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 200245017: Parent receives more time to elect subsidiary's S corporation status
An S corporation acquired all the stock of a subsidiary and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status for it. The corporation's tax advisers inadvertently missed the election…
PLR 200245016: Parent receives more time to elect subsidiary's S corporation status
An S corporation acquired all the stock of a subsidiary and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status for it. The corporation's tax advisers inadvertently missed the election…
PLR 200245015: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from a specified date but did not file its S election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under section 1362(b)(5). It ruled…
PLR 200245014: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation with four shareholders intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation date, but it discovered that its S election had not been filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for…
PLR 200245013: Late S corporation election receives reasonable cause relief
A corporation's shareholders intended it to be an S corporation for a specified tax year, but its Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under…
PLR 200245012: Stock distribution generally avoids shareholder gain, with cash treated separately
A publicly traded corporation planned to distribute the stock of a controlled business to its shareholders before combining another business with an unrelated company's subsidiary. It also planned a…
PLR 200245011: First-year S election receives late filing relief
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation status from its first tax year, and the corporation filed an S corporation tax return for that year. It had not filed Form 2553 to make the…
CCA 200245010: Refundable golf club membership fees are not income when received
A company operating private golf clubs charged new members a one-time fee in addition to dues. Its contract generally required it to repay the fee after a specified number of years, with earlier…
PLR 200245009: Family shareholders may split two businesses without recognized gain
Disputes among family shareholders led a corporation operating two businesses to propose a split. It would transfer some assets of one business to a new subsidiary, then exchange all the…
PLR 200245008: Stock sale to a nonresident alien receives inadvertent termination relief
An S corporation's sole shareholder sold stock to a nonresident alien, which terminated the S election because such a person cannot be an S corporation shareholder. After the parties learned of the…
PLR 200245007: Actively managed building rents avoid the S corporation passive income test
A C corporation with accumulated earnings and profits planned to elect S corporation status. It owned a building with commercial and residential tenants and sought a ruling on whether its rents…
CCA 200245006: Stock sale between brothers triggers the loss limitation ownership change
A corporation with net operating loss carryovers was owned by members of one family. One brother sold all his stock to another, increasing the buyer's ownership by more than 50 percentage points…
PLR 200245005: Late S corporation election receives reasonable cause relief
A corporation's shareholders intended it to be an S corporation for a specified tax year, but its Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under…
PLR 200245004: S corporation intent on an IRS application supports late election relief
A corporation intended S corporation status from its incorporation date. Its application for an employer identification number described it as an S corporation, but it had not timely filed Form…
PLR 200245003: Accountant’s meeting notes support late S election relief
A corporation intended S corporation status from its incorporation date. The corporation’s accountant recorded that intent in notes from its organizational meeting, but Form 2553 was not filed on…
CCA 200245002: Partnership mergers affect consent authority and tax matters partner status
Both general partners of a dissolved partnership merged into other entities before an officer signed a consent extending the assessment period for partnership items. Chief Counsel advised that each…
CCA 200245001: Possession addresses alone do not permit a math error denial of EITC
Some returns claimed the earned income tax credit (EITC) while their addresses or wage forms suggested that the filers lived in a U.S. possession. Chief Counsel explained that the EITC residence…
TAM 200244028: Technical advice addresses excess benefit payments under consulting agreements
The IRS considered a technical advice request involving a tax exempt parent organization, its chief executive officer, and the officer's spouse. It concluded that the spouse was a disqualified…
PLR 200244027: Asset transfers between private foundations qualify under section 507(b)(2)
A private foundation proposed transferring all of its assets to two newly formed private foundations because of disagreements among its trustees. The IRS ruled that the transfer would qualify under…
PLR 200244026: Asset transfers between private foundations qualify under section 507(b)(2)
A private foundation proposed transferring all of its assets to two newly formed private foundations because of disagreements among its trustees. The IRS ruled that the transfer would qualify under…
