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 200301010: Utility excludes a generator's intertie contribution from income
A power generator agreed to fund an intertie connecting its plant to a public utility's grid. The IRS ruled that the transfer of the intertie met the conditions in its published guidance for a…
PLR 200301009: Tax treatment of nuclear plant sale and decommissioning funds
A buyer planned to acquire interests in a nuclear power plant and its decommissioning funds from several sellers. The IRS agreed to treat the sale as a qualifying transfer for the section 468A fund…
PLR 200301008: Utility purchasing association is a governmental instrumentality
Four public electric utilities formed an association to combine purchasing and share inventory. The IRS ruled that the association was an instrumentality of its member utilities for section 141…
PLR 200301007: Foreign entity receives 60 days to file classification election
A foreign entity with one owner intended to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation date but did not file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity met the standards for…
PLR 200301006: Foreign entity receives 60 days to file classification election
A foreign entity with one owner intended to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation date but did not file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity met the standards for…
PLR 200301005: Foreign entity receives 60 days to elect partnership status
A foreign entity whose members had limited liability intended to be taxed as a partnership from its formation date but missed the classification election deadline. The IRS found that the entity met…
TAM 200301004: Linked partnership contributions and distribution were a disguised sale
An investor exercised an option to enter a partnership by contributing cash, and the partnership made a related distribution to the existing owner. The IRS concluded that the linked transfers were a…
PLR 200301003: Foreign entity receives 60 days to file classification election
A foreign entity with one owner intended to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation date but did not file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity met the standards for…
PLR 200301002: Foreign entity receives 60 days to elect partnership status
A foreign entity whose members had limited liability intended to be taxed as a partnership from its formation date but missed the classification election deadline. The IRS found that the entity met…
PLR 200301001: Late application to change tax year is treated as timely
A taxpayer applied to change from an April 30 tax year to a calendar year but filed Form 1128 after its deadline because of an error or misunderstanding. The form was filed within 90 days of the due…
PLR 200252099: Pension plan receives a conditional minimum funding waiver
The IRS granted a conditional waiver of the minimum funding standard for a company's defined benefit pension plan for the plan year ended December 31, 2001. The company had losses and falling sales,…
PLR 200252098: Foundation's education program payments qualify as direct activity
A private operating foundation planned to co-sponsor educational programs with other organizations, including a foreign university. It would help design and supervise each program, assign a program…
PLR 200252097: Inherited IRA may pay trust using oldest beneficiary's life expectancy
A widow named a trust for her daughter as the beneficiary of an IRA she had received from her spouse. After the widow died, the trustee asked how to calculate required minimum distributions from the…
PLR 200252096: Trust's holding company dividends avoid unrelated business income
A charitable remainder unitrust planned to form and fund a taxable corporation, which would invest in a limited liability company that leases equipment using debt. The IRS ruled that the company's…
PLR 200252095: City may pick up firefighters' termination pay contributions to pension plan
A city asked whether contributions of firefighters' accumulated termination pay to its governmental pension plan would count as employer contributions. Some contributions would be mandatory;…
PLR 200252094: Only a 25 percent pension surplus transfer avoids reversion tax
A company winding down in bankruptcy planned to terminate a defined benefit pension plan and transfer some surplus assets to its defined contribution plan. The IRS ruled that a direct transfer equal…
PLR 200252093: Divorce order may secure a spouse's claim against retirement benefits
A divorcing couple planned to give one spouse a security interest in the other's remaining retirement plan account to secure an obligation under their divorce judgment. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200252092: Early unitrust termination avoids self-dealing under proposed allocation
The donors and a private foundation agreed to end a charitable remainder unitrust early and divide its assets between the income beneficiaries and the foundation. The IRS ruled that the proposed…
CCA 200252091: Tax treatment of retread tires depends on the accounting method and use
Chief Counsel advised how businesses using trucks, tractors, and trailers should account for retread tires. Without the optional tire capitalization method, a business generally deducts the retread…
PLR 200252090: Late S corporation election accepted for reasonable cause
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status when it was incorporated but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election and ruled that the corporation…
