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 200130023: Retired former resident's expatriation lacked a principal tax-avoidance purpose
A retired former U.S. long-term resident surrendered his Green Card after returning to the country of his birth. His net worth exceeded the threshold that could trigger a tax-avoidance presumption…
PLR 200130022: Active commercial property rents are not passive investment income
A C corporation that rented commercial real estate sought a ruling before electing S corporation status. It employed people and contractors to maintain the buildings, handle tenants, arrange…
PLR 200130021: First-year S corporation election treated as timely after reasonable cause finding
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its first taxable year, as shown by its board's written consent, but no Form 2553 was filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 200130020: Inadvertent missing trust elections receive conditional S corporation relief
A corporation filed its S election on time, but its three trust shareholders' beneficiaries did not make required qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) elections. The IRS found the corporation's S…
PLR 200130019: Citizenship renunciation rebuts presumption but tax purpose remains undecided
A U.S. citizen who had lived abroad since early childhood planned to relinquish his citizenship and become a citizen of the country where his spouse and parents were born. His expected net worth…
PLR 200130018: Parent gets more time to elect QSub status for two subsidiaries
An S corporation acquired all the stock of two subsidiaries and intended to treat them as qualified subchapter S subsidiaries (QSubs). It filed returns as if the QSub elections had been made, but…
PLR 200130017: Managed property rents are active income for the S election test
A C corporation owned, rented, and managed properties and sought a ruling before electing S corporation status. Its employees and contractors performed leasing and management work, while the…
PLR 200130016: Inadvertent S election termination waived after trust transfers stock
After an S corporation shareholder died, a trust continued holding the stock beyond the two-year period during which it was an eligible shareholder. The IRS found that the S election terminated when…
PLR 200130015: Future vacation cashout election is taxed when payment becomes available
A municipality's plan let eligible employees make advance, irrevocable elections to receive cash for vacation leave they would earn in a future year. The IRS ruled that merely having the option to…
PLR 200130014: Four funds may revoke special excise tax distribution elections
Four regulated investment funds had elected to use their December tax year end instead of October 31 when calculating required distributions for the IRC § 4982 excise tax. They said the election…
PLR 200130013: Renunciation rebuts tax-avoidance presumption but purpose is undecided
A person born and raised abroad held U.S. citizenship through a parent and later renounced it after returning to the birth country. The IRS found the person's request complete and made in good faith…
CCA 200130012: Identify the proper refund recipient and waiver signer after group mergers
A consolidated corporate group changed common parents and later underwent another merger. Chief Counsel advised that the new parent had validly filed amended returns on behalf of the former parent…
PLR 200130011: Controlled group gets more time for a section 382 value-restoration election
A parent and ten first-tier subsidiaries missed the regulatory deadline to elect to restore value among controlled group members for purposes of the IRC § 382 loss limitation. The IRS found that…
CCA 200130010: Stock-linked instruments remain straddle positions under alternative characterizations
Chief Counsel revisited an earlier analysis of financial instruments linked to a company's common stock. The instruments could be viewed as cash-settled option collars or as single instruments…
CCA 200130009: Mortgage securitization sold part of bank's loan interests
A bank transferred subordinated mortgage loans to a trust that issued several classes of notes and other instruments. The bank retained the junior instruments and servicing rights while outside…
PLR 200130008: Unfunded incentive shares do not create a second S corporation stock class
An S corporation promised an employee bonus and retirement payments measured by bookkeeping “Incentive Shares,” which carried no voting, transfer, or ownership rights. The IRS ruled that issuing…
CCA 200130007: Shipping subsidiaries may use only a matching parent deficit under the chain deficit rule
A domestic shipping group asked whether foreign shipping subsidiaries could offset their foreign base company shipping income with deficits of a foreign holding company above them. Chief Counsel…
PLR 200130006: Historic rehabilitation owner gets more time for progress expenditure election
A property owner incurred historic rehabilitation costs but, following an accountant's advice, did not elect to claim the rehabilitation credit as progress expenditures in the years incurred. The…
PLR 200130005: Line-of-duty survivor benefits are excluded after plan amendment
A firefighter's surviving spouse received plan benefits after his death in the line of duty. The plan's original death benefit covered deaths outside employment as well, so those earlier payments…
PLR 200130004: Parent receives more time to file allowed loss statement for subsidiary sale
