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 200110002: Insurance takeout bonuses are income when policies leave the residual market
A property insurer agreed to remove homeowners policies from a state created residual market insurance association and received bonuses for each policy removed. The bonuses were placed in escrow and…
CCA 200110001: Raised floor likely is a structural component of an office building
A taxpayer built a data center with a raised floor covering most of the first floor and claimed the floor was five year personal property under section 168. The floor was part of the original…
PLR 200109052: Qualified replacement plan avoids the higher excise tax on a pension reversion
After a merger, a company planned to terminate an overfunded pension plan and transfer 25 percent of the excess assets to a related section 401(k) plan. The transfer would be held in a suspense…
PLR 200109051: Inherited IRA distributions may use the older trust beneficiary's life expectancy
A trust received an individual retirement account after the account owner's death. The trust had two individual beneficiaries, and the IRS determined that the older beneficiary's life expectancy…
PLR 200109050: Community college pension contributions picked up by employer are excluded from employees' income
A community college planned to pay mandatory employee contributions to a state pension plan under a board resolution. Employees could not take the contribution amounts as cash. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200109049: Separate excess benefit plan does not disqualify multiemployer pension plan
A multiemployer pension plan sought to create a separate plan to pay benefits above the section 415 limit for qualified plans. The employers would direct part of their collectively bargained…
PLR 200109048: IRS grants partial minimum funding waiver for pension plan
A company sought relief from the minimum funding standard for its defined benefit pension plan's 1999 plan year. The IRS granted a waiver for the approximately 13 percent of the required…
CCA 200109047: Third party contact notices for partnerships and S corporations
Chief Counsel advised IRS examiners how to give advance notice and keep records when contacting third parties during audits of partnerships and S corporations. For a TEFRA partnership, the IRS…
CCA 200109046: Handling trust fund recovery penalty refund claims when IRS files are missing
Chief Counsel reviewed proposed guidance for handling refund claims involving the trust fund recovery penalty. It said a missing IRS assessment file does not automatically defeat a penalty, but the…
PLR 200109045: Later acquisition and business transfer do not disturb earlier spin off ruling
A company had previously received a ruling that its distribution of a subsidiary's stock qualified as a tax free spin off under section 355. Years later, another company acquired the spun off…
PLR 200109044: Resident's planned departure lacks a principal purpose of avoiding U.S. tax
A long term U.S. permanent resident planned to give up her resident status and move to the country of her citizenship. Her net worth exceeded a threshold that could trigger a presumption of tax…
PLR 200109043: Expatriation submission rebuts presumption but leaves tax avoidance purpose open
A former long term U.S. resident asked the IRS to rule that his loss of permanent resident status was not principally motivated by avoiding U.S. tax. His net worth exceeded a threshold that created…
PLR 200109042: Former resident rebuts expatriation presumption but purpose remains open
A former long term U.S. resident asked the IRS to rule that giving up her permanent resident status was not principally motivated by avoiding U.S. tax. Her net worth exceeded a threshold that…
PLR 200109041: Partial disclaimer of inherited trust share avoids gift tax
A decedent's nephew became entitled to part of a trust through a court approved settlement over the trust remainder. He then disclaimed a stated percentage of his intestate share. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200109040: Late S corporation election treated as timely if Form 2553 is filed
A company said it had intended to be an S corporation since it was incorporated, but discovered that its election had not been filed on time. The IRS ruled under section 1362(b)(5) that the election…
PLR 200109039: Corporate conversion and business transfer qualify for specified tax free treatment
A nonprofit health services corporation planned a conversion to a for profit stock corporation as part of a larger restructuring. The IRS ruled that the charter conversion would be a section…
PLR 200109038: Late S corporation election granted conditional relief
A company with two shareholders said it had intended to be an S corporation from incorporation but had not filed its election on time. The IRS ruled that the election would be treated as timely for…
PLR 200109037: Two mergers may be characterized as a direct asset acquisition
A public company used a subsidiary to acquire a target through a completed reverse merger, then proposed to merge the target into itself. The IRS ruled on a narrow issue: if the two mergers are…
PLR 200109036: Foreign entity receives extra time to elect its tax classification
A foreign company intended to elect a federal tax classification other than the default association status, but its advisors failed to file the election. The IRS found that the company met the…
PLR 200109035: S election filed late by attorney may be treated as timely
