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 200106012: More time granted for revised plant ruling schedule
A taxpayer missed the deadline to request a revised schedule of ruling amounts for a plant under the section 468A regulations. It sought an extension under the rules for late regulatory elections.…
PLR 200106011: Police officer's disability pension excluded from income
A police officer was permanently disabled by an injury at a township target range and began receiving a disability pension. The township statute limited that pension to officers with…
CCA 200106010: Penalty assessment extensions invalid without notice of taxpayer rights
An IRS revenue officer asked two people potentially liable for a company's unpaid employment taxes to extend the time for assessing trust fund recovery penalties. The officer did not tell them they…
PLR 200106009: S corporation shareholders adjust stock basis before liquidating distributions
An S corporation planned to sell its business divisions and distribute the proceeds to shareholders over the course of a complete liquidation. It asked when shareholders should adjust their stock…
PLR 200106008: Corrected will gives surviving spouse qualifying trust income interest
A will mistakenly let the trustee distribute principal from a marital trust to the decedent's descendants while the surviving spouse was alive. That power prevented the spouse's interest from…
TAM 200106007: Revocable tribal trust funding gives minor no current income
A tribe placed gaming revenue in a trust for a minor beneficiary, and the IRS was asked whether the funding gave the minor gross income at that time. The trust could be revoked, and its terms did…
CCA 200106006: Cardroom payments split between wages and amortizable intangibles
A corporation paid former shareholders under an agreement to buy their goodwill and secure a promise not to compete. The parties later appeared to agree that part of each monthly payment was for the…
CCA 200106005: Cash method currency losses deductible when paid
An investor using the cash method lost money on foreign currency contracts but did not immediately pay the resulting debt to the broker. Chief Counsel advised that the unpaid portion of the losses…
CCA 200106004: Delayed foreign distributions remain outside a cash circle
A corporate group reorganized foreign businesses through stock transfers, an asset transfer, and related cash payments. It argued that the cash moved in a circle and should be ignored so the steps…
CCA 200106003: Interest and penalties alone do not establish tax evasion deficiency
Chief Counsel alerted Criminal Investigation to a court decision addressing the tax deficiency required for a section 7201 evasion charge. The decision said unpaid interest and penalties alone do…
CCA 200106002: Counsel summarizes proposed federal court rule amendments
A Criminal Tax attorney summarized proposed amendments to the federal criminal, civil, and evidence rules for Chief Counsel. The criminal rule changes would move most decisions about forfeited…
CCA 200106001: Civil forfeiture reform affects IRS seizures differently by statute
Chief Counsel reviewed the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 for IRS Criminal Investigation. The memorandum distinguishes forfeitures under Title 18 from those under the Internal Revenue…
PLR 200105067: Asset sale permits 401(k) distributions to transferred employees
A company sold more than 85 percent of the assets of a subsidiary's separate business to two unrelated buyers. Some employees moved to those buyers, while the selling company kept its qualified…
PLR 200105066: Recalculated IRA payments qualify for early distribution tax exception
A person planning to retire at age 50 wanted to draw monthly payments from two traditional IRAs without the 10 percent tax on early distributions. The proposed method used the combined IRA balances,…
PLR 200105065: Older child's life expectancy governs inherited IRA distributions
An IRA owner had named two children as equal beneficiaries before her required distribution start date and died after distributions began. During her life, she calculated required distributions…
PLR 200105064: Asset sales allow 401(k) distributions to transferred workers
A company sold all the assets of a separately managed division and a distinct product line to unrelated buyers. Employees of both operations joined the buyers, while the seller continued to maintain…
PLR 200105063: Younger child uses older sibling's life expectancy for inherited IRA
An IRA owner named two children as equal beneficiaries before her required distribution start date and later died after distributions had begun. The younger child asked how to calculate required…
CCA 200105062: Roth conversion income counts toward estimated tax
An IRS office asked whether it could waive estimated tax underpayment penalties for taxpayers who left income from traditional IRA to Roth IRA conversions out of their 1999 estimated tax payments.…
TAM 200105061: Standby letters of credit did not accelerate installment sale income
A company sold stock for cash and a note, reporting the sale under the installment method. Later, the buyer replaced the letter of credit securing the note with letters of credit backed by cash and…
PLR 200105060: Corporate business separation qualifies as a tax-free reorganization
A corporation planned to transfer two business lines to a new corporation, then distribute all the new corporation's stock to its shareholders. It said separating the businesses would help resolve…
