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 200304035: Foundation grant procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed one program for scholarships, project grants and awards to individuals, and another for grants to organizations that could support individuals. Its procedures used a…
PLR 200304034: State education annuity plan qualifies under section 403(b)
A state education agency combined three tax-sheltered annuity arrangements into one plan funded through annuity contracts and custodial accounts. It asked whether the plan met section 403(b) and how…
CCA 200304033: Interest suspension after an earned income credit reconsideration
Chief Counsel addressed interest suspension when a taxpayer first reports self-employment income to claim the earned income credit and later substantiates that income after the IRS disallows the…
CCA 200304032: Frivolous trust refund claims may still be valid returns
Individuals filed Forms 1041 for purported trusts to claim refunds of their lifetime Social Security withholding. Chief Counsel reaffirmed that a court would probably treat the forms as returns…
CCA 200304031: Late assessment waiver generally is not a tax return
A taxpayer did not file an income tax return, and the IRS prepared a substitute, issued a deficiency notice and assessed the tax. Nearly seven years later, the taxpayer signed a waiver consenting to…
PLR 200304028: Taxpayer receives more time to request a closing agreement
Three related corporations asked for extra time to request a closing agreement under Rev. Proc. 2002-42 after missing the applicable deadline. The taxpayer represented that it relied on an employee…
PLR 200304027: Late section 338(h)(10) election receives an extension
The parent companies of two consolidated groups missed the deadline for a joint section 338(h)(10) election concerning a stock acquisition. They requested relief under the section 301.9100…
PLR 200304026: Serviced apartment rents are not S corporation passive investment income
An S corporation with accumulated earnings and profits owned and operated an apartment building with residential and commercial tenants. Its employees, manager and contractors maintained the…
PLR 200304025: Dividing and partly terminating a charitable remainder trust
A charitable remainder unitrust was divided equally into two successor trusts. The income beneficiaries then proposed to convey their interests in one successor to its charitable remainder…
PLR 200304024: Late GST exemption allocations receive an extension
Two trustors transferred company stock to trusts for their daughters and descendants but failed to file timely gift tax returns or allocate their generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions to the…
PLR 200304023: Stock recapitalization and spin-off qualify for nonrecognition
A parent corporation proposed to exchange its subsidiary's common stock for two new voting classes, then distribute all of that subsidiary's stock to its shareholders. The separation was intended to…
PLR 200304022: More time to file real property statement and notice
A foreign corporation acquired another foreign corporation and then liquidated it. The liquidated corporation held stock in a California corporation, and the taxpayer's tax adviser failed to advise…
PLR 200304021: More time for real property statements and notices
A foreign corporation transferred stock in several domestic subsidiaries to another domestic subsidiary on two dates. Its tax adviser failed to advise it of statements and notices required by the…
PLR 200304020: Late section 338(h)(10) election receives 45 more days
A corporate group bought all the stock of an S corporation from its shareholders but missed the deadline for a joint section 338(h)(10) election. The purchaser's parent represented that it relied on…
PLR 200304019: Foreign company may make a late disregarded entity election
A foreign limited liability company owned by another foreign company intended to elect disregarded entity treatment when operations began. Both companies missed their classification elections, but…
PLR 200304018: Foreign owner receives late disregarded entity election relief
A foreign company owned by a U.S. citizen held another foreign limited liability company. Both companies intended disregarded entity treatment when operations began but inadvertently missed their…
PLR 200304017: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A newly incorporated company intended S corporation status from its formation date but did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section…
PLR 200304016: Incorporation-date S election receives late filing relief
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from its incorporation date but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election under section…
PLR 200304015: Mixed-use arena costs may be allocated by use
An issuer proposed to finance a multipurpose arena used by a tax-exempt university, a city and a privately owned sports team with both taxable and qualified 501(c)(3) bonds. Taxable bond proceeds…
PLR 200304014: Late S corporation election may take effect on intended date
A corporation intended S corporation treatment from a specified date after its incorporation, but its election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under section…
