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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TAM 200128005: Estate deducts direct municipal payment from will contest settlement
A decedent's will and trust created disputed interests for family members and a cemetery association. The original family grave flower bequest and charitable remainder interest did not qualify for…
CCA 200128004: Criminal concealment does not itself bar commission deductions
A defense contractor paid commissions to foreign agents and later pleaded guilty to offenses involving concealment and false descriptions of the payments. Examiners asked whether IRC § 162(c)(2)…
TAM 200128003: Excise tax added to LIFO costs without revaluing older layers
A manufacturer had excluded federal excise taxes from its dollar value LIFO inventory calculations and sought to change its accounting method. The IRS advised that § 263A required those taxes to be…
PLR 200128002: Bond issuer receives extension for volume cap carryforward election
A state bond issuer received an allocation of unused private activity bond volume cap for a multifamily housing financing. Confusion among its counsel caused the issuer to miss the Form 8328…
CCA 200128001: Bankruptcy plan trust transfer can create gain and canceled debt income
Chief Counsel reviewed a Chapter 11 plan that would transfer a liquidating debtor's assets into a trust for creditors. The memorandum advised that the transfer would be treated as a taxable…
PLR 200127056: Pension plan receives conditional minimum funding waiver
A company sought relief from the minimum funding standard for its defined benefit pension plan for the 2000 plan year. The company had negative working capital, net worth, and earnings, and plan…
PLR 200127055: Pension settlement subfund treated as part of qualified plans
A class action over alleged pension benefit calculation errors ended in a settlement funded from two retirement plans. A subfund held money for former participants whose benefits would be increased.…
PLR 200127054: Extra time to reinvest plan stock sale proceeds
A retirement plan tendered shares of its sponsor's stock in a merger and received cash and shares of the acquiring company's stock. Its trustee needed to reinvest the cash in the new company stock…
PLR 200127053: Distributions to employees after transfer of claims contracts
A company ended two contracts that made up its claims processing unit. Employees who moved to unrelated replacement contractors remained in the company's 401(k) plan. The IRS ruled that employees…
PLR 200127052: Hospital sale and conversion to community supporting organization
A tax exempt hospital sold its operating assets to another charitable organization and planned to use the proceeds for community health programs. The IRS ruled that the sale was consistent with the…
PLR 200127051: Private foundation may transfer assets to successor corporation
A charitable trust proposed transferring all its cash and investments to a private foundation organized as a corporation. The same people controlled both foundations, and the corporation would…
PLR 200127050: IRS approves private foundation scholarship grant procedures
A private foundation requested advance approval for a scholarship grant program administered by a publicly supported charity. The charity would select recipients using academic and extracurricular…
PLR 200127049: Governmental plan contributions qualify for employer pick-up treatment
A governmental retirement system asked how mandatory employee contributions and payments to buy service credit would be taxed under its defined contribution plan. The IRS ruled that mandatory…
PLR 200127048: Scholarship grants approved with aggregate program test
A private foundation sought advance approval for scholarships administered by a publicly supported charity. The charity would select students using academic and extracurricular criteria, confirm…
PLR 200127047: Trust fails the ten or more employer plan exception
A trust provided death and severance benefits for employees of participating employers and sought treatment as a welfare benefit fund under the ten or more employer plan exception in IRC §…
IRS collection bulletin 200127046: Case notes and Chief Counsel advice
This May 2001 Collection, Bankruptcy and Summonses Bulletin combines short case reports with previously released Chief Counsel advice. Its lead case note explains why tax lien priority rules did not…
CCA 200127045: Protest returns and added words near the perjury declaration
A service center asked whether Forms 1040 filled with zeros and tax protest materials counted as returns, and whether a “Without prejudice U.C.C. 1-207” stamp above the perjury declaration made them…
CCA 200127044: Earlier equipment donation can count toward academy bond requirement
A local government planned qualified zone academy bonds after a private entity donated computers to the academy. Chief Counsel considered whether that earlier donation could count toward the private…
CCA 200127043: One information return cannot draw two section 6721 penalties
Chief Counsel was asked whether the IRS could assess both an ordinary information return penalty and the higher intentional disregard penalty for the same violation. It advised that IRC § 6721…
PLR 200127042: Reformed insurance trust proceeds excluded from surviving spouse's estate
