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 200210052: Late S corporation election treated as timely if filed within 60 days
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status for the tax year in question, and the corporation filed S corporation returns, but it did not file a timely completed election…
PLR 200210051: Estate and gift tax treatment of spouses' revocable trust
Two spouses created a trust that either could revoke while both were alive. The IRS ruled that the whole trust would be included in the first spouse's estate: that spouse's own contributions under §…
PLR 200210050: Former resident rebuts tax avoidance presumption, purpose unresolved
A former long-term U.S. resident who surrendered her green card sought a ruling that avoiding U.S. tax was not a principal purpose of her departure. Her net worth exceeded the threshold that…
PLR 200210049: Former resident rebuts tax avoidance presumption, purpose unresolved
A former long-term U.S. resident who surrendered his green card sought a ruling that avoiding U.S. tax was not a principal purpose of her departure. His net worth exceeded the threshold that…
PLR 200210048: Active property rental income is not passive investment income
A corporation planning an S election asked whether income from its rental properties would count as passive investment income. It managed the properties and provided building maintenance, tenant…
PLR 200210047: Securities partnership receives favorable formation and allocation rulings
A family consolidated holdings of one public company's stock in a limited partnership, with a family limited liability company contributing cash as general partner. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200210046: Managed commercial rents avoid S corporation passive income rules
A corporation with accumulated earnings and profits planned to elect S status and asked whether rent from its commercial properties would count as passive investment income. Through a related…
PLR 200210045: Managed commercial rents avoid S corporation passive income rules
A corporation with accumulated earnings and profits planned to elect S status and asked whether rent from its commercial properties would count as passive investment income. Through a related…
PLR 200210044: S corporation may revoke debt discharge basis reduction election
An insolvent S corporation excluded canceled debt income and elected under § 108(b)(5) to reduce the basis of its depreciable property rather than its net operating losses. After the Supreme Court's…
PLR 200210043: Late S election effective from incorporation date
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the date the corporation was formed, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election…
PLR 200210042: Managed commercial rents avoid S corporation passive income rules
A corporation with accumulated earnings and profits planned to elect S status and asked whether rent from its commercial properties would count as passive investment income. Through a related…
PLR 200210041: Managed commercial rents avoid S corporation passive income rules
A corporation with accumulated earnings and profits planned to elect S status and asked whether rent from its commercial properties would count as passive investment income. Through a related…
PLR 200210040: Late S corporation election treated as timely if filed within 60 days
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year, and the corporation filed an S corporation return, but it did not file a timely completed election form.…
PLR 200210039: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund payment schedule approved
A utility that expected to sell its interest in a nuclear plant requested a revised schedule of permitted payments to its qualified decommissioning fund through the anticipated sale. After reviewing…
PLR 200210038: Limited family appointment power excludes trust from daughter's estate
A family trust gave the grantor's daughter income for life and a power to appoint its principal by will among the grantor's descendants. The daughter exercised that power in favor of her adult…
PLR 200210037: Late S corporation election treated as timely if filed within 60 days
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment for its first tax year but missed the deadline for filing Form 2553. The corporation supplied an attorney's letter supporting that…
PLR 200210036: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund payment schedule approved
A utility that had sold its interest in a nuclear plant requested a revised schedule of permitted payments to its qualified decommissioning fund for the period before the sale. After reviewing the…
PLR 200210035: S corporation liquidation treated as stock exchange for shareholders
An S corporation sold its businesses and began distributing assets to shareholders under a complete liquidation plan. The IRS ruled that distributions would be treated as payment in exchange for the…
PLR 200210034: Late S corporation election treated as timely if filed within 60 days
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from its incorporation date but missed the deadline for filing Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election under §…
PLR 200210033: Regional board and written ballots preserve cooperative control
A software cooperative serving rural electric cooperatives proposed changing how its widely dispersed members govern it. It sought to reduce its 161 member board to nine directors, elect one…