PLR 200244025: Taxpayers receive 60 days to recharacterize Roth IRAs as traditional IRAs
A married couple converted traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs in 1998 but did not timely recharacterize the conversions because they were unsure the conversions had occurred. The couple later requested…
PLR 200244024: Asset transfers between private foundations qualify under section 507(b)(2)
A private foundation proposed transferring all of its assets to two newly formed private foundations because of disagreements among its trustees. The IRS ruled that the transfer would qualify under…
PLR 200244023: Nontransferable annuity may provide required distributions from a qualified plan
A qualified plan participant died with assets held in a profit sharing plan, leaving a trust and several subtrusts as beneficiaries. The plan trustee proposed buying a nontransferable variable…
PLR 200244022: Scholarship grant procedures approved for a private foundation
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve procedures for funding scholarships administered by a public charity. The program would help qualifying students pay tuition and fees, with awards…
PLR 200244021: Business league may maintain a qualified cash or deferred arrangement
A tax-exempt business league jointly developed by public and private participants asked whether it could maintain a qualified cash or deferred retirement arrangement for its employees. Such…
PLR 200244020: Employer sponsored scholarship procedures approved
A foundation asked for advance approval of scholarships linked to an employer's employees. An independent public charity ran the program and selected recipients from students who had reached…
TAM 200244019: Sports team broadcast rights could not be amortized
A taxpayer bought an interest in the local broadcast rights of a professional sports team. The IRS advised that the rights were acquired in connection with the team franchise, even though the…
PLR 200244018: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation's sole shareholder intended to elect S corporation status from the date of incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline…
PLR 200244017: Withholding required for U.S. share of foreign lawyer's fee
A law firm agreed to pay a lawyer in another country 25 percent of a contingency fee for work on litigation in the United States. The lawyer performed services both abroad and in the United States.…
PLR 200244016: Certain deferred compensation plan trustees qualify for look-through rule
A life insurer planned to issue variable annuity contracts backed by a separate account that invested in mutual funds. It asked whether trustees of several types of deferred compensation plans could…
PLR 200244015: Late S corporation election granted relief
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and…
PLR 200244014: Eleven S corporations may consolidate through Type D reorganizations
Shareholders of eleven S corporations planned to transfer all their shares to a newly formed S corporation holding company. The holding company would then elect to treat each corporation as a…
PLR 200244013: Cooperative income remains patronage sourced after buying shift
An agricultural cooperative owned an interest in a partnership that processed and marketed products supplied by cooperative members and others. The cooperative planned to shift its product buying…
PLR 200244012: Late S corporation election accepted for requested date
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 election and granted relief under section…
PLR 200244011: Court reformation preserves charitable remainder unitrust status
The creators of a charitable remainder trust intended a fixed percentage annual payout, but the signed agreement instead limited payments to trust income with a makeup provision. The trustees…
CCA 200244010: Chief Counsel advised challenges to aircraft exchange depreciation
A taxpayer arranged a sale and leaseback of a new aircraft to a foreign carrier and an exchange involving eight older aircraft in its corporate group. The planned exchange would shift tax basis…
TAM 200244009: Shareholders sold beneficial stock interests, not corporate goodwill
Shareholders of a professional corporation entered a group of agreements with a management company, which paid them cash, notes, and rights to its stock. The IRS concluded that the corporation had…
CCA 200244008: Step transaction argument could bring lease strip income into an earlier year
Chief Counsel considered a taxpayer's lease stripping transaction and a proposed step transaction argument. It agreed that the argument was viable and that applying the doctrine would bring income…
TAM 200244007: Airline's proposed bulk fuel sales count as more than casual sales
An airline sought to register as an aviation fuel producer based on proposed fuel sales to other airlines and producers. The IRS concluded that the proposed sales were more than casual sales because…
PLR 200244006: Special stock purchase plan entry after merger did not require new shareholder approval
Two companies planned a merger, after which employees of one company would enter the other's employee stock purchase plan on a special date and use a shorter purchase period. The IRS ruled that this…
TAM 200244005: Cutting and repackaging fishing line did not make seller its manufacturer
A seller bought fishing line on large spools, cut it into shorter lengths, and resold it on smaller spools or in coils. The IRS concluded that the seller was not the manufacturer of the line and…
