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 200043055: Physician employer's profit-sharing plan qualifies as a church plan
A church-affiliated hospital arranged for a tax-exempt physician corporation to provide medical services and asked whether the corporation's profit-sharing plan was a church plan. The IRS found that…
PLR 200043054: Foundation's pool construction set-aside qualifies as a distribution
A private foundation set aside funds in 1999 to help an educational institution build a pool facility. It planned to release money as construction installments came due and represented that the…
PLR 200043053: Artwork transfer is an unusual grant and ends a foundation's status
Two art-holding organizations proposed to transfer their artwork to a publicly supported museum operator. The IRS ruled that the unusually large artwork contribution could be excluded from both…
PLR 200043052: Foundation grant for historic mansion preserves exempt status
A private foundation proposed a grant to a public charity to buy a historic mansion, conditioned on the charity raising separate funds to renovate and maintain it. The charity planned to use part of…
PLR 200043051: Scholarship trust becomes a charitable trust treated as a private foundation
A trust benefited its settlor during her life and, after her death, was to pay its income to a college for need-based scholarships. Her estate claimed a charitable deduction for the trust property.…
PLR 200043050: Child care loan guarantees and restricted deposits qualify as program-related investments
A private foundation asked whether grants for specific charitable projects, bank deposits backing child care loans, and interest subsidies triggered expenditure responsibility rules. The IRS ruled…
PLR 200043049: Coal miner retiree benefit trust qualifies as a collectively bargained VEBA
An employer and its subsidiaries sought rulings about a trust funding life and health benefits for retired union mineworkers. The IRS ruled that the trust was a voluntary employees' beneficiary…
PLR 200043048: Employee child scholarships approved under the facts and circumstances test
A private foundation sponsored scholarships for children of a company's employees and agents through a public charity's national academic competitions. Applicants had to become finalists, and…
PLR 200043047: Family trusts may invest through a shared LLC without self-dealing
Fifteen charitable remainder unitrusts sought to pool investments in a family limited liability company that could be a disqualified person for each trust. For the requesting trust, the IRS ruled…
CCA 200043046: Interest from a transferee tax liability did not warrant compromise
District counsel asked whether the IRS could accept an offer in compromise for interest on a shareholder's transferee tax liability. Other shareholders had filed a fraudulent corporate return, and…
PLR 200043045: Corporate spin-off qualifies as a divisive reorganization
A publicly traded parent planned to separate two active businesses by contributing subsidiary stock to a controlled corporation and distributing that corporation's shares to its shareholders. The…
PLR 200043044: Two corporate distributions qualify for spin-off tax treatment
A public company planned an offering of stock in a subsidiary, a transfer of two subsidiaries into a new corporation, and then two stock distributions. The IRS ruled that the contribution to the new…
PLR 200043043: Late S corporation election accepted after timely filing of Form 2553
A corporation with one shareholder intended to be an S corporation from incorporation, but discovered that it had not filed its election on time. The IRS granted relief under section 1362(b)(5) and…
PLR 200043042: Domestic spin-off and foreign demerger qualify as divisive reorganizations
A foreign parent planned to separate two businesses. First, its domestic subsidiary would contribute the stock of subsidiaries in one business to a new domestic corporation and distribute that…
PLR 200043041: Dividing an older family trust preserves generation skipping tax exemption
Two grandchildren served as trustees of a trust created under their grandmother's will and wanted separate trusts for their family branches. A local court approved the division contingent on a…
PLR 200043040: Late S corporation election accepted after preparer filing lapse
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation status from its first taxable year and relied on a preparer to file Form 2553. The IRS service center had no record of the form, although the…
PLR 200043039: Charitable lead trust receives deductions but may face generation skipping tax
A donor proposed a 30-year charitable lead unitrust paying seven percent of its annually valued assets to a family foundation, with the remainder for the donor's children. The IRS allowed section…
PLR 200043038: Truck sales contracted after a revocation notice lose excise tax relief
A truck seller had an earlier IRS letter saying certain truck sales and leases were outside the section 4051 retail excise tax. The IRS revoked that letter on March 30, 2000, effective May 15, and…
CCA 200043037: Withdrawn bonus ruling request would have received adverse advice
A company withdrew its request for a ruling on whether accelerated executive bonuses were contingent on a change in control under section 280G. Chief Counsel notified the examining office that it…
