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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CCA 200041003: Lease stripping leaves little depreciable basis for transferee
Chief Counsel analyzed a hypothetical in which a partnership sold lease receivables from equipment and later transferred the equipment to a corporation in a purported section 351 exchange. Counsel…
CCA 200041002: Medical residents appear outside state Social Security agreement
A university sought a refund of FICA taxes paid on medical residents' compensation. Chief Counsel advised that the residents appeared outside the state's Social Security Act section 218 agreement…
TAM 200041001: Short term resort use avoids entertainment facility disallowance
A company paid for employees and business associates to stay at a resort owned by a related entity while attending meetings and recreational activities. The IRS concluded that the company's short…
PLR 200040039: Inherited IRA assets receive different required distribution periods
Two children inherited an IRA holding assets originally owned by each of their parents. After the father died, the mother transferred his IRA assets into her own IRA and later named both children as…
PLR 200040038: Inherited IRA assets may be distributed over the older beneficiary's adjusted life expectancy
Two children inherited an IRA holding assets originally owned by each of their parents. After the father died, the mother transferred his IRA assets into her own IRA and later named both children as…
PLR 200040037: Foundation's plan to dispose of excess stock holdings approved
A private foundation received stock holdings and the remaining disposal period from a predecessor foundation that had received the stock by gift. The combined holdings exceeded the permitted level…
PLR 200040036: Related foundations receive one year to reduce excess stock holdings
Two related private foundations held shares in the same publicly traded company. A gift of stock to one foundation pushed their combined holdings above the permitted two percent level. The initial…
PLR 200040035: Grandchild's trust can use life expectancy for inherited IRA portion
An IRA owner died before her required distribution date and left her estate to two minor grandchildren through separate trusts. Her IRA was divided into two accounts, one for each trust, and…
CCA 200040034: State may request an estate EIN before paying an abandoned property claim
A state asked estate representatives for an employer identification number when they filed claims for abandoned property. The state would sometimes pay interest when it later released the property…
CCA 200040033: Refund deadline applies to wage levy payments collected after tax was paid
The IRS asked whether it could refund wage levy payments collected after the underlying tax debt had been paid. The employer kept sending payments because the continuous levy had not been released.…
CCA 200040032: New lien discharge remedy controls third party challenges
A person who does not owe the tax may need to pay or secure a federal tax lien to sell property. Earlier Supreme Court authority had allowed such a person to seek a refund after paying to clear the…
PLR 200040031: Foreign business spinoff and stock distributions qualify for specified tax treatment
A corporate group proposed moving a foreign branch business into a new foreign corporation, distributing that corporation's stock through two group companies, and contributing the stock through…
PLR 200040030: Former long term resident's departure lacked a principal tax avoidance purpose
A former long term U.S. resident gave up her green card and requested a ruling under section 877(c). Her net worth exceeded the threshold that could trigger a presumption of tax avoidance. She had…
PLR 200040029: Late foreign sales corporation election receives filing extension
A newly incorporated company missed the deadline to file Form 8279 to elect foreign sales corporation treatment. Its parent and tax adviser each thought the other would file the form, and the IRS…
PLR 200040028: Parent receives more time to file section 338 election for foreign stock purchase
A U.S. corporate parent sought more time to elect section 338 treatment after its foreign subsidiary purchased all the stock of another foreign company. The responsible tax professional failed to…
PLR 200040027: Late S corporation election treated as timely if Form 2553 is filed
A company with one shareholder intended to be an S corporation from its formation and operated as one, but later discovered that its S election was not filed on time. It asked the IRS to treat the…
PLR 200040026: County receives more time to carry forward unused bond volume cap
A county received unused state bond volume cap late in a year for single family mortgage revenue bonds. It chose to carry the allocation into the following year but failed to file Form 8328 because…
PLR 200040025: Foreign entity receives more time to elect partnership classification
A foreign entity was classified by default as an association because all its members had limited liability. It intended to elect partnership classification on Form 8832 effective on a stated date,…
PLR 200040024: Foreign business separation qualifies as a type D reorganization
A corporate group planned to separate two foreign businesses before combining related operations in a new company and offering part of that company's stock to the public. The ruling focuses on the…
PLR 200040023: Parent loan does not reduce assets counted in proposed merger
A foreign parent planned to acquire a U.S. company by merging it into a new U.S. subsidiary. The target's shareholders would receive parent stock and cash, with the cash financed by a loan from the…
