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 200251012: Business separation qualifies for tax-free spin-off treatment
A holding company proposed separating a subsidiary that operated a business with rising product liability exposure. It said separate insurance policies would reduce costs and planned to transfer…
PLR 200251011: Corporation gets time to file its late S election
A corporation and its shareholders intended S corporation treatment from the date it was formed, but an attorney did not file Form 2553 on time. They said they had filed their returns as though the…
PLR 200251010: Court correction of trust terms avoids self-dealing tax
A donor intended to create a charitable remainder unitrust with payments that varied with its asset value. Drafting errors instead produced an annuity trust agreement with fixed payments, and a…
CCA 200251009: Trust ownership facts determine several corporate tax issues
A business group placed real estate brokerage stock in a trust that operated brokerage offices and supported the group's franchise advertising funds. Chief Counsel said it needed to know who the…
PLR 200251008: Business property exchange qualifies for gain deferral
An S corporation planned to transfer the property used by its business to a village and receive a long-term land sublease with newly built improvements for the business's relocation. It arranged the…
CCA 200251007: IRS may correct injured spouse refund allocations
A taxpayer in bankruptcy and her spouse filed joint returns showing refunds, and the taxpayer submitted injured spouse allocation forms. The allocations conflicted with the joint returns and the…
PLR 200251006: Company receives more time to elect subsidiary classification
A company bought a foreign limited liability subsidiary and filed an election to treat it as disregarded for federal tax purposes. The election used the acquisition date and lacked the former…
PLR 200251005: Possible S corporation termination treated as inadvertent
A corporation elected S corporation status and then converted to a state law limited partnership while retaining corporate tax classification. The conversion may have created a second class of…
CCA 200251004: Foreign recipient's tax status does not bar alimony deduction
IRS staff asked whether a payer could deduct qualifying alimony when a foreign recipient was exempt from U.S. tax under a treaty. Chief Counsel advised that the treaty exemption did not prevent the…
CCA 200251003: Summer exchange visitors do not qualify for student treaty exclusions
IRS staff asked whether Czech and Slovak J-1 visa holders working as camp counselors or in summer work and travel programs could exclude U.S. earnings under the student and trainee article of their…
CCA 200251002: Misidentified withholding payments leave employer liable
An employer sent withheld tax payments labeled with individual employees' Social Security numbers but without its own employer identification number or clear deposit instructions. The IRS credited…
CCA 200251001: Informal agreement can serve as a tax determination
IRS counsel asked what counts as a determination under the tax mitigation rules in section 1313(a)(4). Chief Counsel explained that an informal agreement on Form 2259 can provide such a…
PLR 200250039: School board employees may join governmental retirement plan
A state asked whether extending its retirement plan to county and independent school board employees would affect the plan's governmental status or its grandfathered cash or deferred arrangement.…
PLR 200250038: Employer-related scholarship procedures receive advance approval
An organization planned to fund scholarships for dependents of eligible workers through a separate public charity. That charity would receive applications, select recipients using academic and other…
PLR 200250037: Married IRA owner may use joint life table for 2002 distribution
An IRA owner named a beneficiary before they married, then transferred the account to a new IRA after their marriage. The owner asked whether the required minimum distribution for 2002 could use the…
PLR 200250036: Converted stock bonus plan need not combine pension payouts
A holding company amended its employee stock ownership plan to convert a money purchase pension component into a stock bonus plan. It asked whether distributions from the converted part still had to…
PLR 200250035: Expatriation filing rebuts tax avoidance presumption
A person who had been a citizen of both the United States and another country since birth planned to relinquish U.S. citizenship. The person's expected net worth would trigger a statutory…
PLR 200250034: Dual citizen's filing rebuts expatriation presumption
A lifelong resident of another country, who had held citizenship in both that country and the United States since birth, planned to give up U.S. citizenship. The person's expected net worth would…
PLR 200250033: Renunciation of one severed marital trust leaves other trust intact
A surviving spouse received income from a trust for which the deceased spouse's estate had elected the estate tax marital deduction. The trustees proposed to divide it into two identical trusts,…
PLR 200250032: Complete expatriation filing rebuts tax avoidance presumption
A person who had been a citizen of both the United States and another country since birth planned to relinquish U.S. citizenship. The person had lived in the other country since birth and expected…
