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.
No determinations match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
PLR 200326016: S corporation election survives an inadvertent partnership shareholder
An S corporation's shareholder transferred his shares to a partnership, making the corporation ineligible for S status. The shares were later distributed back to him. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200326015: Notes and bonds from facility sales qualify for installment treatment
Owners of nursing homes and assisted living facilities sold the businesses to a nonprofit buyer through mergers and received long-term notes and bonds. The IRS treated the bonds as the buyer's debt…
PLR 200326014: Actively managed property rents avoid S corporation passive income rule
A real estate company with accumulated earnings and profits planned to elect S corporation status. Its employees managed commercial properties, apartments, and undeveloped lots, including leasing,…
PLR 200326013: Parent receives more time to file subsidiaries' LIFO elections
A parent company transferred inventory among subsidiaries that continued to use the last-in, first-out (LIFO) method, but the parent omitted the required Forms 970 from several consolidated returns.…
PLR 200326012: Public utility consortium's income is excluded under section 115
A nonprofit corporation owned by public entities planned to operate electric generating facilities and provide related planning and purchasing services. Its members controlled its board, and its…
PLR 200326011: Partnership receives 60 days to make a section 754 election
A limited partnership timely filed its return after a partner died but inadvertently omitted an election to adjust the basis of partnership property under section 754. The partnership asked for more…
PLR 200326010: Partnership may file a late basis adjustment election
A limited partnership's general partner died, and the partnership filed its return on time without the section 754 election for adjusting partnership property basis. The partnership sought relief…
PLR 200326009: Late partnership basis election receives an extension
A partnership timely filed its return after a limited partner died but left out an election under section 754 to adjust the basis of partnership property. The partnership requested relief before the…
PLR 200326008: Partnership gets time to correct an omitted section 754 election
After one of its partners died, a limited partnership timely filed its return but inadvertently omitted its section 754 election to adjust the basis of partnership property. It requested more time…
PLR 200326007: Late subsidiary election and inadvertent S corporation termination relieved
An S corporation placed its operating business in a wholly owned subsidiary but failed to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) treatment. The parent retained assets and leased them to the…
PLR 200326006: Foreign entity receives time to elect corporate tax classification
A foreign entity intended to be taxed as a corporation from its formation, but its advisers failed to file Form 8832 on time. It discovered the omission before the IRS contacted it. The IRS found…
PLR 200326005: Limited partnership may make an omitted basis election
A limited partnership's return was timely filed after a limited partner died, but the section 754 election to adjust partnership property basis was inadvertently omitted. The partnership sought an…
PLR 200326004: Estate may allocate omitted GST exemption to an earlier trust gift
A donor funded a trust for her sister and the sister's descendants. Her accountant filed a gift tax return but failed to allocate generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption to the gift, and none…
PLR 200326003: Stock sales by trust and fund set loss limitation testing dates
A publicly owned parent company with net operating losses was in a bankruptcy case. A qualified trust and a mutual fund each sold enough of the parent's stock to reduce their ownership below five…
PLR 200326002: Trust modification preserves generation-skipping tax exemption
An irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985 was exempt from generation-skipping transfer tax. Its trustees proposed allowing discretionary payments of principal to descendants who would…
PLR 200326001: Discretionary trust distributions preserve GST exemption
The trustees of an irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985 proposed changing its terms to allow discretionary payments of principal to certain descendants. Those descendants would…
PLR 200325008: Widow may directly roll inherited annuity balance into an IRA
A deceased annuity owner's estate was named beneficiary of three section 403(b) annuities. The executor planned to use part of the proceeds to fund a trust and pay the remaining balance to the…
PLR 200325007: State plan's supplemental contributions fail, DROP contributions qualify
A state asked whether employer payments of employee contributions to a governmental retirement plan counted as employer contributions under section 414(h)(2). The IRS rejected the plan's general…
PLR 200325006: Pension plan receives a minimum funding waiver for 2001
The IRS granted a defined benefit pension plan a waiver of its minimum funding standard for the plan year ended December 31, 2001. The sponsoring company's revenue had declined for several years,…
PLR 200325005: Charity may invest in banks serving low income borrowers abroad
