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 200111029: Corporate restructuring ruling modified for stock sale
The IRS modified an earlier ruling on transactions planned to separate two businesses. Instead of carrying out one proposed distribution, a subsidiary would buy another subsidiary's stock for cash.…
PLR 200111028: Fund expense reimbursements are not preferential dividends
Several regulated investment company funds planned to serve as underlying funds for new funds that would invest mainly in their institutional share classes. The underlying funds expected lower…
PLR 200111027: IRS revokes treaty exemption for mixed Canadian pooled fund
The IRS reconsidered a 1991 ruling exempting U.S. interest and dividends earned through a Canadian pooled fund for pension and charitable trusts. It concluded that a pooled fund with an investor…
PLR 200111026: Business separation qualifies as tax-free spin-off
An S corporation planned to separate one business by distributing the stock of a subsidiary to its shareholders. The taxpayer said the separation would remove the need for executives to coordinate…
PLR 200111025: Park exchange qualifies despite earlier purchase of replacement property
A real estate investor planned to transfer a park to a conservation organization and receive rental property through a qualified intermediary. An unrelated accommodation party had already bought and…
PLR 200111024: Investment fund merger qualifies as Type C reorganization
Two investment funds planned a merger in which one fund would transfer substantially all its assets and liabilities to the other solely for voting shares, distribute those shares to its investors,…
PLR 200111023: Investment fund merger qualifies as Type C reorganization
Two investment funds planned a merger in which one fund would transfer substantially all its assets and liabilities to the other solely for voting shares, distribute those shares to its investors,…
PLR 200111022: Late S corporation election granted conditional relief
A corporation's shareholders wanted S corporation treatment from its incorporation date, but Form 2553 was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under § 1362(b)(5). It said the…
PLR 200111021: Feeder funds receive partnership and investment company rulings for master trusts
Investment fund managers planned for regulated investment company feeder funds to contribute securities or cash to corresponding master trusts treated as partnerships. The IRS ruled that each feeder…
PLR 200111020: Late S corporation election may take effect in first tax year
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year. Its sole shareholder believed the election form had been filed on time, but the IRS had no record of receiving it. The…
PLR 200111019: Actively managed rental income is not passive investment income for S corporation rules
A property owner with accumulated earnings and profits planned to elect S corporation status and asked whether its rental receipts would count as passive investment income. The corporation described…
PLR 200111018: Late trust election caused inadvertent S corporation termination
An S corporation's stock was transferred to a trust whose beneficiary did not timely file a qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) election. The IRS concluded that the corporation's S election…
PLR 200111017: Late S corporation election treated as timely after Form 2553 filing
A corporation with four shareholders intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation but discovered that its election had not been filed on time. It sought relief under § 1362(b)(5) for its…
PLR 200111016: Late S corporation election granted conditional relief
A corporation with two shareholders intended to elect S corporation status from incorporation, but its election was not filed on time. It requested relief under § 1362(b)(5) for its first tax year.…
PLR 200111015: Extension to file accounting period change denied
A taxpayer asked the IRS to treat a late Form 1128, requesting a change in tax year, as timely filed. The form was filed more than 90 days after its due date. Under Treas. Reg. § 301.9100-3(c)(3), a…
TAM 200111014: Inventory revaluation must reflect the accounting methods actually changed
A business changed from one uniform capitalization (UNICAP) accounting method to another and had to revalue its inventory for a § 481(a) adjustment. It applied an average cost ratio from three…
PLR 200111013: Mutual insurer's conversion to stock form qualifies as a recapitalization
A mutual life insurer planned to convert to a stock company under a mutual holding company. The IRS treated members as exchanging their membership interests for insurer stock, then transferring that…
PLR 200111012: Corporation receives relief for a missed S election filing
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its first tax year, but its sole shareholder mistakenly believed an attorney had filed Form 2553. The corporation and shareholder filed returns…
CCA 200111011: Securities sold for later delivery generated gain in the payment year
Shareholders used flow-through entities to sell instruments that entitled buyers to corporate shares at a later date. The entities received full payment in the first year, pledged shares as…
PLR 200111010: Treaty exempts pay to qualifying foreign government employees
A foreign government instrumentality asked whether pay to its employees was exempt from U.S. income tax under Article 21(2) of an income tax treaty. The IRS accepted its representations that it…
