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 200409039: Mailing error and rejected deposit justify IRA rollover waiver
A SIMPLE IRA custodian closed accounts and mailed a distribution check to the wrong ZIP code. The recipient then endorsed the check to an insurer for a rollover, but the insurer returned it with an…
PLR 200409038: Reformulated coal fuel qualifies for nonconventional fuel credit
A partnership operated three facilities that made synthetic fuel from coal and began using a reformulated chemical reagent. Based on submitted expert tests showing a significant chemical change in…
PLR 200409037: Taxpayer receives more time for dual consolidated loss filing
A taxpayer's affiliates transferred an interest in a partnership asset to a related foreign party. The taxpayer said the transfer was a presumptive triggering event under the dual consolidated loss…
PLR 200409036: Taxpayer receives time to file section 1503 agreement
A taxpayer omitted an agreement required under the dual consolidated loss regulations from its consolidated tax return. Its international tax adviser had missed the filing after intervening events…
PLR 200409035: Foreign insurer receives more time for domestic corporation election
A foreign insurance company missed the deadline to elect domestic corporation treatment under section 953(d). Its manager had engaged an accounting firm to prepare the election well before the…
PLR 200409034: Deed perfecting earlier property transfer is not a new distribution
A corporation transferred real property as part of an earlier stock sale, but no deed was executed at the time. After the transferees had treated the property as their own for years, arbitration and…
PLR 200409033: Tribal education aid receives different treatment by recipient income
A federally recognized tribe chartered and funded a corporation to run education, job training, health, and employment programs. The IRS ruled that the corporation was an integral part of the tribe…
PLR 200409032: Newly formed corporation receives late S election relief
Two shareholders intended their newly formed corporation to be an S corporation from the start of its first tax year, but its Form 2553 was late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and…
PLR 200409031: IRS declines separate ruling on bonus depreciation election
A corporation omitted an election statement when it filed a return that did not claim 30 percent first-year depreciation for certain qualified property. It requested extra time to elect out of that…
PLR 200409030: Parent receives more time for consolidated stock-loss election
Members of a consolidated corporate group sold three subsidiaries' stock at losses. The parent intended to elect an alternative rule for calculating allowable losses but did not file a valid…
PLR 200409029: Foreign company receives time to elect partnership treatment
A foreign limited company with more than one member intended to elect partnership treatment for U.S. federal tax purposes, but inadvertently missed the Form 8832 deadline. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200409028: Couple may allocate GST exemption to earlier trust gifts
A couple made gifts to an irrevocable trust but did not allocate generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption on the original gift tax returns. After discovering the omission, they allocated…
PLR 200409027: S corporation business split qualifies as Type D reorganization
Three shareholders of an S corporation disagreed about the direction of its two businesses. The company proposed moving one business and two equalizing notes to a new corporation, then giving that…
PLR 200409026: Spouse and estate may allocate GST exemption to earlier trust gifts
A married couple treated gifts to two irrevocable trusts for their sons as split gifts. Their law firm prepared gift tax returns but did not effectively allocate the couple's generation-skipping…
PLR 200409025: Parent meets two Luxembourg treaty derivative-benefits factors
A foreign holding company expected dividends from its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary and asked about two factors in the U.S.-Luxembourg treaty's derivative-benefits test. The IRS ruled that its…
PLR 200409024: Family-controlled business split qualifies as Type D reorganization
Two families each owned half of a corporation but disagreed over the direction of its businesses. The corporation proposed transferring property and cash to a subsidiary that operated one business,…
PLR 200409023: Ineligible corporate shareholder receives inadvertent S election relief
An S corporation's shareholder transferred stock to several buyers, including a C corporation that could not own S corporation shares. The parties had not recognized that the corporate shareholder…
PLR 200409022: Irish reinsurer qualifies for treaty premium tax relief
An Irish reinsurer sought exemption from the federal excise tax on premiums for insurance or reinsurance covering U.S. risks. Based on its representations about Irish residence, taxation, and…
PLR 200409021: Additional corporate steps preserve earlier reorganization ruling
The taxpayers had an earlier ruling on a series of Type D mergers and a subsidiary liquidation. They later reported additional stock sales, entity classification elections, mergers, and a proposed…
PLR 200409020: Later corporate transactions leave prior merger ruling intact
The taxpayers previously received a ruling on Type D mergers and a subsidiary liquidation. They disclosed additional stock sales, entity classification elections, mergers, and a proposed intragroup…
