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.
No determinations match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
PLR 200037009: Identical trust merger preserved tax exemption and basis
Trustees proposed merging one irrevocable trust into another with identical beneficiaries and terms. The IRS concluded that the merger would not add property or alter beneficial interests in a way…
PLR 200037008: Estate granted time for reverse QTIP election
An estate elected qualified terminable interest property treatment for two trusts but omitted Schedule R from its estate tax return, leaving a reverse QTIP election unmade for the exempt trust. The…
PLR 200037007: Oil and gas buyers held economic interests and qualified fuel credits
Two partnerships purchased interests in oil and gas properties using cash, promissory notes, and production payments retained by the seller. The IRS ruled that the buyers acquired the entire…
CCA 200037006: Borrower reorganization did not defeat bond refunding treatment
Chief Counsel considered whether a bankruptcy reorganization of a bond financed facility's conduit borrower prevented later bonds from being treated as refunding bonds. The reorganized borrower…
TAM 200037004: Warranty repair costs accrue when services are provided
A product seller deducted estimated warranty repair costs before the repairs were performed. The IRS concluded that the taxpayer's liability became fixed, reasonably measurable, and economically…
CCA 200037003: Overpayment interest stopped at the underpayment year tax due date
A corporation had overpayments for several years that the IRS credited against tax deficiencies for two later years. It sought additional interest on the credited overpayments through dates when its…
PLR 200037002: Stock for assets exchange qualified as a Type C reorganization
A corporation proposed transferring substantially all its remaining assets to an acquiring corporation in exchange for the acquirer's voting stock, then distributing that stock to its shareholders…
PLR 200037001: Voting stock exchange qualified as a Type C reorganization
A corporation proposed transferring substantially all of its remaining assets to an acquiring corporation solely for voting stock, then distributing that stock to its shareholders in complete…
PLR 200036051: Four retirement plans qualify as church plans after hospital mergers
Two nonprofit hospital systems merged, and the surviving organizations asked whether their pension and 403(b) plans would be church plans. The IRS ruled that Plans A and B retained or gained church…
PLR 200036050: Foundation's program investments partly exempt from investment income tax
A private foundation planned loans and equity investments to support economic development in a foreign country. The IRS ruled that capital gains from selling its program related investments would be…
PLR 200036049: Hospital joint operating arrangement preserves tax exemptions
Two health care systems proposed a joint operating company to coordinate their hospitals and other organizations without merging their legal entities. The IRS ruled that the arrangement would not…
PLR 200036048: Division sale permits lump sum 401(k) distributions
A company sold more than 85 percent of the assets used by one of its separately operated divisions to an unrelated buyer. Most of the division's employees were offered jobs with the buyer, while the…
PLR 200036047: Nine IRA beneficiaries may use separate life expectancies
An IRA holder directed his custodian to divide one account into nine sub-IRAs for nine named beneficiaries before his required beginning date. He then elected to calculate distributions using each…
CCA 200036045: Federal tax lien reaches payments due from a support trust
Chief Counsel considered whether the IRS could collect a beneficiary's tax debt from a trust established by his mother and stepfather. The trust had spendthrift terms and described itself as…
PLR 200036044: Former resident's expatriation was not for tax avoidance
A former long-term U.S. resident gave up his lawful permanent resident status. His net worth and average annual tax liability exceeded the thresholds that normally create a presumption of tax…
CCA 200036043: Bankruptcy trustee may owe trust fund recovery penalty
A Chapter 11 bankruptcy estate collected communications excise taxes from customers but did not deposit or pay them before conversion to Chapter 7. Chief Counsel advised that the collected taxes…
PLR 200036042: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation's sole shareholder intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year, but miscommunication with an accountant meant no Form 2553 was filed. The corporation and shareholder…
PLR 200036041: Active property rentals do not count as passive investment income
An S corporation with accumulated earnings and profits owned residential and commercial rental properties through subsidiaries and limited liability companies. It employed staff, property managers,…
PLR 200036040: Missed S election receives effective date relief
A corporation's sole shareholder 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 section…
PLR 200036039: Late S corporation election accepted for intended date
A corporation's shareholders wanted S corporation status from its incorporation date, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under section…
PLR 200036038: Reimported trailers avoid a second retail excise tax
A trailer manufacturer had sold vehicles to a Canadian dealer without collecting federal retail excise tax, treating the sales as exports. The IRS concluded the original resale transactions should…
PLR 200036037: Unvested options did not trigger golden parachute rules
An employee held stock options when his employer was acquired. Some options later vested early after an involuntary termination, raising the question whether he was a disqualified individual under…
PLR 200036036: Shareholder split qualifies as a Type D reorganization
Two equal shareholders of an S corporation had disputes that affected its business in two states. The corporation proposed transferring the business assets in one state to a new controlled company,…
PLR 200036035: Employee's option vesting avoids golden parachute tax
An employee held company shares and options from two grant years when his employer was acquired. His unvested options accelerated after an involuntary termination following the acquisition. The IRS…
PLR 200036034: Unexercisable options excluded from parachute status test
