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.
No determinations match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
CCA 200137045: Anonymous taxpayer must identify herself before closing agreement
Chief Counsel reviewed a draft closing agreement submitted for an unidentified taxpayer. It found the draft acceptable in principle, but said the IRS should sign only after the taxpayer disclosed…
CCA 200137044: Housing credit certification can be completed during examination
Chief Counsel answered questions about first-year certification for the low-income housing credit and Form 8609. A building is generally placed in service when it is ready for its intended…
PLR 200137043: Expatriation found to have a principal tax avoidance purpose
A former U.S. citizen asked the IRS to rule that his renunciation of citizenship did not have a principal purpose of avoiding U.S. tax. He was also a citizen of the country where he was born, but…
PLR 200137042: Corporate liquidations and spin-off qualify for nonrecognition
A corporate group proposed a series of restructurings to separate two businesses with different operating needs. It would liquidate two subsidiaries, contribute assets to a controlled corporation,…
PLR 200137041: University tuition waivers are tax-free only for qualifying education and recipients
A public university asked how its employee tuition waiver plan should be taxed. The IRS found that the plan did not favor highly compensated employees and that qualifying waivers for education below…
PLR 200137040: Inadvertent S corporation termination waived after stock went to ineligible owners
An S corporation issued common stock to two corporate shareholders after they converted debt and warrants. Because corporations were ineligible shareholders, the first issuance terminated its S…
CCA 200137039: Employer-paid tax return preparation is taxable to expatriate employees
Chief Counsel analyzed a company's payment for expatriate employees' personal income tax return preparation. It concluded that the value of those services was taxable to the employees because…
PLR 200137038: Corporate partner may deduct qualifying FSC dividends passed through a partnership
A domestic corporation owned part of a partnership that received dividends from a foreign sales corporation. It asked whether its share of those dividends qualified for the 100% dividends-received…
PLR 200137037: Foreign parent may exchange U.S. real property company stock without immediate gain
A foreign corporation planned to transfer its shares in a U.S. real property holding corporation to its wholly owned foreign subsidiary in exchange for more subsidiary shares. The U.S. shares were a…
PLR 200137036: Subsidiary liquidation and corporate spin-off receive favorable rulings
A publicly traded corporate group planned to separate two business segments into independent companies. The plan included liquidating a subsidiary, transferring assets to a newly formed controlled…
PLR 200137035: Buyer and sellers receive more time for section 338(h)(10) election
A corporate buyer acquired the stock of an S corporation from individual sellers. Both sides intended to elect under § 338(h)(10) to treat the stock purchase as an asset acquisition, but they missed…
PLR 200137034: Late S corporation election treated as timely for first tax year
A newly incorporated company intended to be an S corporation from its first tax year and filed an S corporation return, but it missed the Form 2553 election deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause…
CCA 200137033: Mortgage interest deduction limited to principal and one other residence
A married couple claimed interest deductions on two homes while living in a third residence provided through a job. Chief Counsel said they could deduct qualified interest for their principal…
PLR 200137032: Cooperative apartment interest is like kind to deed for the same unit
A corporation held a cooperative apartment through shares in the housing corporation and a long-term proprietary lease. It planned to exchange that interest for a condominium deed to the same…
PLR 200137031: Estate settlement proceeds excluded as inheritance
A couple had promised to leave their business to a manager's wife in return for his work at reduced pay. After the surviving owner sold the business, the wife sued over the promised inheritance and…
PLR 200137030: Expatriation found to lack a principal tax avoidance purpose
A former U.S. citizen asked the IRS to find that her loss of citizenship did not have a principal purpose of avoiding U.S. taxes. Her net worth exceeded the threshold for a tax avoidance…
PLR 200137029: Expatriation tax presumption rebutted, actual purpose unresolved
A dual citizen who had lived outside the United States since infancy planned to relinquish her U.S. citizenship. Her net worth exceeded the threshold that would normally presume a tax avoidance…
CCA 200137028: Vacant low-income housing unit rule applies across the project
Chief Counsel explained how vacant low-income housing units continue to count toward a project's tax credit requirements. The vacant unit rule applies across the whole project, so owners must make…
PLR 200137027: S corporation receives more time to elect QSub status for four subsidiaries
An S corporation acquired all the stock of four subsidiaries and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary, or QSub, status for each one. The elections were never filed. The IRS found that…
CCA 200137026: Food producer's support assets belong in seven-year depreciation classes
Chief Counsel reviewed a proposed closing agreement that classified a food producer's distribution center, product-testing kitchen, and employee wellness center assets as five-year property. It…
