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 200334044: Extra IRA distribution was unnecessary but could not be rolled back
After an IRA owner's death, distributions began over the life expectancy of a trust beneficiary. The beneficiary was later told that half the remaining IRA balance had to be distributed under the…
PLR 200334043: Pension surplus reversion escapes unrelated business income but incurs excise tax
A tax-exempt social club planned to terminate a defined benefit pension plan and receive its surplus assets. It said its plan contributions had never produced a tax benefit. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200334042: Municipal pension pickup contributions excluded from current wages
A municipality proposed paying required employee contributions to a pension plan for employees who made a one-time irrevocable election to join its pickup program. The IRS ruled that the picked-up…
PLR 200334041: Payment to restore retirement plan losses is not a contribution
A company's bankruptcy left stock held in its defined contribution plan worthless. A person named in pending lawsuits proposed paying money through an escrow account to restore part of the affected…
PLR 200334040: Hospital's disregarded subsidiary employees may join its 403(b) plans
A tax-exempt hospital wholly owned a single-member limited liability company that provided technology and consulting services. The company had not elected separate federal tax classification. The…
PLR 200334039: Return of excess defined benefit plan contributions approved
The requester asked the IRS to disallow a deduction for certain contributions to a defined benefit pension plan under Revenue Procedure 90-49, a step needed before the contributions could revert to…
PLR 200334038: Pension amendments for a bankrupt employer meet liability exception
An employer in Chapter 11 proposed five amendments to its defined benefit pension plan, including higher benefit accruals and changes to cash balance coverage. Federal rules generally bar…
PLR 200334037: Subsidiary merger qualifies as a tax-free liquidation
A corporate group proposed moving business rights and restructuring subsidiaries and a partnership before merging one subsidiary into its parent. The IRS ruled that the upstream merger would qualify…
PLR 200334036: Late accounting period application treated as timely
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 late to request a change from a December 31 to a June 30 tax year. The taxpayer said an error or misunderstanding caused the late filing, but it had notified the IRS of…
PLR 200334035: Early S corporation reelection permitted after revocation
A corporation's former shareholders revoked its S corporation election. Its new shareholders, who were unrelated to those shareholders, wanted to make a new election before the usual five-year…
PLR 200334034: Late S corporation election granted filing relief
A corporation's shareholder 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 missed election…
PLR 200334033: Corporation allowed to file late S election
A corporation's president said the two shareholders intended S corporation status from the date the corporation was formed. The corporation did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable…
PLR 200334032: Late S election accepted for incorporation year
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation status from its incorporation date, but Form 2553 was filed late. Ordinarily, an election made after the first two and one-half months of a…
PLR 200334031: Grid limits do not delay wind turbines' placed-in-service dates
A wind farm developer asked when each turbine could be treated as placed in service for depreciation and the renewable electricity production credit. A utility's substation and transmission upgrades…
PLR 200334030: Non-pro rata trust termination causes no gain or loss
A trust with varied real estate holdings planned to terminate and distribute cash, property, or interests in a limited liability company to its beneficiaries. The distributions would not be…
PLR 200334029: More time granted for subsidiary S elections
An S corporation acquired two wholly owned subsidiaries and later formed a third. It intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status for each, but the elections were not filed on time.…
PLR 200334028: Late S election allowed from incorporation date
A corporation's president said its shareholders intended S corporation status from the date it was incorporated, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 200334027: Extension granted for subsidiary S election
An S corporation acquired a company that owned another corporation. It intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status for the lower-tier company effective on the acquisition date, but…
PLR 200334026: More time to file accounting method form copy
A taxpayer attached the original Form 3115 to its timely tax return to request a depreciation accounting method change. Its accountant failed to send the required signed copy to the IRS national…
PLR 200334025: Trustee adjustment creates no gift by remainder beneficiaries
A trust paid income to a settlor's son, while the son's surviving descendants stood to receive its principal after his death. Three co-trustees proposed using a state-law adjustment power to move…
