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 200302022: Consolidated group treatment after corporate restructuring
A corporate group proposed to reorganize its ownership structure and move subsidiaries between group members to separate business lines. The IRS ruled that the existing consolidated return group…
PLR 200302021: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved with limits
An electric utility requested a revised schedule of deductible payments to a nuclear decommissioning fund after acquiring an interest in a power plant. Five public utility commissions had approved…
PLR 200302020: Late S corporation election receives relief
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status effective on the company's incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late…
PLR 200302019: Foreign entity gets more time to elect partnership status
A foreign entity whose members all had limited liability intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. tax purposes. It inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832, the entity…
200302018: IRS release 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 taxpayer facts, legal question, analysis, or tax outcome. This entry records the…
PLR 200302017: Extra time to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions
A couple transferred property to a family trust funded with a life insurance policy. Their tax preparer allocated too little generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption on their gift tax…
CCA 200302016: Litigation risks in challenging home warranty insurance
Field counsel asked whether a builder's original warranty could be insured for federal tax purposes and what facts would matter in challenging purported insurance premiums. National Office counsel…
PLR 200302015: Frozen deferred compensation plans remain outside section 457
A taxable employer expected to become a section 501(c)(3) organization and asked how that change would affect five existing nonqualified deferred compensation plans. The employer said its board…
PLR 200302014: Reentry into a consolidated group denied after S election
A corporation's S election had caused several subsidiaries to leave its consolidated return group. The S election later terminated, and the corporation asked the IRS to waive the waiting period so…
PLR 200302013: Tax treatment of nuclear plant sale and decommissioning funds
Four utilities sold interests in two nuclear plants and transferred related decommissioning fund assets to the buyer. The IRS allowed the buyer's new qualified decommissioning funds to retain…
PLR 200302012: Tax treatment of nuclear plant sale and decommissioning funds
Four utilities sold interests in two nuclear plants and transferred related decommissioning fund assets to the buyer. The IRS allowed the buyer's new qualified decommissioning funds to retain…
PLR 200302011: Tax treatment of nuclear plant sale and decommissioning funds
Four utilities sold interests in two nuclear plants and transferred related decommissioning fund assets to the buyer. The IRS allowed the buyer's new qualified decommissioning funds to retain…
PLR 200302010: Tax treatment of nuclear plant sale and decommissioning funds
Four utilities sold interests in two nuclear plants and transferred related decommissioning fund assets to the buyer. The IRS allowed the buyer's new qualified decommissioning funds to retain…
PLR 200302009: Tax treatment of nuclear plant sale and decommissioning funds
Four utilities sold interests in two nuclear plants and transferred related decommissioning fund assets to the buyer. The IRS allowed the buyer's new qualified decommissioning funds to retain…
PLR 200302008: Subsidiary distribution qualifies as a tax-free reorganization
A parent corporation planned to cancel a subsidiary's debt and distribute all of that subsidiary's stock to its two shareholders. The stated business reason was to end the parent's obligation to…
PLR 200302007: Late alternate estate valuation election accepted
An estate's executor timely filed Form 706 but was not advised by the retained law firm that an alternate valuation election was available. The executor later filed a supplemental return making that…
PLR 200302006: Investment funds' late dividend elections treated as timely
Eleven regulated investment funds intended to elect under section 855(a) to treat certain dividends paid after year-end as paid in the prior tax year. A filing employee misunderstood the due date of…
PLR 200302005: Estate deduction allowed for bequest to foreign charitable foundation
A U.S. resident planned to leave a partnership interest to a charitable foundation organized in another country. The foundation did not plan to seek recognition of exemption under section 501(c)(3).…
PLR 200302004: QTIP trust severance and late reverse election approved
An estate had allocated generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to a marital QTIP trust but had not made the related reverse QTIP election. A state court later divided the trust into exempt…
TAM 200302003: Diesel supplier cannot claim credit for dealers' state sales
A diesel supplier paid federal excise tax when fuel left its terminals, then sold the fuel to dealers. State governments bought fuel from the dealers using the supplier's credit card. The supplier…
TAM 200302002: Timing of intercompany financing support deductions
