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 200315011: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended to elect S corporation treatment from its incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline…
PLR 200315010: LLC receives relief for late S corporation election
A single member limited liability company elected to be taxed as a corporation. Its owner intended S corporation treatment from that same date, but no Form 2553 was timely filed. The IRS found…
PLR 200315009: Foreign partnership classified as association if members have limited liability
An entity organized as a partnership under foreign law asked how it would be classified for U.S. tax purposes. It had not filed an entity classification election and represented that all its…
PLR 200315008: Husband receives time for late GST exemption allocation
A husband placed company stock in a trust for descendants, and he and his wife elected to split the gift for gift tax purposes. Their accountant omitted generation-skipping transfer tax exemption…
PLR 200315007: Shareholder agreement supports late S election relief
A corporation's four original shareholders intended S corporation status for its first tax year, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. Their agreement, signed at incorporation, said the company would…
PLR 200315006: Wife receives time for late GST exemption allocation
A husband placed company stock in a trust for descendants, and he and his wife elected to split the gift for gift tax purposes. Their accountant failed to allocate either spouse's…
TAM 200315005: Semitrailer tax base includes some freight and installed accessories
A semitrailer retailer had the manufacturer ship customer orders directly to buyers and excluded all shipping charges from the retail excise tax base. The IRS advised that the retailer must include…
TAM 200315004: GNMA guarantee fees count toward mortgage bond interest limit
A housing issuer used mortgage revenue bonds to finance home loans that backed securities guaranteed by GNMA. Loan servicers paid GNMA guarantee fees from the homeowners' interest payments. The IRS…
PLR 200315003: Casino comps awarded under a public program are fully deductible
A casino bought meals, beverages, spa treatments, and show tickets from tenants on its premises and awarded them to patrons based on gaming activity. It publicized the comp program and used slot…
PLR 200315002: Court's trust interpretation preserves GST tax exemption
A trust funded before September 25, 1985, held income accumulated on one deceased beneficiary's share. Its governing order did not clearly say who should receive that income when the trust ended. A…
PLR 200315001: Corporate restructuring does not modify outstanding debt
A publicly traded corporation planned to become a single-member LLC in a new holding company structure and then move some assets within the group. Its outstanding notes and debentures would remain…
PLR 200314031: Hospital research lease avoids unrelated business tax
A tax-exempt hospital planned to lease two floors of a new, debt-financed research building to another tax-exempt hospital and let its researchers use shared animal facilities. The hospitals had…
PLR 200314030: Social club may sell land on dissolution without losing exemption
A tax-exempt club that raised and trained beagles planned to dissolve because its members were aging. It would sell land used for its club activities and distribute the proceeds to members. The IRS…
PLR 200314029: Surviving spouse may roll inherited annuity proceeds into IRA
A deceased employee named his estate as beneficiary of three section 403(b) annuities. The executor would use part of the proceeds to fund a trust, but had no discretion to withhold the remaining…
TAM 200314028: Scenic air tours owe transportation excise tax
An operator sold advertised scenic flights in small aircraft, both directly and through travel agents and tour desks. The IRS concluded that the flights ran on established lines, so the…
CCA 200314027: Fraud victims' valid tax debts cannot be abated
Tax preparers took clients' money for offers in compromise that they never submitted, with help from a corrupt IRS employee who changed account statuses. Chief Counsel advised that the victims'…
PLR 200314026: Green card relinquishment lacks tax avoidance purpose
A long-term U.S. resident planned to surrender her green card and return to the country where she was born and held citizenship. Her net worth exceeded the statutory threshold that ordinarily…
PLR 200314025: Former resident's expatriation lacks tax avoidance purpose
A long-term U.S. resident planned to give up his green card and live in his country of birth and citizenship, where he would be taxed on worldwide income. His net worth exceeded the threshold for a…
PLR 200314024: Convention center authority is a government instrumentality
A city and two counties created a nonprofit authority to manage a regional convention center. They appointed and could remove its directors, supplied its operating funds, and would receive its…
PLR 200314023: Parent receives more time to file section 338 election
A corporate parent missed the deadline to elect section 338 treatment for a subsidiary's purchase of a foreign target's stock. The IRS found that the parent had reasonably relied on a qualified tax…
PLR 200314022: Buyers and sellers get extension for section 338(h)(10) election
