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 200112035: Office-building rents excluded from S corporation passive investment income
A corporation with accumulated C corporation earnings and profits planned to elect S corporation status and asked whether its office-building rents counted as passive investment income. It operated…
PLR 200112034: Late S corporation election effective from incorporation
A corporation intended to elect S corporation treatment from its incorporation date but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section…
PLR 200112033: Late tax-year change application denied filing relief
A taxpayer asked the IRS to treat a late Form 1128 application to change its accounting period as timely. The form had not been filed within 90 days of its deadline. Under Treasury Regulation §…
PLR 200112032: Active property rents excluded from S corporation passive investment income
An S corporation owned industrial rental properties, restaurant buildings, and undeveloped or underused property. Its employees negotiated leases, handled tenants and collections, maintained the…
PLR 200112031: Trust reformation preserves specified income, estate, gift, and GST treatment
The trustee of a trust created in 1935 sought court approval to update administrative provisions and clarify how separate trusts would be administered after the current beneficiary's death. The IRS…
CCA 200112030: Export enhancement bonuses treated as foreign trading gross receipts
A domestic corporation that exported products through its wholly owned foreign sales corporation received bonus payments from the Commodity Credit Corporation under the Export Enhancement Program.…
PLR 200112029: Foreign business entity granted extra time to elect partnership status
A foreign business entity with two owners intended to elect partnership classification for federal tax purposes but did not file the election. The entity represented that its owners' formation…
PLR 200112028: Public housing corporation treated as part of a political subdivision
A public housing authority formed a nonprofit corporation to help finance and carry out public housing projects. The authority was the corporation's sole member, appointed its directors, controlled…
PLR 200112027: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation's shareholders wanted the corporation to be treated as an S corporation beginning on a specified date, but the election was filed late. The corporation established reasonable cause for…
PLR 200112026: Revised nuclear decommissioning payment schedule approved
A utility that owned a nuclear power plant requested a revised schedule of ruling amounts for payments to its qualified nuclear decommissioning fund. The request followed reductions in…
PLR 200112025: Rules for the 10 percent limit on appreciated stock gifts
Family members planned future gifts of publicly traded appreciated stock to private foundations after a merger had converted stock of one corporation into stock of another. The IRS ruled that prior…
PLR 200112024: Rules for the 10 percent limit on appreciated stock gifts
Family members planned future gifts of publicly traded appreciated stock to private foundations after a merger had converted stock of one corporation into stock of another. The IRS ruled that prior…
PLR 200112023: Qualified personal residence trust avoids specified gift and estate tax consequences
A married couple and their son planned to contribute cash to a trust that would buy a residence. The couple would retain joint last-to-die life interests, and their son would receive the remainder…
PLR 200112022: Rules for the 10 percent limit on appreciated stock gifts
Family members planned future gifts of publicly traded appreciated stock to private foundations after a merger had converted stock of one corporation into stock of another. The IRS ruled that prior…
PLR 200112021: Parent and subsidiary treatment for options held by employees transferred to a disregarded LLC
A company asked whether it would qualify as a parent corporation, and whether its subsidiary's wholly owned LLC would be treated as part of a subsidiary corporation, for employee stock option rules.…
CCA 200112020: Lease-in/lease-out transaction lacked economic substance
Chief Counsel advised field counsel on a lease-in/lease-out arrangement involving an office building. The taxpayer leased the building and leased it back to its original user, while financing and…
PLR 200112019: Consent to revoke a foreign tax credit safe harbor election
A domestic corporation asked to revoke its election to use the safe harbor method for determining foreign income taxes paid or accrued in one country. The corporation had used that method for more…
PLR 200112018: Vacation property qualifies for two personal residence trusts
A married couple planned to put their separate half interests in a vacation property into two trusts, while retaining the right to use the residence for a stated term. The property included a main…
PLR 200112016: Revised funding schedule approved for nuclear plant decommissioning
An electric utility asked the IRS to approve a revised schedule of annual payments to its nuclear plant decommissioning fund. The utility owned a direct interest in the plant, and one of two utility…
PLR 200112015: Revised schedule approved for a closed nuclear plant's decommissioning fund
An electric utility sought a revised schedule of ruling amounts for payments to its nuclear plant decommissioning fund. The plant had permanently closed, and the utility commission had authorized no…