PLR 200043036: Correcting swapped trust funding clauses avoids appointment and gift taxes
A decedent's revocable trust had inadvertently swapped the funding instructions for a marital deduction trust and a credit shelter trust. The mistake put assets in a trust giving the surviving…
PLR 200043035: REIT receives extra time to correct consent dividend election
A real estate investment trust relied on an accounting firm to prepare consent dividend forms needed for its distribution requirement. After filing, new advisers found that the dividend amount was…
PLR 200043034: Controlled stock transfers and foreign amalgamation receive tax-free treatment
A domestic parent proposed to move stock in one foreign subsidiary down through two wholly owned domestic subsidiaries, then combine that foreign company with another under foreign corporate law.…
PLR 200043033: Three-shareholder corporation receives late S election relief
A corporation with three shareholders intended to be an S corporation from incorporation but discovered that its election had not been filed on time. The IRS treated the section 1362(a) election as…
PLR 200043032: Three merger steps treated as a direct subsidiary acquisition
A foreign parent acquired a U.S. target through a merger subsidiary, contributed the target stock to an existing U.S. subsidiary, and planned to merge the target into that subsidiary. The IRS…
PLR 200043031: Farm estate restructurings preserve installment tax payments
Two related estates had elected to pay estate tax in installments on closely held farm businesses, and the later estate also expected a credit for tax paid by the first. The IRS found that moving…
PLR 200043030: Farm estate changes preserve installment tax payments
Two related estates had elected to pay estate tax in installments based on closely held farming businesses. The IRS ruled that removing excess capital outside the qualifying proprietorship interest…
PLR 200043029: Charitable lead trusts qualify for estate tax treatment
A married couple planned for assets remaining after both deaths to fund two charitable lead trusts. One trust would pay charities an annual amount based on its changing value, and the other would…
PLR 200043028: Geographic business split qualifies as a reorganization
A corporation operated the same business in two locations whose management groups wanted to run their operations separately. It proposed transferring one location's assets to a new corporation, then…
PLR 200043027: Pro rata trust division keeps existing tax treatment
A testamentary trust for several family groups was to be divided into five separate trusts under a court order. Each new trust would receive a proportionate share of every asset, and the…
PLR 200043026: Late S corporation election receives relief
A newly incorporated business intended to elect S corporation status effective on a specified date but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election and granted…
PLR 200043025: Extension granted for section 338 election
A consolidated group's foreign subsidiaries bought the stock of a foreign target, but the group missed the deadline for a section 338(g) election to treat the stock purchase as an asset acquisition.…
PLR 200043024: Late asset acquisition election receives filing extension
A foreign subsidiary bought the stock of a foreign target but missed the deadline for a section 338(g) election to treat the purchase as an asset acquisition. The group later sold the target stock…
PLR 200043023: Foreign target stock purchase gets late election relief
Two foreign subsidiaries of a consolidated group bought a foreign company's stock but missed the filing deadline for a section 338(g) election. After reviewing the group's reliance on a tax…
PLR 200043022: Late section 338 election allowed for foreign purchase
A foreign subsidiary in a consolidated group bought the stock of a foreign target but did not file a section 338(g) election by the deadline. The IRS found that the group had relied on a tax…
PLR 200043021: Late foreign acquisition election gets extension
Two foreign subsidiaries in a consolidated group bought a foreign company's stock but missed the deadline for a section 338(g) election. The IRS found that the group had relied on a tax…
PLR 200043020: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year and relied on an accountant to file Form 2553, but the accountant missed the deadline. The corporation had filed an S…
PLR 200043019: Corporation receives late S election relief
A corporation's original shareholders intended S corporation treatment from its incorporation date, but the company did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
TAM 200043018: Most bankruptcy related costs fail specified liability loss test
A company that entered chapter 11 bankruptcy claimed that several tax, labor, professional fee, and restructuring deductions created specified liability losses eligible for a special net operating…
TAM 200043017: Housing credit basis depends on depreciable project costs
A partnership developing low-income rental housing asked which project costs could enter the eligible basis used for the section 42 housing credit. The IRS said costs generally needed to become the…
TAM 200043016: Housing credit basis excludes local impact fees