A consolidated group's parent sold its subsidiary stock and claimed a loss but missed the required statement of allowed loss under Treas. Reg. § 1.1502-20(c)(3). The IRS found that the parent acted…
PLR 200130003: Director overlap and stock repurchases leave spin-off ruling intact
After a corporate spin-off, unexpected management changes produced overlapping directors and a temporary employment link between the two public companies. The spun-off company also proposed stock…
CCA 200130002: Sale of a television show produces capital and ordinary income by asset
Related companies sold assets used to produce and distribute a television show, including equipment, contracts, licensing rights, and going concern value. Chief Counsel advised classifying each…
TAM 200130001: Failed intermediary requirements make property transfers taxable sales
A married couple sold three properties and acquired interests in a replacement property through an accommodator, claiming deferred like-kind exchange treatment. The IRS found that purchasers of the…
PLR 200129041: Foundation grant for public library project avoids self-dealing and expenditure tax
A private foundation proposed a grant to a community trust for a public library project. The project involved a library renovation, a parking garage, a for-profit financing company, and nearby…
PLR 200129040: Extra time granted to reverse an ineligible Roth IRA conversion
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA in 1998 even though the couple's income exceeded the conversion limit. She later discovered that she had missed the deadline to recharacterize…
PLR 200129039: Payroll deductions for government pension service credit qualify as employer contributions
A governmental pension plan let employees repay withdrawn contributions or purchase additional service credit through payroll deductions. The employer would adopt a resolution, and each employee…
PLR 200129038: Municipality's pension contributions qualify for employer pick-up treatment
A municipality adopted an ordinance to pay mandatory employee pension contributions to its retirement plan. Employees could not choose to receive the amounts directly, and the ordinance had to take…
PLR 200129037: State agency pension contributions qualify as employer pick-ups
A state agency agreed by resolution to pay mandatory employee contributions to a qualified retirement plan. Employees could not take the amounts in cash instead. The IRS ruled that the contributions…
PLR 200129036: Surviving spouse may roll inherited IRA proceeds through estate into her own IRA
An IRA owner died without naming a beneficiary, making his estate the account beneficiary. His surviving spouse was the estate's sole personal representative and, under the stated intestacy facts,…
PLR 200129035: Late S corporation election allowed after Form 2553 was omitted
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from its first taxable year and filed an S corporation tax return, but the corporation did not file Form 2553 for that year. The IRS…
PLR 200129034: Extra time granted to file a section 338(h)(10) stock purchase election
A purchaser bought all the stock of an S corporation, and the purchaser and sellers intended to elect asset sale treatment under IRC § 338(h)(10). They missed the election deadline despite relying…
PLR 200129033: Late S corporation election treated as effective from incorporation
A corporation's shareholders wanted S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief…
PLR 200129032: Dropping planned public offering leaves prior spin-off rulings intact
A taxpayer had previously received rulings concerning a proposed corporate distribution under IRC §§ 355 and 368. The earlier request had said the controlled company would pursue a public offering…
PLR 200129031: S corporation status restored after trust missed shareholder election
An S corporation issued shares to a trust whose trustees failed to make a timely electing small business trust election. That lapse terminated the corporation's S election when the trust became a…
PLR 200129030: Shareholder split-off qualifies as a tax-free reorganization
Shareholders disagreed over the management of a corporation's business. The corporation proposed to transfer part of that business to a new company and distribute the new company's stock to two…
PLR 200129029: Business separation and foreign restructurings receive specified tax treatment
A public company proposed to separate two business lines by moving one into a new subsidiary and distributing that subsidiary's stock to its shareholders. The plan also included domestic subsidiary…
PLR 200129028: Late S corporation and subsidiary elections receive filing relief
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status and to treat two wholly owned subsidiaries as qualified subchapter S subsidiaries from the date they were formed. The elections were late, and…
PLR 200129027: Late S corporation election receives relief for intended effective date
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status from a specified date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and ruled under…
PLR 200129026: Late S corporation and five subsidiary elections receive filing relief
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status and to treat five wholly owned subsidiaries as qualified subchapter S subsidiaries from the date they were formed. The elections were late, and…
PLR 200129025: Utility receives revised nuclear decommissioning funding schedule
An electric utility sought a revised schedule for payments to its nuclear plant decommissioning fund after a regulator changed the date the plant would leave its rate base. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200129024: Subsidiary liquidation and merger steps receive limited rulings