PLR 200040022: Parent receives more time to elect section 338 treatment for target stock
A corporate group acquired all the stock of a foreign target through a subsidiary, then moved the target stock to another subsidiary. The parent intended to file a section 338(g) election but its…
PLR 200040021: Taxpayer receives extension to file foreign sales corporation election
A company missed the deadline to file Form 8279 to elect foreign sales corporation treatment. A director learned of the filing requirement after the deadline, and the company requested relief before…
PLR 200040020: Group receives more time to file dual consolidated loss agreement
A U.S. consolidated group included the losses of a subsidiary's foreign branch in its tax return. Its accounting firm prepared the return consistently with an election under the dual consolidated…
PLR 200040019: S corporation subsidiaries' QSub elections produce deemed liquidations
Two owners transferred the stock of nine S corporations to a new S corporation parent, which made qualified Subchapter S subsidiary elections for them. The IRS ruled that each effective QSub…
PLR 200040018: Proposed affiliate transfers leave earlier distribution rulings in force
A corporate group had received earlier rulings about distributions of stock in two controlled corporations. It proposed additional transfers of ownership interests among holding companies, mergers…
PLR 200040017: Virgin Islands rental property can qualify in a like kind exchange if it produces income in the exchange year
A U.S. citizen planned to exchange an investment property held through a land trust for two investment properties, one in a state and one in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The IRS ruled that the Virgin…
PLR 200040016: Municipal organizations' income excluded after public purpose dissolution clauses
Two related nonprofit organizations served municipalities through government research, information, training, and educational programs. One was owned by member cities; the other was controlled by…
PLR 200040015: Trust receives more time to make a REMIC election
A trust intended to be treated as a real estate mortgage investment conduit, or REMIC, but its trustee failed to tell the tax administrator to file the first return and election on time. After the…
PLR 200040014: Timely disclaimer of inherited trust interest avoids gift and generation skipping taxes
A surviving spouse learned that she had inherited a remainder interest in a trust created before 1977. She proposed to disclaim that interest within nine months after learning of it, allowing other…
PLR 200040013: Gift tax return errors did not defeat trust GST exemption allocations
A married couple made gifts to two trusts benefiting their children and descendants. On several timely gift tax returns, they reported the gifts as direct skips and entered generation skipping…
PLR 200040012: Trust drafting correction preserves GST exemption and avoids a gift
An irrevocable trust directed part of its assets to a son and daughter-in-law during their lives, then to the grantor's living grandchildren. The trustee sought a court ordered correction so…
PLR 200040011: Trust principal stays outside beneficiary's estate when he could not distribute it to himself
A surviving husband received income from a trust created by his spouse and served as one of its trustees. Other trustees could distribute principal to him, but the trust barred him from taking part…
PLR 200040010: Six grandchild trusts keep separate GST inclusion ratios
A decedent's trust made monthly payments to family members and held separate shares for six grandchildren. The estate had allocated generation skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to three of those…
CCA 200040009: Buying a creditor subsidiary at a discount may create income or reduce equipment basis
A corporation bought the stock of an unrelated company that held its debt, then liquidated that company so the debt disappeared. Much of the debt had financed an earlier equipment purchase from that…
PLR 200040008: Estate gets 60 days to split a trust for GST exemption purposes
An estate allocated the decedent's full generation skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption to a trust for his son and descendants. The will authorized splitting that trust into exempt and nonexempt…
CCA 200040007: Collection deadline alone cannot end an accepted installment agreement
Taxpayers were making payments under an accepted IRS installment agreement, but the scheduled payments would not clear the debt before the collection period expired. Chief Counsel advised that this…
CCA 200040006: A corporation's tax delinquency does not automatically bar its owner's compromise offer
An individual offered to compromise trust fund recovery penalties from a former corporation while a second corporation he owned was behind on employment tax filings and deposits. Chief Counsel…
CCA 200040005: Alleged IRS visit did not state an actionable tax information disclosure
A taxpayer claimed that an IRS officer disclosed private tax information by identifying himself to an apartment doorman and leaving a levy notice in the building lobby. Chief Counsel advised that…
TAM 200040004: Broker recruiting advances are compensation deducted as services are performed
A securities firm gave new brokers upfront payments described as loans, paired with guaranteed bonuses that exactly matched the scheduled repayments. The IRS concluded that the circular bonus and…
CCA 200040003: Bankruptcy restructuring needs more facts to determine reorganization status
A parent and subsidiary proposed a bankruptcy restructuring involving asset transfers, liquidation, debt exchanges, stock, and warrants. Field Service Advice said it lacked enough information to…