PLR 200105059: Reforming a trust permits an estate tax charitable deduction
A decedent's trust paid income to individuals for up to ten years before its remaining assets passed to charities. Its original terms did not qualify for an estate tax charitable deduction. The…
PLR 200105058: Spouse's disclaimers and inherited retirement plan distributions
A surviving spouse planned to disclaim both her direct interest in a deceased participant's retirement plan and her power to appoint the plan assets after they passed to a trust. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200105057: Late S corporation election allowed after filing mix-up
A new corporation intended to be an S corporation from its first tax year. Its attorney prepared the election form, but a miscommunication led the sole shareholder to miss the filing deadline. The…
PLR 200105056: Late S corporation election accepted after officer missed filing requirement
A corporation intended to elect S status for its first tax year, but its president did not know Form 2553 had to be filed and no election was submitted. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 200105055: Late S election allowed after attorney failed to file form
A corporation's two shareholders intended to elect S status from the company's start and relied on an attorney to prepare and file Form 2553. The attorney did not file it. The IRS found reasonable…
PLR 200105054: Surrender of green card lacked a principal tax-avoidance purpose
A former U.S. long-term resident surrendered his green card after returning to his country of birth, which taxed his worldwide income. His net worth exceeded the threshold that could trigger a…
PLR 200105053: Late S election accepted after corporation filed an S return
Four shareholders intended their corporation to be an S corporation from its first tax year. A business loan agreement and a filed S corporation return reflected that intent, but the shareholders'…
PLR 200105052: Nuclear decommissioning funds transfer during utility restructuring
An electric utility planned to transfer nuclear plants and their qualified decommissioning funds to a related company as part of a restructuring. The IRS ruled that, if the state regulator issued a…
PLR 200105051: Returning spouse's green card surrender lacked a tax-avoidance purpose
A woman moved to the United States when her spouse was transferred for work, obtained a green card, then returned to her country of birth and surrendered the card. Her net worth exceeded the…
PLR 200105050: Member interests survive mergers and a stock recapitalization
A membership corporation taxed as a C corporation wanted to become a stock corporation through two mergers followed by a recapitalization. Members held both ownership interests and separate rights…
PLR 200105049: Disclaimer of a trust remainder would not be a taxable gift
A trust beneficiary learned of his remainder interest only after the trust's last income beneficiary died. He wanted to disclaim his share before accepting any trust income or property. Because the…
PLR 200105048: Puerto Rico citizen treated as a nonresident noncitizen for estate and gift tax
A U.S. citizen residing in Puerto Rico asked how the estate and gift tax rules would classify him before making gifts to his children. The IRS found that he became a Puerto Rican citizen under the…
PLR 200105047: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
An electric utility requested a revised schedule for deductible payments into its nuclear plant decommissioning fund after a state regulator increased the decommissioning costs included in customer…
PLR 200105046: First-year S election allowed after late Form 2553
A newly incorporated company intended to elect S status from its incorporation date, as reflected in its employer identification number application. It did not file a completed Form 2553 on time.…
CCA 200105045: Employment tax assessments against a disregarded LLC's owner were valid
The IRS assessed employment taxes under a single-member LLC's name and employer identification number, even though the LLC was disregarded for federal tax purposes. Field Service Advice considered…
PLR 200105044: Dividing a family trust preserves its tax treatment
A court clarified a will's conflicting distribution terms and authorized division of a family trust's assets into two trusts for different branches of the family. The IRS found that the changes did…
PLR 200105043: IRS grants extra time to make section 338(g) elections
A corporate group asked for more time to file section 338(g) elections after a foreign subsidiary acquired two foreign target corporations. The elections were due earlier, but the group discovered…
PLR 200105042: Late accounting-period application treated as timely
A taxpayer asked to change its federal income tax accounting period and requested relief for filing Form 1128 after the deadline. The IRS found that the late filing resulted from an error or…
PLR 200105041: Late S corporation election allowed for reasonable cause
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status when the corporation began doing business, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found that the corporation had…
PLR 200105040: Two merger sequences receive section 368 treatment rulings
