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 200227037: Late S corporation election receives relief
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the date the company was incorporated, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under…
PLR 200227036: Insurers receive waiver for life insurance policy errors
Two affiliated life insurers found that some policies failed the premium limits required for favorable life insurance tax treatment under sections 101(f) or 7702. Processing, data entry, and…
PLR 200227035: S corporation receives relief after issuing preferred stock
A corporation's S election ended when it issued preferred stock, creating a second class of stock. The corporation learned of the problem during a prospective buyer's due diligence and converted the…
PLR 200227034: Missed trust elections receive S corporation relief
An S corporation's shares passed to two trusts after a shareholder died, but the trusts' beneficiaries did not file timely qualified subchapter S trust elections. The IRS found the resulting…
PLR 200227033: Trust share transfers receive S corporation relief
An S corporation's shares moved through several trusts after shareholders died. Two intermediate trusts were ineligible shareholders, ending the S election, and beneficiaries of later trusts missed…
PLR 200227032: Taxpayer gets extra time for dual consolidated loss agreements
A taxpayer missed the deadline to file agreements concerning dual consolidated losses of the entities and tax years listed in an attached schedule. An employee responsible for the filings was a…
PLR 200227031: Business trust receives coordinated S election relief
Individuals and trusts transferred the stock of an S corporation to a business trust, but the business trust did not elect corporate classification and the subsidiary did not elect qualified…
PLR 200227030: Expatriation ruling rebuts tax avoidance presumption only
A dual citizen who had never lived in the United States planned to give up U.S. citizenship and sought a ruling that tax avoidance was not a principal purpose. His expected net worth exceeded the…
PLR 200227029: Estate receives relief for alternate valuation election
An estate filed its estate tax return using date of death values for bonds and securities based on information from a broker. After filing, the estate discovered that the broker had reversed the…
PLR 200227028: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from a specified date but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section…
PLR 200227027: Trust election change and S termination receive relief
A trust received stock of an S corporation, but its beneficiary filed the qualified subchapter S trust election late, terminating the corporation's S election. The IRS had accepted the late trust…
PLR 200227026: Missing estate consent receives S election relief
A corporation filed Form 2553 with an incorrect incorporation date and without consent from an estate that owned its stock. The IRS ruled that the date error alone did not invalidate the election,…
PLR 200227025: Late S corporation election receives relief
A corporation's shareholder wanted S corporation treatment from the company's incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed filing under…
PLR 200227024: Business split qualifies as tax free reorganization
Shareholder groups of an S corporation disagreed over management and settled a lawsuit by planning to divide the business. The corporation proposed transferring part of its assets and liabilities to…
PLR 200227023: Water authority qualifies as a political subdivision
A state created a public water authority to supply a town's residents and gave it the power to acquire property by eminent domain. The authority asked whether it qualified as a political subdivision…
PLR 200227022: Annuity trusts receive income, S stock, and transfer tax rulings
Two spouses proposed separate irrevocable annuity trusts funded with nonvoting stock of a corporation represented to be an S corporation. The IRS ruled that each spouse would be treated as the owner…
PLR 200227021: Missed trust elections receive S corporation relief
A corporation elected S status, but trustees of some shareholder trusts failed to elect electing small business trust status. The IRS found the corporation's S election ineffective from its intended…
PLR 200227020: Trust relocation preserves specified tax treatment
A trustee proposed moving the assets of a trust created under a 1963 will into a new trust in another state with essentially the same beneficial interests and termination date. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200227019: Purchaser and seller get late stock election relief
A corporate purchaser acquired all the stock of an S corporation from its sole owner, and both parties intended to elect asset sale treatment under section 338(h)(10). They missed the election…
CCA 200227018: Counsel advises economic substance challenge to lease deal
Field counsel asked about a lease in/lease out transaction involving equipment, offsetting financing, a sublease, and a purchase option. Chief Counsel advised pursuing an economic substance…
PLR 200227017: Spouses receive time to allocate GST exemption to trust
Spouses made gifts to a trust for children and later descendants, but their accountant failed to allocate enough generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to gifts made in two years. The accountant…