CCA 200040001: Split dollar insurance in an asset sale may create an indirect below market loan
An S corporation sold operating assets to a management company, which also agreed to fund split dollar life insurance for the seller's employee shareholders. Chief Counsel advised treating the…
CCA 200039037: Prenegotiated casino marker discount reduces gambling cost rather than creating debt discharge income
A casino offered visiting customers a discount on their markers if they finished with net gambling losses, with the terms agreed before the visit and recorded before the marker was signed. Chief…
PLR 200039036: Governmental retirement plans may treat irrevocable service credit purchases as employer contributions
A public education employer offered employees in two governmental retirement plans a way to purchase credit for earlier service through payroll deductions. Employees would sign irrevocable…
PLR 200039035: Pension plan receives conditional waiver of its 1999 minimum funding requirement
A company sponsoring a defined benefit pension plan experienced temporary business hardship, including lost clients and bad debts. The IRS granted a conditional waiver of the plan's minimum funding…
CCA 200039034: Revenue officer's penalty waiver promises did not satisfy written advice relief rules
An IRS district reviewed five penalty abatement requests after a revenue officer had promised some taxpayers that their penalties would be waived if they paid their tax. Chief Counsel advised that…
PLR 200039033: Pro rata distribution of a new business subsidiary qualifies as a reorganization
An S corporation planned to place one of its two businesses in a new subsidiary and distribute that subsidiary's stock proportionately to its shareholders. Two key employees would then buy 20…
PLR 200039032: Revised repurchase, board, and cash plans leave earlier spin off rulings in force
A corporate group had received a prior ruling on a restructuring that transferred a business to a controlled company, sold some controlled stock in a public offering, and distributed the rest to…
PLR 200039031: Spouses' fractional residence interests qualify for separate personal residence trusts
A married couple planned to divide ownership of their home and place each spouse's one half interest in a separate qualified personal residence trust. The property included outbuildings and land…
PLR 200039030: IRS revokes an earlier air transportation excise tax ruling
The IRS notified a taxpayer that it was revoking a 1980 letter ruling about the excise tax on air transportation of persons under § 4261. It cited the revocation procedure in Revenue Procedure…
CCA 200039029: Withdrawn parachute payment request drew proposed adverse rulings
A company withdrew its request for rulings on how § 280G would treat executive stock options and severance after a change in control. Chief Counsel told the examination office that it had been…
PLR 200039028: Executive pay deduction limit after a merger and officer resignations
A target company asked whether its executives would count as covered employees under the § 162(m) limit on deductions for executive pay after a merger. The IRS ruled that the target's officers would…
PLR 200039027: REIT settlement receipts excluded from its gross income tests
A real estate investment trust held an interest in a partnership that settled a dispute over a planned shopping mall. The settlement paid the partnership for expenses, its interest in the project,…
PLR 200039026: Late S corporation election treated as timely if form is filed
A company said it had intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation and had operated as one, but later discovered that its election had not been filed on time. It asked for relief under §…
PLR 200039025: Reasonable cause relief for a late S corporation election
A company intended to elect S corporation status from the date it was formed, but its election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and granted relief under…
PLR 200039024: S corporation election effective from incorporation despite late filing
A corporation wanted S corporation status from its incorporation date, but it did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and granted relief under §…
PLR 200039023: S election relief effective from the incorporation date
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation date but did not file its election on time. The IRS determined that it had reasonable cause for missing the deadline and granted…
PLR 200039022: Three investment funds' transfers qualify as asset reorganizations
Three investment funds planned to transfer their assets and liabilities to an acquiring fund for its voting stock, then distribute that stock to their shareholders and liquidate. Based on the stated…
PLR 200039021: Business split between two shareholders qualifies as a D reorganization
Two shareholders of an S corporation disagreed over management and proposed to divide the business between them. The corporation would transfer part of its assets and liabilities to a new…
PLR 200039020: Late S election accepted for the requested taxable year
A one-shareholder company had operated as an S corporation from incorporation but later learned that its S election had not been filed on time. It asked the IRS to treat the election as timely for…
PLR 200039019: Late S election accepted for a two-shareholder company
A company with two shareholders had operated as an S corporation since incorporation but later discovered that its election was not filed on time. It requested relief for the taxable year beginning…
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.