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 200249006: Purchaser gets more time for a section 338 election on a foreign subsidiary
A corporate purchaser acquired a foreign target and sought to elect under section 338 for a subsidiary it was deemed to acquire. It represented that the election for the target was timely, but the…
PLR 200249005: Partnership gets 60 more days to make a section 754 election
A partner died, but his surviving spouse did not promptly tell the partnership's accountant. Unaware of the death, the partnership filed its return without a section 754 election to adjust the basis…
PLR 200249004: Late S corporation election accepted from incorporation date
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation status to begin on the date of incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election under…
PLR 200249003: Inadvertently invalid S election receives retroactive relief
A corporation elected S status and acquired another corporation for which it filed a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) election. Its merger agreement and articles of incorporation…
TAM 200249002: University inventor's patent royalties qualify for capital gain treatment
A university researcher invented a product and assigned the related patent applications to the university. A separate agreement paid the researcher a share of royalties from the university's…
CCA 200249001: Levy on pension payments does not reach a beneficiary's death benefits
The IRS levied on a taxpayer's monthly pension payments while he was alive. After his death, the plan owed a designated beneficiary a death benefit calculated using a guaranteed amount in the plan.…
PLR 200248031: Separate inherited IRA uses one beneficiary's life expectancy for distributions
An IRA owner died after his required beginning date, leaving equal shares to three individual beneficiaries. One daughter separated her share into an IRA maintained in her father's name for her…
PLR 200248030: Separate inherited IRA uses a 34 year distribution period for 2002
An IRA owner died after his required beginning date, leaving equal shares to three individual beneficiaries. One daughter separated her share into an IRA maintained in her father's name for her…
PLR 200248029: Pension plan counts the whole controlled group for its top 25 restriction
A corporation's defined benefit plan limited certain benefit payments to highly compensated people among the employer's 25 highest paid current or former employees. The corporation belonged to a…
PLR 200248028: Conditional minimum funding waiver for a pension plan in bankruptcy
A company in Chapter 11 bankruptcy had a defined benefit pension plan whose assets were 80 percent of current liabilities at the start of 2001. The IRS granted a conditional waiver of the plan's…
PLR 200248027: Late S corporation election takes effect from incorporation
A corporation's shareholders wanted S corporation treatment from its incorporation date, but the election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under section 1362(b)(5). It…
PLR 200248026: Employee diversification in ESOP does not affect earlier rulings
A corporation sought to supplement earlier rulings about a stock distribution and an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). The ESOP had acquired the required share of the corporation's stock, and…
PLR 200248025: Taxpayer may reelect foreign earned income exclusion after U.S. residence
A taxpayer used the foreign earned income exclusion while living abroad, then revoked the election after returning to the United States in 1997. After living in the United States for just over three…
PLR 200248024: Late S election takes effect when corporation began business
A corporation was incorporated before it began doing business. Its sole shareholder wanted S corporation status from the business start date, but the election was late. The IRS found reasonable…
PLR 200248023: LLC gets late corporate classification election and conditional S status continuity
An S corporation merged into a newly organized LLC and intended the LLC to be taxed as a corporation from the merger date. The LLC failed to file an entity classification election. The IRS granted…
PLR 200248022: Buyer and seller receive extension for section 338(h)(10) election
A buyer acquired all the stock of an S corporation, but the parties did not file a valid section 338(h)(10) election by its due date. The buyer's parent and the seller requested more time before the…
PLR 200248021: Insurer's separate account annuities qualify as variable contracts
A life insurer planned to issue annuity contracts to tax exempt organizations, funded by separate accounts holding real estate and money market investments. Contract payments would reflect the…
PLR 200248020: Disclaimer of future trust distribution is not a taxable gift
A trust created in 1955 could make discretionary payments to a great grandchild during its term and might pay her a share when it ends. She proposed to disclaim only the future termination…
PLR 200248019: S status continues after trust's missed QSST election
A trust held stock in an S corporation and had elected treatment as an electing small business trust. After the trust acquired stock in another corporation and made a qualified subchapter S trust…
PLR 200248018: S status continues after trust's missed QSST election
A trust held stock in an S corporation and had elected treatment as an electing small business trust. After the trust acquired stock in another corporation and made a qualified subchapter S trust…