PLR 200334024: Active rental income excluded from S corporation passive income
A corporation with accumulated C corporation earnings and profits asked whether rent from its commercial properties counted as passive investment income under the S corporation rules. It reported…
PLR 200334023: Missed S election receives filing relief
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation status from the start of its first tax year and assumed its accountant had filed Form 2553. There was no record of a timely filing. The IRS…
PLR 200334022: Late S election treated as timely if filed promptly
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation status from the beginning of its first tax year and believed its accountant had filed Form 2553. There was no record of a timely election. The…
PLR 200334021: Municipal insurance corporation's income excluded
A corporation owned by a county risk-pooling organization planned to insure municipalities and other government entities against liability and other risks. It asked whether its income was excluded…
PLR 200334020: Gift tax credit restored after voided trust assignment
A surviving spouse assigned her interest in a marital trust to her children and reported the transfer as a gift, using part of her gift tax unified credit. A court later held the assignment null and…
PLR 200334019: Late GST exemption allocation permitted for family trust
A grantor contributed to a trust benefiting his son and later descendants. His tax preparers timely reported the gift on Form 709 but did not allocate any generation-skipping transfer (GST)…
PLR 200334018: More time to allocate GST exemption to trust gift
A grantor made a gift to a trust for his son and descendants. His tax preparers filed a timely gift tax return but omitted the generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption allocation they had been…
PLR 200334017: Inadvertent stock rights defect excused for S election
A corporation elected S status while its articles did not ensure identical distribution and liquidation rights for all shares. That defect meant it did not qualify as a small business corporation…
PLR 200334016: Late S election recognized from incorporation
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from its incorporation date but did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section…
PLR 200334015: Late S election recognized from formation date
A corporation's owners intended S corporation treatment from the date it was formed, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section…
PLR 200334014: Partnership stock transfer treated as inadvertent S termination
Four shareholders contributed shares of an S corporation to a limited partnership they formed. A partnership is not an eligible S corporation shareholder, so the stock transfer terminated the…
PLR 200334013: Police disability benefits excluded from income
A police officer retired while an application for disability retirement was pending and later received approval effective from the original retirement date. The disability arose from a work-related…
PLR 200334012: Late entity classification election receives extension
A foreign entity owned through a foreign corporation intended to elect a federal tax classification effective from its formation date. It represented that it was eligible to choose its…
PLR 200334011: Later bond redemption does not alone undo housing-credit financing
A partnership developing low-income housing planned to repay part of its bond loan and redeem tax-exempt bonds after the project was placed in service. It represented that bond proceeds would…
PLR 200334010: Grid connection facilities qualify as utility capital contribution
The owners of an electric generating facility planned to pay for upgrades to a regulated utility's transmission system so their power could reach the grid. The utility would own the new facilities…
PLR 200334009: Foreign entity gets more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign limited liability company intended to be treated as separate from neither its original sole owner nor its later owner for federal tax purposes, effective from its formation date. It missed…
PLR 200334008: Corporation gets conditional relief for late S election
A corporation's shareholders intended it to be an S corporation for its first tax year, but no Form 2553 was filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election under § 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200334007: Late S election may take effect from incorporation
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation. Its Form 2553 was received late, so the election initially took effect on a later date. The…
PLR 200334006: Inadvertent transfers to ineligible owners do not end S treatment
An S corporation lost its election when a shareholder transferred shares to a partnership, an ineligible owner. Other shareholders later transferred shares through trusts to an ineligible limited…
TAM 200334005: Insurer's product expansion costs are business expenses subject to policy acquisition rules
A life insurer spent money to introduce new insurance and annuity products and expand its network of independent agents. An examiner viewed the costs as capital expenditures because they could…
PLR 200334003: Ineligible shareholder's stock purchase receives inadvertent termination relief
