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 200215010: Stock option expense may be apportioned over vesting periods
A U.S. manufacturer calculated income for its foreign sales corporation using the combined taxable income method. For some key employees' stock options, it divided the compensation deduction across…
PLR 200215009: Partnership may claim synthetic fuel credits after facility purchase and relocation
A partnership bought and relocated a facility that processed coal into synthetic fuel. It asked whether the fuel and its sale could qualify for the former IRC § 29 credit, and whether the facility…
PLR 200215008: Partnership may claim synthetic fuel credits from two relocated facilities
A partnership acquired and relocated two facilities that processed coal into synthetic fuel. It asked whether the fuel and related sales qualified for the former IRC § 29 credit and whether…
PLR 200215007: Relocated synthetic fuel facility retains conditional credit eligibility
A partnership owned a coal-based synthetic fuel facility and sought guidance on the former IRC § 29 credit after a relocation and changes in partnership interests. The IRS ruled that the facility's…
PLR 200215006: LLP holding company may qualify for S corporation treatment
An S corporation proposed a restructuring in which its shareholders would form a limited liability partnership, elect to treat it as a corporation, and seek S corporation status for it. The holding…
PLR 200215005: Partnership may claim and allocate synthetic fuel credits
A partnership acquired and moved a facility that produced synthetic fuel from coal. It asked whether the fuel and sales qualified for the former IRC § 29 credit, whether the credit could be…
TAM 200215004: Truck retailer must report full excise tax before claiming tire credit
A retailer sold heavy vehicles with tires and reported its federal vehicle excise tax after subtracting the tax paid on the tires. The IRS advised that the retailer must report the full tax on the…
CCA 200215003: Closed years bar refund based on revised FSC commissions
Two corporations sought refunds in open years based on revised export commission calculations for earlier years whose assessment and refund periods had closed. For commissions paid to a domestic…
CCA 200215002: Insurers' fresh start adjustment increases parent stock basis
A parent corporation sold stock in a subsidiary that owned property and casualty insurers. It had increased its basis in the subsidiary's stock by the insurers' 1986 fresh start adjustment, an…
TAM 200215001: Trusts for descendants trigger generation skipping tax at death
A decedent's revocable trust directed the creation of separate trusts for ten grandchildren and four great grandchildren at death. The executor argued that generation skipping transfer tax should…
PLR 200214036: Hospital office conversion preserves exemptions and avoids unrelated business tax
A charitable pediatric hospital planned to turn its office towers into condominium units and transfer the units leased to pediatric physicians to a related tax exempt title holding corporation. The…
PLR 200214035: Hospital office conversion preserves exemptions and avoids unrelated business tax
A charitable pediatric hospital planned to turn its office towers into condominium units and transfer the units leased to pediatric physicians to a related tax exempt title holding corporation. The…
PLR 200214034: Divorce IRA transfer and payment changes avoid additional tax
A married taxpayer receiving substantially equal IRA payments planned to transfer one half of the IRA to the taxpayer's spouse as part of a divorce. The IRS ruled that the transfer under the divorce…
PLR 200214033: Taxpayer may recharacterize an ineligible Roth IRA conversion
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA without knowing that the household's adjusted gross income exceeded the conversion limit. The taxpayer and spouse also failed to report the…
PLR 200214032: State education savings trust qualifies under section 529
A state created a trust to operate a college savings program and asked whether it qualified for federal tax exemption under IRC § 529. The state treasurer served as sole trustee, and the program…
PLR 200214031: Later insurance stock proceeds may fund pension benefits
A company terminated a defined benefit pension plan and paid all accrued benefits. Later, stock issued when the plan's mutual insurer converted to a stock company was received on the plan's behalf.…
PLR 200214030: Temporary hardship supports conditional pension funding waiver
A plan sponsor sought a waiver of the minimum funding standard for its money purchase pension plan for the year ending December 31, 2000. The sponsor reported temporary cash flow hardship after…
PLR 200214029: Fixed IRA payments qualify for early distribution tax exception
A taxpayer under age 59 and a half planned to move part of one IRA into a second IRA and take fixed monthly payments from the second account. The payments would be calculated using the account…
PLR 200214028: Partnership life insurance proceeds excluded from partner's estate
A partnership owned life insurance policies on a deceased partner and received the proceeds to help buy the partner's interest under a partnership agreement. The estate asked whether those proceeds…
PLR 200214027: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A company intended to be an S corporation from its formation but did not file Form 2553 on time. It filed its first corporate return as an S corporation, and its shareholder reported income…
