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 200323011: Trust appointments and voting proxies preserve GST exemption
Two family trusts were irrevocable before the cutoff date for the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption. The beneficiary proposed to use special powers of appointment to create continuing…
PLR 200323010: QTIP election survives trust description and valuation errors
An estate made a qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) election on a timely estate tax return for the residue of a family trust. That description covered both a marital trust and a credit…
PLR 200323009: Seller allowed to undo inadvertent installment sale election out
A professional sold a practice for cash paid at closing and stock due later. The seller intended installment sale reporting, but an accountant reported the full sale price on the return, which…
PLR 200323008: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
A utility sought to extend the IRS schedule governing deductible payments to a fund for decommissioning a nuclear power plant. Its earlier schedule had been limited in anticipation of a corporate…
PLR 200323007: Two mortgage trusts get time to make missed REMIC elections
Two related mortgage investment trusts were intended to elect real estate mortgage investment conduit (REMIC) status. A trustee and service firm each believed the other had arranged the tax filings,…
PLR 200323006: Arena naming rights create private use but stay below bond limits
A city financed an arena and convention center with bonds and proposed selling the facility's naming rights to a business. The IRS found that the contract would give the business private use of the…
PLR 200323005: Revised nuclear fund schedule for three rate jurisdictions approved
A utility sought to extend the IRS schedule governing deductible payments to its nuclear plant decommissioning fund. The earlier schedule had been limited in anticipation of a corporate…
PLR 200323004: Three-commission nuclear fund contribution schedule approved
A utility sought to extend the IRS schedule governing deductible payments to its nuclear plant decommissioning fund. The earlier schedule had been limited in anticipation of a corporate…
PLR 200323003: Foreign subsidiary gets time to elect disregarded status
A parent company owned a foreign subsidiary that gave it limited liability. The parent intended the subsidiary to be disregarded as a separate entity for U.S. federal tax purposes from the…
TAM 200323002: Insurer group must compute charity deduction limits by subgroup
A consolidated group with life and nonlife insurance companies calculated a single charitable contribution deduction limit from the two subgroups' combined adjusted income, then allocated the…
PLR 200323001: Partnership gets time to make missed basis adjustment election
A partner in a limited partnership died during the tax year, but the partnership's return omitted a section 754 election to adjust the basis of partnership property. The omission arose from a…
CCA 200322021: Multiple air excise tax adjustment letters and book inspections
Chief Counsel considered a hypothetical taxpayer that bought taxable air mileage awards from several carriers, whose reports reached the IRS at different times. Counsel said an adjustment letter…
PLR 200322020: Fire district pension contributions qualify for employer pick-up treatment
A fire district adopted a resolution to pay mandatory employee contributions to its pension plan by reducing compensation otherwise paid to participating employees. Employees could not take those…
PLR 200322019: Governmental excess pension plan qualifies, FICA ruling withheld
A state retirement system proposed a separate trust to pay pension benefits above the section 415 limit, funded by employers each plan year. The IRS ruled that the arrangement qualified as a…
PLR 200322018: Donated depositary shares qualify as appreciated stock
Family members planned to donate American Depositary Shares received through a corporate merger to private foundations or charitable remainder trusts. The shares represented interests in a foreign…
TAM 200322017: Liability insurance settlements do not qualify for involuntary conversion relief
A company received settlements under commercial general liability policies after paying to clean up contamination at sites it had owned or operated. It argued that the payments compensated it for…
PLR 200322016: Late S corporation election accepted for newly incorporated company
A newly incorporated company intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation date but missed the election deadline. It asked the IRS for relief under section 1362(b)(5). The IRS found…
PLR 200322015: Extra time granted to allocate GST exemption to trust transfers
A donor made several transfers to trusts for two children and their descendants. An accounting firm omitted the donor's generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption allocations from one gift tax…
PLR 200322014: Extra time granted to allocate GST exemption to trust transfers
A donor made several transfers to trusts for two children and their descendants. An accounting firm omitted the donor's generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption allocations from one gift tax…
PLR 200322013: Bequest to charitable trust qualifies for estate tax deduction
A taxpayer's will directed the remaining estate to a trust intended to support scholarships, historic preservation, and education. The trust terms restricted its assets to charitable purposes,…
