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 200149007: Cooperative apartment gift needs further factual review
A married couple claimed a charitable deduction after giving a charity 75 percent of the shares and related lease rights in their cooperative apartment, then selling the apartment. Chief Counsel…
CCA 200149006: Bankruptcy liquidating trust transfers reach creditors first
Chief Counsel reviewed a Chapter 11 plan that would transfer a debtor group's assets to a liquidating trust for creditors. The memo says the transfer must be treated as a transfer to the beneficiary…
PLR 200149005: Taxpayer may revoke alternative research credit election
A taxpayer had elected to calculate its research credit under the alternative incremental rules of § 41(c)(4). The IRS gave consent to revoke that election for a later tax year. The taxpayer was…
PLR 200149004: Former group member may revoke alternative research credit election
A company had elected the alternative incremental research credit while the taxpayer was part of its controlled group. After the taxpayer left that group, it sought permission to revoke the…
TAM 200149003: Sibling workers' compensation insurer qualifies as insurance company
A subsidiary insured workers' compensation risks of many sibling operating companies in its parent's group. The IRS concluded that it was an insurance company taxable under Part II of subchapter L…
CCA 200149002: Commission FSC may deduct only part of its interest expense
A foreign sales corporation earned commissions on its parent's exports and incurred interest on an unpaid amount owed to the parent. It claimed that all its interest expense was allocable to income…
PLR 200149001: More time granted for dual consolidated loss agreements
A taxpayer failed to file required agreements for dual consolidated losses incurred by two subsidiaries over several tax years. Its tax professionals had not advised it of the filing requirements,…
IRS bulletin 200148053: Collection and bankruptcy advice from October 2001
This October 2001 IRS Collection, Bankruptcy and Summonses Bulletin combines short case notes with several previously released Chief Counsel memoranda. The memoranda address an erroneous bankruptcy…
CCA 200148052: Family business estate tax lien can cover stock or land
Chief Counsel advised on the lien securing possible additional estate tax after an estate elects the qualified family owned business deduction under § 2057. The lien reaches the property…
CCA 200148051: Failed Roth conversion requires deficiency procedures
A taxpayer's attempted 1998 Roth IRA conversion failed after an adjustment raised modified income above the conversion limit, and the recharacterization deadline had passed. Chief Counsel advised…
PLR 200148050: Buyer and seller get more time for a stock purchase election
A corporate buyer and the seller's parent intended to elect under § 338(h)(10) after the buyer acquired a target's stock, but they did not file a valid election by its deadline. The IRS found that…
PLR 200148049: Business spin-off qualifies for reorganization treatment
A corporation proposed to transfer one business line to a partly owned subsidiary and distribute its subsidiary shares to its own shareholders. The stated purpose was to help the subsidiary raise…
CCA 200148048: Business became a railroad tax employer in March 1999
The Railroad Retirement Board advised that a business became an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act on March 1, 1999. After reviewing the board's…
CCA 200148047: Railroad employer status changed for two businesses
The Railroad Retirement Board advised that one business became an employer under the railroad retirement and unemployment laws on February 9, 2001, while another ceased to be an employer that day.…
CCA 200148046: Two businesses became railroad tax employers in October 2000
The Railroad Retirement Board advised that two businesses became employers under the railroad retirement and unemployment laws on October 1, 2000. IRS counsel reviewed the board's opinion and agreed…
CCA 200148045: Business is not a railroad tax employer
The Railroad Retirement Board advised that a business was not an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act or Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. IRS counsel reviewed that opinion and agreed that…
PLR 200148044: More time granted for S corporation stock purchase election
A corporate purchaser bought all the stock of an S corporation from two shareholders and intended to make a joint § 338(h)(10) election with them. They missed the filing deadline despite relying on…
PLR 200148043: More time granted to elect corporate tax treatment
A single-owner entity intended from its formation to elect corporate treatment for federal tax purposes, but it did not file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity met the standards for…
PLR 200148042: State law agency clause allowed in exchange accommodation agreement
A company that helps customers complete like-kind exchanges proposed adding language to an exchange accommodation agreement. The clause would make its property-holding affiliate the customer's agent…
PLR 200148041: Separate trust accounts preserve generation-skipping tax exemption
Two trusts became irrevocable before September 25, 1985, and had received no later additions, so their transfers were exempt from the generation-skipping transfer tax. The trustee proposed…