PLR 200214026: Special districts association income excluded after member changes
An association of special districts supplied insurance pools, advice, training, and other services to local government entities. It asked whether its income was excluded from gross income under IRC…
PLR 200214025: Regulatory driven corporate separation qualifies for tax free treatment
A holding company wanted to acquire more stock in another company, but doing so would end a regulatory exemption needed for some of its existing businesses. It proposed transferring assets and…
PLR 200214024: Expatriation request rebuts presumption of tax avoidance
A woman who had been a citizen of another country since birth planned to give up her U.S. citizenship. Her net worth would exceed the threshold that ordinarily triggers a presumption of tax…
PLR 200214023: Extra time to waive a consolidated loss carryback
A corporate group acquired another group that had a consolidated net operating loss for a short tax year. The acquiring company intended to elect out of the loss carryback period, but did not file a…
PLR 200214022: Former resident's expatriation lacked a principal tax avoidance purpose
A former U.S. long-term resident surrendered his green card and asked whether tax avoidance was a principal reason. His net worth exceeded the threshold that ordinarily creates a presumption of tax…
PLR 200214021: Business separation qualifies as a tax free reorganization
A company operated two businesses and wanted to give key employees an ownership interest in one of them. It proposed placing the other business in a new corporation and distributing that…
PLR 200214020: Trust division preserves generation skipping tax exemption
An irrevocable trust for grandchildren and great-grandchildren proposed splitting into two trusts because groups of beneficiaries had different goals for its real estate. Each successor trust would…
PLR 200214019: Trust's total return policy preserves GST tax exemption
A trust that was irrevocable by September 25, 1985 held appreciated investments but paid little current income. Its trustee sought a court ruling allowing annual distributions equal to the greater…
PLR 200214018: Merger preserves surviving pooled income fund status
A charity maintained two pooled income funds and proposed merging one into the other to reduce costs. The IRS ruled that the merger would not disturb the surviving fund's earlier qualification…
PLR 200214017: Pooled fund merger preserves participants' fund status
A charity planned to transfer the assets of one pooled income fund into another, give the first fund's income beneficiaries equivalent units in the surviving fund, and terminate the first fund. The…
PLR 200214016: LLC merger produces tax free contributions and taxable liquidations
A corporation proposed merging into an LLC treated as a partnership, followed by liquidation of its corporate shareholders and a transfer of LLC interests to another LLC. The IRS ruled that…
CCA 200214015: Repair allowance requires predecessor's CLADR election
Chief Counsel addressed a company's use of the old Class Life Asset Depreciation Range rules for assets received in corporate succession transactions. It advised that the company could not claim the…
PLR 200214014: Public company spin off qualifies as tax free reorganization
A public company planned to distribute all shares of a subsidiary to its shareholders so the subsidiary could offer its employees equity tied to its own performance. The parent also planned to…
PLR 200214013: Green card surrender lacked principal tax avoidance purpose
A former U.S. long-term resident surrendered his green card and returned to his birth country, which would tax his worldwide income. His net worth exceeded the threshold that ordinarily creates a…
PLR 200214012: Successor trustee change preserves GST tax exemption
A trust created for a daughter and her descendants was irrevocable before September 25, 1985 and had received no later additions. A court approved naming the daughter's children as successor…
PLR 200214011: Estate gets extra time for reverse QTIP election
An estate timely filed its estate tax return but left blank the schedule needed to make a reverse QTIP election for a marital trust. The executrix had relied on counsel and an accountant, who had…
CCA 200214010: Business no longer treated as railroad retirement tax employer
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a redacted business had ceased to be an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. After reviewing…
CCA 200214009: Business is outside railroad retirement tax employer status
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a redacted business was not an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act or the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. After reviewing the Board's…
CCA 200214008: Railroad retirement tax employer status ended
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a redacted business had ceased to be an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act effective July 23,…
TAM 200214007: Recreation facility operator may deduct operating expenses
An S corporation operated a recreation facility used mainly by employees and clients of another S corporation owned by the same couple. The second corporation paid fees for using the facility. The…