A charity that supported small business loans in developing countries proposed investing capital in regulated local banks instead of making only grants to nonprofit lending groups. The banks would…
PLR 200325004: Hospitals' joint neonatal unit preserves exemption and related income
Two tax exempt hospitals planned to own a limited liability company equally to manage a new Level III neonatal intensive care unit at one hospital. The other hospital would serve as program manager…
PLR 200325003: Joint neonatal unit moves community hospital to Level III care
Two tax exempt hospitals planned to own a limited liability company equally to manage a new Level III neonatal intensive care unit at one hospital. The other hospital would serve as program manager…
CCA 200325002: Conservation Reserve Program payments are self-employment income
Chief Counsel considered two hypothetical landowners who personally performed their Conservation Reserve Program contracts. One had farmed the land before enrollment; the other acquired land already…
TAM 200325001: Funding agreements create debt obligations, not insurance reserves
A life insurance company sold funding agreements to institutional investors. The agreements promised repayment of principal with interest but offered no insurance coverage or annuity settlement…
PLR 200324060: Public authority may pick up mandatory pension contributions
A governmental authority amended its pension plan to require employee contributions of five percent of pay and to pay those contributions on the employees' behalf. The IRS ruled that the mandatory…
PLR 200324059: Widow may roll over IRA proceeds paid through her husband's estate
A man died without a surviving named IRA beneficiary, so his IRA was payable to his estate. His widow was both the estate's sole personal representative and its sole intestate beneficiary. The IRS…
PLR 200324058: Extra time to reverse an ineligible Roth IRA conversion
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 1998, believing her income was below the $100,000 limit. She later learned that her modified adjusted gross income exceeded the limit and that…
PLR 200324057: Foundation may keep grant records and agreements electronically
A private foundation planned to run its grantmaking, payments, and recordkeeping electronically, including signed grant agreements and reports sent by email. The IRS ruled that the described…
PLR 200324056: Foundation conference expenses serve charitable programs
A private foundation planned a conference for former scholarship recipients to evaluate its scholarship program and develop its civic education work. It proposed to pay attendees' meals, lodging,…
PLR 200324055: Extra time to elect subsidiary treatment under S corporation rules
An S corporation intended to treat its subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from the parent's incorporation date but failed to file the election on time. Its accounting firm discovered…
PLR 200324054: Late S corporation election accepted for intended tax year
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status effective on a specified date, but the corporation did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late…
PLR 200324053: Late S election effective from incorporation
A corporation's sole shareholder wanted S corporation treatment beginning on its incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under…
PLR 200324052: Missing S election accepted for first tax year
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from its first tax year and filed S corporation returns for that and later years, but never filed Form 2553. Board resolutions showed the…
PLR 200324051: Division and merger of family trusts preserves tax treatment
A trustee proposed to divide two trusts created by the beneficiaries' grandparents into separate shares for three grandchildren, then merge the matching shares for each grandchild. The IRS concluded…
PLR 200324050: Missing spouse consents cured for S corporation election
Two spouses with community property interests in a corporation's stock did not sign its S election, so the election was ineffective. The corporation later filed a revocation without those spouses'…
PLR 200324049: Extra time for spouses to allocate GST exemptions to trusts
A couple split a gift of stock to two trusts for their children and filed gift tax returns on time. Their law firm omitted allocations of the spouses' generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions,…
PLR 200324048: Late alternate estate valuation election accepted
An estate's accountant filed its estate tax return without electing alternate valuation under section 2032. An attorney later found the omission, and the executor filed a supplemental return making…
PLR 200324047: Joint hospital operations preserve qualified bond property use
Two hospital systems planned a joint operating agreement to manage facilities, including a hospital financed by qualified section 501(c)(3) bonds. The facilities would remain owned by their existing…
PLR 200324046: Consent to revoke alternative research credit election
A corporation in a controlled group had elected the alternative incremental research credit method under section 41(c)(4). Before filing its return for a later year, it asked to revoke that election…
PLR 200324045: Late S election accepted with four years of returns due
A corporation's attorneys prepared an S election effective from its incorporation date, but a clerical error kept Form 2553 from being filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause under section…
PLR 200324044: Late GST exemption allocations for children's property trusts