PLR 200137025: More time granted for dual consolidated loss filings
A consolidated corporate group missed deadlines to file agreements and an annual certification relating to losses of dual resident subsidiaries and foreign branches. The group requested relief…
PLR 200137024: Historic certification application treated as timely for rehabilitation credit
A property owner rehabilitated a building and intended to claim the historic rehabilitation credit. The owner missed the requirement to request historic status certification from the Department of…
CCA 200137023: Government product certificate may be amortizable, but costs need review
A manufacturer obtained a government certificate for a new product and asked which certification costs could be amortized under § 197. Chief Counsel said the certificate would be a…
PLR 200137022: Spouse's renunciation affects one severed marital trust, with net gift treatment
After a decedent's marital trust was divided into separate trusts, the surviving spouse proposed to renounce her interests in one nonexempt marital trust and the residuary trust. The IRS ruled that…
CCA 200137021: Refund of an erroneous trust fund penalty is limited to recent payments
The IRS assessed a trust fund recovery penalty against a taxpayer who later showed she was not responsible for the unpaid taxes. She had made several payments but filed her refund claim within two…
PLR 200137020: Active rental services keep a company's rents out of S corporation passive income
A company that owns commercial real estate asked whether rent from its properties would count as passive investment income under the S corporation rules. It represented that it manages the…
PLR 200137019: Split-off of a subsidiary lets shareholders separate two businesses without immediate gain
Shareholders of a parent company wanted to separate two operating businesses because of differences in management and business focus. The parent proposed to distribute all the stock of its…
CCA 200137018: One spouse's breach does not end the other's tax compromise
Former spouses had compromised their joint tax liabilities, but the IRS terminated the agreement after one spouse failed to meet its future filing and payment condition. The other spouse had paid…
PLR 200137017: Late S corporation election receives relief for reasonable cause
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 late filing and…
CCA 200137016: ESOP dividends allocable to self-constructed assets must be capitalized
A utility company deducted cash dividends paid on stock held by its employee stock ownership plan while constructing assets for its own use. It capitalized some labor and benefit costs but none of…
PLR 200137015: Corporation may file a late S election after showing reasonable cause
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the year the company was incorporated, and the company filed an S corporation tax return. The election itself was not timely…
PLR 200137014: Sales-based licensing royalties are currently deductible franchise payments
A company planned to license technology and trademarks for the exclusive manufacture and sale of products in a specified territory. Its royalties would be calculated as percentages of net sales and…
PLR 200137013: Limited technology license payments are currently deductible
A company planned to pay sales-based royalties for rights to use a licensor's technology in a defined territory. The agreement limited the term and sublicensing rights, and the licensor retained…
PLR 200137012: Late consolidated return election receives conditional filing extension
A parent and its foreign insurance subsidiary missed the deadline for an election to file a consolidated federal income tax return. They also sought a separate extension for the subsidiary's…
PLR 200137011: Business separation qualifies as a Type D reorganization with a split-off and spin-off
A public company planned to separate one business into a controlled company so that each could pursue its own financing and operations. The plan involved transferring assets to the controlled…
CCA 200137010: Assessment during bankruptcy was premature while Tax Court deadline was suspended
The IRS sent a deficiency notice during a taxpayer's Chapter 11 bankruptcy case and assessed the tax before that case ended. Chief Counsel advised that the bankruptcy stay prevented a Tax Court…
PLR 200137009: Late tax year change application treated as timely filed
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 late to request a change from a December 31 tax year to a September 30 tax year. The filing was within 90 days of its deadline, and the taxpayer attributed the delay to an…
PLR 200137008: Late application for an August tax year is treated as timely
A taxpayer asked to change from a December 31 to an August 31 tax year, but filed Form 1128 after its deadline because of an error or misunderstanding. The form arrived within 90 days of that…
PLR 200137007: Late application to retain a September tax year is treated as timely
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 late to request permission to retain a September 30 tax year. The form was filed within 90 days of its due date. The IRS found that the taxpayer acted reasonably and in…
CCA 200137006: State tuition awards affect education credits when excluded from income
Chief Counsel analyzed Louisiana's Tuition Opportunity Program for Students awards under the scholarship exclusion and education credit rules then in effect. It advised that a student who excludes…
CCA 200137005: Intermediary foreign company loans may be disregarded under substance over form