PLR 200409019: Added transactions do not alter earlier merger rulings
The taxpayers reported additional stock sales, entity classification elections, mergers, and a proposed intragroup stock transfer around transactions covered by an earlier IRS ruling. That earlier…
PLR 200409018: Post-distribution redemption preserves earlier spin-off rulings
An earlier IRS letter addressed a proposed distribution of subsidiary stock and related transactions. After family shareholder litigation, a settlement called for the subsidiary to redeem the shares…
PLR 200409017: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A newly incorporated company's shareholders wanted S corporation treatment from its formation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing. It…
PLR 200409016: Couple may make late election to combine rental properties
A married couple filed a joint return without electing to treat all their rental real estate interests as one activity. They had relied on a tax preparer who did not advise them about the election.…
PLR 200409015: Parent receives time to elect treatment of worthless subsidiary stock
A corporate parent bought a subsidiary whose stock later became worthless. It missed the deadline to elect an alternative rule for determining the allowed stock loss under the temporary consolidated…
PLR 200409014: Foreign subsidiary receives time for disregarded entity election
A U.S. corporation acquired a foreign entity that it wanted treated as disregarded for federal tax purposes. The foreign entity missed the deadline to file its classification election on Form 8832.…
PLR 200409013: Foreign entity receives two related filing extensions
A company mistakenly believed that a foreign entity it owned was already disregarded for U.S. tax purposes. It requested time to file a retroactive entity classification election. Because that…
PLR 200409012: Entity restructuring receives conditional S corporation relief
An S corporation converted into a state-law limited partnership and later became part of a holding company structure. The company said the first conversion might have created a second class of…
PLR 200409011: Active rental operations avoid S corporation passive income rule
An S corporation with accumulated earnings and profits owned retail and office rental property. Its employees, an affiliated manager, and contractors provided property maintenance, tenant…
PLR 200409010: Key person insurance proceeds accrue at death, before claim approval
An accrual-method S corporation expected to receive life insurance proceeds after a shareholder's death. It planned to redeem that shareholder's stock and close its tax year before filing the…
PLR 200409009: Coal fuel facility retains credit eligibility after relocation and transfers
An owner of a coal synthetic-fuel facility sought rulings on the fuel credit after changes in ownership and relocation. The IRS concluded that the described process produced qualified fuel and that…
PLR 200409008: Corporate split to resolve shareholder management dispute qualifies for tax-free treatment
Two shareholders who disagreed over management planned to separate two corporations. One corporation would give its controlling stock in the other corporation to one shareholder in exchange for all…
PLR 200409007: Alternative reagents preserve coal synthetic-fuel credit ruling
A coal synthetic-fuel producer asked whether switching to either of two alternative chemical reagents would affect an earlier fuel-credit ruling. The proposed change arose because continued use of…
PLR 200409006: Late S corporation election allowed after timely remedial filing
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status, but the corporation did not timely file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under § 1362(b)(5). It…
PLR 200409005: Research credit group may revoke alternative incremental credit election
A corporation had elected the alternative incremental method of computing the research credit for itself and its controlled group. It requested consent to revoke the election before the return due…
PLR 200409004: Sixty-day extension granted to allocate GST exemptions to family trusts
A husband funded trusts for children and grandchildren and documented an intent to allocate both spouses' generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemptions. Their accountant apparently did not file the…
PLR 200409003: Division and modification of older trust preserve GST exemption
Trustees proposed dividing a trust created before September 26, 1985 into five trusts for its beneficiaries. They also proposed annual distributions of at least each trust's income, using a unitrust…
PLR 200409002: Estate gets 60 days to allocate decedent's GST exemption to trust gifts
A decedent had made cash gifts to an irrevocable trust for nieces, nephews, and their descendants. The gift tax return reported the transfers but inadvertently omitted an allocation of the…
CCA 200409001: Family stock redemptions treated as dividends despite voting trust
Parents gave voting shares in a family corporation to trusts for their children and later had the corporation redeem some of their own shares to pay gift and income taxes. They sought sale or…
PLR 200408035: Foreign housing grant furthers foundation's charitable purposes
A private foundation proposed funding housing construction and repairs through the government of an impoverished foreign country. The housing would serve people displaced by a natural disaster and…