A spouse sought estate tax guidance for an irrevocable trust holding policies on both spouses' lives. After the first spouse died, a court reformed the trust to remove the surviving spouse's…
PLR 200127041: Exempt international organization pay does not bar unrelated deductions
A married couple asked whether one spouse's tax-exempt pay from an international organization would disallow deductions for home mortgage interest, real property and state income taxes, and…
PLR 200127040: German compensation fund payment excluded from US income
An individual expected a payment from a compensation fund created by German law and asked whether it would be taxable in the United States. The fund was established to compensate people subjected to…
PLR 200127039: Agreed support settlement payment is not alimony under section 71
A former spouse expected a payment under a proposed court approved agreement ending future spousal support claims. The agreement expressly said the payment would not be reported as taxable alimony…
PLR 200127038: Estate settlement supports charitable remainder annuity trust deductions
An estate and trust settled a surviving spouse's challenge to a revocable trust and her claim to an elective share. The settlement divided the assets into a noncharitable trust for designated…
PLR 200127037: Division of family trust into fourteen trusts preserves tax treatment
A trustee and trust beneficiaries proposed dividing a family trust into fourteen trusts for separate family branches. The IRS ruled that the division would preserve the beneficiaries' existing…
PLR 200127035: Buyer and seller receive more time for a stock purchase election
A corporation bought all the stock of an S corporation, and the buyer and seller intended to elect treatment under IRC § 338(h)(10). They missed the deadline for a valid joint election after relying…
PLR 200127034: Late S corporation election receives conditional relief
A newly incorporated company intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year, and its directors recorded that intent. It filed an S corporation tax return but never filed Form 2553.…
PLR 200127033: University laboratory income qualifies for governmental exclusion
A university medical school laboratory provided testing, supported the university medical center, and trained students and health professionals. It asked whether its income could be excluded from…
PLR 200127032: Company receives relief for a late S corporation election
A company intended to be an S corporation from its formation and filed an S corporation return for its first year. Its shareholders also reported their shares of income and other items on their…
PLR 200127031: Separate excess benefit plan preserves qualified pension plan status
A union established a separate plan to pay retirement benefits that exceeded the limit applicable to its qualified pension plan. The plans' assets could not be transferred between them, and the…
PLR 200127030: Late S corporation election relief requires back returns
A company with one shareholder intended to be an S corporation when it began business. The shareholder reported the company's income and losses on individual returns, but the company did not file…
PLR 200127029: Late S corporation election allowed for first tax year
A company with two shareholders intended to be an S corporation from its first year and filed an S corporation return for that year. It missed the Form 2553 deadline for its first year, although a…
PLR 200127028: Corporation receives relief for an unfiled S election
A corporation's shareholders wanted S corporation treatment from the date it was incorporated, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the failure under IRC §…
PLR 200127027: Will settlement qualifies for marital deduction with rollover limits
A surviving spouse and two adult children settled a dispute over a will and trust. The IRS ruled that the spouse's direct share under the court-approved settlement qualified for the estate tax…
PLR 200127026: Late S corporation election is allowed from incorporation
A corporation's shareholders wanted S corporation status from the date of incorporation but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the failure under IRC § 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200127025: Late S corporation election takes effect from incorporation
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date, but its election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under IRC § 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200127024: REIT merger termination payment excluded from income tests
A real estate investment trust (REIT) expected to receive a share of a payment after a planned merger fell apart and the parties settled their dispute. It asked whether that share would count…
PLR 200127023: Early termination of charitable remainder trust produces capital gain
The settlor and income beneficiary of a charitable remainder unitrust proposed to end the trust early and divide its assets with the charity based on the value of their interests. The IRS treated…
PLR 200127022: Bankruptcy estate may deduct most business arbitration costs
A physician's bankruptcy estate asked whether payments under an arbitration award arising from his medical practice were deductible. The IRS concluded that most damages, legal and arbitration fees,…
PLR 200127021: Late S corporation election allowed from incorporation
A corporation's shareholders wanted S corporation status from its incorporation date but missed the election deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and granted relief under IRC…