An S corporation's stock was transferred to an ineligible shareholder, ending its S election. The corporation discovered the problem later and took steps to remove the ineligible owner. The IRS…
PLR 200334002: Inadvertent stock transfer does not permanently end S election
A corporation's S election ended when its stock was transferred to an ineligible shareholder. After discovering the termination, the corporation took steps to eliminate the ineligible ownership. The…
TAM 200334001: Affiliate's warrant purchase is not a bargain sale
A corporation sold warrants on its own stock to an affiliate at a price set under an agreement supported by an independent valuation. The warrants rose in value before the sale, and the taxpayer…
PLR 200333039: Government plan contributions qualify for employer pickup treatment
A political subdivision proposed to let eligible management employees make a single irrevocable election to contribute part of their pay to a supplemental retirement plan through salary reduction.…
PLR 200333038: City pension contributions receive employer pickup treatment
A city required covered employees to contribute to its defined benefit pension plan and adopted an ordinance saying the city would pick up those contributions. Employees could not receive the…
PLR 200333037: Foundation may split assets without terminating its status
A private foundation proposed to transfer half its assets to another foundation so two groups of trustees could pursue separate charitable goals. The IRS ruled that the transfer would be a §…
PLR 200333036: Related foundation receives half of transferor assets
A private foundation proposed to transfer half its assets to another foundation so two groups of trustees could pursue separate charitable goals. The IRS ruled that the transfer would be a §…
PLR 200333035: IRA owner gets 60 days to reverse ineligible Roth conversion
An IRA owner opened a Roth IRA but did not realize the account paperwork also authorized conversion of her traditional IRA. Her household income made both the conversion and a regular Roth…
PLR 200333034: Charity's tailored education programs remain tax exempt
A public charity provided advanced education for professionals through seminars at its headquarters. It expanded its programs to off-site locations, including programs hosted by individual…
PLR 200333033: Trade associations' joint show income avoids unrelated business tax
Three tax-exempt trade associations combined their separate trade shows into one larger show operated through a limited liability company taxed as a partnership. One association later merged into…
PLR 200333032: Trade associations' joint show income avoids unrelated business tax
Three tax-exempt trade associations combined their separate trade shows into one larger show operated through a limited liability company taxed as a partnership. One association later merged into…
PLR 200333031: Trade associations' joint show income avoids unrelated business tax
Three tax-exempt trade associations combined their separate trade shows into one larger show operated through a limited liability company taxed as a partnership. One association later merged into…
PLR 200333030: Foundation may buy land from another foundation's directors
Two directors of a private operating foundation proposed to sell land to a supporting private foundation for less than its current value. The land would expand a public site operated by the first…
PLR 200333029: Insurer receives waiver for excess life insurance premiums
A life insurer discovered that clerical processing errors caused some universal life policies to receive premiums above the limit allowed by § 7702. Employees had entered incorrect change dates,…
PLR 200333028: Investor gets 60 days to make missed capital gain elections
An individual had capital gains from investment property in two years but did not elect to include any of those gains in investment income on Form 4952. The omission reduced the investment interest…
PLR 200333027: Holding company gets time to file consent dividend elections
A company treated as a personal holding company tried to distribute its income through dividends and a consent dividend election. Its tax preparer understated income for two years after processing…
PLR 200333026: Foreign entity gets time to change tax classification
A U.S. corporation acquired a company that owned a foreign eligible entity. It wanted to change the foreign entity's tax classification effective the day after the acquisition, but the entity had…
PLR 200333025: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation status for its first taxable year, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under § 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200333024: Mutual insurer's stock conversion qualifies as recapitalization
A mutual property and casualty insurer planned to convert to stock form under a new holding company. The IRS ruled that the conversion was a § 368(a)(1)(E) recapitalization and that the converted…
PLR 200333023: Adult child may disclaim inherited property after turning 21
A person inherited from his father while still a minor and planned to disclaim part of the estate. He had not accepted the property or its benefits and would deliver a written disclaimer within nine…
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.