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 200345008: Fund portfolios receive more time for dividend elections
Several portfolios of an investment trust sought to elect under IRC § 855(a) to treat certain dividends paid after year-end as paid during the prior tax year. Their signed requests for extensions to…
PLR 200345007: Converting LLC units leaves members' tax positions unchanged
An LLC taxed as a partnership planned to rename its existing units, create new classes with different rights, and let members convert units one for one. It represented that each member's share of…
PLR 200345006: Trustee changes preserve estate and generation-skipping tax treatment
Trustees of several irrevocable trusts for grandchildren proposed to change trustee selection and succession rules and appoint a trust company as an independent trustee. The plan included…
PLR 200345005: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from its first tax year, and the corporation filed an S corporation return for that year. It had not filed the required Form 2553…
PLR 200345004: Bond issuer gets more time to carry forward unused volume cap
A bond issuer received an allocation of state private activity bond volume cap for qualified mortgage bonds and notified the state allocating authority that it intended to carry unused cap forward.…
PLR 200345003: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from its first tax year, and the corporation filed an S corporation return for that year. It had not filed the required Form 2553…
PLR 200345002: Grantor gets more time to allocate generation-skipping exemption
A grantor intended to allocate generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to a gift to an irrevocable trust. The grantor relied on an accounting firm to prepare the gift tax return, but the…
PLR 200345001: Grantor may correct omitted trust gift and GST allocation
A grantor's timely gift tax return reported a gift to one trust but omitted a separate gift to another trust and the intended generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption allocation. A new…
PLR 200344028: Employer-family scholarship procedures receive advance approval
An organization proposed to sponsor scholarships for children and relatives of an employer's workers through a separate, publicly supported organization's academic competition. Independent…
PLR 200344027: Scholarship competition meets grant procedure requirements
An organization proposed to fund scholarships for children and relatives of an employer's workers through a separate charity's academic competitions. The charity chose finalists through testing and…
PLR 200344026: Employer-family scholarship procedures receive advance approval
An organization proposed to sponsor scholarships for children and relatives of an employer's workers through a separate, publicly supported organization's academic competition. Independent…
PLR 200344025: Replacement plan reduces pension reversion tax
A company proposed to terminate a defined benefit pension plan and transfer part of its surplus to a defined contribution plan before receiving the rest. The IRS ruled that the receiving plan…
PLR 200344024: Surviving spouse may roll over pension death benefit
A retirement plan paid a participant's death benefit to his estate, which named his surviving spouse as sole beneficiary and executor. She deposited the check in her own account and, within 60 days,…
PLR 200344023: Extra time granted for dual consolidated loss elections
A taxpayer missed the deadline to file elections and annual certifications concerning losses of two entities subject to the dual consolidated loss rules. It had relied on advice from foreign tax…
PLR 200344022: Class counsel fees excluded from members' settlement income
A pension plan settled a class action over lump sum benefit calculations. The court awarded class counsel fees from the settlement fund, and individual class members had no fee agreements with that…
PLR 200344021: Trust receives time to elect charitable deduction year
A trust intended to distribute its remaining assets to a charitable foundation after the foundation obtained tax exempt status. Its preparer claimed an income distribution deduction for an amount…
PLR 200344020: Extra time granted to allocate GST exemptions to trusts
Two taxpayers funded trusts for their children, but their accounting firm did not allocate their generation skipping transfer (GST) tax exemptions on the original gift tax returns. After discovering…
PLR 200344019: Corporation receives relief for invalid S election
A corporation elected S status while its stock was held by a trust that was not then an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation said the trust qualified to elect electing small business…
PLR 200344018: Supplemental spin-off ruling preserves most prior conclusions
A corporation sought a supplemental ruling for a previously approved distribution of a controlled corporation's stock. It changed the amount and funding of a dividend, abandoned a planned exchange…
PLR 200344017: Homeowners association may revoke annual tax election
A residential real estate management association filed Form 1120-H after its accounting firm assumed that homeowners associations had to use that form. Filing it elected the special tax treatment…
