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 200234009: Mandatory annuity contributions remain subject to FICA
A state educational board asked whether mandatory employee contributions used to buy § 403(b) annuity contracts could be excluded from wages for FICA taxes. State law required the contributions, and…
PLR 200234008: Company may switch to current deductions for software development costs
A company that had capitalized and amortized its software development costs asked to switch to deducting new costs as current expenses for its 1999 tax year. The IRS consented under Rev. Proc.…
PLR 200234007: Medical assistant is an employee of the federal agency
A federal agency sought an employment tax classification for a medical assistant it engaged under a services contract. The agency set her hours and assignments, supplied her equipment, supervised…
CCA 200234006: Earlier partnership basis figures bind buyer under duty of consistency
A buyer of partnership interests reported particular § 743(b) basis increases after three acquisitions, then sought larger increases during an examination. The years of the original acquisitions had…
PLR 200234005: Later bond redemption does not undo housing project's bond financing
A partnership planned a low-income housing project financed with tax-exempt bonds and expected to redeem some bonds after the project was placed in service. It asked whether that later redemption…
PLR 200234004: Estate receives extra time to elect family business deduction
An estate with family farming property filed its estate tax return without electing the qualified family-owned business interest deduction under IRC § 2057. Its executor said the professionals…
PLR 200234003: Late notarization does not defeat ESOP stock sale election
A trust sold company stock to an employee stock ownership plan and bought replacement securities to defer gain under IRC § 1042. Its trustees missed the rule requiring notarized statements of…
CCA 200234002: Examine vehicle plan company's possible unpaid loss reserves
An attached ruling allowed a vehicle protection plan company to change to the accounting method used by nonlife insurance companies for its 2000 tax year. The company calculated its § 481(a)…
PLR 200234001: Vehicle protection company may adopt nonlife insurer accounting
A company providing motor vehicle protection plans sought to change from ordinary corporate accounting to the method required for nonlife insurance companies. An earlier ruling had treated its…
PLR 200233032: Short redemption loans do not create debt-financed income
A group trust's investment funds arranged a bank credit line to pay investors redeeming fund units while securities sales settled. The funds represented that they would borrow only to bridge that…
PLR 200233031: Estate exchange and note payments avoid foundation self-dealing
A private foundation expected to receive estate property held in undivided interests alongside the decedent's surviving spouse, who was also a foundation director. The estate proposed giving her a…
PLR 200233030: Foundation merger preserves tax status and transfers distribution attributes
Two private foundations under the same effective control planned to merge, transferring all of one foundation's assets to the other. The IRS ruled that the transfer qualified under IRC § 507(b)(2),…
PLR 200233029: Foundation asset transfer avoids termination and self-dealing taxes
A charitable trust planned to transfer all its assets to a nonprofit corporation. Both were private foundations controlled by the same people. The IRS ruled that the transfer qualified under IRC §…
PLR 200233028: Foundation transfer carries over tax basis and distribution credit
A charitable trust planned to transfer all its assets to a newly created corporation under the same control, then dissolve. Both organizations were private foundations. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200233027: Trust merger carries over foundation tax attributes
A charitable trust planned to transfer all its assets to a newly created corporation under the same control, then dissolve. Both organizations were private foundations. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200233026: Fellowship grants qualify under private foundation rules
A private foundation asked whether its fellowship program could provide grants to graduate students without making taxable expenditures. The program pays participating schools for the tuition and…
PLR 200233025: Hospital facility lease preserves exemption and supporting organization status
An exempt hospital planned to lease its new facility and equipment to another exempt hospital, which would operate both facilities under a joint oversight organization. The original hospital would…
PLR 200233024: Charity care fund can reimburse hospitals without losing exemption
After selling its hospital, a tax exempt organization continued to operate clinics for people who lacked access to care. It proposed using investment income from an emergency medical services fund…
PLR 200233023: College gift annuities do not create acquisition indebtedness
An exempt educational institution planned to sell deferred charitable gift annuities under a tuition plan. Donors would transfer cash or property, and designated recipients would later receive…
PLR 200233022: Divorce settlement payments receive income and gift tax rulings
Two former spouses agreed to replace obligations under their divorce agreement with a current lump sum payment. Part of the payment settled future support payments; the remainder settled a disputed…