PLR 200112014: Mutual insurer conversion qualifies as a recapitalization
A mutual life insurer planned to convert to a stock company within a new mutual holding company structure. Its policyholders would exchange their existing membership interests for interests in the…
PLR 200112013: Tribal gaming authority is an integral part of its tribe
A tribe asked whether an authority created to manage its gaming business was an integral part of the tribal government under IRC §§ 7701(a)(40) and 7871(a). The tribal legislature appointed and…
PLR 200112012: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved for one commission
An electric utility sought a revised schedule of ruling amounts for its nuclear plant decommissioning fund. It shared ownership of the plant with other utilities, and two commissions regulated its…
CCA 200112011: UK windfall tax was not creditable and reduced earnings when paid
Chief Counsel advised field counsel about a one-time UK windfall tax imposed on privatized utilities. A domestic corporation had acquired shares in a British utility and sought to treat the…
PLR 200112010: Late application to change tax year treated as timely
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 late while seeking to change its federal income tax year. The form was filed within 90 days after its due date, and the taxpayer said the delay resulted from an error or…
PLR 200112009: Estate receives time to make QTIP and reverse QTIP elections
An estate omitted a trust from its estate tax return and failed to make qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) and reverse QTIP elections. The executor had relied on a tax professional who…
PLR 200112008: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its start, and it and its shareholder filed tax returns consistently with that status. It later discovered that its S election had not been filed…
PLR 200112007: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
A utility sought a revised schedule of deductible payments to a nuclear plant decommissioning fund under IRC § 468A. The plant had remained inoperative after an accident, and its decommissioning…
PLR 200112006: S corporation status restored after missed trust election
An S corporation lost its status when a trust acquired some of its shares without a timely qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) election. The trust's tax advisers had overlooked or misunderstood the…
CCA 200112005: Partner basis calculation must use established partnership items
Chief Counsel advised on calculating a partner's basis in a partnership interest after the partnership liquidated. The Tax Court could review the partner-level components of basis in the deficiency…
PLR 200112004: Extension granted for a foreign entity classification election
A limited partnership owned a foreign private limited liability company and sought more time to elect to treat the company as disregarded for federal tax purposes. The IRS explained the…
CCA 200112003: Counsel addresses penalties for failing to register a tax shelter
Chief Counsel advised on a promoter's apparent failure to register a tax shelter under the law applicable to the transactions. It concluded that the IRS could assess the § 6707 penalty without a…
CCA 200112001: Innocent spouse relief does not restore a phased-out earned income credit
A married couple claimed the earned income credit on a joint return that omitted the husband's income. After including that income, the IRS found their joint income too high for the credit. Chief…
CCA 200111056: Tax treatment of compensation for Cerro Grande fire damage
Chief Counsel addressed federal tax treatment of payments available to people and businesses harmed by the Cerro Grande fire in New Mexico. It advised that taxpayers with a reasonable prospect of…
PLR 200111055: Court declaration date controls a beneficiary's annuity election deadline
An educator was presumed alive until a court declared her dead in 1999, although the court established a 1997 date of death. Her son was a designated beneficiary of half of two § 403(b) annuity…
PLR 200111054: Beneficiary timing yields different distribution periods for three IRAs
An IRA owner died after beginning required minimum distributions from three IRAs. Two people were named as beneficiaries of IRA X and IRA Z before his required beginning date, but were not named on…
PLR 200111053: Parent company stock qualifies for employees of a disregarded subsidiary
A company planned to form an LLC wholly owned by one of its subsidiaries and to leave the LLC disregarded for federal income tax purposes. The company's employee stock ownership plan invested mainly…
PLR 200111052: Foundation may receive and transfer a donor's pledged stock option
A corporation that was a disqualified person pledged a stock purchase option to a related private foundation without receiving consideration. The foundation planned to collect part of the pledge…
PLR 200111051: Pledged stock option does not trigger foundation self-dealing tax
A corporation that was a disqualified person pledged a stock purchase option to a private foundation without receiving consideration. The foundation expected to use a cashless exercise for part of…
PLR 200111050: Foundation may transfer assets to support a park without ending its status