PLR 200111009: Complete expatriation ruling request rebuts tax avoidance presumption
A person planning to give up U.S. citizenship had a net worth above the threshold that could trigger a presumption of tax avoidance under the then-applicable expatriation rules. The person was also…
PLR 200111008: Municipal deferred compensation plan qualifies under section 457
A municipality asked whether its amended deferred compensation plan qualified under § 457(b). The plan limited when employees could receive benefits and placed deferred amounts in an annuity…
PLR 200111007: Estate receives extra time to divide trusts and make reverse QTIP election
An estate had claimed a marital deduction for a trust but had not divided it for generation-skipping transfer tax purposes or made a reverse QTIP election. After the surviving spouse died, the…
PLR 200111006: Foreign entity gets more time to elect partnership classification
A foreign entity changed its legal form and intended to elect partnership status for U.S. federal tax purposes, but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found that the requirements for discretionary…
PLR 200111005: Former long-term resident clears expatriation tax avoidance presumption
A former long-term U.S. resident returned to her birth country and ceased to be treated as a U.S. resident. Her net worth exceeded the threshold that could trigger a presumption of tax avoidance…
CCA 200111004: S corporation distribution can reduce basis in other shares
Two brothers sold stock of one corporation to a related S corporation they also owned. An earlier Chief Counsel analysis treated the sale as a redemption under § 304 and a distribution under § 1368.…
CCA 200111003: Counsel addresses limitations waivers and transferee liability after group restructuring
A consolidated corporate group was reorganized, and its former parent merged out of existence. An officer of a different corporation later signed forms extending the time to assess the old group's…
PLR 200111002: Planned renunciation lacks principal U.S. tax avoidance purpose
A person who held U.S. citizenship and another country's citizenship from birth planned to renounce U.S. citizenship. She had not lived in the United States since infancy and submitted a ruling…
CCA 200111001: Trader partnership expenses and interest limits depend on the activity and partner
Chief Counsel analyzed a securities partnership on the assumption that it was a trader carrying on a business, rather than an investor. Its partners could treat the partnership's § 162 operating…
PLR 200110034: Trustee-directed plan transfer preserves earlier distribution election
A plan participant made a written distribution and beneficiary election in 1983 under a transition rule in the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act. In 1984, the employer directed a…
PLR 200110033: Spouse may roll inherited IRAs into her own after required distributions
A surviving spouse was the named beneficiary of her late husband's two IRAs. She received the required distribution for the year of his death and planned to take the next year's required…
TAM 200110031: Pension deduction timing was a change in accounting method
An employer changed how it deducted contributions to multiemployer pension plans. Starting in 1981, it deducted some payments made after year end for work performed in the following year. The IRS…
CCA 200110030: Hospital charity care policies must produce actual care
Chief Counsel advised field staff on how to evaluate a hospital's charity care under § 501(c)(3). A stated policy of serving patients regardless of their ability to pay does not, by itself, satisfy…
CCA 200110029: An accepted tax compromise does not call for abating the assessment
A service center asked whether it should abate an assessed tax liability after accepting an offer in compromise. Chief Counsel advised that it should not. An accepted offer does not extinguish the…
CCA 200110028: Innocent spouse denial generally does not violate a bankruptcy stay
Chief Counsel considered whether the IRS could deny a bankruptcy debtor's request for innocent spouse relief without violating the automatic stay. It advised that a standalone denial generally does…
PLR 200110027: Foreign sales corporation receives more time to file its election
A foreign sales corporation missed the deadline to file Form 8279 to elect FSC treatment. Its tax manager and accounting firm had misunderstood who was responsible for filing. The IRS concluded that…
PLR 200110026: Late trust elections caused an inadvertent S corporation termination
An S corporation transferred stock to ten trusts, but the beneficiaries did not make timely qualified subchapter S trust elections. That omission ended the corporation's S election. The IRS found…
PLR 200110025: Noncompete value may reduce a parachute payment, but salary replacement does not
After a corporate acquisition changed an executive's duties and location, the executive invoked an employment agreement and received a payment for the remaining contract term. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200110024: Financing plan leaves prior interest deduction ruling in place for specified payments
A company sold products to state and local governments under deferred payment agreements bearing tax exempt interest. An earlier IRS ruling said acquiring those agreements in its ordinary business…
PLR 200110023: Partnership receives more time for section 754 basis elections
A partnership's former accountants failed to file several partnership returns and the related § 754 basis adjustment elections. The IRS granted an extension to elect for two tax years, one of which…
