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 200404050: Annuity contract equalizer is not a plan contribution
An insurer offered to add a market value equalizer to retirement plan accounts when a plan switched from another insurer and faced an early termination charge. The plan would repay the added amount…
CCA 200404049: Offer in compromise does not pause bankruptcy tax priority period
Chief Counsel considered whether a pending offer in compromise pauses the Bankruptcy Code's three year period for giving certain income tax claims priority. It concluded that the period is not…
CCA 200404048: Ministerial self employment tax exemption applications
Chief Counsel answered three questions about ministers applying for exemption from self employment tax on Form 4361. A minister whose new faith also changed their belief about accepting public…
PLR 200404047: Late S corporation election accepted if filed within 60 days
A corporation and its two shareholders intended S corporation status from the date of incorporation, but the corporation did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late…
PLR 200404046: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status, and its minutes recorded that intent, but the corporation did not timely file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause under §…
PLR 200404045: Missed trust elections treated as an inadvertent S corporation termination
An S corporation's shareholders transferred stock to three trusts, but the trusts' beneficiaries did not timely elect qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) status. The IRS concluded that the lapse…
PLR 200404044: Perpetual irrigation water rights are like kind to farmland
A farmer proposed exchanging perpetual groundwater pumping rights for a fee interest in farmland. The rights had annual quantity and pumping rate limits, and the state could reasonably reduce those…
PLR 200404043: Holding company spin-off qualifies for tax-free reorganization treatment
A publicly traded holding company planned to place one subsidiary under a new holding company and distribute the new company's shares to its shareholders. The separation would allow the original…
PLR 200404042: Late Form 8848 filing allowed after corporate liquidation
A corporation being liquidated sold its U.S. assets and sought to avoid the branch profits tax through the complete termination rules. Its attorney and accountant did not tell it to file Form 8848…
PLR 200404041: Retroactive qualified electing fund elections allowed for foreign investments
A married couple indirectly owned shares in five passive foreign investment companies through two foreign partnership funds. Their tax attorney and accountant had not identified the companies as…
PLR 200404040: Late QEF elections approved for trust and fund investments
A married couple owned one passive foreign investment company (PFIC) through a grantor trust and two others indirectly through a foreign partnership fund. Their tax attorney and accountant did not…
PLR 200404039: Retroactive QEF elections granted for five foreign companies
A married couple indirectly owned five passive foreign investment companies (PFICs) through two foreign partnership funds. Their attorney and accountant had not identified the PFICs or advised them…
PLR 200404038: Partnership may make a retroactive QEF election
A U.S. limited partnership acquired stock in a passive foreign investment company (PFIC) in 1999. Its attorney and accountant did not identify the company as a PFIC or advise the partnership about a…
PLR 200404037: Life estate arrangement may hold S corporation stock as a QSST
Two companies planning S corporation elections had shares held by an individual as a life tenant, with others entitled to the shares after his death. The companies represented that state law treated…
PLR 200404036: Spouses may make a late rental real estate grouping election
Spouses intended to elect to treat all their rental real estate interests as one activity for the passive activity rules, but omitted the required statement from their joint return. The IRS found…
PLR 200404035: Partnership may undo inadvertent election out of installment reporting
A partnership sold real property for cash and an installment note, but its accounting firm reported all the gain in the sale year. That reporting amounted to an election out of the installment…
TAM 200404034: REMIC excess inclusions measured across the consolidated group
An affiliated group included life insurance and non-life insurance company subgroups, both holding residual interests in real estate mortgage investment conduits (REMICs). The group sought a refund…
PLR 200404033: Late entity classification and S corporation elections allowed
An entity intended to be taxed as a corporation and then elect S corporation status from its formation date, but filed neither election on time. The IRS granted 60 days to file Form 8832 for…
PLR 200404032: IRS declines to rule on bonus depreciation election request
A corporation omitted the statement electing out of 30 percent additional first year depreciation for qualified property, although its timely filed return did not claim the deduction. It asked for…
PLR 200404031: Entity receives time to file corporate classification and S elections
An entity intended to be taxed as a corporation and to elect S corporation status from its formation date, but neither election was filed on time. The IRS gave it 60 days to file Form 8832 for…