PLR 200252089: Late S corporation election receives reasonable cause relief
A newly formed corporation missed the deadline to elect S corporation status from its formation date. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and allowed the election to take effect from…
PLR 200252088: Updated transaction facts leave earlier distribution rulings intact
A taxpayer asked whether new details about a planned corporate distribution and acquisition changed two earlier IRS rulings. The changes included a distribution by the target without canceling…
PLR 200252087: Duty disability payments excluded as workers' compensation
A retirement plan asked how to treat duty disability payments to members injured or made ill through their work. The IRS concluded that the governing statute was in the nature of a workers'…
PLR 200252086: Couple receives extension to allocate GST exemption to trust gifts
A couple made gifts of company stock to a trust and elected to split the gifts, but their tax preparer failed to allocate either spouse's generation skipping transfer (GST) exemption on the filed…
PLR 200252085: Same day QSub elections avoid an interim C corporation period
An S corporation planned to put a new parent above itself and a second subsidiary, with S corporation and qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) elections effective on the same transaction date.…
PLR 200252084: Corporate redemption triggers additional estate tax on family business shares
An heir inherited shares of a family corporation for which the estate had claimed a qualified family owned business deduction. He proposed to have the corporation redeem all of his shares for cash…
PLR 200252083: Limited appointments preserve GST treatment of older trusts
A daughter planned to use limited powers in her parents' trusts to direct their assets into a family trust at her death. The IRS ruled that this would not cause either older trust to lose its…
PLR 200252082: Partnership receives more time to make section 754 election
A partnership omitted a written section 754 election from the return for the year of a transaction involving an ownership change, although it later filed returns as if the election were in place. It…
PLR 200252081: Converted entity receives extension to elect corporate tax status
An S corporation converted under state law into a general partnership, but its owners intended the converted entity to remain classified as a corporation for federal tax purposes. They missed the…
PLR 200252080: Former resident rebuts tax avoidance presumption, but purpose remains open
A former U.S. permanent resident who lived and worked primarily abroad requested a ruling about the tax purpose of giving up that status. The IRS found that he made a complete, good faith submission…
PLR 200252079: Partnership receives extension after accountant misses section 754 election
A partnership planned to make a section 754 election while its majority partner bought additional interests, but its accountant failed to file the election. The partnership represented that it acted…
PLR 200252078: Inadvertent S election termination receives continued status relief
An S corporation had accumulated earnings and profits and more than 25 percent passive investment income for three consecutive years, which terminated its S election. It later paid the related…
PLR 200252077: Church payment in bona fide trust contest qualifies for estate tax deduction
A decedent's family challenged an amendment to his trust that would eventually benefit a church. The parties settled the dispute, and the settlement directed an outright payment to the church. The…
PLR 200252076: Late GST exemption allocation allowed for charitable lead trusts
A donor funded five charitable lead annuity trusts for his wife's grandchildren, but advisers failed to allocate his generation skipping transfer (GST) exemption on the gift tax return. The trusts…
PLR 200252075: Late S corporation and QSub elections receive relief
A corporation missed its S election deadline and later missed the deadline to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) treatment for a corporation it acquired. The IRS allowed the S election…
PLR 200252074: New reagent and facility relocation preserve synthetic fuel ruling
A producer of synthetic fuel from coal planned to switch its chemical reagent and possibly relocate production facilities. Based on the submitted testing, the IRS ruled that the new process would…
PLR 200252073: Removing stock conversion threshold creates no section 301 distribution
A corporation with two classes of common stock planned to remove a threshold that would automatically convert all higher vote Class B shares into Class A shares if too few Class B shares remained…
PLR 200252072: Family business split-off qualifies for tax-free reorganization treatment
Shareholders of a family business disagreed over its management and planned to divide its operations between two corporations. The existing corporation transferred part of its assets and business to…
PLR 200252071: Swedish insurer's U.S. risk premiums qualify for treaty excise tax exemption
A Swedish insurance company planned to accept reinsurance premiums for U.S. risks and asked whether those premiums were exempt from the federal excise tax on foreign insurance. Its Swedish parent…
PLR 200252070: Insurance group may carry over nonlife losses subject to separate return limits