PLR 200250031: Escrow protects utility bonds from private business use test
A city planned to lease a bond-financed municipal utility system to a private operator. The issuing authority would place enough city funds in a restricted, irrevocable escrow within 90 days to pay…
PLR 200250030: Cooperative parking fees count as income from residents
A housing cooperative planned to lease nearby parking spaces and sublease them to resident stockholders on a waiting list. The residents would pay the cooperative exactly what the outside garage…
PLR 200250029: Donors' interest in composer does not earmark charity gift
A married couple donated to a charity that commissions and supports musical works after expressing interest in a particular composer. The charity made no promise to use their contribution for that…
PLR 200250028: Late tax year change application treated as timely
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 shortly after the deadline to request a change from a calendar tax year to a 52-53-week year ending near October's end. The IRS found the late filing resulted from an…
PLR 200250027: Taxpayer may undo mistaken election out of installment reporting
A taxpayer sold real property for payments spread over three years and intended to report the gain under the installment method. Its accountant mistakenly reported the entire gain on the first…
PLR 200250026: Research credit alternative method election revoked
A taxpayer and its controlled group had used the alternative incremental method to calculate the research credit. Before the next return was due, the taxpayer asked to revoke its election for that…
PLR 200250025: Dual citizen rebuts expatriation tax avoidance presumption
A person who was a citizen of both the United States and another country gave up her U.S. citizenship. Her net worth exceeded the threshold that ordinarily triggers a presumption of tax avoidance…
PLR 200250024: Parent restructures subsidiaries through mergers, contributions, and liquidation
A corporate parent planned to merge three wholly owned operating subsidiaries into itself, transfer most of their assets to three newly formed subsidiaries, and then merge another subsidiary into…
PLR 200250023: REIT acquisition merger followed by partnership transfer
A business trust described as a real estate investment trust planned to acquire a corporation through a merger into its disregarded subsidiary. The target's shareholders would receive only shares in…
PLR 200250022: Family business stock redemptions treated as sales
A family-owned distributor planned to buy back nonvoting shares from several shareholders while other family members bought shares directly. The transaction would help meet a supplier's requirement…
PLR 200250021: Companion family business stock redemptions treated as sales
A family-owned distributor planned to buy back nonvoting shares from several shareholders while other family members bought shares directly. The transaction would help meet a supplier's requirement…
PLR 200250020: Companion family business stock redemptions treated as sales
A family-owned distributor planned to buy back nonvoting shares from several shareholders while other family members bought shares directly. The transaction would help meet a supplier's requirement…
CCA 200250019: Early distribution tax requires deficiency procedures
Chief Counsel advised an IRS office about assessing the 10% additional tax on an early IRA distribution after a taxpayer submitted a late return. A payer's Form 1099-R marked the distribution as…
PLR 200250018: Companion family business stock redemptions treated as sales
A family-owned distributor planned to buy back nonvoting shares from several shareholders while other family members bought shares directly. The transaction would help meet a supplier's requirement…
PLR 200250017: Stock distribution separates businesses after management dispute
Two shareholder groups disagreed over how to run a corporation's business. The corporation had moved part of that business into a controlled company and planned to give all of the controlled…
PLR 200250016: Inadvertent S corporation termination relieved after trust transfers
An S corporation's stock was transferred to two trusts that were ineligible shareholders, ending its S election. One trust later sold its shares, while the other could qualify as a qualified…
PLR 200250015: Companion family business stock redemptions treated as sales
A family-owned distributor planned to buy back nonvoting shares from several shareholders while other family members bought shares directly. The transaction would help meet a supplier's requirement…
PLR 200250014: Companion family business stock redemptions treated as sales
A family-owned distributor planned to buy back nonvoting shares from several shareholders while other family members bought shares directly. The transaction would help meet a supplier's requirement…
CCA 200250013: Partnership asset transfer treated as a disguised sale
A partnership arranged for one partner to withdraw with nearly all of its operating assets and assume a loan, while the remaining partners kept a note purchased with the loan proceeds. Chief Counsel…
CCA 200250012: Disregarded LLC prevents small partnership audit exception
A partnership had a single-member LLC between it and a corporate owner. Chief Counsel advised that the LLC was still a pass-through partner for the former TEFRA small partnership exception, even…
