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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CCA 200216007: Tax assessment did not end an indefinite extension agreement
A taxpayer and the IRS had signed Forms 872-A extending the assessment period for three tax years indefinitely. They later signed Forms 870 and the IRS assessed amounts shown there, while a separate…
PLR 200216006: Business split into two corporations qualifies for tax-free treatment
An S corporation proposed to separate parts of its business into two new corporations to resolve disputes among family shareholders. It would transfer operating assets to each company and distribute…
CCA 200216005: Limited partnership cannot elect out of partnership tax rules
A limited partnership formed in an aircraft financing arrangement intended to elect out of the federal partnership tax rules under IRC § 761(a). Chief Counsel advised that it was ineligible because…
PLR 200216004: Partnership qualifies for the section 29 synthetic fuel credit
A partnership operating a coal processing facility requested rulings on the credit for producing synthetic fuel. The IRS concluded that the process caused a significant chemical change and produced…
PLR 200216003: Reconstituted partnership may claim the section 29 credit
A partnership that operated a coal processing facility requested rulings on the section 29 credit for synthetic fuel. The IRS concluded that the process caused a significant chemical change and…
PLR 200216002: Synthetic fuel credit rulings reconfirmed after ownership changes
A partnership asked the IRS to reconfirm earlier rulings that its coal processing facility produced qualified fuel eligible for the section 29 credit. Since the earlier ruling, the partnership had…
PLR 200216001: Executives not covered by the section 162(m) deduction limit
A company acquired a target in a tax-free merger and asked how the section 162(m) compensation deduction limit applied to the target's executives. The target did not have to file a summary…
PLR 200216012: Late investment income election allowed
An individual omitted an election to include certain net capital gains in investment income for two tax years. That election could increase the amount of deductible investment interest under IRC §…
PLR 200215062: Late Roth IRA recharacterization allowed
A married couple converted traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs even though their income exceeded the applicable limit. Their tax preparer had not advised them about the limit, and their IRA provider did…
PLR 200215061: Post-nuptial IRA agreement does not trigger prohibited transaction rules
A married couple planned to sign a post-nuptial agreement that would divide one spouse's IRA if they later obtained a divorce or legal separation. The agreement would not transfer IRA assets, change…
PLR 200215060: Hospital system formation and shared services preserve tax exemption
A tax-exempt hospital planned to buy physician practices and form a nonprofit system with an outpatient clinic, a fundraising organization, and a coordinating parent organization. The system would…
PLR 200215059: Hospital system formation and shared services preserve tax exemption
A tax-exempt hospital planned to buy physician practices and form a nonprofit system with an outpatient clinic, a fundraising organization, and a coordinating parent organization. The system would…
PLR 200215058: Hospital system formation and shared services preserve tax exemption
A tax-exempt hospital planned to buy physician practices and form a nonprofit system with an outpatient clinic, a fundraising organization, and a coordinating parent organization. The system would…
PLR 200215057: Hospital system formation and shared services preserve tax exemption
A tax-exempt hospital planned to buy physician practices and form a nonprofit system with an outpatient clinic, a fundraising organization, and a coordinating parent organization. The system would…
PLR 200215056: Foundation may divide its assets without immediate termination tax
A private foundation controlled by two family branches planned to divide all its assets equally between two other private foundations so each branch could pursue its own charitable aims. The IRS…
PLR 200215055: Foundation may divide its assets without immediate termination tax
A private foundation controlled by two family branches planned to divide all its assets equally between two other private foundations so each branch could pursue its own charitable aims. The IRS…
PLR 200215054: Foundation may divide its assets without immediate termination tax
A private foundation controlled by two family branches planned to divide all its assets equally between two other private foundations so each branch could pursue its own charitable aims. The IRS…
CCA 200215053: Of Counsel lawyers' partner status and employment tax audit procedures
A law firm treated its Of Counsel lawyers as partners and reported their fixed payments on partnership returns, without withholding employment taxes. Before an employment tax audit, Chief Counsel…
CCA 200215052: Refiling a tax lien notice after a bankruptcy petition
A taxpayer moved to another state, bought a home there, and later filed for bankruptcy. The IRS had filed a tax lien notice in the taxpayer's former county but had not filed one where the new home…
CCA 200215051: Sharing tax information in bankruptcy cases
