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 200327031: Attorney's missed S election receives filing relief
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from incorporation and filed an S corporation return for its first tax year. Its attorney inadvertently failed to file Form 2553, the election needed…
PLR 200327030: Shareholder's planned S election granted late filing relief
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation status to begin in a specified tax year, but no Form 2553 was filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election under §…
PLR 200327029: Active rental and lending receipts excluded from S corporation passive investment income
A corporation planning an S election owned and managed commercial rental properties and also operated a lending business. It asked whether its rent and loan interest would count as passive…
PLR 200327028: Three investment funds receive time to elect prior-year dividend treatment
Three investment funds had prepared tax returns that included § 855(a) elections to treat certain dividends paid after year-end as paid during the earlier tax year. A filing employee's medical…
PLR 200327027: Business split-off qualifies as a tax-free reorganization
Two equal shareholders of an S corporation disagreed about the direction of one of its intellectual property licensing businesses. The corporation proposed to place that business in a subsidiary and…
PLR 200327026: Indirect investor's foreign fund elections accepted through substantial compliance
A U.S. partnership indirectly owned six passive foreign investment companies through a foreign partnership. The foreign partnership filed qualified electing fund (QEF) forms even though the U.S.…
PLR 200327025: Sole shareholder's late S election accepted for first tax year
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation status to begin on the date it was incorporated. The required Form 2553 was not filed on time for that first tax year. The IRS found…
PLR 200327024: Borough association income excluded as governmental income
An association of local borough governments provided administrative services, training, legislative assistance, and pooled insurance programs for its members. It asked whether its income was…
PLR 200327023: New corporate group may use standard research credit method
A corporation had used the alternative incremental research credit method while part of its former parent's group. After a new parent acquired it, the corporation joined a group that used the…
PLR 200327022: Research credit alternative method election revoked
A taxpayer had elected the alternative incremental method for calculating its research credit. Before its later tax return was due, it requested permission to revoke that election for the later year…
PLR 200327021: Two-shareholder company granted late S election relief
A company with two shareholders intended to be an S corporation from the date it was formed, but its S election was not filed on time. It asked the IRS to treat the election as timely for its first…
PLR 200327020: S corporation status preserved after stock reached ineligible trust
An S corporation's stock was moved from an eligible trust to a subtrust that could not hold S corporation stock. The corporation learned of the problem after hiring a new accountant, and the stock…
PLR 200327019: Ineligible trust shareholders receive inadvertent S election relief
A corporation elected S status while one trust held its stock through an ineligible subtrust and two other trusts had not filed the required electing small business trust (ESBT) elections. A new…
PLR 200327018: Pro rata business spin-off qualifies as a reorganization
A corporate group proposed to separate one operating business and certain other assets into a new company, then distribute that company's stock proportionately to its existing shareholders. The…
PLR 200327017: Oil company receives extension to elect LIFO inventory method
An oil and gas company used the last-in, first-out (LIFO) inventory method after receiving inventory from a related company, but failed to file Form 970 to elect that method. It had assumed the…
PLR 200327016: Estate trust's stock redemption may fund death expenses without recapture
A trust held stock in a family company that had been included in a decedent's estate, for which the estate claimed a qualified family-owned business interest deduction. The company proposed to…
PLR 200327015: Late S election allowed for one-shareholder corporation
A one-shareholder corporation intended S corporation status from incorporation but failed to file Form 2553 on time. It asked the IRS to treat the election as timely for its first tax year. The IRS…
PLR 200327014: Parent corporation may revoke alternative research credit election
The parent of a consolidated corporate group had elected the alternative incremental method for calculating its research credit and continued using it for several years. Before a later return was…
PLR 200327013: Change of tax advisers supports late S election relief
Two shareholders decided their corporation would elect S status from a specified date. While the corporation was changing tax advisers, Form 2553 was inadvertently not filed on time. The IRS found…
PLR 200327012: Corporation election followed by late S election relief
An entity elected to be taxed as a corporation from its organization date and also intended S corporation treatment from that date. Its S election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable…