PLR 200322012: Employment tax treatment varies across unemployment plan benefits
A company and a union sought rulings on benefits paid from a plan for laid-off employees. The IRS found that the plan was a supplemental unemployment benefit plan, but ruled that all three benefit…
PLR 200322011: Donated depositary shares qualify as appreciated stock
Family members planned to donate American Depositary Shares received through a corporate merger to private foundations or charitable remainder trusts. The shares represented interests in a foreign…
PLR 200322010: Donated depositary shares qualify as appreciated stock
Family members planned to donate American Depositary Shares received through a corporate merger to private foundations or charitable remainder trusts. The shares represented interests in a foreign…
PLR 200322009: Donated depositary shares qualify as appreciated stock
Family members planned to donate American Depositary Shares received through a corporate merger to private foundations or charitable remainder trusts. The shares represented interests in a foreign…
PLR 200322008: Donated depositary shares qualify as appreciated stock
Family members planned to donate American Depositary Shares received through a corporate merger to private foundations or charitable remainder trusts. The shares represented interests in a foreign…
PLR 200322007: Donated depositary shares qualify as appreciated stock
Family members planned to donate American Depositary Shares received through a corporate merger to private foundations or charitable remainder trusts. The shares represented interests in a foreign…
PLR 200322006: Donated depositary shares qualify as appreciated stock
Family members planned to donate American Depositary Shares received through a corporate merger to private foundations or charitable remainder trusts. The shares represented interests in a foreign…
PLR 200322005: Donated depositary shares qualify as appreciated stock
Family members planned to donate American Depositary Shares received through a corporate merger to private foundations or charitable remainder trusts. The shares represented interests in a foreign…
PLR 200322004: Late election allowed for S corporation stock purchase
A corporation purchased all the stock of an S corporation, and the buyer and seller missed the deadline for a joint section 338(h)(10) election. They asked for more time to elect treatment of the…
PLR 200322003: Late election allowed for S corporation stock purchase
A corporation purchased all the stock of an S corporation, and the buyer and seller missed the deadline for a joint section 338(h)(10) election. They asked for more time to elect treatment of the…
CCA 200322002: Volunteer firefighters' services remain subject to FICA
Chief Counsel considered whether a state pension plan removed paid volunteer firefighters' services from employment for FICA purposes. The firefighters generally worked 20 hours or less per week,…
200322001: IRS notice says the release was pulled for an inspection delay
The official IRS PDF for this release number is a one-page notice marked “PULLED (Inspection Delay).” It contains no determination, taxpayer facts, issue date, legal analysis, or tax outcome. The…
PLR 200321026: Minimum funding waiver granted to pension plan
The IRS granted a waiver of the minimum funding standard for a defined benefit pension plan's year ended January 31, 2002. The company reported declining sales from 1999 to 2001 and cuts to salary…
PLR 200321025: Pension plan receives minimum funding waiver
The IRS granted a waiver of the minimum funding standard for a defined benefit pension plan's year ended December 31, 2001. The company reported losses in 1999 through 2001, cuts to expenses and…
PLR 200321024: Municipal pension contributions qualify as employer pick-ups
A city adopted a defined benefit pension plan that required a group of employees to contribute 3.75 percent of compensation. The city agreed to pay those mandatory amounts to the plan in place of…
PLR 200321023: Foreign charity grant qualifies with expenditure responsibility
A private foundation proposed a grant to a foreign organization for a health project. The grantee had no IRS determination recognizing it as a charity, and the foundation had not decided whether it…
PLR 200321022: Diabetes program grant brings only incidental benefit to insurer
A private foundation funded by a health insurer proposed a grant to a hospital organization for a diabetes management program. The insurer and its subsidiary were disqualified persons with respect…
PLR 200321021: Religious organization keeps exemption after TV business restructuring
A tax-exempt religious organization proposed to make its television programming corporation a wholly owned subsidiary and place a station operating company under that subsidiary. The two businesses…
PLR 200321020: ESOP stock sale proceeds can repay its loan without creating annual additions
An employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) sold its employer stock as part of a company sale. The plan proposed to use proceeds from its unallocated shares to repay an employer loan that had financed…
PLR 200321019: Separate excess benefit plan does not disqualify pension plan
A multiemployer pension plan proposed a separate, nonqualified plan to pay benefits that the qualified plan could not pay because of section 415 limits. Employer contributions would be divided…
CCA 200321018: When fishing equipment and permit rentals face self-employment tax
