disease incurred on duty. The IRS concluded that the statute was in the nature of a workers'…
PLR 200410006: Couple receives more time to allocate GST exemption to trusts
A couple made gifts to two trusts for their children and descendants. Their accountant filed timely gift tax returns but allocated too little generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to the…
PLR 200410005: Consolidation preserves Medicare tax exception for veteran public safety staff
Two political subdivisions consolidated, and firefighters and police officers who had worked for one of them since before April 1, 1986, continued in the same jobs. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200410004: Broad disability pension does not qualify for workers' compensation exclusion
A retirement system asked whether disability benefits under its governing statute could be excluded from recipients' income as workers' compensation. The statute covered members with sufficient…
PLR 200410003: Two-location business split-up qualifies as Type D reorganization
Two shareholder groups disagreed over the operation of a corporation's business at two locations. The corporation proposed transferring each location's operating assets to a newly formed…
TAM 200410002: Company promissory notes do not qualify for family business deduction
A decedent owned a controlling stock interest in a family business and had also lent it money. The estate deducted the value of both the stock and five company promissory notes under the qualified…
PLR 200410001: Later financing does not disturb earlier corporate distribution ruling
After a corporation distributed stock of a controlled company, the controlled company faced unexpected adverse business conditions. It undertook and considered new financing and other transactions,…
PLR 200409040: Foundation may fund scholars' room, board, and research costs
A private foundation already had approval for scholarship grants in science, mathematics, and technology. It proposed paying educational institutions additional amounts for scholarship recipients'…
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.