PLR 200248017: S status continues after trust's missed QSST election
A trust held stock in an S corporation and had elected treatment as an electing small business trust. After the trust acquired stock in another corporation and made a qualified subchapter S trust…
CCA 200248016: Manufacturing tools belong in the maker's business activity class
A manufacturer used tools, dies, and molds to make plastic parts for its products. It had placed those assets in the special tools class for makers of finished plastic products, which has a…
PLR 200248015: Partnership gets more time to make a section 754 election
A partnership missed the deadline for a section 754 election after a partner holding a 25% interest died. Its accountant had been responsible for filing the election but inadvertently failed to do…
PLR 200248014: Utility may exclude payments to move existing power lines underground
Developers paid an electric utility to replace existing overhead distribution lines with underground lines under a county plan and ordinance. The affected properties already had adequate overhead…
PLR 200248013: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation with one shareholder intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation date, but discovered that its S election had not been filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the…
PLR 200248012: Estate gets more time to allocate GST exemption to a trust transfer
A taxpayer created a trust for his children and descendants and later transferred property to it without filing a gift tax return or allocating his generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption.…
PLR 200248011: Housing authority may use its documented area home prices
A housing authority asked to use its own average area purchase price figures for new and existing single-family homes. It submitted sales data for a 12-month period and said the data were more…
PLR 200248010: Spouses receive more time to allocate GST exemption to a trust
A wife funded a trust for her son and grandchildren, and she and her husband elected to split the gift on their gift tax returns. Their law firm had advised them to allocate part of each spouse's…
PLR 200248009: Spouses receive more time to allocate GST exemption to a trust
A wife funded a trust for her son and grandchildren, and she and her husband elected to split the gift on their gift tax returns. Their law firm had advised them to allocate part of each spouse's…
CCA 200248008: Bankruptcy discharge does not justify releasing a surviving tax lien for less than its value
Taxpayers' income tax debts were discharged in bankruptcy, but a federal tax lien remained enforceable against their residence. Counsel asked whether the IRS could accept less than the lien's value…
CCA 200248007: Incorrect reported value does not invalidate marital trust QTIP election
An estate elected qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) treatment on its estate tax return, but reported an incorrect value and described a residue that included three trusts. Only the…
PLR 200248006: S corporation gets more time to elect subsidiary treatment
An S corporation formed two wholly owned corporations and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary treatment for each from its formation date. A tax professional hired to prepare the…
PLR 200248005: Taxpayer may revoke alternative incremental research credit election
A taxpayer had elected to calculate its research credit under the alternative incremental rules of section 41(c)(4). It asked the IRS for consent to revoke that election beginning with a later…
PLR 200248004: Bond authority gets more time to carry forward unused volume cap
A state department allocated private activity bond volume cap to an authority for qualified residential rental projects and approved a carryforward. The authority inadvertently missed the deadline…
PLR 200248003: Bond authority gets more time to carry forward unused volume cap
A state department allocated private activity bond volume cap to an authority for qualified residential rental projects and approved a carryforward. The authority inadvertently missed the deadline…
PLR 200248002: Bond borrower may change how it allocates proceeds to construction costs
An educational institution used bond proceeds and other funds for construction, initially paying costs with other funds and later seeking bond reimbursement. Construction delays meant its original…
PLR 200248001: Buyer and sellers get more time to file a section 338(h)(10) election
A corporation bought all the stock of an S corporation, and the buyer and sellers intended to make a joint section 338(h)(10) election for the acquisition. They missed the filing deadline after…
CCA 200246021: Stock purchase basis excludes separately acquired intellectual property
Chief Counsel analyzed a purchaser’s section 338 election after it acquired a foreign corporation’s stock and separately acquired intellectual property. It concluded that the target assets’ adjusted…
PLR 200247061: Employer family scholarship procedures receive advance approval
An organization planned to fund scholarships for children of a company's employees through a separate public charity. The charity would receive applications, choose recipients using academic and…
PLR 200247060: Foundation may transfer its assets to a new charitable trust
A private foundation planned to transfer all its assets to a newly created private foundation trust and later notify the IRS that it intended to terminate its own foundation status. The IRS ruled…
PLR 200247059: Pension plan receives a conditional minimum funding waiver