PLR 200404030: Irish reinsurer qualifies for treaty relief from insurance excise tax
An Irish reinsurance company sought relief from the federal excise tax on premiums for policies covering U.S. risks under the U.S.–Ireland income tax treaty. It represented that it was subject to…
PLR 200404029: Irish insurer qualifies for treaty insurance excise tax relief
An Irish insurance company requested relief from federal excise tax on premiums for policies covering U.S. risks under the U.S.–Ireland income tax treaty. It represented that it was subject to Irish…
PLR 200404028: Five retroactive QEF elections approved for fund investors
A married couple held interests in two foreign partnership funds that owned shares in five passive foreign investment companies (PFICs). Their attorney and accountant had not identified the PFICs or…
PLR 200404027: Retroactive QEF election denied after adviser lacked key facts
A domestic partnership sought to make a qualified electing fund (QEF) election retroactive to the year it acquired stock in a passive foreign investment company (PFIC). The records it gave its…
PLR 200404026: Partnership receives retroactive QEF election relief for eleven investments
A U.S. partnership owned shares in eleven passive foreign investment companies (PFICs), directly and through foreign partnership funds. Its attorney and two accountants had not identified the…
PLR 200404025: Foreign LLC receives time to file its classification election
A U.S. S corporation formed a foreign limited liability company that intended to elect its federal tax classification from the date it was formed. Problems with the owner's accounting firm led the…
PLR 200404024: Regional toll road bond issuer is unrelated to two predecessor agencies
Two public transportation agencies formed a regional issuer that planned to buy their toll road assets using proceeds from new bonds. The agencies would use the sale proceeds to redeem or defease…
PLR 200404023: Late S election accepted for a single shareholder corporation
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from its incorporation date, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election under §…
PLR 200404022: Family trust trustee change preserves tax treatment
A family planned to replace a bank as trustee of four older trusts with a family formed trust company. A separate committee of independent people would decide discretionary distributions, while…
PLR 200404021: Family trust company may replace bank trustee without changing trust tax status
A family planned to replace the bank trustee of four trusts with a family formed trust company. Its seven initial directors were grandchildren, while a separate committee of independent people would…
PLR 200404020: Successor trust company preserves family trusts' tax treatment
A family sought to replace the bank trustee of four trusts with a trust company whose initial directors were seven grandchildren. An independent committee would make all discretionary distribution…
PLR 200404019: Actively managed property rents are not passive investment income
A corporation planning an S election owned and leased commercial real estate and had accumulated earnings and profits. Its shareholder employees and contractors provided maintenance, cleaning,…
PLR 200404018: Trust company appointment preserves family trust tax results
A family proposed replacing a bank as trustee of four trusts with a family formed trust company. Seven grandchildren would initially serve as directors, and an independent committee would control…
PLR 200404017: Replacing family trusts' trustee preserves ownership and GST treatment
A family proposed substituting a family formed trust company for the bank trustee of four trusts. Seven grandchildren would initially sit on its board, but an independent committee would make…
PLR 200404016: Controlled group may revoke alternative research credit election
A corporation and its controlled group had switched from the standard research credit calculation to the alternative incremental method. The corporation sought permission to revoke that election…
PLR 200404015: Former dairy farmer may elect out of installment reporting late
A former dairy farmer sold land and buildings under a contract with monthly payments but did not elect out of installment gain reporting on the sale year return. The IRS granted permission to make a…
PLR 200404014: New trustee keeps family trusts' ownership and GST status intact
A family planned to appoint a family formed trust company in place of the bank serving as trustee of four trusts. Seven grandchildren would be initial directors, but independent committee members…
PLR 200404013: Trust's insurance purchase creates no new gift or GST transfer
An irrevocable trust for descendants bought a joint and survivor life insurance policy on a married couple using trust assets. One spouse was a co-trustee but had renounced specified powers over the…
PLR 200404012: Family trust trustee change does not alter three tax results
A family sought to replace the bank trustee of four trusts with a family trust company. Seven grandchildren would initially serve as directors, while a committee of independent people would make…
PLR 200404011: Estate receives time for reverse QTIP election and trust severance
An estate claimed a marital deduction for a qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trust on a timely estate tax return but omitted the schedule for a reverse QTIP election and GST exemption…