An insurance group that filed a combined life and nonlife consolidated return reorganized several subsidiaries, including two nonlife companies that later liquidated into a life insurance…
PLR 200252069: Limited appointment preserves trusts' generation-skipping tax treatment
A daughter planned to use a limited power in her will to direct assets from her mother's trust into a separate family trust. The mother's trust was treated as exempt from the generation-skipping…
PLR 200252068: Entity receives time to file late corporation and S corporation elections
An entity intended from its creation to elect corporate tax classification and then S corporation status, both effective on its creation date. It inadvertently missed both filing deadlines. The IRS…
PLR 200252067: Limited appointment preserves grandfathered GST trust treatment
A daughter planned to use a limited testamentary power of appointment to move assets from a trust created under her father's will into a family trust. The older trust had no additions after…
PLR 200252066: Pooled income funds may name controlled charitable affiliates as remainder recipients
A charity planned to amend two pooled income funds so donors could designate certain affiliated charities to receive the remainder interests, along with the sponsoring charity. The affiliates had to…
PLR 200252065: Estate receives time to allocate GST exemption to an earlier trust transfer
An executor asked for more time to allocate a decedent's generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to property transferred to an irrevocable trust. The gift tax return reported the transfer but…
PLR 200252064: Court ordered trust payment terms preserve GST tax exemption
A court order would modify an older irrevocable trust to require annual distributions of a fixed percentage of its value to the current beneficiary. The trust had been irrevocable before September…
PLR 200252063: Regulated business separation qualifies for reorganization treatment
A regulated company planned to separate an unregulated business because new industry rules required the separation. It would transfer the business assets to a new subsidiary, distribute that…
PLR 200252062: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year but did not timely file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline. It ruled that the election…
PLR 200252061: Limited appointments preserve trusts' GST tax treatment
A daughter planned to direct assets from two older trusts into a family trust through limited powers in her will. She asked whether the transfers would end the older trusts' exemption from…
PLR 200252060: Reaffiliated subsidiaries may rejoin a consolidated return
A parent corporation's subsidiary and its subsidiaries left the parent's consolidated tax group after a public stock offering, then rejoined it after stock purchases. A statutory waiting period…
TAM 200252059: Construction interest depends on property and costs at each measurement date
A company constructing a headquarters disputed how to calculate interest that must be added to the project's tax cost. The IRS advised that choosing monthly or quarterly measurement dates was not an…
PLR 200252058: Corporate spin-off qualifies as a Type D reorganization
A holding company planned to transfer part of its business to a new corporation and distribute the new corporation's stock to its shareholders. The company said the separation would help the…
PLR 200252057: Corporation receives relief for late S election
Two shareholders intended their corporation to be an S corporation for a specified tax year, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline. It ruled…
PLR 200252056: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation's shareholder wanted S corporation treatment from the date the corporation was formed, but the election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and ruled that the…
PLR 200252055: Corporate conversion qualifies as a Type D reorganization
A parent and its subsidiary owned all the stock of a target corporation. The parent planned to transfer its target stock to the subsidiary, and the target would convert to a single member limited…
PLR 200252054: Company receives relief for inadvertent S election termination
Two trusts holding stock in an S corporation failed to distribute all their income to their beneficiaries for several years. That failure caused the corporation's S election to terminate because the…
PLR 200252053: Company receives relief for inadvertent S election termination
Two trusts holding stock in an S corporation failed to distribute all their income to their beneficiaries for several years. That failure caused the corporation's S election to terminate because the…
PLR 200252052: Company receives relief for inadvertent S election termination
Two trusts holding stock in an S corporation failed to distribute all their income to their beneficiaries for several years. That failure caused the corporation's S election to terminate because the…
PLR 200252051: Company receives relief for inadvertent S election termination
Two trusts holding stock in an S corporation failed to distribute all their income to their beneficiaries for several years. That failure caused the corporation's S election to terminate because the…
PLR 200252050: Company receives relief for inadvertent S election termination
Two trusts holding stock in an S corporation failed to distribute all their income to their beneficiaries for several years. That failure caused the corporation's S election to terminate because the…
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.