A private foundation proposed granting about one-fourth of its assets to a newly formed private foundation dedicated to supporting a park. The IRS ruled that the transfer would not terminate the…
PLR 200111049: Foundation may transfer assets to support a park without ending its status
A private foundation proposed granting about one-fourth of its assets to a newly formed private foundation dedicated to supporting a park. The IRS ruled that the transfer would not terminate the…
PLR 200111048: Benefit trusts may cover employees added through merger
After a corporate merger, two employee benefit trusts planned to cover employees of the new parent and its other subsidiaries. The trusts would continue providing post-retirement medical and life…
PLR 200111047: Benefit trusts may cover employees added through merger
After a corporate merger, two employee benefit trusts planned to cover employees of the new parent and its other subsidiaries. The trusts would continue providing post-retirement medical and life…
PLR 200111046: Benefit trusts may cover employees added through merger
After a corporate merger, two employee benefit trusts planned to cover employees of the new parent and its other subsidiaries. The trusts would continue providing post-retirement medical and life…
PLR 200111045: Foundation may transfer its assets to a charitable trust
A private foundation organized as a corporation proposed transferring all its assets to a charitable trust, then dissolving the corporation. The trust would keep the founder's charitable purposes…
CCA 200111044: Tax treatment of Cerro Grande Fire compensation
Chief Counsel advised on federal tax treatment of FEMA payments for losses from the Cerro Grande Fire. Payments replacing lost wages or business income generally enter gross income, including for…
CCA 200111043: Math error notice does not finally deny a refund claim
Chief Counsel considered taxpayers who claimed refunds on timely original returns but supplied supporting information only after the refund claim deadline. It advised that a math error notice…
PLR 200111042: Extension granted for foreign sales corporation election
A taxpayer missed the deadline to file Form 8279 to elect foreign sales corporation treatment. Its controller had copied the due date incorrectly onto an office board, and the error surfaced during…
PLR 200111041: Extension granted for branch tax earnings election
A taxpayer missed the deadline for an election affecting its earnings and profits under the branch tax regulations. An employee had obtained one return filing extension, then sought an additional…
PLR 200111040: Extension granted for branch tax earnings election
A taxpayer missed the deadline for an election affecting its earnings and profits under the branch tax regulations. An employee had obtained one return filing extension, then sought an additional…
PLR 200111039: Extension granted for foreign branch loss elections
A corporate taxpayer failed to file elections and agreements for its subsidiary's foreign branch losses in two tax years. Staff preparing and reviewing the returns missed the annual filings because…
PLR 200111038: Partnership exception preserves life insurance exclusion
A trust planned to transfer two policies on the grantors' lives to a limited partnership in exchange for a partnership interest. The IRS found that the exchange was a transfer for valuable…
PLR 200111037: IRS revokes treaty exemption for mixed Canadian pooled funds
The IRS reconsidered earlier rulings that exempted U.S. interest and dividends earned through Canadian pooled investment funds for pension and charitable trusts. It concluded that a pooled fund with…
PLR 200111036: Investment funds receive relief for late tax elections
Several investment funds missed their return extension deadline when signed Forms 7004 reached the mail one day late. Their resulting returns and elections under §§ 851(b) and 855(a) were late,…
PLR 200111035: Extension granted to file debt-income exclusion election
A partner's tax return excluded an allocated amount of canceled debt income but omitted Form 982, which was needed to elect the qualified real property business debt exclusion. The accountant who…
PLR 200111034: Extension granted to file debt-income exclusion election
A partner's tax return excluded an allocated amount of canceled debt income but omitted Form 982, which was needed to elect the qualified real property business debt exclusion. The accountant who…
PLR 200111033: Extension granted to file debt-income exclusion election
A partner's tax return excluded an allocated amount of canceled debt income but omitted Form 982, which was needed to elect the qualified real property business debt exclusion. The accountant who…
PLR 200111032: Sale proceeds distribution qualifies as partial liquidation
A parent corporation planned to distribute proceeds from a subsidiary's sale of substantially all its assets to the parent's noncorporate shareholders. The IRS ruled that, under the stated…
PLR 200111031: Late partnership tax form allows election filing extension
An S corporation filed its tax return before receiving a partnership Schedule K-1 reporting an allocated amount of canceled debt income. Its return omitted both that income and Form 982, the…
PLR 200111030: Late partnership tax form allows election filing extension
An S corporation filed its tax return before receiving a partnership Schedule K-1 reporting an allocated amount of canceled debt income. Its return omitted both that income and Form 982, 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.