A publicly traded parent combined with two target companies through separate reverse subsidiary mergers and then proposed merging each target upstream into the parent. The parent said the initial…
PLR 200105039: Dividing an old trust into three subtrusts preserves its tax treatment
The trustees of an irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985, planned to divide it into three subtrusts, one for each of the settlor's children. Each subtrust would receive a pro rata…
PLR 200105038: Ten-year holding period waived for federally assisted housing
A limited partnership planned to acquire and rehabilitate a federally assisted housing project for the low-income housing credit. A prior partnership-interest sale caused a technical termination and…
PLR 200105037: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
A public utility that owned an interest in a nuclear power plant requested a revised schedule of annual ruling amounts for its nuclear decommissioning fund. The request followed a public utility…
PLR 200105036: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
A public utility that owned an interest in a nuclear power plant requested a revised schedule of annual ruling amounts for its nuclear decommissioning fund. The request followed a public utility…
PLR 200105035: S corporation holding company treatment for two subsidiaries approved
Two closely held S corporations proposed forming a new S corporation and contributing all of their stock to it. The new corporation would then elect to treat each subsidiary as a qualified…
PLR 200105034: S corporation holding company treatment for two subsidiaries approved
Two closely held S corporations proposed forming a new S corporation and contributing all of their stock to it. The new corporation would then elect to treat each subsidiary as a qualified…
PLR 200105033: Late S corporation election granted relief
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status effective on a specified date, but it did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and granted relief…
PLR 200105032: Extension granted for consent dividend elections
Three corporations in a consolidated group sought more time to make consent dividend elections under section 565 for earlier tax years. Their return preparer had missed that each company needed to…
PLR 200105031: Two distributions of foreign subsidiary stock qualify for stated tax treatment
A holding company proposed moving a foreign subsidiary through two domestic subsidiaries after a professional association's new accounting rule threatened their business operations. The plan…
PLR 200105030: Relief granted for late S corporation election
A corporation's shareholder intended the corporation to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date, but the election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 200105029: Relief granted for late S corporation election
A corporation's shareholder intended the corporation to elect S corporation status from a specified date, but the election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and…
PLR 200105028: Extension granted for three QSub elections
An S corporation acquired all the stock of three other S corporations and intended to elect qualified Subchapter S subsidiary treatment for each of them. It relied on a tax professional, but the…
PLR 200105027: Investment portfolio granted three partnership tax rulings
An investment portfolio classified as a partnership received securities from a fund that was one of its partners. The IRS ruled that the portfolio was not a publicly traded partnership because its…
PLR 200105026: Investment portfolio granted three partnership tax rulings
An investment portfolio classified as a partnership received securities from a fund that was one of its partners. The IRS ruled that the portfolio was not a publicly traded partnership because its…
PLR 200105025: Investment portfolio granted three partnership tax rulings
An investment portfolio classified as a partnership received securities from a fund that was one of its partners. The IRS ruled that the portfolio was not a publicly traded partnership because its…
PLR 200105024: Investment portfolio granted three partnership tax rulings
An investment portfolio classified as a partnership received securities from a fund that was one of its partners. The IRS ruled that the portfolio was not a publicly traded partnership because its…
PLR 200105023: Investment portfolio granted three partnership tax rulings
An investment portfolio classified as a partnership received securities from a fund that was one of its partners. The IRS ruled that the portfolio was not a publicly traded partnership because its…
PLR 200105022: Investment portfolio granted three partnership tax rulings
An investment portfolio classified as a partnership received securities from a fund that was one of its partners. The IRS ruled that the portfolio was not a publicly traded partnership because its…
PLR 200105021: Investment portfolio granted three partnership tax rulings
An investment portfolio classified as a partnership received securities from a fund that was one of its partners. The IRS ruled that the portfolio was not a publicly traded partnership because its…
PLR 200105020: Investment portfolio granted three partnership tax rulings
An investment portfolio classified as a partnership received securities from a fund that was one of its partners. The IRS ruled that the portfolio was not a publicly traded partnership because its…
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.