PLR 200304013: Late S corporation election receives conditional relief
A corporation's president represented that the company intended S corporation status from incorporation, but no Form 2553 was filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election…
PLR 200304012: Late S corporation election effective from incorporation
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from the date it was incorporated, but did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under section 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200304011: Late taxable REIT subsidiary election treated as timely
A self-managed real estate investment trust indirectly owned a corporation it wanted to treat as a taxable REIT subsidiary. Its adviser prepared Form 8875, but the REIT's chief financial officer…
PLR 200304010: First-year S election receives late filing relief
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year and filed an S corporation income tax return, but never filed Form 2553. Its president pointed to the company's employer…
CCA 200304009: Late bankruptcy proof of claim and equitable relief
The IRS filed a proof of claim after the Bankruptcy Code's 180-day deadline in a Chapter 13 case that had been dismissed and reinstated before the deadline expired. Chief Counsel advised that…
PLR 200304008: Dual citizen's expatriation lacked a principal tax avoidance purpose
A person who had held U.S. and another country's citizenship from birth renounced her U.S. citizenship while retaining the other. Her net worth exceeded the threshold that could trigger a…
PLR 200304007: Dual citizen's expatriation had no principal tax avoidance purpose
A person who held U.S. and another country's citizenship from birth renounced his U.S. citizenship while retaining the other. His net worth exceeded the threshold for a presumption of tax avoidance…
PLR 200304006: Late securities trader mark-to-market election denied
A full-time securities trader knew about the section 475(f) mark-to-market election but did not make it by the deadline after an accountant advised against it. After the deadline, the trader decided…
PLR 200304005: Welfare-benefit trust transfer avoids specified taxes
A trade association administered a trust funded partly by excess insurance reserves and proposed to transfer trust funds to a section 501(c)(3) charity. Relying on the representation that the trust…
PLR 200304004: Welfare-benefit trust transfer avoids specified excise and income taxes
A trade association administered a welfare-benefit trust and proposed to transfer part of its funds to a section 501(c)(3) organization. The IRS ruled that the transfer would not be a disqualified…
PLR 200304003: Charity transfer from welfare-benefit trust avoids specified taxes
A trade association's welfare-benefit trust proposed to transfer funds to a section 501(c)(3) charity. Assuming the trust was part of the represented ten-or-more-employer plan, the IRS ruled that…
PLR 200304002: Electronic card receipts support an accountable expense plan
A software company proposed to receive detailed electronic receipts from its card provider for employee travel and entertainment expenses and pay the provider directly for approved business charges.…
PLR 200304001: More time for dual consolidated loss filings
A taxpayer with a branch that incurred losses over several tax years asked for extra time to file certifications for earlier years and elections and agreements for later years under the dual…
200304030: IRS notice says determination was pulled for wrong inspection date
The official one-page release identifies number 200304030 and states “PULLED (Wrong Inspection Date).” It contains no determination, legal analysis, or issue date. The notice does not explain the…
200304029: IRS notice says determination was pulled as a duplicate
The official one-page release identifies number 200304029 and states “PULLED (Duplicate).” It contains no determination, legal analysis, or issue date. The notice does not identify the other copy or…
PLR 200303063: Foundation may set aside funds for future art purchases
A private foundation planned to buy artworks for a university museum and a performing arts center. Neither facility had finalized its display plans, so the foundation asked to set aside funds now…
PLR 200303062: Farm association's links, sponsorships, and advertising
An agricultural membership association asked how several website and publication activities would affect its unrelated business income tax. The IRS ruled that free listings of member service…
PLR 200303059: Expatriate did not overcome tax avoidance finding
A former U.S. citizen asked the IRS to rule that avoiding U.S. tax was not a principal purpose of giving up citizenship. His net worth exceeded the threshold that triggered a presumption of tax…
PLR 200303058: City deferred compensation plan meets section 457 rules
A city asked whether its amended deferred compensation plan qualified as an eligible governmental plan under section 457. The plan limited when employees could receive deferred pay and held plan…
PLR 200303057: Split off of one business qualifies as a reorganization