A married couple treated gifts of real property interests to two trusts for their children as split gifts and filed gift tax returns on time. Their accountant omitted allocations of…
PLR 200324043: Federal agency instructor was an employee for tax purposes
A federal agency initially hired an instructor as a contractor and later treated him as an employee. The agency trained him, required staff meetings, supplied his teaching materials, and could…
PLR 200324042: Bond redemption after service does not by itself undo housing credit financing
A partnership planned a low-income housing project financed partly with tax-exempt bonds. It represented that the bonds would finance at least half the combined basis of each building and its land,…
PLR 200324041: Late GST exemption allocations for twelve years of trust gifts
A married couple made gifts to a family trust over a twelve-year span. Their accounting firm did not advise them to file gift tax returns or allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions for…
PLR 200324040: Extra time for section 338 election after foreign stock purchase
A U.S. parent intended to make a section 338(g) election for its foreign subsidiary's purchase of a foreign target's stock, but no valid election was filed by the deadline. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200324039: Corporate spin-off qualifies for nonrecognition treatment
A corporate group planned to move assets and subsidiaries into a controlled corporation, then distribute all of that corporation's stock to its shareholders. It represented that customer conflicts…
PLR 200324038: Late S corporation election treated as timely if filed within 60 days
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status effective on its incorporation date, but it did not file Form 2553 on time. Its treasurer asked the IRS for relief under section 1362(b)(5). The…
PLR 200324037: Loss of qualifying facility status does not create a deemed intertie transfer
A public utility asked whether a power generator's planned loss of qualifying facility status would be treated as a new transfer of an intertie, a connection to the utility's grid. The generator had…
PLR 200324036: Late S corporation election accepted for the first tax year
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its first tax year, but it did not file Form 2553 on time. It requested relief under section 1362(b)(5). Based on the submitted facts and…
PLR 200324035: Early charitable remainder trust termination avoids excise taxes, but income beneficiaries recognize gain
The trustees and beneficiaries of a charitable remainder unitrust proposed to end it early under a state court order. They would divide its assets using actuarial values for the income and…
PLR 200324034: Sixty-day extension granted to allocate GST exemptions to trusts
Two spouses treated transfers to trusts for their children as gifts made half by each spouse. Their accounting firm prepared gift tax returns but inadvertently omitted allocations of their…
PLR 200324033: Extension granted for two late QSub elections
An S corporation formed two wholly owned subsidiaries and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) status for each from its formation date. It missed the filing deadlines for both…
PLR 200324032: Late GST exemption allocations allowed for transfers to four trusts
A taxpayer transferred property to four trusts for the taxpayer's children and their descendants over four years. A law firm prepared gift tax returns but omitted generation-skipping transfer (GST)…
PLR 200324031: Extension granted to make consent dividend elections
A wholly owned corporate subsidiary said it had failed to make consent dividend elections for two years because its tax director did not identify its possible personal holding company status or…
PLR 200324030: Commercial property rents are not passive investment income for S corporation rule
A corporation with accumulated earnings and profits owned and managed commercial property and expected to elect S corporation status. It asked whether its rental receipts counted as passive…
PLR 200324029: Managed commercial property rents excluded from passive investment income
A business trust that owned and managed commercial properties expected to elect S corporation status. Because it had accumulated earnings and profits, it asked whether its rental receipts would…
PLR 200324028: Commercial property rents excluded from S corporation passive investment income
A corporation with accumulated earnings and profits owned and managed several commercial properties and expected to elect S corporation status. It asked whether rental receipts would count as…
PLR 200324027: Managed commercial property rents excluded from passive investment income
A business trust that owned and managed commercial properties expected to elect S corporation status. Because it had accumulated earnings and profits, it asked whether its rental receipts would…
PLR 200324026: Late S corporation election treated as timely after reasonable cause finding
A corporation filed an S corporation election after the deadline, although it and its shareholders had filed income tax returns as if S status applied from an earlier year. It asked the IRS to treat…
PLR 200324025: Redeeming housing project bonds after service does not alone undo bond financing
A partnership planned a low-income housing project financed partly with tax-exempt bonds. It expected to use bond proceeds for more than half of the project's aggregate basis before the project was…
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.