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 200133010: Parent gets 30 days to make a late consolidated-return election
A newly formed parent and its subsidiaries intended to file a consolidated federal income tax return, but the election was not filed by the regulatory deadline. The group filed its return as though…
CCA 200133009: Retired pilot's payments were subject to FICA and FUTA
A corporation received retirement-related payments from a pilot association and passed amounts to its sole shareholder, a retired pilot. The corporation treated the payments as exempt from…
PLR 200133008: Internet network access lines are outside the communications excise tax
A company built communication networks and sold internet service providers access to those networks. It bought primary rate interface lines connecting local exchange carriers to its modem bank, plus…
CCA 200133006: Claimed losses from lease stripping transactions faced multiple disallowance theories
A corporate group transferred interests tied to lease stripping transactions into a subsidiary in exchange for preferred stock, then the subsidiary sold the interests six days later and claimed…
CCA 200133005: Some old liabilities could support a ten-year NOL carryback
A corporation with a net operating loss asked whether seven categories of expenses qualified as specified liability losses under section 172(f)(1)(B), which can allow a ten-year carryback. Chief…
CCA 200133004: Mitigation rules could permit assessment after carryover losses are reduced
A taxpayer used net operating loss, passive activity loss, charitable contribution, and business credit carryovers to eliminate tax in an open year and then used the remaining carryovers in a later…
CCA 200133003: Partnership allocations required more factual development
A partnership that leased depreciable assets used special allocations that front-loaded deductions to domestic investors and allocated later income differently. Chief Counsel analyzed whether those…
PLR 200133002: Trust division preserved tax treatment for three family trusts
A trust for a child and the child's descendants was to be divided at the child's death into three separate trusts, one for each of the child's adult children. Each successor trust would receive a…
CCA 200133001: Exempt years did not increase basis, but allowable amortization still reduced it
A formerly tax-exempt organization included accrued but uncollected interest in the basis of foreclosed mortgage properties and claimed larger bad debt losses after it became taxable. Chief Counsel…
PLR 200132043: Hotel sales allowed 401(k) distributions after employee separation
A controlled group sponsored a qualified profit-sharing plan with a cash or deferred arrangement for employees of two hotel management companies. One hotel was transferred to a lender in lieu of…
PLR 200132042: Excess benefit plan will not affect the pension trust's status
Employers participating in a qualified multiemployer defined benefit pension plan proposed a separate, nonqualified excess benefit plan for selected employees. The excess plan would provide benefits…
PLR 200132041: Foundation’s Phase I set-aside qualifies as a distribution
A private foundation asked whether it could treat money set aside for Phase I improvements to property it owned as a qualifying distribution. The projects included environmental preservation, public…
PLR 200132040: Charitable organization’s subsidiary receives favorable tax treatment
A tax-exempt organization that promoted economic development formed a wholly owned for-profit subsidiary to serve as the general partner of a venture capital limited partnership. The organization…
PLR 200132039: Health system combination preserves exemption and avoids unrelated trade treatment
Several nonprofit hospitals and supporting organizations proposed combining two health care systems under a new overall parent corporation. The new parent would control strategic, financial, and…
PLR 200132038: Six month extension granted to recharacterize an ineligible Roth IRA conversion
A married taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA despite having income above the applicable conversion limit. The taxpayer and spouse had not been advised of the eligibility problem or…
PLR 200132037: Foundation settlement with disqualified persons avoids self-dealing and taxable expenditures
A private foundation and related beneficiaries sought rulings on a court-approved settlement involving estate and trust assets. The settlement divided the assets between the foundation and the…
CCA 200132036: Successors should sign consents extending corporate assessment periods
Chief Counsel advised an IRS field office on who should sign Forms 872 extending the assessment period for corporations that had merged. The available facts did not show whether a reverse…
CCA 200132035: Property tax abatements for municipal work are income and wages
A state program allowed senior citizens to work for municipalities in exchange for reductions in their property tax bills. Chief Counsel advised that the abatements were federal income equal to the…
CCA 200132034: IRS may reverse a mistaken tax refund offset to relieve hardship
A taxpayer sought a hardship refund of an overpayment despite owing tax for an earlier year. While considering the request, the IRS prematurely applied the overpayment to that debt because it failed…
PLR 200132033: Mutual insurer conversion qualifies as a recapitalization