CCA 200210032: Chapter 7 debtor signs consent to extend tax assessment period
Chief Counsel considered who should sign Form 872 to extend the assessment period for an individual's income taxes incurred before a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing. It advised that the debtor, rather…
PLR 200210031: Late S corporation election treated as timely if filed within 60 days
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year, and the corporation filed an S corporation return, but it did not file a timely completed election form.…
PLR 200210030: Late S corporation election treated as timely if filed within 60 days
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year, and the corporation filed an S corporation return, but it did not file a timely completed election form.…
PLR 200210029: Court ordered trust partition avoids gain, gift, and GST tax changes
A trustee obtained a court order to divide an older family trust into separate shares for two remaining income beneficiaries and further subtrusts for one beneficiary's children. The trust assets…
TAM 200210028: Foreign insurer denied relief from retroactive tax ruling
A foreign life insurer asked the IRS to apply an adverse technical advice ruling only prospectively. That earlier ruling required the insurer to determine income effectively connected with its U.S.…
PLR 200210027: Late S election effective from incorporation date
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the date the corporation was formed, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election…
CCA 200210026: French withholding taxes may fit general foreign tax credit category
A U.S. parent claimed foreign tax credits for French withholding tax on distributions that France treated as dividends but that were nontaxable under U.S. tax rules. Chief Counsel considered which…
PLR 200210025: State life insurance fund transfer receives favorable rulings
A state moved assets from an old group life insurance premium fund to a state treasury trust to support a new program for employees and retirees. The IRS ruled that income of both funds was excluded…
PLR 200210024: State firefighter cancer insurance program exempt from income tax
A state established an insurance program to reimburse cancer related medical costs of active and retired firefighters. State and local government employers funded it, and a state agency controlled…
PLR 200210023: Research credit alternative incremental election may be revoked
A taxpayer had elected to compute its research credit under the alternative incremental method. Because that election continued into later years unless revoked with IRS consent, the taxpayer…
PLR 200210022: Entity receives extension to elect corporate classification
A domestic entity with more than one member intended to be taxed as a C corporation but inadvertently missed the entity classification election. Without an election, the regulation would classify it…
PLR 200210021: Research credit alternative incremental election may be revoked
A company's former controlled group elected the alternative incremental method for its research credit. After a public offering and a later acquisition changed the company's group membership, it…
PLR 200210020: Entity receives extension to elect corporate classification
A domestic entity with more than one member intended to be taxed as a C corporation but inadvertently missed the entity classification election. Without an election, the regulation would classify it…
PLR 200210019: Utility securitization proceeds treated as debt, not income
An electric utility planned to finance costs from a transition to competitive electricity markets by issuing securities through a wholly owned special purpose entity. The securities would be…
PLR 200210018: Spouse's trust interest renunciation creates gift and partial GST exposure
A surviving spouse proposed giving up her lifetime income and principal rights in a testamentary trust under a settlement with the deceased spouse's descendants. The IRS ruled that her…
PLR 200210017: Coal synthetic fuel facilities qualify for section 29 credit treatment
Two subsidiaries planned to contribute relocated coal processing facilities to separate partnerships with unrelated investors. Based on the described process and test results, the IRS ruled that…
CCA 200210016: Railroad employer status begins July 25, 2000
After reviewing a Railroad Retirement Board reconsideration, IRS Chief Counsel concluded that a redacted business became an employer under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act on July 25, 2000, rather…
CCA 200210015: Financial disability suspends the refund limit for one spouse
A married couple filed a joint return claiming a refund after the usual limit for recovering withheld tax had expired. The husband supplied medical statements showing he could not manage his…
CCA 200210014: State annuity salary reductions are FICA wages
Employees of a state educational employer could elect to join a § 403(b) annuity plan instead of a defined benefit pension plan. Electing employees signed agreements directing the employer to reduce…
PLR 200210013: Modified coal fuel process qualifies for production credit
A taxpayer's disregarded company and a partnership owned coal processing facilities and proposed changes to their binders. Based on the submitted tests and representations, the IRS ruled that the…