Chief Counsel addressed eight recurring questions about sharing confidential tax information in bankruptcy cases. The advice distinguishes a debtor's attorney, a bankruptcy trustee, and each…
CCA 200215050: Collection deadline after dismissed tax court petitions
A taxpayer's request for a collection due process hearing pauses the IRS collection deadline while the hearing and appeals are pending. Chief Counsel considered when that pause ends if the Tax Court…
PLR 200215049: Share issuance and corporate spin-off tax treatment
A corporate group proposed to simplify its structure, issue more shares in a subsidiary, and distribute that subsidiary's stock to the parent company's shareholders. A key employee would then buy…
CCA 200215048: Teaching hospital's status as a university supporting organization
Chief Counsel considered a hypothetical university hospital that sought a refund of FICA taxes paid for medical residents. The question was whether the hospital could qualify as a supporting…
PLR 200215047: Purchase amount calculation for a proposed spin-off
A parent corporation planned two stock distributions after acquiring a subsidiary and arranging for part of its business to be held in a new corporation. Whether the first distribution could receive…
PLR 200215046: Late S corporation election accepted with timely filing
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation and filed an S corporation tax return, but it never filed the required election form. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election.…
PLR 200215045: Actively managed rental income is not passive investment income
A corporation planning to elect S corporation status owned three commercial rental properties and had accumulated C corporation earnings. It employed staff to secure tenants, manage leases, maintain…
PLR 200215044: Expatriation tax avoidance presumption rebutted, purpose unresolved
A U.S. citizen who also held citizenship in another country planned to give up U.S. citizenship. Her expected net worth exceeded the threshold that would ordinarily create a presumption of tax…
PLR 200215043: Inadvertently invalid S election receives relief
A limited liability company elected to be taxed as a corporation and filed an S corporation election for the same effective date. Its election was ineffective because one owner was a corporation and…
PLR 200215042: Trust reformation will not itself disqualify a charitable unitrust
A charitable remainder unitrust provided annual payments based on trust income, with a provision to make up earlier shortfalls. Its trustee obtained a court order to change the payment method after…
PLR 200215041: Late S corporation election granted relief
A corporation's shareholder intended to elect S corporation treatment from the corporation's formation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause and ruled that the…
PLR 200215040: S corporation election relief after filing an S return
A corporation's two shareholders intended S corporation treatment for its first tax year, and the company filed an S corporation return for that year. It did not file a timely completed Form 2553…
PLR 200215039: Late S election receives reasonable cause relief
A corporation's shareholders wanted S corporation treatment from a specified date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and ruled that the corporation…
PLR 200215038: Late S election after reliance on a tax advisor
Two shareholders relied on a tax advisor to file their newly formed corporation's S election, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted late…
PLR 200215037: Above-market power contract rights qualify for capital gain treatment
An electric generation company planned to sell and assign its rights under a long-term, above-market power agreement to a purchaser. The company would keep its facility but give up the contract,…
PLR 200215036: Shareholder discounts treated as constructive distributions
A country club corporation offered its shareholders lower prices than non-shareholders for food and beverages, golf membership dues, cart rentals, and range fees. The IRS concluded that the…
PLR 200215035: Late S corporation election granted relief
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the corporation's formation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and…
PLR 200215034: Restaurant split-off qualifies for tax-free treatment
A restaurant company planned to transfer a group of stores to a new corporation and give that corporation's stock to two shareholders in exchange for their shares in the original company. The…
PLR 200215033: Late S corporation election allowed after timely filing
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from its first taxable year and reported income that way, but the corporation did not file a timely S election. The IRS found…
PLR 200215032: Retirement-plan stock can fund a charitable remainder trust
A retiring employee planned to take employer stock from a profit-sharing plan, roll some shares into an IRA, sell some, and contribute the rest to a charitable remainder unitrust. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200215031: Utility asset spin-offs qualify as reorganizations
Two electric utility subsidiaries planned to transfer a line of business to newly formed corporations and distribute those corporations' shares to their common parent. The group said the separation…