PLR 200233021: Late GST exemption allocation allowed for trust gifts
A taxpayer made stock gifts to two trusts for her children and their descendants but did not allocate generation skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption on the gift tax returns. Her accountant…
PLR 200233020: Missed trust distributions were an inadvertent S election termination
Three trusts that held stock in an S corporation failed to distribute their income during the first year after their qualified Subchapter S trust elections took effect. That failure ended the…
PLR 200233019: Late QSST election receives inadvertent termination relief
A corporation's S election terminated when stock was transferred to a trust and the beneficiary failed to file a timely qualified Subchapter S trust (QSST) election. The corporation represented that…
CCA 200233018: Refinanced debt may shift from a partnership to a related corporation
A partnership and a related S corporation jointly borrowed money, then refinanced debt that had partly been attributed to the partnership. The new notes were secured only by the corporation's…
PLR 200233017: Late S election accepted with corrected returns
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from the company's formation and relied on a tax adviser to file the election, but Form 2553 was late. After learning the IRS had no…
CCA 200233016: IRS outlines challenges to stapled foreign holding company tax benefits
A corporate group moved foreign subsidiaries under a new foreign holding company and stapled that company's stock to a domestic subsidiary's stock. The holding company then filed separately and…
PLR 200233015: Bare title transfer does not recapture housing credits
A partnership that owned a low-income rental housing project planned to transfer only legal title to a public authority and lease the property back. State officials expected the arrangement to…
PLR 200233014: Bare title transfer does not recapture housing credits
A partnership that owned a low-income rental housing project planned to transfer only legal title to a public authority and lease the property back. State officials expected the arrangement to…
PLR 200233013: Bare title transfer does not recapture housing credits
A partnership that owned a low-income rental housing project planned to transfer only legal title to a public authority and lease the property back. State officials expected the arrangement to…
PLR 200233012: Late entity, S corporation, and QSub elections receive relief
The owners of an existing S corporation transferred its shares to a business trust and intended the trust to be taxed as an S corporation and the subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary…
CCA 200233011: Foreign subsidiaries count in research credit group calculation
A domestic manufacturer sought a larger research credit after removing sales to its majority-owned foreign subsidiaries from the gross receipts used to calculate its base amount. Chief Counsel…
PLR 200233010: Late QSub election allowed for S corporation subsidiary
An S corporation wholly owned a newly incorporated subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) from its incorporation date. It inadvertently failed to file the…
PLR 200233009: Late election for a September tax year accepted
A personal service corporation intended to elect a September 30 tax year but did not file Form 8716 by the deadline. It had hired a qualified tax professional, and the missed filing resulted from an…
PLR 200233008: Court correction of unitrust valuation date preserves tax treatment
A charitable remainder unitrust's grantor intended the trust assets to be valued on January 1 when calculating annual payments. A prior trust amendment instead specified the first business day of…
PLR 200233007: Court correction of unitrust valuation date preserves tax treatment
A charitable remainder unitrust's grantor intended the trust assets to be valued on January 1 when calculating annual payments. Its trust document instead specified December 31, the last day of the…
PLR 200233006: Court correction of unitrust valuation date preserves tax treatment
A charitable remainder unitrust's grantor intended the trust assets to be valued on January 1 when calculating annual payments. Its trust document instead specified December 31, the last day of the…
PLR 200233005: Court correction of unitrust valuation date preserves tax treatment
The grantors and co-trustees of a charitable remainder unitrust intended the trust assets to be valued on January 1 when calculating annual payments. Its trust document instead specified December…
CCA 200233004: Company paying another company's wages faces payroll tax liability
A construction company paid another company's workers from its own payroll account and reported their wages and employment taxes on its own returns. When the other company ran short of cash, the…
CCA 200233003: Wrong number on W-2 delays refund processing and interest
An individual filed Form 1040 with a correct taxpayer identification number, but the attached Form W-2 showed a different Social Security number. Chief Counsel advised that the mismatch did not…
CCA 200233002: IRS may summon access to restricted website records
An IRS examination team wanted access to restricted portions of a taxpayer's website. Chief Counsel advised that a summons under IRC § 7602 was the appropriate way to seek the information. Although…
CCA 200233001: Frivolous arguments do not erase a hearing request