A mutual insurance company planned to convert to stock ownership while joining an insurance holding group. The IRS ruled that the conversion was a recapitalization under § 368(a)(1)(E), assuming…
PLR 200132032: Irish insurer's qualifying premiums receive treaty excise tax exemption
An Irish insurance and reinsurance company asked whether premiums on U.S. risks qualified for exemption from the federal excise tax on foreign insurance. The IRS concluded that the company’s active…
PLR 200132031: Nuclear spent fuel storage costs may be paid from decommissioning fund
A utility planned to store spent nuclear fuel at an on-site installation until a permanent repository could accept it. It asked whether its nuclear decommissioning fund could pay for the…
PLR 200132030: Thirty day extension granted for joint section 338(h)(10) election
A buyer and seller intended to make a joint § 338(h)(10) election for the buyer’s purchase of a subsidiary and its affiliates, but a valid election was not filed by the deadline. They had filed…
CCA 200132029: Late foreign transfer report appears to lack reasonable cause
A domestic corporation exchanged stock for shares of a foreign corporation in a reorganization but did not attach Form 926 to the return for the transfer year. It reported the gain and filed the…
PLR 200132028: Foreign entity receives extra time for corporate classification election
A foreign unlimited liability company intended to elect corporate tax classification effective when its interests were acquired, but it failed to file Form 8832. The IRS found that the submitted…
PLR 200132027: Additional time granted to file dual resident loss agreement
A corporation’s foreign branch had losses in seven tax years, and a later group transaction triggered a filing requirement under the dual resident corporation rules. The new parent filed a statement…
PLR 200132026: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from its first stated taxable year, but it did not file its S election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and…
PLR 200132025: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation with two shareholders intended to elect S corporation status from a stated taxable year but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause and agreed to treat the election…
PLR 200132024: Nuclear plant sale preserves qualified fund and recognizes assumed liability
A utility sold its interest in a nuclear plant, transferred a qualified decommissioning fund to the buyer, and had the buyer assume its decommissioning obligation. The IRS exercised its regulatory…
PLR 200132023: Additional time granted for personal holding company consent dividend
A group financing subsidiary sought to make a consent dividend election for an earlier personal holding company tax year. Its advisers had overlooked the rule that barred a charitable contribution…
PLR 200132022: Nuclear decommissioning funds retain tax treatment in utility restructuring
A utility planned to transfer six nuclear plant interests and their qualified decommissioning funds to a wholly owned company during a restructuring. The IRS ruled that the fund transfers would not…
PLR 200132021: Former resident rebuts expatriation tax avoidance presumption
A former U.S. long-term resident surrendered his green card and returned to his birth country, where his worldwide income would be taxed. His net worth exceeded the threshold that created a…
PLR 200132020: Nuclear decommissioning funds retain status through separation plan
A utility’s separation plan would move six nuclear plant interests and their qualified decommissioning funds through related companies to a new owner. The IRS ruled that the qualified funds would…
PLR 200132019: Revised decommissioning contribution schedule after plant sale
A utility requested a revised schedule of deductible contributions to its nuclear decommissioning fund after selling its plant. The IRS approved the proposed schedule under § 468A, using the…
PLR 200132018: Former resident rebuts expatriation tax presumption
A former long-term U.S. resident planned to surrender his green card after retiring to his birth country, where he would be taxed on worldwide income. His net worth exceeded the threshold that…
PLR 200132017: Research revenue can allocate mixed use bond financed facilities
A university medical school planned to finance research facilities partly with bonds issued for a charitable organization. Both qualifying research and research treated as private business use would…
PLR 200132016: Court approved trust settlement preserves GST exemption
A dispute over a descendant's right to benefit from an older testamentary trust led to a court approved settlement and a separate trust for that descendant's share. The original trust had become…
PLR 200132015: Partitioned family trust retains GST exemption
A family settled a dispute over whether a child was entitled to benefit from a son's share of an irrevocable trust. The court approved a settlement giving the child and her descendants a reduced…
PLR 200132014: Subsidiary mergers preserve deferred subscription income
A publishing company planned to merge four wholly owned subsidiaries into itself and move related publications into single owner LLCs that would be disregarded for tax purposes. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200132013: Extra time to report surviving spouse's U.S. citizenship
A surviving spouse became a U.S. citizen after a qualified domestic trust had been established, but the trust's U.S. trustee learned of the citizenship indirectly and filed the required IRS notice…