A corporation intended to elect S status for its first taxable year and recorded that intent in an officers' resolution. It relied on an attorney to file Form 2553, but the attorney did not file it.…
PLR 200109034: Foreign entity gets more time to elect partnership status
A foreign entity changed its legal form and intended to elect partnership treatment for U.S. federal tax purposes, but missed the Form 8832 deadline. The IRS found that the requirements for…
PLR 200109033: Foreign company gets time to elect disregarded entity status
A U.S. S corporation and its qualified S subsidiary owned a foreign limited liability company. They intended from the company's formation to elect to disregard it as separate from the S corporation,…
PLR 200109032: S corporation subsidiary receives late disregarded entity election relief
A U.S. S corporation and its qualified S subsidiary owned a foreign limited liability company. The owners intended from the company's formation to elect to disregard it as separate from the S…
PLR 200109031: Spin off of subsidiary stock resolves shareholder deadlock
A holding company planned to distribute the stock of a controlled corporation to one shareholder in exchange for that shareholder's stock in the holding company. The shareholder would then…
PLR 200109030: Late S corporation election may be treated as timely after reasonable cause is shown
The IRS considered a corporation that intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year but did not timely file Form 2553 because of incorrect advice from its incorporator. The…
PLR 200109029: Late S corporation election may be treated as timely after consistent tax filings
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from its first tax year, but it did not timely file Form 2553. Notes from a meeting with the corporation's president documented that intent. The…
PLR 200109028: Late S corporation election receives reasonable cause relief
A corporation's shareholder intended for the corporation to be an S corporation from a specified effective date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late…
PLR 200109027: Family business split qualifies for specified liquidation and spin off tax treatment
Two family members jointly managed a group with two businesses, but their disputes were affecting both operations. The group proposed to liquidate several subsidiaries, transfer one business to a…
PLR 200109026: Previously filed S corporation election treated as timely for first tax year
A corporation's sole shareholder intended for the company to be an S corporation from its first tax year. The corporation filed Form 2553, but the IRS received it too late for that year and accepted…
PLR 200109025: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund contribution schedule approved
An electric utility with an ownership interest in a nuclear plant asked the IRS to approve a revised schedule of amounts it could contribute to a nuclear decommissioning fund. The proposed schedule…
PLR 200109024: Late S corporation election allowed from business start date
A corporation's sole shareholder wanted S corporation treatment beginning when the company started doing business, but no election was filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 200109023: Three successive stock distributions qualify for specified spin off treatment
A corporate group proposed to move a controlled subsidiary's stock through three successive distributions, ending with a distribution to the parent company's shareholders. The group said regulators…
PLR 200109022: Deferred property exchange program qualifies for stated like kind treatment
A company established a program for deferred exchanges of business property through a qualified intermediary. The IRS ruled that property in two specified categories was of like kind, despite…
PLR 200109021: Late S corporation election allowed from incorporation date
A corporation's shareholders wanted S corporation treatment beginning on the company's incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 200109020: Supplemental ruling approves pro rata spin off after planned split off changes
A corporation had obtained a ruling for a planned split off in which shareholders would tender its shares for stock of a controlled company. After market conditions reduced expected demand for the…
PLR 200109019: Corporation may retain federal corporate classification after conversion to LLC
A corporation planned to convert into a limited liability company under state law. The resulting LLC represented that it would timely elect to be taxed as a corporation, effective on the conversion…
PLR 200109018: S corporation election preserved despite partnership listed as shareholder
A corporation's stock was held of record by a partnership when it made an S corporation election, even though a partnership is not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The company said the…
PLR 200109017: Vacation property and proposed trust qualify as a personal residence trust
A taxpayer proposed placing a vacation property consisting of two parcels, a home, related structures, and adjacent land into a trust. The taxpayer and spouse had used the property as a vacation…
PLR 200109016: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund payment schedule approved
An electric utility that owned an interest in a nuclear plant asked the IRS to approve a revised schedule of payments to its nuclear decommissioning fund. The utility held the plant interest as a…
PLR 200109015: Expanded trustee investment powers preserve trust's GST tax exemption