A plan sponsor that operated oil storage facilities requested a waiver of its pension plan's minimum funding standard for the plan year ending March 31, 2001. The sponsor reported lost business, net…
PLR 200247058: Taxpayers get more time to recharacterize ineligible Roth IRA conversions
Two taxpayers converted traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs in 1999, then learned their income exceeded the limit for those conversions. They directed their tax preparer to arrange a recharacterization,…
PLR 200247057: Foundation may transfer its assets to a new charitable trust
A private foundation planned to transfer all its assets to a newly created private foundation trust and later notify the IRS that it intended to terminate its own foundation status. The IRS ruled…
PLR 200247056: Foundation's agricultural scholarship procedures receive approval
A private foundation proposed scholarships for its members and their children attending accredited colleges or universities, with a preference for agriculture related study. Its committee would…
PLR 200247055: Hospital's free patient bus service preserves exemption
A nonprofit hospital planned to use a wheelchair accessible bus for rehabilitation outings and free rides to medical appointments in an area with little public transportation. Rides would be offered…
PLR 200247054: Private foundation elevator project qualifies for set-aside treatment
A private foundation sought approval to set aside funds in 2000 and 2001 for a limited-use elevator in a historic building operated as a senior center. The elevator would make three floors…
PLR 200247053: Pension plan receives a conditional minimum funding waiver
The IRS granted a conditional waiver of a pension plan's minimum funding standard for the plan year ending December 31, 2001. The plan sponsor reported temporary business hardship, including losses…
PLR 200247052: Partners may make elective 401(k) contributions from periodic advances
A law partnership asked whether its partners could make elective contributions to the partnership's qualified 401(k) plan from periodic advances received during the year. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200247051: Foundation's matching gifts program avoids excise taxes
A private foundation asked whether its proposed matching gifts program for employees, directors, officers, and retirees of a related public utility would trigger private foundation excise taxes. The…
PLR 200247050: Sick leave exchange creates nonelective plan contributions
An exempt employer proposed allowing eligible employees with accumulated sick leave to exchange up to five unused days for contributions to a defined contribution plan. Employees could not take cash…
PLR 200247049: Six more months allowed to reverse a Roth IRA conversion
A taxpayer converted two traditional IRAs to a Roth IRA in 2000, but the taxpayers' joint income exceeded the limit then applicable to conversions. The taxpayer tried to reverse the conversion by…
PLR 200247048: Six more months allowed for Roth IRA recharacterization
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 2000 despite the couple's income exceeding the conversion limit. The taxpayer asked a custodian to recharacterize the conversion in March…
PLR 200247047: Five foreign mergers treated as reorganizations and a subsidiary liquidation
A corporate group planned one transaction under foreign law to combine five subsidiaries into a parent company. The IRS treated that transaction as a sequence of five mergers for U.S. tax purposes.…
CCA 200247046: Service centers may accept reporting agent forms despite varied signer titles
An IRS service center asked whether it could accept Form 8655 reporting agent authorizations signed by people using varied corporate or partnership job titles. Chief Counsel advised that an…
CCA 200247045: Domestic companies not shown to be related for Form 5472 reporting
An IRS adviser asked whether two domestic corporations were related parties under section 6038A and whether sales between them had to be reported on Form 5472. Chief Counsel found that one…
PLR 200247044: Purchaser gets 45 more days to file a section 338 election
A domestic corporation bought all the stock of a foreign target and intended to elect under section 338(g) to treat the purchase as an asset acquisition for tax purposes. Its tax professional failed…
PLR 200247043: Taxpayer gets 30 more days to file dual consolidated loss certifications
A taxpayer missed annual certifications for losses of an entity in two tax years. It had prepared its own returns but relied on a CPA firm to review them and advise on required elections and…
PLR 200247042: Late GST exemption allocations allowed for three trusts
A taxpayer created three trusts for her sons and descendants and intended to allocate generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to gifts to each trust. Her accountant timely filed Form 709…
PLR 200247041: Former resident's green card surrender lacked a tax avoidance purpose
A former long-term U.S. resident surrendered his green card and returned to the country of his citizenship and birth, where he would be taxed on worldwide income. His net worth exceeded the…
PLR 200247040: Federal instrumentality's supplemental pension benefits excluded from payroll wages
Two federal instrumentalities maintained an unfunded supplemental pension plan for selected officers. They asked whether payments under the plan were wages for Social Security, Medicare, and federal…
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.