PLR 200148040: Work injury disability benefits partly excluded from income
A county asked whether its line of duty disability payments to employees were entirely excluded from recipients' income as workers' compensation. Its plan pays for permanent job-related disabilities…
CCA 200148039: Prepaid securities arrangement may be split into debt and equity
A U.S. parent prepaid foreign banks for securities issued by its foreign subsidiary, while the banks held the securities and received payments from the subsidiary. Chief Counsel advised that the…
PLR 200148038: Tribal local government qualifies as political subdivision
A federally recognized tribe delegated local governing powers to a community body, which asked to be recognized as a political subdivision for specified federal tax purposes. The body had police and…
PLR 200148037: Reasonable cause found for missed foreign exchange notices
A corporate group failed to file required notices for two cross-border stock and asset exchanges governed by § 367(b). It had relied on qualified tax professionals, whose review missed the reporting…
PLR 200148036: Reasonable cause found for missed foreign exchange notices
A corporate group failed to file required notices for two cross-border stock and asset exchanges governed by § 367(b). It had relied on qualified tax professionals, whose review missed the reporting…
PLR 200148035: S corporation status restored after missed trust elections
Shareholders transferred stock of an S corporation to five trusts, but the IRS had no record of the trusts' electing small business trust elections. The transfers therefore ended the corporation's S…
PLR 200148034: Court-ordered trust payment change preserves GST exemption
A trust created by a decedent who died before September 25, 1985, paid its income to the decedent's son. A court ordered a change that would give him the greater of a payment based on trust value or…
PLR 200148033: Late S corporation election accepted for first tax year
A newly formed corporation intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline. It said the…
PLR 200148032: Actively managed rents excluded from passive income test
A real estate rental company with accumulated earnings and profits planned to elect S corporation status. It asked whether rent from its commercial and residential properties would count as passive…
PLR 200148031: Invalid S election cured after separate trusts were overlooked
A corporation filed an S election and elected qualified subchapter S subsidiary treatment for its wholly owned subsidiary. Its advisers thought seven family trusts held the corporation's shares, but…
PLR 200148030: Fund's in-kind share redemptions avoid fund-level gain
A closed-end regulated investment company proposed periodic share redemptions because its holdings in a small foreign market were hard to sell without depressing prices. A redeeming shareholder…
CCA 200148029: Railroad business classified as an employer for tax purposes
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a redacted business became an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act on January 1, 2001. After reviewing…
PLR 200148028: Trust income stays outside grantor's return while gifts remain incomplete
A grantor proposed an irrevocable trust whose distributions during the grantor's life would be controlled by a committee of two eligible beneficiaries. The IRS ruled that, while that committee…
PLR 200148027: First-year S election accepted after late Form 2553
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its first tax year but did not file Form 2553 by the deadline. Its employer identification application showed that intent, and it filed an S…
CCA 200148026: Railroad employer status transfers between two businesses
The Railroad Retirement Board advised the IRS that one redacted business was a railroad employer from April 1 through December 13, 2000, and another became an employer on December 13, 2000. IRS…
CCA 200148025: Puerto Rico manufacturing losses and transfer prices
A Puerto Rico manufacturing subsidiary sold components and finished products to its U.S. parent while the combined business lost money. Chief Counsel advised that Revenue Procedure 63-10's location…
PLR 200148024: Managed property rents escape S corporation passive income test
Three commercial real estate companies and a related management company planned to become subsidiaries of a new S corporation. The property companies had accumulated earnings and profits, so the…
PLR 200148023: Managed property rents escape S corporation passive income test
Three commercial real estate companies and a related management company planned to become subsidiaries of a new S corporation. The property companies had accumulated earnings and profits, so the…
CCA 200148022: Title insurer must report commissions retained by agents
A title insurance company let independent agents issue policies, collect premiums, and keep part of the premium as their commission. Chief Counsel advised that the company had to issue Forms 1099…
PLR 200148021: Managed property rents escape S corporation passive income test
Three commercial real estate companies and a related management company planned to become subsidiaries of a new S corporation. The property companies had accumulated earnings and profits, so the…