A product distributor paid its captive finance subsidiary to support below-market financing for retail customers. The IRS addressed when the parent could deduct those payments and whether the…
CCA 200302001: Advice on a TEFRA partnership settlement, largely redacted
Field counsel asked National Office counsel to evaluate the hazards of contesting a settlement involving TEFRA partnership items. The released memorandum identifies section 6229 in its heading. Its…
PLR 200301048: Emergency ferry service ruling extended through 2005
An exempt organization had temporarily operated ferry service after a metropolitan area's public transportation system was severely damaged. The IRS had previously ruled that the emergency service,…
PLR 200301047: VEBA trust split and retiree benefit reserve transfers
A corporation proposed splitting a life insurance VEBA into trusts for represented and nonrepresented employees, transferring some assets to related companies' VEBAs, and using excess reserves from…
PLR 200301046: More time to undo an ineligible Roth IRA conversion
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 1998, but the couple's combined modified adjusted gross income exceeded the $100,000 conversion limit. The couple later amended their 1998 and…
PLR 200301045: Retirement plan switch preserves employee contribution pickup
A city offered employees a choice between a state defined benefit plan and a city money purchase plan. It proposed allowing employees to switch between the plans while continuing to pick up their…
PLR 200301044: Conditional pension funding waiver for 2001
A company with an underfunded defined benefit pension plan sought a waiver of its 2001 minimum funding requirement. The IRS granted a conditional waiver, citing the company's losses, negative net…
PLR 200301043: Conditional pension funding waiver after company losses
A company with a defined benefit pension plan reported losses in three fiscal years, falling net worth, and plant closures. Its plan assets equaled 79 percent of current liability on January 1,…
PLR 200301042: Conditional funding waiver for an underfunded pension plan
A company reported losses in four of five recent years and said that its cost reductions and restructuring had produced a small profit in the first half of 2002. Its defined benefit plan assets…
CCA 200301041: IRS should not claim proceeds from rings held by another agency
A taxpayer with unpaid tax liabilities sent two rings for the benefit of the Treasury. The rings reached the General Services Administration, and the IRS initially suggested that the agency sell…
PLR 200301040: New purchase agreements do not disturb earlier spin off ruling
A company had an earlier IRS ruling on a proposed distribution of subsidiary stock and related transactions. Market developments delayed the transaction, and the company proposed two new purchase…
PLR 200301039: Irish reinsurer qualifies for treaty relief from premium tax
An Irish reinsurance company sought relief from the federal excise tax on premiums for U.S. risks under the U.S.–Ireland income tax treaty. It represented that it was subject to the generally…
PLR 200301038: Inadvertent stock rights preserve S corporation status
A corporation's S election form misstated share counts and some acquisition dates, and former shareholders also signed it. Its bylaws might have allowed unequal rights to distributions and…
PLR 200301037: Late GST exemption allocation receives 60 day extension
A taxpayer funded a trust for her son, his spouse, and descendants, but the accountant who prepared her gift tax return did not allocate generation skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to it. After…
PLR 200301036: Three way corporate split qualifies as a reorganization
Four shareholder families owned an S corporation, but disagreed over management of its two businesses. The corporation planned to redeem one family's interest for cash, transfer its remaining assets…
PLR 200301035: Membership equity rights exchanged for holding company stock
A membership corporation planned to become a for profit stock structure while preserving members' non equity membership rights. Members would transfer the economic rights from their old memberships…
PLR 200301034: Late S corporation election allowed after missed filing
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from its incorporation date, and the company filed its tax return as an S corporation. It had not timely filed Form 2553 to elect that…
PLR 200301033: VEBA transfer avoids excise tax, income issue left open
A company proposed moving assets and liabilities from a retired lives insurance reserve to a VEBA trust. It would use only assets attributable to contributions made before 1986 for active employee…
PLR 200301032: Mixed tax treatment for unused leave at early retirement
A school district planned to convert unused sick and personal leave for approved early retirees into health coverage, contributions to a 403(b) annuity and a 457(b) plan, and any remaining cash…
PLR 200301031: Late S election effective from incorporation date
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation status from its incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed filing and granted…
PLR 200301030: Welfare fund transfer avoids excise tax and unrelated business income