TAM 200244004: Employment tax treatment depended on the substance of discrimination settlements
An employer settled discrimination claims brought by two former employees and allocated portions of the payments to emotional distress. For the first employee, the IRS accepted the one-half…
CCA 200244003: Unrestricted stock warrants were treated as options for attribution
A taxpayer held warrants allowing it to buy another company's stock at its election. The warrants had a limited exercise period but no conditions or other limits on the taxpayer's right to exercise…
TAM 200244002: Surviving spouse's lifetime power brought marital trust into her estate
A surviving spouse's estate sought a refund of estate tax paid on assets in a marital trust created by her late husband's will. State courts had ruled that she lacked a power to direct the trust…
PLR 200242027: Vehicle repair and tire hazard contracts qualify as insurance
A company related to an automobile dealer planned to sell contracts covering unexpected vehicle repairs and tire damage from road hazards. The IRS ruled that the motor vehicle and tire contracts…
TAM 200243057: Founder and relatives received excess benefits from a car donation charity
The founder of a car donation charity controlled its operations and approved payments involving himself, his family, and their businesses. The IRS concluded that he was a disqualified person and an…
PLR 200243056: School trust may sell land without losing exemption or owing unrelated business tax
A charitable trust operates schools using income from land inherited under its founder's will. Changes in state law made its residential leasehold investments less attractive, so the trust planned…
PLR 200243055: ESOP may use S corporation distributions to repay its loan
An S corporation's employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) borrowed from the company to buy its shares. The company planned to distribute accumulated earnings to shareholders, including the ESOP. The…
PLR 200243054: Retirement plan's after-tax account treated as a separate contract
An employer's profit-sharing plan kept after-tax contributions and their earnings in separate accounts. Its withdrawal options specified which accounts funded each payment. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200243053: Hospital employee pension plan qualifies as a church plan
A nonprofit hospital organization asked whether its defined benefit pension plan was a church plan under section 414(e). The organization appeared in its church's official directory, shared the…
PLR 200243052: Partial rollover preserves exclusion for employer stock appreciation
An employee planned to take a lump sum from an employer's stock bonus and profit-sharing plan. Part would roll into another qualified pension plan, while the employee would receive employer shares…
PLR 200243051: Private foundation may divide its assets between two successors
Trustees of a private foundation disagreed about its governance and proposed transferring all assets to two new private foundations. The IRS ruled that the transfer qualified under section 507(b)(2)…
PLR 200243050: Hospital employee hardship fund preserves exemption and allows deductions
A tax-exempt hospital established a fund to help employees, retirees, volunteers, and their families facing emergencies or financial hardship. Employees and the public would contribute; the hospital…
PLR 200243049: Three-stage corporate separation receives stock distribution rulings
A publicly traded corporate group planned to separate a subsidiary through two distributions within the group and a final distribution of its stock to public shareholders. The group said the parent…
PLR 200243048: Limited trust appointments preserve estate and GST tax treatment
A beneficiary held testamentary powers to appoint property from three trusts created by a grandparent. The beneficiary proposed exercising the powers through a will to create new family trusts with…
PLR 200243047: One annuity may be exchanged tax free for two coordinated annuities
A policyholder proposed exchanging one deferred annuity for two new annuity policies issued by the same insurer. One policy offered a guaranteed minimum income feature, while the other held variable…
PLR 200243046: Foreign company receives 60 days to elect partnership classification
A foreign private limited company with more than one member intended to elect partnership classification for U.S. tax purposes. It inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS found…
PLR 200243045: Foreign company receives time to elect disregarded status
A foreign private limited company intended to elect treatment as a disregarded entity for U.S. tax purposes but inadvertently missed the Form 8832 filing deadline. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200243044: Foreign company gets an extension for disregarded entity election
A foreign private limited company intended to elect treatment as a disregarded entity for U.S. tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the requirements…
PLR 200243043: Extension granted for dual consolidated loss filings
A taxpayer used losses from two entities on its U.S. consolidated returns but missed related agreements and annual certifications required by the dual consolidated loss regulations. It requested…
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.