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 200406034: Revised nuclear fund schedule after rate reductions
A utility owned part of a nuclear plant, and two commissions regulated the related rates. One commission reduced recoverable decommissioning costs to zero, while the other reduced its allowed…
PLR 200406033: Estate gets time to allocate GST exemption to trust gifts
A decedent made gifts to a trust for her daughter and grandchildren over several years. Her tax advisers failed to report or allocate generation skipping transfer (GST) exemption to many of the…
PLR 200406032: Corporation may use tax book values to apportion interest
A domestic corporation used fair market values of its assets to apportion interest expense. It asked to switch to tax book values beginning with its 2003 tax year, citing the cost, complexity, and…
PLR 200406031: Elective cash or stock distribution is treated as property
A publicly traded corporation planned to elect real estate investment trust status and distribute enough value to eliminate its estimated earnings and profits. Shareholders could choose cash instead…
PLR 200406030: Corporation gets relief for a late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended to elect S corporation status but inadvertently failed to file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under § 1362(b)(5). It…
PLR 200406029: Late S election effective from incorporation
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under §…
PLR 200406028: Bond issuer receives more time for volume cap election
A public bond authority received an allocation of unused 2002 private activity bond volume cap but missed the deadline to elect its carryforward on Form 8328. It filed the form after the deadline…
PLR 200406027: Acquisition integration does not shrink target for loss limit
A public company acquired a target group with net operating loss carryforwards and began combining overlapping operations before all merger approvals arrived. It also added the target subsidiaries…
PLR 200406026: IPO transition relief covers later stock unit deliveries
Before going public, a company adopted a stock incentive plan and later granted restricted stock units under it. Some units granted before the end of the IPO transition period would deliver shares…
PLR 200406025: Taxpayer may make a retroactive PFIC fund election
A taxpayer directly owned a foreign company that was a passive foreign investment company (PFIC) during the years at issue. His tax adviser did not identify it as a PFIC or advise him about a…
PLR 200406024: Fire service association's income excluded, return still required
Political subdivisions formed an association to share fire protection personnel and equipment. Its board was appointed by the member governments, and its remaining assets would return to them on…
PLR 200406023: Late tax year change application treated as timely filed
After being sold to a new holding company, a corporation sought to change its tax year end from September 30 to December 31 to align with the consolidated group. It mailed Form 1128 after the filing…
PLR 200406022: Extra time to elect taxable entity treatment
A corporation owned through a taxable parent by two tax exempt organizations wanted to elect taxable entity treatment for the tax exempt use property rules of § 168(h). Its tax preparer timely filed…
PLR 200406021: Cooperative shares may be assigned to a commercial unit
A housing cooperative planned to issue shares and a proprietary lease for a unit then used commercially. The shares would give their owner a right to convert the unit to residential use, although an…
PLR 200406020: Relocated coal fuel facilities retain credit eligibility
A partnership sought confirmation that its coal based synthetic fuel production still qualified for the former § 29 credit after it relocated three facilities, added a member, and changed another…
PLR 200406019: Coal fuel production lines retain credit eligibility after relocation
A partnership asked the IRS to confirm that its coal based synthetic fuel production still qualified for the former § 29 credit after it relocated three facilities, added a member, and changed…
PLR 200406018: Synthetic fuel credit survives facility relocation
A partnership sought confirmation that its coal based synthetic fuel production still qualified for the former § 29 credit after it relocated three facilities, added a member, and changed another…
PLR 200406017: Synthetic fuel credit confirmed after plant moves
A partnership sought confirmation that its coal based synthetic fuel production still qualified for the former § 29 credit after it relocated three facilities, added a member, and changed another…
PLR 200406016: Inadvertent S corporation termination from IRA ownership
An S corporation transferred shares to an individual retirement account, which could not be an S corporation shareholder. More shares were transferred to that account, and its shares later passed to…
CCA 200406015: Installed components did not qualify as export property
A manufacturer claimed foreign sales corporation benefits for components installed in larger products before shipment abroad. Chief Counsel concluded that the components failed the destination test…
PLR 200406014: Family corporation's six split-offs qualify for tax-free reorganization treatment