A trust created before September 25, 1985, limited the sole trustee's investment in stocks and real estate to one third of the trust corpus. The trustee proposed seeking a court order to broaden its…
PLR 200109014: Bond investment earnings count toward housing credit financing test
A partnership developing a low income housing project faced cost increases that left the face amount of its tax exempt bonds below 50 percent of the project's expected building and land basis. It…
PLR 200109013: Bond investment proceeds included in housing credit financing calculation
A partnership developing low income housing had issued tax exempt bonds to finance its project. Construction costs later increased, leaving the bonds' face amount below 50 percent of the expected…
PLR 200109012: Bond investment proceeds included in housing credit financing calculation
A partnership developing low income housing had issued tax exempt bonds to finance its project. Construction costs later increased, leaving the bonds' face amount below 50 percent of the expected…
PLR 200109011: Bond investment proceeds included in housing credit financing calculation
A partnership developing low income housing had issued tax exempt bonds to finance its project. Construction costs later increased, leaving the bonds' face amount below 50 percent of the expected…
CCA 200109010: Employer stock contributions raise ESOP and prohibited transaction questions
Chief Counsel analyzed an employer plan that received nonvoting, callable preferred stock and had favorable IRS determination letters describing it as an employee stock ownership plan. The advice…
Expatriation was not treated as having a principal purpose of avoiding U.S. taxes
An individual who was a long term resident of the United States planned to relinquish lawful permanent resident status and return a green card to the U.S. Embassy in the country of citizenship. The…
Expatriation was not treated as having a principal purpose of avoiding U.S. taxes
An individual who was a long term resident of the United States planned to relinquish lawful permanent resident status and return a green card to the U.S. Embassy in the country of citizenship. The…
IRS grants extra time to sever a marital trust and make a reverse QTIP election
A surviving spouse's estate requested more time to divide a marital trust into a generation-skipping transfer tax exempt trust and a nonexempt trust. The estate also requested more time to make a…
Proposed division of a charitable remainder unitrust after divorce
A couple whose marriage had ended proposed dividing their charitable remainder unitrust into two separate trusts, one for each former spouse. Each resulting trust would hold half of the original…
Hardware store replacement property qualifies for involuntary conversion deferral
A taxpayer's retail hardware store building and its contents were destroyed by an arson fire. The taxpayer received insurance proceeds for the building and used an amount of those proceeds, together…
Co-obligor agreement not required for separate trust fund recovery penalty liabilities
Chief Counsel considered whether the IRS needed a co-obligor agreement when accepting one responsible officer's offer in compromise of a trust fund recovery penalty while another responsible officer…
Late Form 1128 for a tax year change is treated as timely filed
A taxpayer asked to change its federal income tax year and requested relief for filing Form 1128 after the deadline. The filing was late because of an error or misunderstanding, but it was submitted…
Authority's income qualifies for the section 115 exclusion
A nonprofit corporation formed under state law was organized by political subdivisions to coordinate operations and purchase and sell resources for its members. Its members controlled the…
Loan acquisition and financing costs must be capitalized
Chief Counsel considered the tax treatment of costs incurred by a corporation that acquired installment contracts containing automobile loans and issued asset backed notes to obtain financing. It…
Hospital benefit plans qualify as church plans before and after a merger
Two church affiliated health systems combined their hospitals and employee benefit programs under a new nonprofit organization. They asked whether the hospitals' plans qualified as church plans…
Hospital affiliation preserves exempt status and avoids unrelated business income
Several nonprofit hospital organizations restructured their joint operating arrangement and placed substantial management authority with a shared organization. One hospital operator asked whether it…
Hospital system merger preserves exemption and public charity status
A nonprofit health care system merged two affiliated network organizations into its parent corporation. It asked whether it would remain exempt under section 501(c)(3), continue to be a public…
Hospital management organization retains exemption and avoids unrelated business income
A shared nonprofit hospital management organization asked whether a restructuring would preserve its exemption under section 501(c)(3), its public charity status under section 509(a)(3), and its…
Hospital affiliate retains exemption after restructuring
A nonprofit hospital affiliate asked whether a restructuring would preserve its exemption under section 501(c)(3), its public charity status under section 509(a)(3), and favorable treatment for…
Retirement plan qualifies as a church plan after correction
A religiously affiliated care corporation sought church plan treatment for its defined benefit retirement plan. The corporation had originally administered the plan itself, which the IRS found did…
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.