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 200242029: Late GST exemption allocations allowed for two family trusts
A taxpayer made gifts to two irrevocable trusts for his children and their descendants but did not file gift tax returns or allocate generation skipping transfer tax exemption. His attorneys had…
PLR 200242028: Revised spinoff and acquisition preserve prior tax rulings
A corporate group revised a planned separation: its controlled company would acquire a target instead of raising equity through the previously planned initial public offering. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200242026: Late S corporation election granted on reasonable cause
Two shareholders intended their new corporation to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date. They relied on a tax adviser to file Form 2553, but the form was late. The IRS found…
PLR 200242025: Stock redemption to pay death taxes receives exchange treatment
A trust holding stock included in a decedent's estate planned to redeem some shares for cash to cover death taxes and estate expenses. The IRS ruled that, within section 303's limits and conditions,…
PLR 200242024: Inadvertent IRA shareholding does not end S status
A shareholder transferred company stock to a lender's IRA custodian after the company defaulted on a loan. An IRA could not own S corporation shares, so the transfer terminated the company's S…
PLR 200242023: Late section 953(d) election gets a 30 day extension
A taxpayer missed the deadline for a section 953(d) election concerning its subsidiary. The taxpayer sought relief before the IRS discovered the omission and submitted statements from its controller…
PLR 200242022: Six family trusts retain generation skipping tax exemption
A trust created before September 25, 1985 had already been divided by court order into separate funds. The beneficiaries proposed splitting one fund into six equal trusts for six family lines so…
IRS determination 200242021: Earlier communications tax ruling revoked
The IRS revoked an earlier letter ruling about a taxpayer's responsibility for the section 4251 excise tax on payments for communication services. The earlier ruling was LTR 200133008, issued May…
PLR 200242020: Late GST exemption allocations allowed for gifts to three family trusts
A grantor funded three irrevocable trusts, one for each child and that child's descendants. Her CPA inadvertently failed to prepare the gift tax return, leaving the grantor's generation skipping…
PLR 200242019: Late S corporation election accepted for the first taxable year
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status for its first taxable year, but the corporation did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late…
PLR 200242018: Late S corporation election accepted from intended effective date
A newly incorporated company intended to elect S corporation status from a specified date, but it did not file a completed Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under §…
PLR 200242017: Late GST exemption allocations allowed for gifts to one family trust
A husband funded an irrevocable trust for his children and descendants, and his wife consented to split the gifts. Their CPA prepared timely gift tax returns but failed to allocate either spouse's…
PLR 200242016: Late GST exemption allocations allowed for gifts to three family trusts
A grantor funded three irrevocable trusts, one for each child and that child's descendants. His CPA inadvertently failed to prepare the gift tax return, leaving the grantor's generation skipping…
PLR 200242015: Late election allowed for an S corporation subsidiary
An S corporation wholly owned a subsidiary and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) treatment from a specified date. It inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8869. The…
PLR 200242014: Late S corporation election accepted from incorporation
A corporation's sole shareholder intended the company to be an S corporation from its incorporation date, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election…
PLR 200242013: Inadvertent S corporation termination relieved after trust elections were missed
An S corporation's shares passed to eight trusts for the shareholder's grandchildren, but the trust beneficiaries did not file qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) elections. The company also…
PLR 200242012: Former resident's expatriation found unrelated to tax avoidance
A former U.S. long-term resident surrendered his green card and returned to his country of citizenship and birth, where he was subject to tax on worldwide income. His net worth exceeded a threshold…
PLR 200242011: Former citizen avoids tax avoidance presumption but receives no purpose ruling
A dual citizen renounced U.S. citizenship while living abroad, and his net worth exceeded a threshold that could trigger a tax avoidance presumption under the expatriation rules then in force. The…
CCA 200242010: Timber harvesting qualifies as farming only for trees the company raised
A timber company used the cash method of accounting while harvesting timber from its own and others' land. Chief Counsel advised that the farming exception to the C corporation cash method…
PLR 200242009: Vehicle leasing company may use a qualified intermediary for like-kind exchanges
A vehicle leasing company planned to sell vehicles coming off lease and acquire replacement vehicles through an unrelated qualified intermediary. The IRS ruled that each properly matched sale and…