A corporate buyer and two shareholders of an S corporation intended to elect section 338(h)(10) treatment for a stock purchase but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found that they had reasonably…
PLR 200314021: Early unitrust termination produces capital gain but no self-dealing
A charitable remainder unitrust planned to terminate early and divide its assets between the lifetime income beneficiary and a private foundation holding the remainder interest. The IRS treated the…
PLR 200314020: Entity gets relief for late corporate and S elections
A two-owner entity intended to elect corporate tax classification and S corporation status from the same effective date, but missed both filing deadlines. The IRS granted 60 days from the letter…
PLR 200314019: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation intended S corporation status from its incorporation date but missed the election deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under section 1362(b)(5). It ruled that…
PLR 200314018: IRS closes tracking stock request without a ruling
A taxpayer sought rulings under section 355 for proposed transactions involving related corporations and tracking stock. The IRS questioned whether the tracking stock represented shares of the…
PLR 200314017: Taxpayer may revoke alternative research credit election
A consolidated corporate group had elected to calculate its research credit under the alternative incremental rules in section 41(c)(4). It asked to revoke the election before the due date of a…
PLR 200314016: Warrant extensions do not end S corporation election
An S corporation issued a lender a stock purchase warrant with a commercially reasonable loan. After repaying the loan, it twice extended the period in which the lender could exercise the warrant;…
PLR 200314015: Late S election effective from incorporation date
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status effective on its incorporation date but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section…
PLR 200314014: Late S election receives relief 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 failure and granted relief…
PLR 200314013: Partnership receives more time for section 754 election
A partner's interest passed to an estate at death, making the partnership eligible to elect a basis adjustment under section 754. The partnership intended to elect but failed to file the election,…
PLR 200314012: First QTIP election cannot be extended; second was timely
A taxpayer transferred property to a trust in two different years and sought relief concerning gift tax QTIP elections. No gift tax return or QTIP election was filed for the first transfer, while…
PLR 200314011: Trust reformation and division preserve GST exemption
A trust established under a will before September 25, 1985, was reformed by court order. The order changed how distributable income was measured, assigned distribution powers to an independent…
PLR 200314010: Late GST exemption allocation relates back to trust gift
A taxpayer transferred stock and cash to a trust for her children and descendants. The trust instructed the trustee to use available generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption, but the…
PLR 200314009: Reformed insurance trust avoids estate inclusion
An irrevocable life insurance trust let its creator appoint a successor trustee but did not clearly bar her from appointing herself or someone related or subordinate to her. The trustee proposed…
PLR 200314008: Corporation may file late S election for first year
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation status from the date it was formed, but Form 2553 was not filed on time for its first tax year. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 200314007: Trust merger and division avoid gain and gift tax while preserving GST exemption
Two substantially identical family trusts, created by a husband and wife before 1985, planned to merge and immediately divide their assets proportionately into separate trusts for two family…
PLR 200314006: Estate may allocate GST exemption to earlier trust gifts
A decedent had made annual gifts to four trusts for her children and their descendants. Her accountant did not file gift tax returns for several years because he believed the annual gift tax…
PLR 200314005: City gets more time to carry forward private activity bond cap
A state department allocated private activity bond volume cap to a city for solid waste disposal facilities. An administrative delay kept the city from authorizing and filing Form 8328 by the…
PLR 200314004: Trustee gets more time to file a physician certification for a GST tax exception
A trust established before October 22, 1986, held assets that were later divided into a marital trust and a residuary trust after the grantor's death. The trustee timely filed Form 706 and allocated…
PLR 200314003: Judicial trust modification preserves GST tax exemption
Settlors created an irrevocable trust before September 25, 1985, for their children and grandchildren. After the husband's death, the trust was divided into exempt and non-exempt portions, and…
PLR 200314002: Rural telephone cooperative's stock sale proceeds are patronage sourced
A rural telephone cooperative invested with other small telephone companies to obtain telecommunications services and later held stock in a successor company. The cooperative sold that stock during…