PLR 200327011: Incorporation date S election recognized after late filing
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from its incorporation date, but its election was not filed on time. It asked the IRS for relief under § 1362(b)(5). The IRS found reasonable…
PLR 200327010: Late S election recognized from incorporation date
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation status from the date of incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under § 1362(b)(5). It…
PLR 200327009: Shareholders' intended S election receives late filing relief
A corporation's shareholders intended it to be an S corporation from incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed filing under § 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200327008: County ambulance provider qualifies for government excise tax exemptions
A nonprofit ambulance provider operated the county's emergency and nonemergency medical transport service under a contract naming it the county's agent. The county supplied property without charge,…
PLR 200327007: Couple granted late GST exemption allocation for son's trust
A husband and wife funded a trust for their son and his descendants. Their accountant prepared gift tax returns but mistakenly omitted allocations of their generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax…
PLR 200327006: Couple granted late GST exemption allocation for son's trust
A husband and wife funded a trust for their son and his descendants. Their accountant prepared gift tax returns but mistakenly omitted allocations of their generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax…
PLR 200327005: Couple may allocate GST exemptions after omitted gift returns
Two taxpayers funded an irrevocable trust for their descendants. Their tax advisers mistakenly believed the gift qualified for an annual exclusion and needed no generation-skipping transfer (GST)…
PLR 200327004: Oil partnership operating receipts are not passive investment income
An S corporation with accumulated earnings and profits owned interests in publicly traded partnerships involved in the crude oil business. It asked how its share of partnership receipts counted…
PLR 200327003: Co-owners' rental property interests are not business entity interests
A company planned to sell undivided interests in commercial rental property to no more than 35 co-owners, some of whom intended to use the interests as replacement property in like-kind exchanges.…
TAM 200327002: Father's retained control prevents income attribution to daughter
A father created interests in three foreign businesses for his daughter, who later became a U.S. resident alien. She received payments tied to those interests and initially reported them as income,…
PLR 200327001: Second extension granted for a stock purchase election
A corporate buyer and the sellers of an S corporation intended to make a joint § 338(h)(10) election for a stock acquisition. They missed both the original deadline and an earlier extended deadline,…
PLR 200326045: Retirement plans of two Catholic care facilities qualify as church plans
A nursing home and an assisted living facility affiliated with a Roman Catholic religious order maintained a pension plan and a tax-deferred annuity program for their employees. They asked whether…
PLR 200326044: Conditional waiver of additional pension funding excise tax
A company had ceased providing services to area hospitals and reported that its remaining assets were much less than its liabilities. Its money purchase pension plan had merged into a profit sharing…
PLR 200326043: Care facility reorganization preserves exemption and avoids unrelated business tax
A tax-exempt nursing home and residential care facility proposed a reorganization with two supporting organizations. The plan called for transferring its real estate to one supporter, which would…
PLR 200326042: Care facility reorganization preserves exemption and avoids unrelated business tax
A tax-exempt nursing home and residential care facility proposed a reorganization with two supporting organizations. The plan called for transferring its real estate to one supporter, which would…
PLR 200326041: Care facility reorganization preserves exemption and avoids unrelated business tax
A tax-exempt nursing home and residential care facility proposed a reorganization with two supporting organizations. The plan called for transferring its real estate to one supporter, which would…
PLR 200326040: Condominium trust transactions avoid self-dealing under stated conditions
An S corporation proposed to give a controlling interest in an LLC holding condominium units to a charitable remainder unitrust. A company owned by a relative of the trust's operating trustee would…
PLR 200326039: Condominium trust transactions avoid self-dealing under stated conditions
An S corporation proposed to give a controlling interest in an LLC holding condominium units to a charitable remainder unitrust. A company owned by a relative of the trust's operating trustee would…
PLR 200326038: Church retirement income accounts qualify under section 403(b)
A church association asked whether its retirement plan, administered by a related board, qualified as a church plan and as a section 403(b) retirement income account. The IRS ruled that the board's…
PLR 200326037: Fire district pension contributions treated as employer payments
A fire protection district asked how to treat mandatory firefighter contributions that it would pay into a pension plan by reducing employees' compensation. The IRS ruled that the payments were…