Six brothers who owned an S corporation disagreed about its operations and direction. The corporation proposed transferring roughly equal parts of its business to six new corporations, exchanging…
PLR 200406013: Executive compensation cap did not apply without SEC pay disclosures
A U.S. corporation owned by a publicly traded foreign parent asked whether the former § 162(m) limit on executive compensation deductions applied to it and its subsidiaries. The foreign parent filed…
PLR 200406012: Planned loss of citizenship lacked a principal tax avoidance purpose
A U.S. citizen planning to relinquish her citizenship asked for a ruling under the expatriation rules then in force. Her net worth exceeded the statutory threshold that could trigger a presumption…
PLR 200406011: S corporation subsidiary spin-off qualifies as a type D reorganization
An S corporation proposed distributing the stock of its qualified S subsidiary to its two shareholders. The parent would then sell a minority stake to a key employee who would manage one business,…
PLR 200406010: S corporation subsidiary spin-off qualifies as a type D reorganization
An S corporation proposed distributing the stock of its qualified S subsidiary to its two shareholders. The parent would then sell a minority stake to a key employee who would manage one business,…
PLR 200406009: S corporation subsidiary spin-off qualifies as a type D reorganization
An S corporation proposed distributing the stock of its qualified S subsidiary to its two shareholders. The parent would then sell a minority stake to a key employee who would manage one business,…
PLR 200406008: S corporation subsidiary spin-off qualifies as a type D reorganization
An S corporation proposed distributing the stock of its qualified S subsidiary to its two shareholders. The parent would then sell a minority stake to a key employee who would manage one business,…
PLR 200406007: German residents' plan distributions exempt under U.S.–Germany treaty
A U.S. company was terminating a stock bonus plan for foreign employees and asked about lump sum distributions to participants resident in Germany. The covered participants were neither U.S.…
PLR 200406006: Geographic business split-off qualifies as type D reorganization
A corporation operating the same business in two locations proposed separating the locations after shareholder disputes affected daily operations. It would transfer one location's assets and related…
PLR 200406005: Mutual fund received more time for two missed tax elections
A new mutual fund prepared its first federal income tax return with elections to be taxed as a regulated investment company and to treat later dividends as paid in that first year. Administrative…
PLR 200406004: Spousal trust qualifies for gift and estate tax QTIP elections
A married donor proposed an irrevocable trust that would pay income to his spouse for life and could also distribute principal to her. The IRS ruled that valid gift tax QTIP elections for transfers…
PLR 200406003: City hotel corporation treated as a governmental instrumentality
A bond issuer asked whether a city controlled nonprofit corporation developing and operating a hotel was a governmental instrumentality for the private activity bond rules. The corporation would…
PLR 200406002: Generator's grid facilities excluded from utility income
A power generator paid to build facilities connecting its station to a utility's transmission grid, and the utility took title when construction finished. The parties asked whether that transfer was…
PLR 200406001: Spouses received more time to group rental real estate interests
A married couple omitted the required election statement from their joint return for a prior year. They asked to treat all their rental real estate interests as one activity under § 469(c)(7)(A).…
PLR 200405017: Surviving spouse received IRA rollover deadline waiver
A deceased IRA owner's annuity was payable to his estate, whose sole beneficiary and executor was his surviving spouse. She received the distribution but missed the 60 day IRA rollover deadline…
PLR 200405016: Trade association's taxable subsidiary preserves exemption
A tax exempt trade association formed a wholly owned taxable corporation to help operate an online service for project plans and bid information. The corporation had its own records and largely…
PLR 200405015: Tribal police contributions qualify for a governmental plan
A federally recognized Indian band operated a police department whose officers served on reservation lands under agreements with nearby counties. State law gave the officers police powers, required…
PLR 200405014: IRA rollover deadline waived after cancer treatment
An IRA owner received a certificate of deposit payout while recovering from surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Confused at the time, the owner deposited the check in a taxable savings account and…
PLR 200405013: Military reassignment supports IRA rollover deadline waiver
A former employee received an involuntary distribution from a 401(k) plan after the account's value fell below $5,000. The check went to the taxpayer's U.S. military base during an assignment, and…
PLR 200405012: Surviving spouse receives rollover deadline waiver
A surviving spouse received an unrequested retirement plan payout after the participant's death. The plan sent a check without advance notice, withholding part of the distribution for federal tax.…