PLR 200215030: Foreign entity granted time to file classification election
A foreign entity intended to be disregarded as separate from its owner for U.S. tax purposes, but missed the deadline to file Form 8832. Because its owner had limited liability, the entity otherwise…
PLR 200215029: Foreign company gets extension for disregarded-entity election
A foreign company intended to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes, but inadvertently missed the Form 8832 filing deadline. Based on the submitted facts…
PLR 200215028: Foreign company granted time to elect partnership classification
A foreign company was classified as a corporation by default because its owners had limited liability. After ownership passed from an estate to new owners, the company intended to elect partnership…
PLR 200215027: Business separation qualifies as a tax-free spin-off
A company planned to place one operating business and certain assets of another business into a separate company, then distribute the new company's ownership interests to its existing owners in…
PLR 200215026: Estate granted relief for reverse QTIP election and trust severance
An estate elected qualified terminable interest property treatment for a trust but failed to make a reverse QTIP election for generation-skipping transfer tax purposes. After the surviving spouse…
PLR 200215025: Estate gets extension for QTIP and reverse QTIP elections
An estate filed its estate tax return without funding a marital deduction trust or electing qualified terminable interest property treatment, after it overlooked the decedent's earlier taxable…
PLR 200215024: Foreign LLC granted extension for partnership election
A foreign limited liability company with two owners intended to elect partnership treatment from its formation date but did not file Form 8832 on time. Because both owners had limited liability, the…
PLR 200215023: Foreign LLC granted time to elect partnership treatment
A foreign limited liability company with multiple owners intended partnership classification for U.S. tax purposes from its formation date but missed the Form 8832 deadline. The company represented…
PLR 200215022: Foreign LLC granted extension for partnership election
A foreign limited liability company with a domestic company and a U.S. resident as owners intended partnership treatment from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. It represented…
PLR 200215021: Late S corporation election granted relief
A corporation's sole shareholder wanted S corporation treatment from a specified date, but the corporation did not file its election on time. Based on the submitted facts and representations, the…
CCA 200215020: Counsel questions deduction for donated research rights
A taxpayer gave a charity rights from a research contract and patents, then claimed a charitable contribution deduction based on their asserted value. Chief Counsel advised that more facts were…
CCA 200215019: Puerto Rico pension payout partly excluded from U.S. tax
A U.S. citizen received a lump-sum distribution from a Puerto Rican pension plan after moving from Puerto Rico to a state. Chief Counsel advised that § 933 appears to exclude the portion…
PLR 200215018: Isolated fund tender offer causes no deemed stock distribution
A closed-end investment fund considered buying back shares through a tender offer to address a gap between its trading price and asset value. The fund represented that the offer would be a separate,…
PLR 200215017: Synthetic-fuel facility qualifies for former section 29 credit
A partnership produced solid synthetic fuel from coal at a movable facility and asked about the former § 29 credit. Based on its described process and testing, the IRS ruled that the fuel qualified…
PLR 200215016: Fund tender offer causes no deemed distribution under section 305
A closed-end investment fund considered a tender offer to repurchase shares because its stock traded below the value of its underlying assets. The fund represented that the offer would be an…
PLR 200215015: Foreign entity granted time to correct classification form
A foreign entity sought extra time to file a corrected Form 8832 for a specified effective date. The letter describes the intended classification inconsistently: one sentence says the entity wanted…
PLR 200215014: IRS grants relief for a late S corporation election
The shareholders of a corporation intended for it to be an S corporation, but no timely Form 2553 election was filed. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election and ruled that the…
PLR 200215013: IRS grants relief for a late S corporation election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended for it to be an S corporation, but the corporation did not file a completed Form 2553 on time for its first taxable year. The IRS found reasonable cause for…
PLR 200215012: LLC receives relief for late entity classification and S corporation elections
A limited liability company intended to elect corporate tax classification and then S corporation status from its formation date, but it missed both filing deadlines. The IRS granted 60 days to file…
PLR 200215011: Partnership granted time to make a section 754 election
A partnership reported that an ownership transfer caused a technical termination under the law then in effect and that its accountant failed to file the short-year return and a new section 754…
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.