PLR 200326036: Independent fire department plan is not a governmental plan
A fire department asked whether its defined benefit retirement plan was a governmental plan under section 414(d). Although the department provided most fire protection services for a city and…
PLR 200326035: Research charity may license discoveries and exclude royalties from unrelated business income
A medical research charity planned to give a related company an exclusive license to commercialize discoveries while retaining ownership and a share of the royalties. The IRS ruled that the license…
TAM 200326034: Assumed debt does not support inflated currency basis
A taxpayer claimed a loss after a limited liability company acquired and disposed of foreign currency, using the full face amount of a jointly assumed loan as its basis. The IRS concluded that the…
PLR 200326033: Former resident's expatriation lacked a principal tax avoidance purpose
A former long-term U.S. resident gave up his green card and returned to his country of citizenship and birth, where he would be taxed on worldwide income. His net worth exceeded the threshold that…
PLR 200326032: Share voting changes qualify as a recapitalization
Two foreign corporate shareholders planned to change the voting rights of their shares in a U.S. real property holding corporation, then contribute the changed shares to another corporation. The IRS…
PLR 200326031: Late consent dividend election granted 45-day extension
A corporate group missed a section 565 consent dividend election for a subsidiary that it later recognized as a personal holding company. Its outside tax advisers had not identified the subsidiary's…
PLR 200326030: Late GST exemption allocations granted 60-day extension
Two taxpayers split a gift of company stock to a trust but failed to allocate their generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions on their gift tax returns. Their accountant had been assigned to…
PLR 200326029: Trust changes preserve grandfathered GST tax exemption
A trustee proposed adding three grandchildren to a trust's advisory committee and converting part of the trust to a total return distribution arrangement. The trust had become irrevocable before…
PLR 200326028: S corporation status restored after missed trust elections
An S corporation's shareholders transferred stock to three trusts, but the beneficiaries did not file the required qualified subchapter S trust elections on time. The trusts also failed to…
PLR 200326027: S corporation status restored after two missed trust elections
An S corporation's shareholders transferred stock to two trusts, but the beneficiaries did not file timely qualified subchapter S trust elections. The trusts also failed to distribute all income as…
PLR 200326026: Late consent dividend election allowed after return error
A corporate group discovered that its tax return had incorrectly deducted an unrealized accounting loss, leaving a subsidiary with undistributed personal holding company income. The group amended…
PLR 200326025: Partnership agreement permits S election and QSub structure
Three shareholders planned to move their S corporation under a new limited liability partnership that would elect corporate and S corporation tax status. The IRS ruled that the new entity's…
PLR 200326024: Sole shareholder's new parent may elect S and QSub status
The sole shareholder of an S corporation planned to put it under a new limited liability partnership that would elect corporate and S corporation tax status. The new parent would elect qualified…
PLR 200326023: Sole shareholder's new parent may elect S and QSub status
The sole shareholder of an S corporation planned to put it under a new limited liability partnership that would elect corporate and S corporation tax status. The new parent would elect qualified…
PLR 200326022: Late October tax year election treated as timely
An S corporation intended to elect an October 31 tax year under section 444, but its Form 8716 was filed late despite its use of a qualified tax professional. The IRS found that the corporation…
PLR 200326021: Late entity classification and S elections accepted
A single-owner limited liability company intended to be taxed as a corporation and to elect S corporation status, but missed both filing deadlines. The IRS granted an extension to file Form 8832 for…
PLR 200326020: Three simultaneous subsidiary spin-offs qualify under section 355
A parent corporation planned to distribute the stock of three subsidiaries to its shareholders at the same time. The parent said the separation would free the subsidiaries from costly reporting and…
PLR 200326019: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
A regulated utility sought a revised schedule of deductible payments to its nuclear plant decommissioning fund after its regulator reduced the decommissioning costs included in rates. The IRS found…
PLR 200326018: Actively managed property rents are not passive investment income
A commercial real estate company asked whether its rental income counted as passive investment income under the S corporation termination rules. It managed the properties from on-site offices and…
PLR 200326017: Missing S corporation election may be filed late
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from its first tax year and filed an S corporation return, but it never filed Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election…
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.