PLR 200127020: Thirty-day extension granted for joint Section 338 election
A corporate purchaser and a seller's parent intended to make a joint IRC § 338(h)(10) election for a stock acquisition, but their tax professional missed the filing deadline. Both sides had filed…
PLR 200127019: Late qualified S subsidiary election receives filing extension
An S corporation acquired all the stock of another corporation and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) from the acquisition date. It missed the election deadline. The…
PLR 200127018: Late S corporation election granted for requested date
A corporation's shareholders intended for it to have S corporation status from a specified date, but its election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and…
PLR 200127017: Late S corporation election allowed for requested date
A corporation's shareholder intended for the company to have S corporation status from a specified date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing…
PLR 200127016: First-year S corporation election treated as timely if filed
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its first tax year and filed an S corporation return, but it had not filed a timely Form 2553 election. The IRS found reasonable cause for the…
PLR 200127015: Missed trust elections treated as inadvertent S termination
Shareholders transferred stock of an S corporation to five trusts, but their lawyer did not file the elections needed for qualified subchapter S trust treatment. The IRS found that the S corporation…
PLR 200127014: First-year S corporation election may be filed late
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment for its first tax year, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. A corporate resolution supported that intent. The IRS found reasonable…
PLR 200127013: Missing S election can take effect for first tax year
A corporation had filed S corporation returns from its first tax year, but its IRS service center had no record of Form 2553. Its sole shareholder said the company had intended S status from the…
PLR 200127012: Funding Alaska Native settlement trust creates deemed distributions
An Alaska Native corporation established a second settlement trust to protect timberland and eventually benefit its shareholders. The IRS classified the arrangement as a separate trust, rather than…
PLR 200127011: Later foreign taxes may adjust credits after subsidiary liquidation
A U.S. corporate group expected additional foreign income taxes to be assessed for a controlled foreign corporation after that corporation's planned liquidation. The group had previously included…
CCA 200127010: Earlier foreign tax credit claim limits later credit pool
A corporation had claimed excessive indirect foreign tax credits in tax years that were now closed. In later open years, it argued that the foreign taxes behind those claims still remained available…
CCA 200127009: Partner cannot separately settle a share of partnership payroll tax
A general partner offered to settle her personal taxes and her share of a defunct partnership's employment tax debt. Chief Counsel advised that the partnership tax was one liability assessed against…
CCA 200127008: Incorrect group returns leave assessment period open
A corporate group filed a short-year consolidated return and a separate return for a year when one full-year consolidated return was required. Chief Counsel advised that these filings did not start…
PLR 200127007: Disclaimed estate tax waiver may increase charitable deduction
A decedent's will waived the estate's right to recover tax attributable to marital trust property, leaving less in the estate's charitable residue. Family members proposed to disclaim the benefit of…
PLR 200127006: Stock option plan qualifies for post-IPO deduction relief
A privately held company with a stock option plan expected to become publicly held through an initial public offering. It asked whether the IRC § 162(m) compensation deduction limit would apply to…
CCA 200127005: Receivable assignments may not avoid Section 956 inclusion
A U.S. corporation assigned receivables owed by a foreign affiliate to another foreign affiliate to clear overdue trade payables. It claimed that this removed an obligation of a U.S. person from the…
CCA 200127004: Rig rental payments are wages if welders are employees
A contractor paid rig welders both hourly wages and separate amounts labeled rent for their welding equipment. Chief Counsel said more facts were needed to decide whether the welders were common law…
CCA 200127003: Collection extension and installment agreement remain valid
A taxpayer signed a waiver extending the IRS collection deadline and an installment agreement before a new IRS policy limited such extensions. The IRS signed the waiver and agreement after the…
PLR 200127002: Late S corporation election allowed from incorporation
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation date but did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under IRC § 1362(b)(5). It ruled…
CCA 200127001: Fire proceeds cannot defer gain through building purchase
A fire destroyed a leased warehouse and distribution center, and the taxpayer received insurance proceeds for the building, improvements, and equipment. It later purchased a different distribution…
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.