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 200117040: Notice rules for third party contacts in international tax work
Chief Counsel advised IRS staff on four types of third party contact under section 7602(c). Staff must wait at least 10 days after sending Letter 3164 before making a contact, and may wait longer…
CCA 200117038: Employment tax and benefits questions from state and local governments
Chief Counsel answered selected employment tax and employee benefit questions raised by state and local governments. The memorandum explains when group term life insurance costs enter employee…
CCA 200117037: Requesting repayment of an erroneous refund during Chapter 13 bankruptcy
A service center issued a taxpayer two refunds for the same postpetition tax year while the taxpayer was in Chapter 13 bankruptcy. Chief Counsel advised that the IRS could request repayment without…
CCA 200117036: Accepting faxed signatures on delinquent tax returns
A service center asked whether it could accept faxed delinquent returns without requiring a second copy bearing an original pen and ink signature. Chief Counsel advised that sections 6061 and 6065…
IRS bulletin 200117035: Collection cases and service of summonses abroad
This Chief Counsel collection bulletin reports that the IRS would not follow part of the First Circuit's decision in Vinick requiring actual exercise of control over a company's finances to impose…
CCA 200117034: Annual tax delinquency notices during innocent spouse review
Chief Counsel considered whether the IRS must send an annual CP-71 delinquency reminder while it reviews a request for innocent spouse relief. It advised that the collection restriction in section…
CCA 200117033: Disposing of firearms held after a tax seizure
Chief Counsel advised how the IRS should dispose of two collectible guns and nine handguns held after a seizure connected to taxpayers' unpaid tax liabilities. The collectible guns could be sold…
PLR 200117032: More time to elect REMIC status for a trust asset group
A trustee sought more time to elect real estate mortgage investment conduit (REMIC) status for one asset group in a trust. The trustee made extension requests for two other REMICs but missed this…
PLR 200117031: S corporation status preserved after missed trust elections
Two trusts received shares of an S corporation, but the required elections for qualified subchapter S trust and electing small business trust status were not filed on time. The trusts were therefore…
PLR 200117030: Late REMIC return accepted for election purposes
A trust sought more time to elect real estate mortgage investment conduit (REMIC) status on Form 1066. Its trustee had obtained filing extensions, but newly assigned staff did not realize they…
PLR 200117029: Late S corporation election after attorney failed to file
A newly formed corporation intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year. Its attorney prepared Form 2553 but did not file it, so the election was late. The IRS found reasonable…
PLR 200117028: Late S election allowed after an S corporation return was filed
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from its first tax year, and the company filed its return on Form 1120S. It had not filed the required Form 2553 election on time. The…
PLR 200117027: Expatriation tax presumption rebutted without a final purpose finding
A former U.S. citizen asked the IRS to rule that avoiding U.S. tax was not a principal purpose of renouncing citizenship. The individual's net worth exceeded the threshold that created a tax…
PLR 200117026: Utility bonds retain local furnishing status after grid changes
A utility sought guidance on whether a regional grid operator's control of transmission and a new statewide transmission rate would affect bonds issued for its local electric system. Section 142…
PLR 200117025: More time to file a consolidated group's allowed loss statement
A consolidated group's parent sold a subsidiary and deducted a stock loss, but omitted the statement required to claim the loss allowed under the consolidated return regulation. The IRS found that…
PLR 200117024: Late S election effective from incorporation
A corporation intended S corporation treatment from its incorporation date but did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under section 1362(b)(5). It ruled that…
PLR 200117023: Late S corporation election allowed from formation
The shareholders of a newly formed corporation wanted S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but the company did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for…
PLR 200117022: Late S election accepted for first tax year
A corporation with four shareholders intended to be an S corporation from incorporation but discovered that its election had not been filed on time. It asked the IRS to treat the election as timely…
PLR 200117021: Vacation home qualifies as a personal residence for trust rules
A taxpayer planned to transfer a vacation home to a proposed qualified personal residence trust and asked whether the property counted as a personal residence. The home was rented at fair market…
CCA 200117020: Subsidiary stock transfers treated as distributions to parent
A parent corporation funded a subsidiary that bought parent stock and later transferred shares to the parent's employees to satisfy stock compensation obligations. The parent claimed employee…