PLR 200148020: Tribal college is an integral part of its tribe
A federally recognized tribe chartered a nonprofit college to provide education on its reservation and asked whether the college was an integral part of the tribe. The tribe appointed the college's…
CCA 200148019: Business excluded from railroad employer tax coverage
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a redacted business was not an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act or the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, and its employees' service was…
CCA 200148018: Railroad business classified as an employer for tax purposes
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a redacted business became an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act on March 1, 2001. After reviewing…
PLR 200148017: Research credit alternative election may be revoked
A corporation in a controlled group had chosen the alternative incremental method for calculating its research credit. It asked to revoke that election for a later tax year and future years before…
CCA 200148016: Transfer pricing adjustment cannot reopen expired refund claims
The IRS had moved management fee income from a corporation to its shareholder under § 482 after finding that the shareholder performed the services. Chief Counsel advised making matching reductions…
CCA 200148015: Street lighting depreciation method change denied
A taxpayer used an automatic accounting method change procedure to move street lighting equipment out of the electric utility transmission and distribution asset class. Chief Counsel advised the…
PLR 200148014: Nuclear plant decommissioning loss qualifies for ten-year carryback
A utility planned to sell its interest in a nuclear power plant, including decommissioning funds, while the buyer assumed the legal duty to decommission it. The IRS had previously ruled that the…
PLR 200148013: Nuclear plant decommissioning loss qualifies for ten-year carryback
A utility planned to sell its interest in a nuclear power plant, including decommissioning funds, while the buyer assumed the legal duty to decommission it. The IRS had previously ruled that the…
PLR 200148012: Nuclear plant decommissioning loss qualifies for ten-year carryback
A utility planned to sell its interest in a nuclear power plant, including decommissioning funds, while the buyer assumed the legal duty to decommission it. The IRS had previously ruled that the…
CCA 200148011: Railroad business classified as an employer for tax purposes
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a redacted business became an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act on November 9, 2000. After reviewing…
PLR 200148010: Nuclear plants decommissioning loss qualifies for ten-year carryback
A utility planned to sell its interest in several nuclear power plants, including decommissioning funds, while the buyer assumed the legal duty to decommission them. The IRS had previously ruled…
PLR 200148009: Nuclear plant decommissioning loss qualifies for ten-year carryback
A utility planned to sell its interest in a nuclear power plant, including decommissioning funds, while the buyer assumed the legal duty to decommission it. The IRS had previously ruled that the…
CCA 200148008: Railroad business classified as an employer for tax purposes
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a redacted business became an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act on February 1, 2001. After reviewing…
CCA 200148007: Railroad employer status ended in November 2000
The Railroad Retirement Board told the IRS that a redacted business ceased being an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act on November 8, 2000. IRS…
CCA 200148006: Acquisition bonus plan funding may be a capital cost
A buyer agreed as part of a company acquisition to fund a trust for bonuses to the target's employees. Chief Counsel advised that the contributions appeared to arise from the acquisition, making…
CCA 200148005: Utility withdrew two depreciation method requests
A utility withdrew parts of an accounting method change application concerning power-line right-of-way costs and street lighting equipment. Chief Counsel told the industry director it had been…
CCA 200148004: Bona fide ownership change defeats subsidiary liquidation challenge
A shareholder invested in a foreign corporation, reducing the ownership held by related corporate shareholders below the 80 percent level for tax-free subsidiary liquidation treatment. The foreign…
PLR 200148003: Nuclear plants decommissioning loss qualifies for ten-year carryback
A utility planned to sell its interest in several nuclear power plants, including decommissioning funds, while the buyer assumed the legal duty to decommission them. The IRS had previously ruled…
PLR 200148002: State gas expansion funding treated as capital contribution
A state awarded bond proceeds to a utility company to build natural gas service in an unserved region where the project was economically infeasible. The state sought broader public and economic…
PLR 200148001: Later asset purchase leaves earlier corporate split ruling intact
The IRS had previously ruled on a tax-free separation of two corporate groups under §§ 351, 355, and 368. After the distribution, the groups still had service agreements with one another. They…
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.