CCA 200242008: Defamation settlement payments are not a disposition of property
Chief Counsel advised that payments received under a defamation settlement were not payments for a disposition of property, so § 1001 did not govern their tax treatment. The advice also concluded…
PLR 200242007: Synthetic coal facility qualifies for the nonconventional fuel credit
A partnership planned to buy and relocate a facility that produced synthetic fuel from coal. The IRS ruled that its construction contract met the pre-1997 requirement and that the described process…
CCA 200242006: Equipment financing arrangement lacked economic substance
A corporation entered a prearranged equipment sale, leaseback, and financing structure promoted as reducing its after tax equipment costs. Chief Counsel concluded that the series of transactions…
PLR 200242005: Reciprocal insurer receives mutual insurance company treatment
A proposed reciprocal insurer would provide liability coverage to its subscribers and maintain savings accounts for them. The IRS ruled that it would be a mutual insurance company treated as an…
CCA 200242004: Partnership anti-abuse rule prevents transfer of built-in debt losses
Foreign banks transferred high basis, low value notes through partnerships to parties that could use the losses. Chief Counsel advised that the partnership anti-abuse rule prevented the new partners…
CCA 200242003: Trust records and notice for third-party collection summonses
After a taxpayer died, the IRS sought records of distributions from the taxpayer's revocable living trust to help collect assessed income tax liabilities. Chief Counsel advised that the Right to…
PLR 200242002: Estate gets time to split marital trust and make reverse QTIP election
An estate elected qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) treatment for a marital trust but did not make a reverse QTIP election or allocate the decedent's remaining generation skipping…
CCA 200242001: Pension contribution deduction timing change is an accounting method change
A company had long deducted contributions to multiemployer pension plans based on payment dates, including some payments after year end for work performed in the next year. Under § 404(a)(6), a…
PLR 200241034: Company may file late S corporation election for first year
A company's sole shareholder intended S corporation status for its first tax year, but no timely completed Form 2553 was filed. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election and granted…
PLR 200241059: Spouses may recharacterize ineligible Roth IRA conversions late
A married couple converted traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs without knowing that their combined income exceeded the conversion limit then in effect. They discovered the problem after the ordinary…
PLR 200241058: Late Roth IRA recharacterization accepted after the tax year closed
An investment consultant advised a taxpayer to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA and sell mutual funds, without warning that the resulting income would exceed the conversion limit then in…
PLR 200241057: Township pension pickups excluded from officers' current income and withholding wages
A township and its police officers agreed that the township would pick up mandatory officer contributions to their pension plan. An ordinance required the township to pay the contributions and gave…
PLR 200241056: Private foundation merger carries tax attributes without a termination tax
Two private foundations controlled by the same people proposed a merger to reduce administrative costs. One would transfer all its assets to the other, an operating foundation, and later notify the…
PLR 200241055: City pension pickups excluded from employees' current income and withholding wages
A city amended its charter to pick up mandatory employee contributions to a defined benefit pension plan. The city would pay the contributions instead of the employees, who could not choose to…
PLR 200241054: Separate provider's 401(k) plan is no successor to terminated employer plan
An employer terminated its 401(k) plan after contracting with a personnel provider whose separate plan covered employees assigned to the employer's worksite. The employer did not adopt or maintain…
PLR 200241053: Couple gets 60 more days to undo ineligible Roth IRA conversions
A married couple converted traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs, then learned their combined adjusted gross income exceeded the conversion limit then in force. Their understanding of one spouse's business…
PLR 200241052: Foundation may set aside income for future charitable needs
A charitable trust that had become a private foundation wanted to reserve undistributed income for possible future needs of the people it supports. If the anticipated need did not arise, it proposed…
PLR 200241051: Retirement plan of church affiliated organizations qualifies as a church plan
A religious congregation sponsored a parent corporation and subsidiaries that operated health, shelter, and spiritual development services. Their retirement plan was administered by a committee…
PLR 200241050: Property redevelopment and leases preserve exemption and rental income treatment
A tax exempt organization that supports other charities planned to redevelop property and expand its leasing activity. The IRS ruled that the redevelopment and rental work would not revoke its §…
PLR 200241049: Transfer between related private foundations avoids excise taxes