PLR 200405011: Corporate spin off separates operating businesses
An S corporation planned to put its interest in a limited liability company into a new corporation and distribute the new corporation's shares to its existing shareholders. That would separate the…
PLR 200405010: Partnership gets more time for a Section 754 election
A partner died, and the partnership intended to make a § 754 election for a tax year but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found that the partnership met the standards for late regulatory election…
PLR 200405009: Regional business separation receives tax free treatment
A membership corporation wanted to give members in one region more control over their local operations. It proposed transferring that region's business assets to a new corporation and having the…
PLR 200405008: Late accounting year application treated as timely
A corporation sought to change its tax year from one ending April 30 to one ending February 28, but filed Form 1128 after the deadline. It promptly requested an extension under the regulatory relief…
PLR 200405007: Related ground rents excluded from REIT gross income test
A corporation planning to elect real estate investment trust status held indirect interests in both an office building and the land beneath it. The building entity paid ground rent to the land…
PLR 200405006: Facility separation qualifies as a corporate reorganization
A corporation operated the same business at two facilities and proposed moving one facility's operating assets into a new corporation. Two shareholders would receive all of the new corporation's…
TAM 200405005: Health insurer's demutualization payment is not deductible
A health insurer paid money to a state treasury as part of its conversion from a nonprofit mutual insurer to a stock company. An earlier IRS technical advice memorandum had allowed the payment as an…
PLR 200405004: Trust can transfer surplus assets without recognizing gain
A business league had created a taxable trust to provide insurance benefits for its members. After an insurer demutualized, the trust held shares of the insurer and proposed to end the trust and…
PLR 200405003: Trust can transfer surplus assets without recognizing gain
A business league had created a taxable trust to provide insurance benefits for its members. After an insurer demutualized, the trust held shares of the insurer and proposed to end the trust and…
PLR 200405002: Trust can transfer surplus assets without recognizing gain
A business league had created a taxable trust to provide insurance benefits for its members. After an insurer demutualized, the trust held shares of the insurer and proposed to end the trust and…
PLR 200405001: Trust can transfer surplus assets without recognizing gain
A business league had created a taxable trust to provide insurance benefits for its members. After an insurer demutualized, the trust held shares of the insurer and proposed to end the trust and…
PLR 200404059: Tribal police contributions qualify for a governmental plan
A federally recognized Indian tribe operated a police department under state law and mutual aid agreements with a county and two cities. State authorities licensed and oversaw the officers, while…
PLR 200404058: Cooperative subsidiary may liquidate into exempt parent
A tax exempt cooperative planned to liquidate its wholly owned, tax exempt subsidiary and receive the subsidiary's assets and liabilities. The IRS ruled that the parent and subsidiary generally…
PLR 200404057: Nursing home lease supports exempt purpose and public charity status
A tax exempt organization owned a nursing home and leased it to another tax exempt organization that operated it. The owner proposed a revised lease requiring charitable operation of the facility…
PLR 200404056: Waiver of 60 day IRA rollover deadline after bank error
A retiree received an IRA distribution and deposited it in a bank savings account. He said he instructed the bank to open an IRA with the money, but the bank did not do so within the 60 day rollover…
PLR 200404055: Retiree health policy owned by welfare benefit trust
A tax exempt employee welfare benefit trust planned to buy a group insurance policy to help pay medical benefits for retirees and their dependents. The insurer would hold the premiums in a separate…
PLR 200404054: IRA rollover deadline waived after unexpected liquidation
A taxpayer's IRA funds were invested in a limited partnership through a custodian. After the custodian entered receivership, the partnership liquidated the taxpayer's account without the taxpayer's…
PLR 200404053: IRA rollover relief after bank opened taxable accounts
Two individuals moved money from their IRAs at one bank and instructed a second bank to keep it in IRAs. The second bank instead held the funds in accounts that earned taxable interest. The IRS…
PLR 200404052: Employer pickup of mandatory pension contributions
A public employer planned to pay mandatory pension contributions equal to two percent of certain employees' salaries. Its resolution said the payments would be made in place of employee…
PLR 200404051: IRA rollover waiver letter with conflicting facts and amounts
The request describes a woman who had suffered a stroke, moved to assisted living, and faced unexpected home repair costs. She sought a waiver of the 60 day IRA rollover deadline for an amount…
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.