PLR 200404010: Contributions of diversified investments to partnership avoid gain recognition
A new limited partnership would receive cash from its general partner and interests in hedge funds and investment accounts from its limited partners. The taxpayer represented that each fund and…
PLR 200404009: Charitable lead trusts receive qualified gift and income tax treatment
A taxpayer funded four irrevocable charitable lead trusts that must pay fixed annual amounts to charity for 21 years, with remaining property going to the taxpayer's children or descendants. The IRS…
PLR 200404008: S corporation gets 60 days for two late QSub elections
An S corporation owned two subsidiaries and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) treatment for both, but missed the filing deadlines. The IRS found that it met the requirements…
PLR 200404007: Family trust company can succeed bank without changing GST exemption
A family intended to replace a bank trustee with a family formed company for four trusts. Seven grandchildren would serve as the company's first directors, with an independent committee deciding…
PLR 200404006: New trustee preserves family trusts' tax status
A family planned to replace a bank trustee with a family formed trust company for four trusts. Seven grandchildren would initially serve as directors, and an independent committee would decide…
PLR 200404005: Trust company succession preserves trust ownership and GST exemption
A family planned to have its trust company replace a bank as trustee of four older trusts. Seven grandchildren would initially sit on the company's board, but independent committee members would…
PLR 200404004: Estate includes decedent’s shares of two trusts; court reformation respected
A married couple transferred jointly owned land to two trusts, and one spouse also transferred separately owned land to the first trust. After one spouse died, a court corrected contradictory trust…
PLR 200404003: Rural telephone cooperative’s wireless gains are patronage income
A taxable rural telephone cooperative acquired wireless licenses and stock to protect and expand service for its members. It later sold two licenses that proved uneconomic to develop and began…
PLR 200404002: Generator’s intertie transfer excluded from utility’s income
A generator reimbursed a utility for upgrades to part of a transmission grid that the utility would own. The generator planned to sell electricity through that grid under a long-term interconnection…
TAM 200404001: IRS withdraws earlier air transportation excise tax advice
The IRS withdrew a 1986 technical advice memorandum about a taxpayer’s operations and the § 4261 excise tax on amounts paid for passenger air transportation. The withdrawal took effect September 1,…
PLR 200403099: Adviser’s error justifies waiver of IRA rollover deadline
A taxpayer sent an IRA distribution check to a financial adviser for a planned rollover, along with other money for investment. The adviser mistakenly put all the funds into a non-IRA account, and…
PLR 200403098: Bank error permits late Roth IRA rollover
A taxpayer asked one bank to move a Roth IRA to another Roth IRA. The receiving bank had no Roth IRA program and placed the money in an ordinary certificate of deposit instead, causing the 60-day…
PLR 200403097: Pension benefit increase approved during employer’s bankruptcy
An employer in Chapter 11 proposed to credit three extra years of service and age to pension participants who had left under a severance plan. Bankruptcy normally restricts pension amendments that…
PLR 200403095: Single yields allowed for two student loan bond portfolios
Two scholarship funding corporations had issued tax exempt bonds to finance student loans in different states. After each elected to cease its scholarship funding corporation status, a subsidiary…
PLR 200403094: Spouse’s appointment power shapes estate and gift tax treatment
A husband proposed to fund a revocable trust that would give his wife a testamentary general power to appoint part of its assets if she died first. The IRS ruled that, if she exercised that power,…
PLR 200403093: Mistaken QTIP election has no effect on two trusts
An estate's executor mistakenly made a qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) election for assets that should have passed partly to a credit shelter trust and partly outright to the surviving…
PLR 200403092: Extension granted to allocate GST exemption to a trust
A taxpayer funded a trust for the taxpayer's spouse and descendants, intending to allocate generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to the gift. The accountant mistakenly believed the gift…
PLR 200403091: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
A utility with an ownership interest in a nuclear plant requested a revised schedule of deductible payments to its decommissioning fund. The IRS concluded that the proposed schedule met section…
PLR 200403090: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund payments approved
A utility that owns part of a nuclear plant asked the IRS to extend its approved schedule of payments to a decommissioning fund. The IRS concluded that the revised schedule met section 468A's…
PLR 200403089: Revised schedule approved for nuclear decommissioning fund
A utility that owns part of a nuclear plant sought an extension of its schedule for payments to a decommissioning fund. The IRS found that its proposed revised schedule satisfied section 468A and…
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.