A public company planned to sell several business lines, liquidate a subsidiary into a disregarded limited liability company, and merge into another disregarded company owned by a new holding…
PLR 200129023: Distribution of two subsidiaries' stock receives spin-off treatment
A corporate parent owned a subsidiary that operated one business and held two subsidiaries operating another. Regulatory rules limited cash distributions from the operating subsidiaries through the…
PLR 200129022: Late S corporation election receives reasonable-cause relief
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status when it was formed, but it did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and granted relief under IRC…
PLR 200129021: Business-sale gain counts toward an S corporation's required payment
An S corporation elected a taxable year different from its required taxable year and sold a substantial part of its business. It asked the IRS to exclude the resulting gain when calculating its…
PLR 200129020: IRS approves revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule
A utility with a leasehold interest in a nuclear plant requested a revised schedule of amounts it could pay into a nuclear decommissioning fund. Under IRC § 468A, deductible payments are limited by…
PLR 200129019: IRS approves revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule
A utility with a leasehold interest in a nuclear plant requested a revised schedule of amounts it could pay into a nuclear decommissioning fund. Under IRC § 468A, deductible payments are limited by…
PLR 200129018: Business transfers do not accelerate estate tax installments
An estate had elected to pay estate tax attributable to a closely held land business in installments under IRC § 6166. Two related trusts planned to contribute their business interests to a limited…
PLR 200129017: Foreign company gets more time to elect partnership status
A foreign limited liability company with three individual owners agreed to elect partnership classification for U.S. tax purposes before its owners transferred their interests to a U.S. limited…
PLR 200129016: Executive pay deduction cap does not apply to foreign issuer's group
A foreign public company with U.S. subsidiaries asked whether the executive compensation deduction limit in IRC § 162(m) applied to its affiliated group. The company said it filed Form 20-F as a…
PLR 200129015: Transit contractor's captive insurer qualifies under section 115
A nonprofit contractor that operated public transit services created a captive insurer to cover its workers' compensation and liability risks. The contractor's own income had already been ruled…
PLR 200129014: Federal agency's dental assistant is an employee
A federal agency sought a ruling on the employment tax status of a dental assistant who served its clients. The agency set her hours and supplied the workplace and tools, while its staff dentist…
PLR 200129013: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved with five-year limit
A utility that owned an interest in a nuclear plant requested a revised schedule of deductible payments to its decommissioning fund. Two public utility commissions set rates for the plant, so the…
PLR 200129012: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved with five-year limit
A utility that held direct and leasehold interests in a nuclear plant requested a revised schedule of deductible payments to its decommissioning fund. Two public utility commissions set rates for…
CCA 200129011: Bond counsel penalty can proceed without completed bond audit
IRS field counsel asked whether the agency could pursue an IRC § 6700 penalty against bond counsel after closing its audit of municipal mortgage revenue bonds. National Office counsel advised that…
CCA 200129010: Spouse's missing financial information may justify rejecting tax settlement offer
An IRS office asked whether it could reject a taxpayer's offer in compromise partly because his spouse, who owed none of the tax, refused to provide her financial information. The spouse shared…
CCA 200129009: Parent's interest deduction depends on purpose of borrowing for insurer
A holding company borrowed money and contributed capital to an insurance subsidiary that held tax-exempt bonds. IRS field counsel asked whether IRC § 265(a)(2) barred the parent's interest…
CCA 200129008: Worker classification relief is tested for each employer separately
A healthcare group asked how Section 530 employment tax relief applied after it acquired subsidiaries whose physicians and nurses could choose employee or contractor status. Chief Counsel advised…
PLR 200129007: Business separation qualifies as tax-free divisive reorganization
A corporation moved one of its two active businesses into a new subsidiary and planned to distribute the subsidiary's stock to participating shareholders in exchange for some of their parent-company…
PLR 200129006: Later unsolicited acquisition leaves earlier spin-off rulings intact
A corporation had distributed the stock of a controlled company in a transaction covered by two earlier IRS ruling letters. More than two years later, a buyer made an unsolicited cash offer for the…
PLR 200129005: Revised decommissioning fund schedule reflects change in plant rate base
A utility requested a revised schedule for deductible payments to its nuclear decommissioning fund after a regulator changed when the plant would leave the utility's rate base. The IRS approved 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.