CCA 200210012: Former group must choose a substitute tax agent
A consolidated group's former common parent was acquired and later disappeared in a merger without naming a substitute tax agent. IRS Chief Counsel advised that its authority to act for the old…
CCA 200210011: Settlement deduction depends on whether payment is punitive
A corporation deducted two payments made to settle separate government claims. IRS Chief Counsel agreed that the first payment represented actual damages, so § 162(f)'s bar on deducting fines and…
CCA 200210010: Policy lapses do not defeat insurance loan exception
A corporation borrowed against employee life insurance policies while paying premiums during their first three years, then stopped paying and let the policies lapse. IRS Chief Counsel advised that a…
TAM 200210009: Entire annuity trust enters the grantor's estate
A person created a ten year grantor retained annuity trust and died while receiving its annual payments. The trust then paid the remaining annuity to the estate, with the balance due to surviving…
PLR 200210008: Company may revoke alternative research credit election
A corporate group had used the alternative incremental research credit for several years and requested permission to stop after a merger. The IRS granted consent to revoke its § 41(c)(4) election…
CCA 200210007: No change letter does not end Tax Court case
After taxpayers petitioned the Tax Court over a deficiency involving an annuity distribution, an IRS service center sent them a no change letter. IRS Chief Counsel advised that the letter did not…
PLR 200210006: Recovery notes qualify for arbitrage temporary period
A public authority proposed notes to finance a city's recovery project after a redacted occurrence. The IRS ruled that the project's extraordinary operating costs were exempt from the rule that…
PLR 200210005: Expatriate rebuts tax avoidance presumption, purpose unresolved
A former U.S. citizen who had lived abroad for years requested a ruling that giving up citizenship was not principally intended to avoid U.S. tax. His net worth triggered a statutory presumption of…
PLR 200210004: Foreign entity receives time to file classification election
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as disregarded from its owner when it was formed, but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found the requirements for late election relief satisfied and…
PLR 200210003: Second foreign entity receives time to file classification election
A foreign entity intended to elect treatment as disregarded from its owner when it was formed, but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found the requirements for late election relief satisfied and…
PLR 200210002: Estate IRA proceeds carry income to beneficiaries
An estate's executor planned to receive proceeds from two IRAs and use them to fund shares for the deceased person's spouse and children. The IRS ruled that the taxable IRA proceeds enter the…
CCA 200210001: Choice of co-obligor compromise form needs state law review
When one person jointly liable for a tax debt offers to settle, the IRS seeks to preserve its right to collect from the other person. Counsel was asked which of two co-obligor forms to use in…
PLR 200209062: Son may use his life expectancy for 2001 plan distribution
A retirement plan participant died after required distributions had begun, leaving his son as the designated beneficiary of two plans. During life, the participant had taken distributions using his…
PLR 200209061: Scholarships routed through college charity count as direct grants
A private foundation selected and mentored scholarship recipients but wanted a college charity to issue the checks so state matching funds could support the scholarships. The foundation would…
PLR 200209060: Late Roth IRA recharacterization receives six month extension
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in a year when his income exceeded the conversion limit. He promptly asked the custodian to reverse the full conversion, but the custodian…
PLR 200209059: Trust beneficiaries may use oldest beneficiary's life expectancy
A woman named her trust as beneficiary of two IRAs and died after required distributions had begun. The trust became irrevocable at death, its three beneficiaries were identifiable, and the IRA…
PLR 200209058: Trust beneficiaries may use oldest beneficiary's life expectancy
A woman named her trust as beneficiary of two IRAs and died after required distributions had begun. The trust became irrevocable at death, its three beneficiaries were identifiable, and the IRA…
PLR 200209057: Trust beneficiaries may use oldest beneficiary's life expectancy
A woman named her trust as beneficiary of two IRAs and died after required distributions had begun. The trust became irrevocable at death, its three beneficiaries were identifiable, and the IRA…
PLR 200209056: Six more months to reverse ineligible Roth conversion
A married taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA even though the couple's combined income exceeded the conversion limit. Their return preparer did not tell them the conversion was…
PLR 200209055: Foreign church unit grants need no expenditure responsibility
A private foundation planned grants to a foreign organization that operated as an administrative unit within a religious hierarchy. The IRS treated grants to that unit as grants to the larger church…
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.