PLR 200344016: Foreign entity receives time to correct classification election
A foreign entity with one owner tried to elect disregarded entity status on Form 8832, but its filing was improper. By the time the problem was found, the desired effective date was more than 75…
PLR 200344015: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation's owner intended to elect S corporation status from the date the corporation was formed, but the election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under IRC §…
PLR 200344014: Inadvertent S status loss from trust ownership relieved
After a shareholder died, a trust continued to hold stock in an S corporation past the two-year period allowed for that trust to be a permitted shareholder. Elections for two qualified subchapter S…
PLR 200344013: Trust subshares receive inadvertent S termination relief
Stock in an S corporation was transferred to a trust divided into subshares for four beneficiaries. The subshares were not wholly owned by their beneficiaries for tax purposes and could not hold the…
PLR 200344012: Irish reinsurer's premiums qualify for treaty excise tax relief
An Irish reinsurance company asked whether premiums on United States risks were exempt from the federal insurance premium excise tax under the United States-Ireland tax treaty. Based on its…
PLR 200344011: Missing S corporation election receives late filing relief
A corporation's sole shareholder intended it to be an S corporation, but the corporation did not file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election under IRC § 1362(b)(5). It…
PLR 200344010: Treatment of congenital deformity qualifies as medical care
A taxpayer with congenital abnormalities had undergone surgeries and developed a facial deformity as a direct result. The proposed treatment would improve appearance and ordinarily count as cosmetic…
PLR 200344009: Late S election allowed after consistent tax filings
A corporation and its shareholders intended S corporation status from the corporation's formation date and filed tax returns consistently with that treatment, but Form 2553 was late. The IRS found…
CCA 200344008: Aircraft fringe benefit costs escape entertainment limit
An S corporation let shareholders and employees use corporate aircraft for personal flights and included each flight's value in the recipient's income under the standard industry fare method. Its…
PLR 200344007: Controlled group may revoke research credit election
A controlled group had elected the alternative incremental method for computing its research credit and used it for several years. Before the deadline for a later year's return, a group member…
PLR 200344006: Late S corporation election effective from formation
A newly formed corporation intended to elect S corporation status from its formation date but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under IRC § 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200344005: Ineligible shareholder does not end S status after relief
An S corporation transferred stock to an ineligible shareholder, which terminated its S election. The corporation said the transfer was not part of tax avoidance or retroactive tax planning and that…
PLR 200344004: First-year S election receives late filing relief
A corporation's founder intended S corporation status from its formation date, but the corporation missed the election deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under IRC § 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200344003: Fraternal insurer may hold insurance-dedicated fund shares
A tax exempt fraternal benefit society planned to offer variable life insurance and annuity contracts backed by separate accounts that would invest in regulated investment companies. It asked…
PLR 200344002: Insurance consolidated group continues after bankruptcy transfer
The parent of a consolidated group containing life and nonlife insurers planned a bankruptcy reorganization. It would transfer substantially all its assets to a new parent, distribute the new…
PLR 200344001: Shareholder groups may split S corporation business
Three shareholder groups disagreed over management of an S corporation's business. The corporation proposed to put roughly one third of its assets into each of two newly formed corporations,…
PLR 200343030: Daughter may move inherited IRA share without a distribution
An IRA owner died after his required distribution start date without naming an IRA beneficiary, making his estate the beneficiary. His daughter inherited a one-third interest through the estate and…
PLR 200343029: Surviving spouse may roll estate-paid IRA into her own account
An IRA owner died before reaching the age for required minimum distributions and left his estate to his wife. As the estate's personal representative and sole beneficiary, she planned to receive the…
PLR 200343028: Demonstration farm supports foundation's charitable work
A private foundation devoted to conservation expected to receive stock in corporations owning a demonstration farm abroad through a charitable lead trust. The farm was to show sustainable…
PLR 200343027: Demonstration farm supports foundation's charitable work
A private foundation devoted to conservation expected to receive stock in corporations owning a demonstration farm abroad through a charitable lead trust. The farm was to show sustainable…