PLR 200132012: Late S corporation election treated as timely if filed within 60 days
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status when it began operations and filed an S corporation tax return, but did not make a timely election. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 200132011: Late S corporation election allowed with timely Form 2553 filing
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date, and the corporation filed S corporation returns, but its Form 2553 was filed late. The IRS found…
PLR 200132010: Merging diversified common trust funds causes no fund gain or loss
A bank proposed to merge two pairs of common trust funds that it maintained after a bank acquisition. The IRS found that the merging funds and the resulting funds met the required portfolio…
CCA 200132009: Partnership sale caused termination, but one return started assessment period
Chief Counsel advised that a sale of a partnership interest triggered a technical termination under the version of § 708 then applicable, even though the buyer was an entity owned by a related…
PLR 200132008: Shares assigned to shareholder trusts excluded from REIT ownership tests
A real estate investment trust expected to receive stock in a tenant emerging from bankruptcy in exchange for rent concessions. If the stock award reached the 10 percent ownership threshold, the…
PLR 200132007: Foreign parent stock merger qualifies as reorganization
A foreign corporation proposed to acquire a U.S. target through a new merger subsidiary, paying target shareholders with its stock, cash, or both. The IRS ruled that the merger would qualify as a…
TAM 200132006: Retrospective insurance debits belong in gross written premiums
A property and casualty insurer used an accrual method for estimated retrospective premium adjustments on policies that had not fully expired. The IRS advised that § 832(b)(4) instead required a…
PLR 200132005: REIT gets extra time to elect built in gain treatment
A corporation became a real estate investment trust after holding appreciated assets as a C corporation. It missed the deadline to elect the § 1374 rules for built in gain instead of recognizing…
TAM 200132004: Estate settlement lacks marital deduction; tort claim needs fact review
An estate agreed to pay a longtime companion who claimed both a surviving spouse's share and damages for alleged emotional distress. The IRS advised that the settlement payment did not qualify for…
CCA 200132003: Counsel concurs with related party information penalty adjustment
Three U.S. companies claimed interest deductions from transactions with a foreign company while denying that it was a related party. Chief Counsel found enough evidence of common practical control,…
CCA 200132002: Courier drivers' vehicle payments fail accountable plan rules
A courier company divided its employee drivers' commissions between wages and amounts it called vehicle rental or expense reimbursements. It did not require drivers to document mileage or vehicle…
CCA 200132001: Surviving parent signs consolidated group assessment extensions
A corporation had filed consolidated returns as a common parent, changed its name, and later survived another merger. Chief Counsel advised that the surviving corporation remained the proper agent…
PLR 200131035: IRA payment method qualifies for substantially equal periodic payments
An individual planned to retire at age 52 and begin annual distributions from three IRAs. The proposed amount would amortize the combined December 31, 2000 balances over the joint and last survivor…
PLR 200131034: Pension surplus reversion does not create unrelated business income
A tax exempt foundation proposed to terminate an overfunded defined benefit pension plan and use part of the surplus for its charitable purposes. It also planned to transfer some excess assets to a…
PLR 200131033: Children may use older child's life expectancy for inherited IRA distributions
An IRA owner died after required distributions had begun, naming a revocable trust as IRA beneficiary. His spouse had died earlier, leaving two adult children as the trust's beneficiaries. The IRS…
PLR 200131032: Younger child may use older sibling's life expectancy for inherited IRA distributions
An IRA owner died after required distributions had begun, leaving the account to a revocable trust for his two adult children. The IRS treated the trust as a qualifying look through trust under the…
PLR 200131031: Foundation's employee child scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for children of a company's employees. An independent committee would select recipients using objective standards unrelated to the company's business. The…
PLR 200131030: Scholarship procedures for employees' children approved
A private foundation sought advance approval of a scholarship program for children of a company's employees. The foundation represented that an independent committee would choose recipients using…
CCA 200131029: Counsel review of offers in compromise separates law from policy
Chief Counsel explained new procedures for reviewing IRS offers in compromise under § 7122. Counsel would sign an offer acceptance report when the proposed compromise was legally authorized, even if…
CCA 200131028: Holding period after life insurer demutualization
Chief Counsel addressed the holding period for stock or cash received when a mutual life insurer converted to a stock company. If the stock exchange qualified as a tax free reorganization, a…
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.