CCA 200117019: Treaty benefits denied after a domestic company's foreign charter
A U.S. corporate group's subsidiary obtained a charter abroad while the group continued to include it on a U.S. consolidated return and claimed benefits under a tax treaty with that country. Chief…
PLR 200117018: Tax book values allowed for interest expense apportionment
A domestic corporation asked to switch from fair market values to tax book values when allocating interest expense among assets. After a merger and a section 351 exchange, its group included another…
PLR 200117017: Deferred retirement benefits taxed when paid
A company asked when participants in its nonqualified deferred compensation plan would be taxed on retirement benefits and when the company could deduct them. The benefits were payable from the…
PLR 200117016: Family stock redemptions and charitable trust safeguards
A family owned holding company proposed an offer to redeem shares from every shareholder, including three charitable remainder unitrusts, while also buying family members' shares of a related…
PLR 200117015: Late S election backed by directors' meeting minutes
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from its incorporation date, but Form 2553 had not been filed. Its chief executive officer submitted minutes from the first directors' meeting…
PLR 200117014: Unfiled S election treated as timely with corrective filing
A corporation intended S corporation treatment from incorporation, but it never filed Form 2553. Its chief executive officer supplied minutes of the first directors' meeting as evidence of that…
PLR 200117013: S corporation elections survive a proposed merger
Six S corporations planned to merge into a seventh, which would take their assets and liabilities and exchange its stock for theirs. The IRS ruled that the merging companies' S elections would…
PLR 200117012: Late S corporation election receives conditional relief
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from its first tax year but did not file Form 2553. It nevertheless filed its tax return as an S corporation. The IRS found reasonable cause for…
PLR 200117011: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status effective on a specified date, but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under section 1362(b)(5). It…
PLR 200117010: Entity receives time to file a corporate classification election
An eligible entity and its owners intended S corporation treatment and filed Form 2553. Its advisers inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 to elect classification as a corporation. The IRS found…
PLR 200117009: Late S corporation election receives conditional relief
A corporation's owner relied on an attorney to prepare its S corporation election, but the IRS service center had no record of receiving Form 2553. The corporation had filed its return as an S…
CCA 200117008: Operating asset transfers may be a D reorganization
Two related S corporations carried on the same business. One transferred all its operating assets to the other for no consideration, then dissolved and distributed its remaining assets to…
PLR 200117007: Estate receives time for QTIP and GST tax elections
An estate's original tax preparer failed to make a qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) election for a marital trust or a related reverse QTIP election for generation-skipping transfer tax…
PLR 200117006: Unamortized research costs increase technology's sale basis
A company developed technology using research expenditures. It elected under section 59(e) to deduct some of those costs over ten years, then sold the technology before the deduction period ended.…
CCA 200117005: Executor cannot first elect innocent spouse relief after death
An executor filed a request for innocent spouse relief after both spouses had died. Chief Counsel advised that an executor could pursue a section 6015(b) or (c) claim if the requesting spouse had…
CCA 200117004: Stock basis depends on a buyer's purchase obligation
A buyer contracted to purchase a corporation's stock, but the corporation borrowed money and paid the seller for part of that stock itself. Chief Counsel analyzed the buyer's stock basis assuming…
CCA 200117003: Partnership status can prevent an SS-8 worker ruling
Chief Counsel addressed Form SS-8 requests in which a worker's status as a genuine partner is disputed. A bona fide partner cannot be an employee of the partnership for federal employment tax…
PLR 200117002: Trust partition preserves GST exemption and asset basis
A trust that became irrevocable before September 25, 1985 sought to divide into two trusts for separate investment and management. The new trusts would have the same beneficial terms, although their…
CCA 200117001: Collection extension policy applies to international cases
An IRS collection manager asked whether the agency's limit on extending the collection period for installment agreements applied to international collection work. This 1999 Chief Counsel technical…
PLR 200116058: Late Roth IRA recharacterization receives six more months
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA for 1998 even though the couple's income exceeded the conversion limit then in effect. Their tax preparer had not warned them about that limit,…
PLR 200116057: Delayed IRA recharacterization treated as timely
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA for 1998 despite exceeding the income limit then in effect. He instructed the custodian to recharacterize the account, but the custodian used an…