A service center asked how to handle letters that bury a vague request for a collection hearing in frivolous tax arguments. Chief Counsel advised that a timely letter reasonably understood as…
PLR 200244001: Contract holders owned partnership investments inside variable life accounts
Life insurers planned variable life contracts whose separate account subaccounts would invest in private investment partnerships also available to other qualified investors. The insurers asked the…
PLR 200232036: Foundation may accept a donated term life policy and use gifts to pay its premiums
A private foundation proposed to accept a term life insurance policy on its founder's life from a trust and use the founder's annual gifts to pay the premiums. The trust would give up all control of…
PLR 200232035: State tuition savings program qualifies for federal tax exemption
A state agency asked whether its education savings program qualified for federal income tax exemption under IRC § 529. The program allowed cash contributions to accounts for designated beneficiaries…
PLR 200232034: Employer receives 30 more days to file separate business line election
An employer intended to test retirement plan coverage using the qualified separate line of business rules for itself and a subsidiary, beginning with the 2000 plan year. Its advisors treated the…
PLR 200232033: Court approved estate distributions avoid foundation self-dealing tax
A decedent's trust had to fund charitable trusts and a charitable beneficiary after lengthy estate litigation. Its assets included illiquid business interests, related party notes, and property tied…
PLR 200232032: Company receives relief for a late S corporation election
A company's shareholders intended to elect S corporation treatment, but the election was not filed by the deadline. The company asked the IRS to treat the election as timely under IRC § 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200232031: Convertible commercial unit can carry cooperative housing shares
A cooperative housing corporation planned to issue shares for a ground floor unit currently used as commercial space. The proprietary lease would give the purchaser the right to convert the unit to…
PLR 200232030: Estate receives more time for QTIP and reverse QTIP elections
An estate requested extra time to fund a marital trust and elect qualified terminable interest property treatment for it. It also sought a reverse QTIP election, which would keep the decedent as the…
PLR 200232029: Cooperative may issue shares for two convertible retail units
A cooperative housing corporation proposed to issue fully paid shares for two units then used commercially. Each purchaser's proprietary lease would permit retail use and give a continuing right to…
PLR 200232028: Dealer's parent stock put losses escape consolidated return bar
A securities dealer that belonged to its parent's consolidated tax group planned to write a put option on the parent's stock for a customer and buy a matching put from a third party. Consolidated…
PLR 200232027: Estate may sever QTIP trust and make a late reverse election
An estate had elected QTIP treatment for an entire trust but had not made a reverse QTIP election or effectively allocated the decedent's generation-skipping transfer tax exemption. A state court…
PLR 200232026: Extension granted for dual consolidated loss filings
A taxpayer discovered that an acquired company had omitted required agreements and annual certifications relating to dual consolidated losses for several tax years. The filings concerned entities…
PLR 200232025: Foreign bank may change its U.S. liability ratio method
A foreign bank stopped taking deposits through its U.S. branch but continued a U.S. business. It asked how to calculate U.S. connected liabilities for allocating interest expense after it no longer…
PLR 200232024: Buyer and seller receive time to file section 338 election
A buyer acquired all the stock of an S corporation, and the buyer and seller intended to make a joint IRC § 338(h)(10) election but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found that they acted…
PLR 200232023: Buyer and two sellers receive time to file section 338 election
A buyer acquired all the stock of an S corporation from two sellers. They intended to make a joint IRC § 338(h)(10) election but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found that they acted reasonably…
PLR 200232022: Taxpayer receives approval for a revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule
A utility transferred a nuclear power plant and its qualified decommissioning trust funds to a taxpayer in a tax-free reorganization. After a public utility commission reduced the plant's…
PLR 200232021: Taxpayer receives approval for a revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule
A utility transferred a nuclear power plant and its qualified decommissioning trust funds to a taxpayer in a tax-free reorganization. After a public utility commission reduced the plant's…
PLR 200232020: Transfer of bare legal title does not trigger low-income housing credit recapture
A limited partnership that developed and operated a multifamily low-income housing project planned to transfer the project's bare legal title to its public authority general partner and then lease…
PLR 200232019: Transfer of bare legal title does not trigger low-income housing credit recapture
A limited partnership that developed and operated a multifamily low-income housing project planned to transfer the project's bare legal title to its public authority general partner and then lease…
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.