PLR 200314001: Late historic-status application treated as timely
A property owner rehabilitated a property and placed it in service while intending to claim the historic rehabilitation credit. The owner did not file the application for certification of historic…
PLR 200313025: LLC gets 60 days to make a late corporate classification election
A limited liability company owned by a foreign corporation intended to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation from its formation date. The owner was unaware of the election…
PLR 200313024: Prepaid tuition payments are related to a college's educational purpose
A tax-exempt college participated in a qualified prepaid tuition program that sold certificates for future tuition and required fees. When a student used a certificate, the college credited the…
PLR 200313023: Three hospital retirement plans retain church plan status
A nonprofit hospital corporation separated from a health system and spun off three retirement plans for its employees. Two plans also covered a small share of employees of another corporation, whom…
PLR 200313022: Foundation may transfer assets to a related foundation without terminating
A private foundation proposed to transfer some assets to another private foundation controlled by the same trustees after disagreements over grantmaking. The IRS ruled that the transfer would…
PLR 200313021: Foundation may transfer assets to a related foundation without terminating
A private foundation proposed to transfer some assets to another private foundation controlled by the same trustees after disagreements over grantmaking. The IRS ruled that the transfer would…
PLR 200313020: Government employer's picked-up pension contributions are excluded until distribution
A political subdivision proposed to pay mandatory employee contributions to a retirement plan on behalf of a group of employees. Its resolution would require the employer to pay the contributions…
PLR 200313019: Three proposed amended retirement plans qualify as church plans
A religiously affiliated hospital asked whether its pension plan and two tax-sheltered annuity arrangements qualified as church plans. The IRS found that the hospital shared religious bonds with…
PLR 200313018: Extension granted for dual consolidated loss filings
A taxpayer and its acquired subsidiary missed filing agreements and annual certifications related to dual consolidated losses. Their representatives submitted affidavits explaining how they…
PLR 200313017: State-chartered entity is not a governmental instrumentality for retirement plan rules
A state-chartered entity asked how government plan rules applied to its retirement arrangements. Its members elected the board, its revenue came from private clients, and the state did not run its…
PLR 200313016: Beneficiary continuation payments under nonqualified annuities
A life insurer proposed to let individual beneficiaries continue payments from nonqualified deferred annuity contracts after an owner's death. The IRS ruled that three proposed payout methods would…
PLR 200313015: Former subsidiary may revoke alternative research credit election
A parent company had elected the alternative incremental research credit for its consolidated group. After the parent distributed a subsidiary's stock to its shareholders, the former subsidiary…
PLR 200313014: Acquired company may use standard research credit method
A company had elected the alternative incremental research credit before another corporation acquired all its shares. The new parent used the standard research credit method. Because controlled…
PLR 200313013: Late GST exemption allocations allowed for two family trusts
A taxpayer funded separate trusts for a daughter and a son, but the gift tax return omitted the intended generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption allocations. The attorney's trust summaries had…
PLR 200313012: Extension granted for GST exemption allocation to family trusts
Two trusts were created for a couple's daughter and son. The couple elected gift splitting on their gift tax returns, but neither return allocated generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption,…
PLR 200313011: Late S corporation election may take effect from incorporation
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the date the company was incorporated. The shareholder relied on an attorney to file Form 2553, but the form was late. The IRS…
PLR 200313010: Late S corporation election receives conditional relief
Three shareholders intended their newly incorporated company to be an S corporation, but its Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election. It ruled that the…
PLR 200313009: Company receives conditional relief for late S election
Three shareholders intended their newly formed company to be an S corporation from its incorporation date, but its Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS accepted that the company had reasonable…
PLR 200313008: Trustees may allocate GST exemption to ten years of trust gifts
A settlor made gifts to a family trust over eleven years. The first four gift tax returns allocated less generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption than intended, and later trustees missed returns…
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.