PLR 200116056: Divorce transfer leaves retained IRA payment series intact
A taxpayer under age 59½ was receiving separate series of substantially equal payments from four IRAs. A separation agreement called for two of the IRAs to pass to a former spouse, while payments…
PLR 200116055: Government service credit payments qualify as picked up contributions
A political subdivision arranged to pay employees' contributions for purchases of service credit in two governmental retirement plans. Employees could elect payroll deductions for those purchases,…
PLR 200116054: Foundation's building project qualifies for a set-aside
A private operating foundation planned to acquire land and build facilities for its personnel to provide charitable services to needy youths. It asked to count money reserved for that project as a…
PLR 200116053: Late Roth IRA recharacterization receives six months
A U.S. citizen living abroad converted traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs for 1998. She did not realize that income from selling her practice put her over the Roth conversion limit, and she believed her…
PLR 200116052: Elective contributions to an employer's annuity plan receive section 403(b) treatment
A tax-exempt organization established an annuity plan for its employees after workers and assets moved from member organizations. Employees could make elective contributions through salary reduction…
PLR 200116051: Parent stock qualifies for employees of disregarded LLCs
A company maintained an employee stock ownership plan holding publicly traded stock of its parent. Some workers served in lower tier single owner LLCs that were disregarded for federal tax purposes.…
PLR 200116050: Federal agency may establish a 401(k) plan for its employees
A federal agency asked whether it could establish a 401(k) plan for a group of people it contracted with for personnel services abroad. Section 401(k)(4)(B)(ii) bars specified state and local…
PLR 200116049: Government retirement plan may treat specified payroll deductions as employer contributions
A public school retirement system asked how to treat payroll deductions used to repay withdrawn contributions, buy service credit, or fund accelerated retirement benefits. Employees would make…
PLR 200116048: Foundation may transfer its assets to a related foundation without termination tax
A private foundation proposed to transfer all its assets to a charitable trust that was also a private foundation and was controlled by the same people. The IRS ruled that the transfer qualified…
PLR 200116047: Related companies may provide specified services to a private foundation
A private operating foundation asked whether services and investments involving related companies would violate the self-dealing rules. The arrangements included free office space, travel and…
PLR 200116046: Elected salary deferrals may move from a nonqualified plan into a 401(k) plan
An employer maintained a qualified 401(k) plan and a separate, unfunded deferred compensation plan. Employees would make irrevocable elections before earning compensation, and eligible deferrals…
PLR 200116045: Foundation scholarship procedures satisfy the taxable expenditure exception
A private foundation proposed scholarships for African American high school seniors pursuing college study. A separate public charity would choose recipients using academic achievement, community…
CCA 200116044: Final levy demand could be mailed if its service form were revised
Chief Counsel considered whether the IRS could mail Form 668-C, a final demand sent after an unsatisfied notice of levy. The memorandum says § 6332 requires the demand on the levy itself and does…
CCA 200116043: Interim examination guidance on golf course improvements
Chief Counsel forwarded interim examination guidance about construction and reconstruction costs for golf courses. The guidance says the IRS had historically treated golf course improvements as land…
PLR 200116042: More time to elect amortization treatment for a franchise
A taxpayer acquired a franchise but did not make a timely retroactive election to treat it as a section 197 intangible. The taxpayer said its tax professional did not know about the temporary…
PLR 200116041: Tax treatment of insurance premium stabilization reserves
A nonlife insurer maintained premium stabilization reserves for group accident and health policies. Credits accumulated in the reserves could cover later claims or premiums, and remaining balances…
PLR 200116040: Tax treatment of firefighter disability and survivor benefits
A firefighters' benefit fund asked which disability and survivor payments could be excluded from recipients' income as workers' compensation. The IRS ruled that specified on-duty disability benefits…
PLR 200116039: Late S corporation election treated as timely if filed within 60 days
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status and said its preparer had filed the election, but the IRS service center had no record of receiving it. The IRS found reasonable cause for the…
PLR 200116038: Relief for a corporation's late S election
A corporation with one shareholder said it had intended to be an S corporation from its start but discovered that its election had not been timely filed. It asked the IRS to treat the election as…
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.