PLR 200227016: Two corporate separations qualify as reorganizations
An S corporation with two businesses proposed forming two subsidiaries and distributing their stock to separate shareholder groups. One distribution would resolve a management deadlock; the other…
PLR 200227015: Reformed trust can support estate charitable deduction
A decedent's trust paid income to his brother, then a monthly amount to the brother's surviving spouse, with the remainder passing to charity. In its original form, the trust did not qualify for an…
TAM 200227014: Overlapping product line grouping is disallowed for FSC pricing
A corporation sought to recalculate commissions paid to its foreign sales corporation by grouping export transactions into product lines of differing breadth. Under its method, it could put some…
CCA 200227013: Research credits split around subsidiary distributions
A corporate parent distributed the stock of two subsidiaries to its shareholders in different years and asked how to compute the research credit in each distribution year. Chief Counsel advised that…
PLR 200227012: Funded reserve is income as costs are incurred
A customer planned to set aside funds with an independent trustee to reimburse a service provider for costs under a terminating agreement. The provider could claim funds only after incurring…
CCA 200227011: Counsel identifies years for Joint Committee report
Counsel was asked which years to include in a report to the Joint Committee on Taxation in a refund case. The underlying issue was whether a taxpayer qualified for the section 892 income tax…
PLR 200227010: Late tax year change application deemed timely
A corporation applied to change its tax year end from January 31 to December 31 but filed Form 1128 late because of an error or misunderstanding. Its request for discretionary filing relief came…
TAM 200227009: IRS modifies earlier impact fee advice
The IRS modified an earlier technical advice memorandum about impact fees to make it consistent with Revenue Ruling 2002-9. It also lifted a suspension on considering the impact fee issue in another…
TAM 200227008: Per call toll free services lack carrier tax exemption
A common carrier bought several inbound and outbound toll free telephone services for its business, paying a charge based on each call's duration. It sought the communications tax exemption for…
CCA 200227007: Service reimbursements are taxable payments
An affiliated organization reimbursed a taxable subsidiary for costs of personnel and practices provided under service agreements. The subsidiary's parent originally reported those reimbursements as…
CCA 200227006: Counsel treats affiliate financing as debt on known facts
A foreign parent funded an overseas finance subsidiary with stock capital, and that company lent the same amount to the parent's U.S. bank holding company. Chief Counsel advised that the parent's…
TAM 200227005: Oilfield tractors and sand trucks remain highway vehicles
An oilfield services company treated several specialized tractor types and sand dump trucks as nonhighway vehicles for excise tax purposes. The tractors carried equipment for work at well sites but…
PLR 200227004: Passive rent ends S election, but relief restores treatment
A real estate corporation with accumulated earnings and profits sought a ruling that rent from its single tenant warehouse was not passive investment income. The IRS disagreed: the rental receipts…
CCA 200227003: Senior property tax work credits are taxable income
Massachusetts municipalities offered older residents property tax reductions of up to $500 in exchange for work performed for the town. Chief Counsel concluded that the reductions were federal…
TAM 200227002: Targeted oil vaporization qualifies for recovery credit
An oil producer injected processed lean gas to vaporize oil and condensate in parts of a reservoir that its older gas cycling project had not swept. The IRS concluded that this targeted vaporization…
TAM 200227001: Group election prevents subsidiary stock basis reduction
A subsidiary sold unwanted assets at a loss to its parent before the parent sold the subsidiary to an unrelated buyer. The loss was deferred and then became permanently unrestored when the companies…
PLR 200226046: Taxpayer gets six months to recharacterize an ineligible Roth IRA conversion
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, but the married couple's adjusted gross income exceeded the limit for a Roth conversion. The taxpayer directed an agent to recharacterize the…
PLR 200226045: Charitable lead trust may distribute excess assets to its remainder beneficiary
A charitable lead annuity trust held appreciated assets and planned to amend its agreement. The amendment would distribute assets above 110 percent of the remaining undiscounted annuity obligations…
CCA 200226044: Interest on recovered erroneous reparations credit refunds depends on recovery method
Chief Counsel addressed interest on erroneous refunds arising from frivolous claims for a slavery reparations tax credit. When the IRS recovers a refund through deficiency or mathematical error…
CCA 200226043: Both employers count as taxpayers in an SS-8 third party contact inquiry
A worker asked the IRS to determine employment status on Form SS-8. One business paid the worker's wages, while another supervised the work. Chief Counsel advised that both businesses should be…