PLR 200343026: Trust may extend its term without losing exemption
A private foundation trust planned to remove the end date in its trust agreement so it could continue its charitable work indefinitely. Its trustees would seek court approval for the change. The IRS…
CCA 200343025: Seaman may use $3 daily incidental expense rate at sea
A merchant seaman claimed travel expenses while working aboard a cargo ship, using the rate for the ship's destination even on days spent at sea. Chief Counsel advised that Notice 95-50 raised the…
PLR 200343024: Late trust election preserves corporation's S status
A shareholder's stock passed to a trust, but the trust's beneficiary failed to elect qualified subchapter S trust treatment. When the trust's two-year period as an eligible shareholder ended, the…
PLR 200343023: Parent gets more time to elect QSub treatment
An S corporation bought all the stock of another corporation and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. It missed the deadline to file the QSub election. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200343022: Partnership gets 60 days to make basis adjustment election
A partnership intended to elect a basis adjustment under IRC § 754 for a year when interests changed hands, but it missed the filing deadline. The IRS found that the partnership met the requirements…
PLR 200343021: LLC gets more time to elect corporate tax status
The sole owner of a limited liability company intended to elect corporate classification for federal tax purposes when the company was formed. The company missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The…
PLR 200343020: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from the date it was incorporated, but its election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief…
PLR 200343019: Some estate costs reduce GST trust value
A trust was preparing a generation-skipping transfer tax return after a beneficiary's death. It asked which estate costs reduced the trust value used in the denominator of the applicable fraction.…
PLR 200343018: Late GST allocation applies to severed trusts
A taxpayer's accountant omitted an intended generation-skipping transfer tax exemption allocation from a gift tax return for a trust. The trustees later divided the trust equally into separate…
PLR 200343017: Utility receives revised nuclear decommissioning schedule
A regulated utility asked for a revised schedule of deductible payments to its nuclear decommissioning fund after a utility commission reduced the decommissioning costs included in rates. The IRS…
PLR 200343016: Utility receives revised nuclear fund payment schedule
A utility that owned an interest in a nuclear plant sought a revised schedule of payments to its decommissioning fund after a utility commission lowered the costs included in rates. The IRS found…
PLR 200343015: Late GST allocation applies to severed trusts
A married couple elected to treat a gift to a trust as made one-half by each spouse, but their accountant omitted one spouse's generation-skipping transfer tax exemption allocation. The trustees…
PLR 200343014: Two donors receive late GST allocation relief
Two taxpayers made gifts to separate family trusts, but their attorney did not timely advise them to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions. Gift tax returns eventually allocated the…
PLR 200343013: Former subsidiary may revoke research credit election
A corporation had been part of its parent's controlled group when the parent elected the alternative incremental research credit. After a public offering and stock sales, the corporation left that…
PLR 200343012: Rental business restructuring preserves earlier S ruling
An S corporation held commercial rental properties through subsidiaries and partnerships. An earlier IRS ruling treated specified rent as active business income rather than passive investment…
PLR 200343011: Active rental income is not passive S income
A corporation planning an S election owned and managed three commercial and two residential rental properties. Its employees and contractors provided maintenance, inspections, leasing, and other…
PLR 200343010: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A company owner intended S corporation treatment from a specified effective date, but the election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief under IRC §…
PLR 200343009: Late trust elections preserve corporation's S status
Two trusts held shares of a corporation that elected S status, but their trustees had not made the required electing small business trust elections. The corporation and shareholders had filed tax…
PLR 200343008: Holding company merger qualifies as reorganization
A holding company owned stock in an operating corporation and planned to merge into it. Its shareholders would receive stock in the surviving corporation, with cash paid instead of fractional…
PLR 200343007: Purchaser and sellers get late section 338 election relief
An S corporation purchaser bought all the stock of another S corporation, but the purchaser and sellers missed the deadline for a joint IRC § 338(h)(10) election. The IRS found that they qualified…
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.