A trade association administered a welfare benefit trust funded partly by insurance reserve refunds and proposed transferring part of its assets to a section 501(c)(3) organization. Relying on the…
PLR 200301029: Business sale proceeds may fund partial liquidation redemptions
A public holding company sold subsidiaries that operated two businesses and planned to return much of the cash to shareholders while continuing its other businesses. Assuming valid section 338…
PLR 200301028: Original trust gifts receive late GST exemption allocation
A couple funded three trusts for their children and descendants but did not allocate GST exemption to the original gifts, although they allocated exemption to separate gifts for grandchildren. Years…
PLR 200301027: Late GST allocations allowed for later trust gifts
A couple made gifts to three child beneficiary subtrusts without allocating GST exemption, later created exempt and nonexempt successor subtrusts, and made additional gifts to the nonexempt trusts.…
PLR 200301026: Closing of books allocates restructuring income before ownership change
A publicly traded consolidated group undergoing bankruptcy reorganization planned an ownership change and entity classification elections for two foreign partnerships. The deemed transfers could…
PLR 200301025: Public trauma care council income excluded and gifts deductible
Five counties formed a council to coordinate emergency medical and trauma care. The council was publicly funded, performed public health functions, and planned to amend its governing documents so…
PLR 200301024: Synthetic fuel credit rulings survive interest sale and reagent change
A partnership operating a coal based synthetic fuel facility had an earlier ruling on the section 29 credit. A new investor bought a partnership interest, and the facility might use a different…
PLR 200301023: Section 29 synthetic fuel rulings reaffirmed
A partnership operating a coal based synthetic fuel facility sought confirmation of an earlier section 29 credit ruling after a new investor bought an interest and the partnership considered using…
PLR 200301022: Terminating welfare trust may return assets without excise tax
A multiemployer welfare benefit trust planned to terminate after its main insurer left the relevant market and suitable replacement coverage could not be found. It proposed returning its remaining…
PLR 200301021: Purchaser receives 45 days to file section 338 election
A consolidated group purchased all the stock of a foreign corporation but failed to file a timely section 338(g) election, relying on a tax professional who did not make or advise it to make the…
PLR 200301020: Dividing a charitable remainder unitrust preserves tax treatment
A divorcing couple proposed dividing their charitable remainder unitrust into two equal trusts, each with one spouse as the first income beneficiary. The IRS ruled that the division would preserve…
PLR 200301019: Tax treatment of nuclear plant sale and decommissioning funds
Several sellers planned to transfer their interests in a nuclear power plant and its decommissioning funds to a buyer. The IRS agreed to treat the sale as a qualifying transfer for the section 468A…
PLR 200301018: Tax treatment of nuclear plant sale and decommissioning funds
Several sellers planned to transfer their interests in a nuclear power plant and its decommissioning funds to a buyer. The IRS agreed to treat the sale as a qualifying transfer for the section 468A…
PLR 200301017: Tax treatment of nuclear plant sale and decommissioning funds
Several sellers planned to transfer their interests in a nuclear power plant and its decommissioning funds to a buyer. The IRS agreed to treat the sale as a qualifying transfer for the section 468A…
PLR 200301016: Tax treatment of nuclear plant sale and decommissioning funds
Several sellers planned to transfer their interests in a nuclear power plant and its decommissioning funds to a buyer. The IRS agreed to treat the sale as a qualifying transfer for the section 468A…
PLR 200301015: Tax treatment of nuclear plant sale and decommissioning funds
Several sellers planned to transfer their interests in a nuclear power plant and its decommissioning funds to a buyer. The IRS agreed to treat the sale as a qualifying transfer for the section 468A…
PLR 200301014: Tax treatment of nuclear plant sale and decommissioning funds
Several sellers planned to transfer their interests in a nuclear power plant and its decommissioning funds to a buyer. The IRS agreed to treat the sale as a qualifying transfer for the section 468A…
PLR 200301013: Tax treatment of nuclear plant sale and decommissioning funds
Several sellers planned to transfer their interests in a nuclear power plant and its decommissioning funds to a buyer. The IRS agreed to treat the sale as a qualifying transfer for the section 468A…
PLR 200301012: Tax treatment of nuclear plant sale and decommissioning funds
Several sellers planned to transfer their interests in a nuclear power plant and its decommissioning funds to a buyer. The IRS agreed to treat the sale as a qualifying transfer for the section 468A…
PLR 200301011: Business split-off qualifies as a tax-free reorganization
A corporation planned to separate one business into a controlled company and distribute that company's stock to holders of one class of its own shares. The IRS ruled that the contribution and…
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.