A partnership building low-income rental housing asked whether impact fees, land preparation, construction loan expenses, and contractor fees entered the eligible basis for its section 42 credit.…
TAM 200043015: Eligible basis for low-income housing project costs
A state limited partnership developing a low-income rental apartment project asked which land preparation and tax-exempt bond issuance costs could be included in the project's eligible basis for the…
PLR 200043014: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its formation but did not file Form 2553 on time. It asked the IRS to treat its election as timely under section 1362(b)(5). Based on the submitted…
TAM 200043013: Lender warrants subject to investment unit rules
A corporation issued stock purchase warrants to a bank alongside a line of credit during its bankruptcy reorganization, then bought the warrants back. The corporation argued that the warrants…
CCA 200043012: Concession advised for captive insurance premiums
An Appeals officer asked whether the IRS should concede that premiums paid by a company's operating subsidiaries to its captive insurance subsidiary were insurance payments for federal income tax…
CCA 200043011: Concession advised in captive reinsurance dispute
An Appeals officer asked whether to concede that two reinsurance arrangements constituted insurance and that a captive subsidiary qualified as an insurance company for the year at issue. Chief…
TAM 200043010: Mortgage basis allocation change requires consent
A mortgage banker sold loans it had bought from other originators while retaining servicing rights. For two years it allocated the loans' basis between the sold mortgages and retained rights using a…
CCA 200043009: Subsidiary stock distribution increases disallowed loss
A consolidated corporate group sold the stock of a subsidiary and claimed a loss after applying the consolidated return loss disallowance rule. Chief Counsel concluded that the group omitted an…
CCA 200043008: Concession advised for related insurer premiums
An Appeals officer asked whether a company and its operating subsidiaries could deduct premiums paid to an insurer owned by the future beneficiaries of trusts that owned the company. Chief Counsel…
CCA 200043007: Worthless property transfer excluded from section 351
Companies in a consolidated group transferred properties to a new corporation in exchange for stock, including auction rate preferred stock that one transferor later sold at a loss. Chief Counsel…
CCA 200043006: Assets defeat economic hardship compromise
Taxpayers sought an offer in compromise after a court upheld tax liability arising from their partnership investment. They argued that collecting the full amount would cause economic hardship and…
CCA 200043005: No additional interest on credit to earlier tax year
A taxpayer sought additional interest on an overpayment that the IRS credited against an earlier year's tax deficiency. Chief Counsel advised that section 6611(b)(1) allowed no overpayment interest…
CCA 200043004: Partnership losses allowed up to cancellation income
A partnership allocated cancellation of indebtedness income and ordinary losses to limited partners who had no personal liability for the discharged debt. Chief Counsel advised that partners who…
CCA 200043003: Partner cannot compromise a share of partnership payroll tax
A general partner offered to compromise his personal tax debts and what he called his share of two partnerships' unpaid employment taxes. Chief Counsel advised that each partnership's employment tax…
PLR 200043002: Later merger leaves prior transaction rulings in force
After completing a transaction covered by an earlier letter ruling, a corporation proposed merging a controlled company into a target company it had acquired. The parties said operating the…
PLR 200043001: Local law liquidation preserves S election
An S corporation proposed liquidating under local law, with its shareholders then holding a rental building as co-tenants. The co-tenants represented that they would continue providing tenant…
PLR 200042028: Benefit plan for affiliated churches qualifies as a church plan
A benefits board associated with a church expanded its retirement plan to cover employees of other churches with similar beliefs. It asked whether the plan remained a church plan and whether service…
PLR 200042027: Research training stipends are fellowships, not wages
A medical research center paid living expense stipends to postdoctoral fellows in training programs modeled on National Institutes of Health awards. The fellows pursued research training rather than…
CCA 200042026: Surplus levy proceeds may offset tax for an unlevied period
The IRS considered a hypothetical levy that collected more than remained due for the period listed on it because another payment arrived before the levy proceeds were posted. The taxpayer also owed…
PLR 200042025: IRS consents to prepaid subscription income election
An accrual method publisher received prepaid subscription income from its publications and sought consent to elect § 455 treatment. Section 455 includes that income in the years when the publisher…
PLR 200042024: Spin-off and asset transfer receive conditional tax rulings
An S corporation planned to place the part of its business serving clients outside one industry in a new corporation, distribute the new corporation's stock to its shareholders, and seek an initial…
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.