Chief Counsel analyzed self-employment tax on several commercial fishing rentals. For a fisher temporarily unable to work, permit lease payments were not income from the fishing business under…
CCA 200321017: Form 2848 can authorize disclosure without authorizing representation
An IRS employee asked whether a Form 2848 listing an attorney and two law firm employees who identified as unenrolled return preparers permitted disclosure of taxpayer information to all three.…
PLR 200321016: Late S corporation election accepted with timely Form 2553 filing
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status as of a specified date but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election under section 1362(b)(5). It…
PLR 200321015: Replacing REMIC mortgage collateral with securities preserves loan status
A borrower wanted to sell a mobile home park that secured a loan held by a real estate mortgage investment conduit (REMIC). It proposed to substitute government securities that would cover loan…
PLR 200321014: Former resident rebuts tax avoidance presumption, with purpose unresolved
A former U.S. long-term resident returned with his spouse to his country of birth. His net worth exceeded the threshold that triggered a presumption of tax avoidance under the expatriation rules…
PLR 200321013: Irish reinsurer qualifies for treaty exemption from premium excise tax
An Irish reinsurance company sought an exemption from U.S. excise tax on premiums for U.S. risks under the U.S.-Ireland tax treaty. It represented that it paid the generally applicable Irish…
PLR 200321012: Corporation receives relief for late first-year S election
A corporation's shareholders intended it to be an S corporation for its first taxable year, but no Form 2553 was filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the failure under section…
PLR 200321011: Former resident rebuts expatriation tax avoidance presumption
A former U.S. long-term resident returned with her spouse to her country of birth. Her net worth exceeded the threshold that triggered a presumption of tax avoidance under the expatriation rules…
PLR 200321010: Stock gift to charitable remainder trust avoids donor sale income
A retired executive planned to give company stock to a charitable remainder unitrust. Stock agreements gave the company a right of first refusal if the trust later wanted to sell, but did not force…
PLR 200321009: Second extension granted for foreign sales corporation election
A corporation had received extra time to file Form 8279 to elect foreign sales corporation treatment, but missed the extended deadline because of a misunderstanding between its tax manager and…
PLR 200321008: Extra time to file dual consolidated loss agreements
A corporate group missed filing agreements and annual certifications needed for its dual consolidated loss relief elections. Its accounting firm had failed to advise the group of those requirements.…
PLR 200321007: Extension granted for foreign earned income exclusion elections
A taxpayer hired a CPA to file returns claiming the foreign earned income exclusion for several tax years, but the filings were not made as intended. The taxpayer requested extra time to elect the…
PLR 200321006: Farm leases do not accelerate estate tax installments
An estate elected to pay estate tax on a closely held farming business in installments. It leased farmland for cash to two limited liability companies owned and operated by beneficiaries who…
PLR 200321005: Public housing finance corporation's income excluded from gross income
A nonprofit corporation planned to help households obtain housing through mortgage financing and down-payment assistance. Its directors were tied to organizations serving county governments, and its…
PLR 200321004: LLC receives relief for late corporate classification and S elections
The members of a limited liability company intended to elect corporate tax classification and S corporation treatment from the company's formation, but both elections were filed late. The IRS found…
PLR 200321003: Foreign company gets time to elect partnership classification
The owners of a foreign company intended it to be treated as a partnership for U.S. tax purposes from formation, but the company did not file Form 8832. Because all owners had limited liability, the…
PLR 200321002: Deferred compensation plans retain intended tax treatment with creditor-access trust
A tax-exempt employer created an eligible section 457(b) plan and a separate ineligible section 457(f) plan for one employee, with a trust to help pay benefits. The IRS ruled that the eligible…
PLR 200321001: Foreign entity receives late partnership classification relief
The owners of a foreign company with limited liability intended it to be treated as a partnership for U.S. tax purposes from formation and filed their returns consistently, but the company failed to…
PLR 200320028: Religious health system retirement plans qualify as church plans
Three religious congregations combined their health care operations under a shared health system and retained several predecessor retirement plans alongside two current plans. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200320027: Short term borrowing for fund redemptions avoids debt-financed income
A charity held units in an investment fund that sometimes needed cash before securities sold to meet redemptions had settled. The fund established a line of credit for short loans used only to…
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.