A private foundation organized as a trust planned to transfer all its assets to a nonprofit private foundation controlled by the same people. The IRS ruled that the transfer qualifies under §…
PLR 200241048: Reasonable property management fees avoid self-dealing tax
A charitable lead trust planned to pay a property management company owned by a related person to manage rental real estate. The company was a disqualified person under the private foundation…
PLR 200241047: Foundation gets more time to sell inherited company stock
A private foundation inherited preferred stock in a company connected to its founder's family. The stock created excess business holdings, and the foundation began a plan to sell it to the company's…
PLR 200241046: Employer may deduct payments restoring retirement plan losses
An employer's stock fell after it disclosed accounting irregularities, reducing the value of stock held in employee retirement accounts. The employer began cash payments to the plan to restore part…
PLR 200241045: Municipal pension contributions excluded from current wages
A municipality agreed to pay mandatory employee contributions to its qualified pension plan while reducing participating employees' salaries by the same amount. Its resolution specified that it…
PLR 200241044: Research institute funding receives charitable tax treatment
A donor and his private foundation agreed to fund a research institute associated with a university. The IRS ruled when the donor's annual funding and endowment promises would become completed gifts…
PLR 200241043: Estate receives more time to allocate GST exemption
An estate's administrator filed its estate tax return after a will contest but inadvertently left out the schedule for allocating the decedent's generation-skipping transfer tax exemption. A…
PLR 200241042: Taxpayer may revoke alternative research credit election
A taxpayer had elected to calculate its research credit under the alternative incremental method in § 41(c)(4). It asked to revoke that election before the extended filing deadline for a later tax…
PLR 200241041: Settlement preserves trust's GST tax exemption
A trust created before September 25, 1985, became the subject of a dispute over the trustee's conduct. The beneficiaries agreed to end the trust and divide its assets using actuarial values, subject…
PLR 200241040: Late GST exemption allocations receive filing relief
A taxpayer intended to use his generation-skipping transfer tax exemption for two cash gifts to an irrevocable family trust. His tax preparer omitted the allocations from both timely filed gift tax…
PLR 200241039: Vacation property qualifies for a personal residence trust
A taxpayer proposed to put a vacation residence, adjacent land, and several outbuildings into a qualified personal residence trust. His family used the whole property for residential recreation, and…
PLR 200241038: Four trusts keep GST exemption after investment changes
A trustee proposed to place most assets of four old trusts into a limited liability company and change one trust's rule for trustee compensation. The trusts had become irrevocable before September…
PLR 200241037: Company receives relief for late S corporation election
A company's shareholders intended it to be an S corporation from its start, but the required Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and ruled that…
PLR 200241036: Late S corporation election takes effect at incorporation
A newly incorporated company's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 200241035: Trustee appointment changes preserve trust tax treatment
Beneficiaries of testamentary trusts and related trusts holding S corporation stock proposed new rules for appointing and removing trustees. The IRS ruled that these administrative changes would…
PLR 200241033: Late S corporation election allowed from incorporation
A company's sole shareholder intended S corporation status from incorporation and marked that status on the application for an employer identification number. The company did not timely file Form…
PLR 200241032: Estate receives more time for reverse QTIP election
An estate's preparer reported jointly owned assets at their full value on Form 706 and omitted the schedule for generation-skipping transfer tax elections. The IRS determined that a QTIP election…
PLR 200241031: Synthetic fuel credit survives ownership and process changes
A partnership that made synthetic fuel from coal had previously received rulings on the former § 29 credit. One owner later sold its interest, and the partnership considered using an alternative…
PLR 200241030: Buyers and sellers receive time to file stock purchase election
A corporate buyer and two sellers intended to make a joint § 338(h)(10) election for the buyer's purchase of an S corporation, but they missed the filing deadline. The IRS found that the request for…
PLR 200241029: Buyer and seller receive late stock purchase election relief
A corporate buyer and an individual seller agreed to make a joint § 338(h)(10) election for the sale of an S corporation, but they did not file it by the deadline. The buyer had reasonably relied on…
PLR 200241028: Late S corporation election accepted for first year
A company's organizational records showed that it intended S corporation treatment from incorporation, and it filed Form 1120S for its first tax year. It missed the deadline to file the separate…
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.