A domestic corporate group routed a loan from one domestic subsidiary to another through two controlled foreign corporations. It treated the final loan as a foreign corporation's investment in U.S.…
CCA 200137004: Amended bond definition applies throughout the empowerment zone provision
Congress amended the definition of an empowerment zone facility bond in § 1394(f)(3) but left the word “new” in two related provisions. Chief Counsel advised that the amended definition still…
CCA 200137003: Sale after two years does not undo related-party like-kind exchange treatment
A partnership exchanged one parcel of real estate for another with a related S corporation. More than two years later, the partnership sold the replacement parcel to a charity. Chief Counsel advised…
CCA 200137002: Private plane travel deduction turns on reasonableness of the payments
A personal service corporation paid a related company for an employee's business travel on privately owned airplanes. Chief Counsel advised that the service corporation's payments should be tested…
CCA 200137001: IRS may process an offer under earlier compliance criteria with approval
An operating corporation submitted an offer to compromise employment taxes while the IRS required it to be current on recent filing and payments. Before the corporation completed the requested…
PLR 200136023: Integrated mergers count toward control for a partnership's property contribution
A new corporation combined a public company's business with property contributed by a partnership through a merger, contribution, and planned upstream merger. The partnership alone would own less…
PLR 200136022: Integrated mergers count toward control for a partnership's property contribution
A new corporation combined a public company's business with property contributed by a partnership through a merger, contribution, and planned upstream merger. The partnership alone would own less…
PLR 200136021: Extension granted to correct a dual consolidated loss certification
A consolidated group filed annual elections for an entity's dual consolidated losses, but a later certification omitted one prior year's loss. The omission came to light while the IRS reviewed a…
PLR 200136020: Extension granted to file dual consolidated loss agreements for seven years
A corporate group's foreign branch incurred dual consolidated losses in seven tax years. A later corporate transaction triggered a filing requirement for agreements relating to those losses, but the…
PLR 200136019: Crew services on a foreign-registered cruise vessel are excluded from specified employment taxes
A company operated a foreign-registered cruise vessel from a U.S. port, making local cruises and monthly trips to another country. It asked whether crew services were “employment” for federal Social…
PLR 200136018: Parent receives time to file missing subsidiary consents for a consolidated return
A parent and five subsidiaries intended to file a consolidated income tax return, but their first return and the subsidiaries' Forms 1122 were filed late. They relied on a tax professional to make…
PLR 200136017: Late S election receives relief with a possible fiscal year election
A corporation intended to elect S status and use a fiscal tax year, but its Form 2553 did not make a backup § 444 election or agree to a calendar year if its business purpose request failed. The IRS…
PLR 200136016: Inadvertent S termination relief after trusts missed ESBT elections
A shareholder transferred S corporation stock to trusts whose trustees did not timely elect electing small business trust status. The IRS concluded that the transfers terminated the company's S…
PLR 200136015: Reasonable cause permits a late first-year S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended it to be an S corporation for its first tax year, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. Correspondence between the company's accountant and president…
PLR 200136014: First-year S election may be filed late after reasonable cause showing
A corporation intended S corporation treatment for its first tax year but never filed Form 2553. Its directors' written consent showed that intent, and the company filed an S corporation return for…
PLR 200136013: Combination of two investment fund series qualifies as a Type D reorganization
Two series of the same investment fund planned to combine. One series would transfer substantially all its assets to the other for voting shares and assumption of liabilities, then distribute those…
PLR 200136012: Combination of two investment fund series qualifies as a Type D reorganization
Two series of the same investment fund planned to combine. One series would transfer substantially all its assets to the other for voting shares and assumption of liabilities, then distribute those…
PLR 200136011: State spaceflight authority is an integral part of the state
A state created an authority to promote commercial spaceflight and help develop a flight center. State officials controlled its board, the authority reported to the governor and legislature, and the…
CCA 200136010: Credit card receivable acquisition costs must be capitalized
A bank bought credit card accounts and receivables, moved account records into its system, and used a trust to obtain financing backed by the receivables. Chief Counsel advised that the costs of…
CCA 200136009: Potential transferee liability after an intermediary stock and asset sale
A corporation's shareholders sought to sell its stock, while the buyer wanted its assets. An intermediary arranged a stock purchase followed almost immediately by an asset sale, then caused 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.