PLR 200226042: Division of grandfathered trust preserves GST exemption without gift or gain
A trustee proposed dividing a trust that was irrevocable by September 25, 1985, into two equal trusts for separate family branches. The successor trusts would have the same terms, and the division…
PLR 200226041: Estate gets 60 days to make omitted reverse QTIP election
An estate made a QTIP election for two marital trusts and allocated the decedent's generation skipping transfer tax exemption to the exempt trust. Its attorney did not check the separate box for the…
PLR 200226040: Business trust receives relief for late entity, S corporation, and QSub elections
An owner transferred the stock of an existing S corporation to a new business trust. The trust intended to elect corporate classification and S corporation status, then treat the subsidiary as a…
PLR 200226039: Stock seller may revoke election out of installment reporting
A seller accepted promissory notes for restricted, unregistered shares of a publicly traded corporation. On advice from a CPA and counsel, the seller reported all gain in the sale year, though he…
PLR 200226038: Corporation gets 60 days to make late S election
A corporation intended to be an S corporation for a specified tax year, but its Form 2553 election was not timely filed. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing. It allowed the…
PLR 200226037: Cooperative may apply cash patronage dividends to dues when 20 percent remains available
A healthcare purchasing cooperative proposed applying a patron's cash patronage dividend to dues owed to the cooperative and, with the patron's authorization, to dues owed to a related exempt…
PLR 200226036: Professional corporation split-off qualifies as a tax-free reorganization
A professional corporation planned to separate two specialties after an earlier combination had not produced the expected benefits. It would transfer the assets and liabilities of one specialty to a…
PLR 200226035: Housing credit agency may correct reduced project allocation
A state housing credit agency reduced a partnership's low-income housing credit allocation after using an earlier year's HUD cost limits on the project's Forms 8609. The agency and partnership said…
PLR 200226034: Late Form 2553 may establish S status for intended tax year
A corporation intended to be an S corporation beginning on a specified date, but it did not timely file Form 2553 for that tax year. Its president's representation and its filed Form 1120S supported…
PLR 200226033: Agency may amend housing credit allocations after administrative error
A state housing credit agency used the cost limits from a project's carryover allocation year when it finalized the low-income housing credit on Forms 8609. The partnership challenged the reduction,…
PLR 200226032: Voting differences in partnership units do not create a second S corporation stock class
Shareholders of an existing corporation planned to form a general partnership, elect to tax it as a corporation and then as an S corporation, and place the original corporation beneath it as a…
PLR 200226031: Trust may retain S corporation stock while estate tax is paid in installments
A decedent's trust held all the stock of an S corporation, though its terms called for distribution of the shares to beneficiaries after the decedent's death. The estate elected to pay estate tax in…
PLR 200226030: Late S election may take effect when corporation began operating
A corporation with one shareholder intended to elect S corporation status from the date it first acquired assets and began operating, but it did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable…
PLR 200226029: Late S corporation election effective when shares were issued
A corporation intended S corporation status from inception but did not timely file Form 2553. It and its shareholders filed their first tax returns consistently with S corporation treatment. The IRS…
PLR 200226028: Corporation may file late S election after years of consistent returns
A corporation said it intended to be an S corporation from inception but had failed to file Form 2553 on time. The corporation and its shareholders had filed their returns consistently with S status…
PLR 200226027: S status continues after inadvertent LLC share ownership
An LLC acquired shares of an S corporation without knowing that the company had elected S status. The LLC was an ineligible shareholder, so the acquisition terminated the S election. After…
PLR 200226026: Severed marital trusts count separately for generation skipping tax
A court approved dividing a decedent's marital subtrust into exempt and nonexempt shares before the estate tax return was filed. The estate sought separate trust treatment for generation skipping…
PLR 200226025: Managed commercial property rents are not passive investment income
An S corporation with accumulated C corporation earnings and profits rented out a commercial property. It employed staff, maintained an office on site, managed tenants and leases, and performed…
PLR 200226024: Commercial property rents avoid the S corporation passive income rule
A corporation planning an S election asked whether rents from its commercial property would count as passive investment income. It described extensive property services, including maintenance,…
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.