PLR 200408034: Foreign cultural restoration grant qualifies as charitable activity
A private foundation proposed a grant to a foreign government to restore and repair historic and cultural buildings and sites, including museums, theaters, and a rare manuscript library. The IRS…
PLR 200408033: Foreign public works grants qualify as charitable activity
A private foundation proposed two grants to a foreign government for public streets and roads, railway bridges, and water systems in an impoverished country. The IRS ruled that constructing these…
PLR 200408032: ESOP may repay its loan with unallocated shares and treat surplus shares as earnings
An employer planned to terminate its employee stock ownership plan after closing a facility and laying off most employees. It asked whether selling unallocated employer shares to repay the plan's…
PLR 200408031: Early trust termination and actuarial payouts avoid self-dealing tax
A charitable remainder unitrust planned to terminate early after the donor's death. Two individual beneficiaries would receive the present value of their interests, and designated charities would…
CCA 200408030: Section 482 may reallocate gain shifted through a stock exchange
Commonly owned corporations transferred appreciated stock in an exchange, then sent it to a foreign subsidiary. The second transfer triggered gain that one corporation offset with a net operating…
PLR 200408029: Relocated coal facility keeps its synthetic fuel credit
A partnership asked the IRS to confirm earlier rulings after it relocated a coal processing facility, changed a chemical ingredient, and adjusted production. The IRS agreed that the process produces…
PLR 200408028: Reworked coal fuel qualifies for the production credit
A prospective investor in a partnership asked whether the partnership's coal processing facility would qualify for the section 29 fuel credit after it began using a reformulated chemical reagent.…
PLR 200408026: Late dual consolidated loss filings receive more time
A company had missed election agreements and annual certifications for losses of entities listed in an attached schedule. Its tax staff had concluded that the entities were outside the dual…
PLR 200408025: Late GST exemption allocation allowed for family trust
A taxpayer funded a trust for family members but did not file a gift tax return or allocate generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption to the transfer. The taxpayer's accountant had mistakenly…
PLR 200408024: Generator-funded grid connection excluded from utility income
An electric utility built a connection between a generator's project and its transmission grid, and the generator reimbursed the construction cost. The utility asked whether that transfer was…
PLR 200408023: Foreign company may file a late partnership election
A foreign limited liability company with two owners intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. tax purposes from its formation date. It missed the deadline to file Form 8832, and its owners'…
PLR 200408022: Domestic LLC gets time to elect corporate tax treatment
The members of a domestic limited liability company intended to elect corporate tax treatment from a specified date. The IRS service center had no record of receiving the company's Form 8832,…
PLR 200408021: S corporation status restored after stock mistakes
An S corporation issued preferred stock, creating a prohibited second class of stock, and issued shares to a corporation that could not be an S corporation shareholder. Those actions terminated its…
PLR 200408020: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A newly incorporated company and its sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the company's first tax year, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the…
PLR 200408019: Company may leave alternative research credit method
A corporate group had elected the alternative incremental method for computing its research credit and used it for three tax years. It asked for the IRS's consent to revoke that election beginning…
PLR 200408018: Coal fuel credit continues after facility transfer and relocation
A partnership relocated a coal-to-synthetic-fuel facility and planned to transfer it to a new partnership owned by some of its members. It asked the IRS to confirm earlier section 29 credit rulings…
PLR 200408017: Natural resource partnership receipts retain their character
An S corporation with accumulated earnings and profits owned interests in publicly traded partnerships that operated natural resource businesses. It asked how its shares of the partnerships' gross…
PLR 200408016: New corporation receives late S election relief
A newly incorporated company intended to elect S corporation treatment from its incorporation date but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election under section…
PLR 200408015: Divorce support trust receives income, gift, and estate tax rulings
A former spouse planned to fund an irrevocable trust to satisfy lifetime support payments required by a divorce judgment, with the remainder going to his children. The IRS ruled that funding the…
PLR 200408014: Estate may allocate GST exemption and divide family trust
A decedent had transferred cash and a partnership interest to a family trust after her spouse died, but her advisers did not allocate her generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption to those gifts.…
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.