PLR 200250011: Extra time granted for dual consolidated loss filings
A corporate taxpayer missed required elections, agreements, and annual certifications under the dual consolidated loss regulations. Its tax preparer had concluded the statements were unnecessary,…
PLR 200250010: Late S corporation election accepted for formation date
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation status from the date of incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief…
PLR 200250009: Temporary IRA ownership of stock receives S corporation relief
An employee stock ownership plan transferred S corporation shares to a former employee's IRA. The company meant to repurchase them immediately, but financing delayed the repurchase, leaving an…
PLR 200250008: S corporation status restored after LLC stock ownership
Several shareholders transferred S corporation stock to an LLC taxed as a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. After a new accounting firm discovered the problem, four…
PLR 200250007: S corporation status restored after LLC stock ownership
Several shareholders transferred S corporation stock to an LLC taxed as a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. After a new accounting firm discovered the problem, four…
PLR 200250006: S corporation relief for missed trust election
After a shareholder died, a family trust split into two trusts, one of which received S corporation stock but failed to make a qualified subchapter S trust election. That trust was therefore an…
PLR 200250005: Foreign entity gets extra time to elect partnership classification
A foreign entity said it was eligible to elect partnership treatment for U.S. federal tax purposes but had missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS found that the requirements for…
PLR 200250004: Public harbor dredging avoids private business use test
A public port planned to issue bonds to deepen and widen harbor channels and turning basins for larger ships. The waterways would remain open to everyone without a charge or priority rights, even…
PLR 200250003: Estate receives more time for 65-day distribution election
An estate made a distribution within 65 days after the end of its tax year. Its executor intended to elect under section 663(b) to treat the distribution as paid in the prior tax year, but missed…
PLR 200250002: Late S corporation election may take effect at incorporation
A newly formed corporation's shareholders wanted S corporation status from its incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted…
CCA 200250001: Delay levy hearing while criminal tax case is pending
A taxpayer requested a collection due process hearing after receiving notice of a proposed levy for years also involved in a criminal tax investigation. Chief Counsel advised that the appeals…
PLR 200249015: Foundation scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation planned to fund scholarships administered by a publicly supported charity, which would handle applications, select recipients, and pay awards. The IRS approved the proposed…
PLR 200249014: Community developer's student housing preserves tax exemption
A tax-exempt community development organization planned to replace an abandoned site near an affiliated college with housing for its students and faculty. A wholly owned LLC would develop and…
PLR 200249013: Insurer sale leaves policy dates and retirement contracts intact
After an insurer faced a liquidity crisis, its mutual holding company sold the insurer's parent and planned to distribute the holding company's remaining cash to people with policyholder membership…
PLR 200249012: Conditional pension minimum funding waiver granted
An equipment supplier reported substantial losses and a decline in working capital after sales fell and currency conditions hurt exports. The IRS granted its pension plan a conditional waiver of the…
PLR 200249011: Pension funding waiver depends on later contributions
An employer with a defined benefit pension plan reported operating losses and cash flow too limited to cover both routine expenses and the required pension contribution. It froze further benefit…
PLR 200249010: National scholarship program gains advance approval
A foundation planned to fund scholarships administered by a public charity for students across the states and two other jurisdictions. The program called for 52 initial awards and ten larger…
PLR 200249009: Government pension contributions for prior service credit qualify for employer pickup
A government employer proposed to let employees buy pension credit for prior military or law enforcement service through payroll deductions or unused leave paid at termination. Employees would make…
PLR 200249008: Surviving spouse may roll 403(b) annuity proceeds through a trust into her IRA
A deceased participant named his trust as beneficiary of two 403(b) annuities. His surviving spouse was the trust's sole trustee and could demand payment from the subtrust that would receive the…
PLR 200249007: Six month extension to reverse ineligible Roth IRA conversions
Two spouses converted traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs in 1998 after receiving advice from an accountant. They later learned that their combined modified adjusted gross income exceeded the $100,000…
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.