An S corporation with two active businesses proposed to move one business into a new corporation and give that corporation's stock to a shareholder in exchange for the shareholder's stock in the…
PLR 200303056: Consolidated groups get more time for allocation election
Two parent companies and several subsidiaries missed the deadline to elect ratable allocation of tax items around changes in consolidated group membership. They said they relied on a qualified tax…
PLR 200303055: Group gets more time to elect consolidated filing
After a parent company left another company's consolidated group, it and seven subsidiaries missed the deadline to elect consolidated filing for their short tax year. They said a qualified tax…
PLR 200303054: Late trust election receives S corporation relief
An S corporation shareholder transferred stock to an irrevocable trust intended to qualify as a qualified subchapter S trust. The trust's beneficiary missed the required election, which terminated…
PLR 200303053: Couple may make late GST exemption allocations
A couple contributed to five pooled income funds that paid income to their grandchildren before the remaining assets passed to a university. Their first accountant reported the gifts but mistakenly…
PLR 200303052: Couple gets more time for rental real estate election
A couple who qualified under the real estate professional rules omitted the statement needed to treat all their rental real estate interests as one activity. The IRS concluded that they met the…
PLR 200303051: Cooperative's possible return to tax exemption
A utility cooperative that had lost its section 501(c)(12) exemption planned to merge a taxable subsidiary into itself. It might later regain exemption if enough of its income again came from…
PLR 200303050: Buyer gets more time for section 338 election
A U.S. corporation acquired a foreign company and missed the deadline for a section 338 election covering that company and a deemed acquisition of its subsidiary. The buyer said it had relied on tax…
PLR 200303049: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation date but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and ruled that an election…
PLR 200303048: Late S election may take effect at incorporation
A corporation with three shareholders intended to elect S corporation status effective on its incorporation date, but it missed the Form 2553 filing deadline. The IRS concluded that the corporation…
PLR 200303047: LLC gets more time to elect corporate tax status
An LLC missed the deadline to file Form 8832 to be treated as a corporation for federal tax purposes from a specified date. The IRS concluded that the requirements for discretionary filing relief…
PLR 200303046: Housing complex rents are active rental income for an S corporation
An S corporation with accumulated earnings and profits owned half of a partnership that operated a residential housing complex. The corporation asked whether its share of the partnership's rents…
PLR 200303045: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its first tax year, but it never filed Form 2553. Its organizational meeting minutes recorded that intent, and it filed an S corporation tax return…
PLR 200303044: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation's shareholders decided around its incorporation that it would elect S corporation status, but the corporation missed the deadline to file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for…
PLR 200303042: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date but did not timely file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200303040: Buyer and seller receive more time for a stock purchase election
A corporate buyer and a seller intended to make a joint section 338(h)(10) election for the buyer's purchase of an S corporation's stock, but they did not file a valid election on time. The buyer…
PLR 200303039: Late S election applies from incorporation, with amended returns required
A business began operating before it was incorporated, and its owners intended it to be an S corporation, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election…
PLR 200303038: Partnership receives time to file a missed basis adjustment election
Interests in a partnership changed hands, and the partnership intended to elect under section 754 to adjust the basis of partnership property. It filed its return without the election, although it…
PLR 200303037: Expatriate rebuts tax avoidance presumption, but purpose remains open
A former U.S. citizen who had spent little time in the United States asked the IRS to rule that giving up citizenship was not principally motivated by avoiding U.S. tax. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200303036: IRS revises tax rulings for a corporate separation and merger
A corporation changed its planned separation of one business from its other businesses before combining the separated business with an acquiror under a new parent company. It asked the IRS to…
PLR 200303035: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended it to be an S corporation from incorporation. Its application for an employer identification number reflected that intent, and it filed an S corporation…
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.