CCA 200214006: Business became a railroad retirement tax employer
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that a redacted business became an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act effective April 1, 2001. After…
TAM 200214005: School bonds fail small issuer arbitrage rebate exception
A school district issued bonds as part of a pooled financing program run by an association, with each participating issuer limited to less than $5 million. The IRS technical advice found that the…
PLR 200214004: Extra time to file dual consolidated loss certifications
A taxpayer missed annual certifications required for several years of a related entity's net operating losses under the dual consolidated loss rules. Its submission described reasonable reliance on…
CCA 200214003: Circulation cost election cannot be revoked on Form 3115
A taxpayer had been capitalizing costs of establishing, maintaining, or increasing circulation and filed Form 3115 to begin deducting them. Chief Counsel advised declining consent to that accounting…
PLR 200214002: Partition of three trusts preserves GST tax exemption
Two grandparents created three trusts that were irrevocable by September 25, 1985 and had received no later additions. The family proposed a court approved partition of each trust into one trust for…
TAM 200214001: Union owes employment taxes on wage damages it distributed
Employees received damages after their employer breached a collective bargaining agreement by selling a property without securing continued employment for them. The employer paid a lump sum to their…
PLR 200213034: Extra time to undo ineligible Roth IRA conversion
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 1998, believing the conversion income limit depended on taxable income. Her and her husband's adjusted gross income actually exceeded the…
PLR 200213033: ESOP loan prepayment preserves exemption and surplus share treatment
A company planned to terminate its employee stock ownership plan and use proceeds from redeeming unallocated employer shares to repay a loan the company had made to the plan. The IRS ruled that this…
PLR 200213032: Employer funded settlement payments cannot be rolled over
Participants in a pension plan claimed that their earlier lump sum benefits had been calculated too low. A class action settlement created an escrow fund to pay the shortfalls, using the employer's…
PLR 200213031: Six month extension to recharacterize an ineligible Roth IRA conversion
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 1999, but the couple's combined modified adjusted gross income exceeded the $100,000 limit then applicable to conversions. Their tax adviser…
PLR 200213030: Extra time to undo a Roth IRA conversion and take missed distributions
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 1999, believing the conversion was allowed. A later IRS notice about unreported Social Security income revealed that the taxpayer's income…
PLR 200213029: Switching future pension accruals to plan contributions is not a cash election
An employer planned to let employees stop earning future benefits in its defined benefit plan and instead receive enhanced employer contributions to its defined contribution plan. Existing accrued…
PLR 200213028: Shared staff and free services for a private foundation
A private foundation and a related management company shared employees and proposed to continue that arrangement while the company supplied brokerage services, office space, and equipment without…
PLR 200213027: Industrial building leases further a charity's job creation mission
A public charity working to create jobs in a distressed county planned to build industrial buildings and lease them to businesses. It expected grants and bank financing to fund construction. The IRS…
CCA 200213026: Tax treatment of drought relief payments to Klamath Basin farmers
Farmers in the Klamath Basin received federal relief payments in 2001 after drought damaged crops or prevented planting. Chief Counsel advised that cash method taxpayers could elect under IRC §…
PLR 200213025: Extra time to file a section 338(h)(10) election
A buyer acquired all the stock of an S corporation and, with the sellers, intended to elect under IRC § 338(h)(10) to treat the stock purchase as an asset sale for tax purposes. They missed the…
PLR 200213024: Extension to file dual consolidated loss elections and certifications
A corporate group failed to file elections, agreements, and annual certifications required for dual consolidated losses incurred by some subsidiaries. The taxpayer disclosed the omission before the…
PLR 200213023: Extra time to file dual consolidated loss agreements
A taxpayer missed the deadline to file agreements for dual consolidated losses of two entities and an annual certification for one entity's loss. The IRS had not discovered the missing filings when…
PLR 200213022: Extra time to file dual consolidated loss statements
A taxpayer failed to file an election, agreement, and certifications for an entity's dual consolidated losses, as well as a later annual certification. The IRS had not discovered the omissions when…
PLR 200213021: Church columbarium payments include a charitable gift component
A church planned to sell rights to use columbarium niches and cenotaphs for more than their fair market value and tell buyers how much of each payment represented a gift. The IRS ruled that the…
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.