PLR 200110022: Utility securitization produces no immediate gross income
An electric utility planned to finance costs from industry restructuring through charges on customers and bonds issued by a company it would own. The utility would transfer the right to collect the…
PLR 200110021: Bulgarian withholding tax qualifies as an income tax substitute
A U.S. software company expected Bulgarian withholding tax on payments for a software license and technical services. The IRS ruled that the withholding tax was a tax in lieu of an income tax under…
CCA 200110020: Parent of former employers cannot deduct employees' option income
Employees exchanged options granted by their former employers for options in an acquiring group's parent. The parent later paid cash to call those options, and another group company claimed a…
CCA 200110019: Canada treaty does not remove the AMT foreign tax credit limit
Two U.S. citizens living in Canada claimed that the U.S.-Canada income tax treaty relieved them from the alternative minimum tax limit on foreign tax credits. Chief Counsel advised that the treaty's…
PLR 200110018: Revised funding schedule approved for nuclear plant decommissioning
The owner of a nuclear power plant requested a revised schedule of amounts it could pay into a qualified decommissioning fund. The IRS approved the proposed schedule based on the owner's…
PLR 200110017: Revised decommissioning fund schedule approved after plant shutdown
A nuclear plant owner requested a revised schedule for payments to its qualified decommissioning fund after a rate order addressed shutdown and decommissioning costs. Its plan included an onsite…
PLR 200110016: Limited liability company gets more time for entity classification election
A domestic limited liability company intended to elect corporate tax classification from the date it was formed but did not file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that it satisfied the conditions for…
PLR 200110015: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A newly formed corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from its first year but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and ruled that the election…
PLR 200110014: More time to request a revised nuclear decommissioning schedule
A taxpayer missed the deadline to request a revised schedule of ruling amounts for a nuclear plant decommissioning fund. It sought relief under Treas. Reg. § 301.9100-3. Based on the submitted facts…
PLR 200110013: Accelerated executive benefits receive different parachute treatment
A change in control accelerated vesting and payment of two executives' stock, retirement, and bonus plan benefits. The IRS ruled that acceleration of benefits already vested under the stock and…
PLR 200110012: Corporation gets relief for a late S election
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under § 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200110011: Acquired advisory business is not a new line for an existing partnership
A publicly traded investment advisory partnership operating under the § 7704(g) transition rule acquired a similar advisory business. The IRS ruled that the acquired investment management and…
PLR 200110010: Parent gets more time to file subsidiary stock loss statement
A consolidated group's parent sold all the stock of a subsidiary and claimed a loss, but omitted the statement of allowed loss required by Treas. Reg. § 1.1502-20(c)(3). The IRS found the parent had…
PLR 200110009: Merger does not trigger parachute rules for one corporation's employees
Two publicly traded corporations planned to merge into subsidiaries of a holding company. Former shareholders of the requesting corporation would own more than half of the holding company's stock…
CCA 200110008: Salesmen cannot recast earlier profit compensation as depletable income
Two pipe salesmen received contractual shares of oil and gas drilling profits for recommending projects to their employer. They reported those payments as ordinary income, then sought depletion…
CCA 200110007: IRS should not claim priority against receivership property
Chief Counsel considered whether the Service should file a claim in a federal receivership involving property seized during a criminal forfeiture case. The property had been ordered delivered to…
PLR 200110006: Expatriation treated as having a tax avoidance purpose
An individual who was born in another country, later became a U.S. citizen, and planned to renounce that citizenship requested a ruling about the tax purpose of the expatriation. The individual…
PLR 200110005: Church deferred compensation plan avoids current taxation on credited amounts
A church established an unfunded, nonqualified deferred compensation plan for its ordained ministers and lay employees. Participants could defer compensation, and the church could contribute amounts…
CCA 200110004: Section 304 distribution reduces the shareholders' full S corporation basis
Two brothers sold all of their stock in one corporation to a related S corporation for cash. The IRS treated the transaction as a section 304(a)(1) redemption that failed the section 302(b) tests…
IRS Bulletin 200110003: Collection, bankruptcy, and summons guidance
This IRS bulletin collects Chief Counsel materials on collection, bankruptcy, summonses, and related issues. It reports a court decision holding that an indirect recipient of corporate assets could…
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.