An employee's stock options were converted when his employer was acquired, then vested early after an involuntary termination. The employee also had rights under an employee stock purchase plan. The…
PLR 200036033: Bond proceeds may be allocated to short term investment pools
A state treasurer invested bond proceeds and other state money in shared pools, using both short term and longer term investments. For federal arbitrage accounting, the bond issuer proposed…
PLR 200036032: Unvested stock options do not make employee a disqualified individual
An employee held stock options in a corporation that was acquired by another company. The acquiring company assumed the options, which later vested early when it involuntarily terminated the…
PLR 200036031: Unvested stock options do not make employee a disqualified individual
An employee held stock options in a corporation that was acquired by another company. The acquiring company assumed the options. They later vested early when the employee left in a termination…
PLR 200036030: Circular cash flow does not bar proposed F reorganization
A U.S. corporation proposed transferring its assets to a new U.S. company, selling that company's stock to its foreign parent, and then liquidating into the foreign parent. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200036029: Inadvertent second class of stock receives S corporation relief
A corporation issued preferred stock to its three shareholders without realizing that a second class of stock would end its S corporation election. After counsel found the problem, the shareholders…
PLR 200036028: Parent gets extra time to elect asset sale treatment for stock purchase
A U.S. consolidated group's subsidiary bought the stock of a foreign corporation. The group intended to make a section 338(g) election to treat the stock purchase as an asset purchase, and reported…
PLR 200036027: Unvested stock options do not make employee a disqualified individual
An employee held stock options in a corporation that was acquired by another company. The acquiring company assumed the options. They later vested early when the employee left in a termination…
PLR 200036026: Unvested stock options do not make employee a disqualified individual
An employee held stock options in a corporation that was acquired by another company. The acquiring company assumed the options. They later vested early when the employee left in a termination…
PLR 200036025: Unvested stock options do not make employee a disqualified individual
An employee held stock options in a corporation that was acquired by another company. The acquiring company assumed the options, which later vested early after the employee's employment was…
PLR 200036024: Unvested stock options do not make employee a disqualified individual
An employee held stock options in a corporation that was acquired by another company. The acquiring company assumed the options. They later vested early when the employee left in a termination…
PLR 200036023: Stock repurchase leaves earlier distribution rulings in force
An earlier IRS ruling addressed internal and public distributions of a controlled company's stock, made in part so that company could raise equity for acquisitions. After the distributions, the…
CCA 200036022: Deficiency notice should go to successor corporation
One corporation merged into another, which survived the merger and became responsible for the predecessor's obligations under the merger documents and the cited state statute. The predecessor had…
PLR 200036021: Fixed annuity payments get exclusion ratio; excess interest taxed on receipt
A life insurer proposed a single premium annuity with fixed monthly payments and possible excess interest credits. The IRS ruled that the owner could apply the section 72 exclusion ratio to the…
PLR 200036020: Family trusts' stock exchange avoids gain and taxable gift
Six family trusts proposed putting their shares of a company into a limited liability company and then exchanging one class of that company's common stock for another class held by three family…
PLR 200036019: Merger of identical trusts preserves tax treatment
Trustees proposed merging one irrevocable trust into another after their terms and beneficiaries had become identical. The IRS concluded that, on the stated facts, the trusts were protected from…
PLR 200036018: Foreign entity gets more time to elect partnership classification
Two foreign partnerships combined their operations by transferring assets to a newly formed foreign entity. The parties intended that entity to elect partnership classification for U.S. federal tax…
CCA 200036017: Claim of right relief unavailable for two oil company claims
An oil company sought section 1341 claim of right relief for three sets of payments: a settlement over understated royalties, a settlement over alleged oil product overpricing, and later…
CCA 200036016: Shipping group deduction requires timely related group election
A U.S. company used a group excess deduction to calculate shipping income of controlled foreign corporations after it bought their foreign holding company from its parent. It had not filed its own…
CCA 200036015: Related party import royalties belong in inventory costs
A U.S. importer bought merchandise from a foreign related company and paid separate royalties or license fees to that company's parent. Chief Counsel advised that the fees belonged in the…
PLR 200036014: Seller may use alternative basis recovery for contingent sale
A corporation sold one of its business lines for an initial payment plus contingent payments tied to future after tax profits. Because the earnout had no dollar cap, the seller asked to recover its…
PLR 200036013: Court's will construction preserves charitable lead trust tax treatment
A state court interpreted a decedent's will to include great grandchildren who were conceived before the decedent died and born afterward in a class entitled to later trust distributions. It also…
CCA 200036012: Grantor's death during annuity term brings trust value into estate
A grantor funded a retained annuity trust and kept the right to monthly payments for a stated term or until her earlier death. She died while the annuity term was still running, and the trust…
CCA 200036011: Government contract settlements do not qualify for claim of right relief
A manufacturer sought section 1341 claim of right relief for payments settling several government contract disputes and disclosures. The matters concerned alleged false testing, inflated pricing,…
PLR 200036010: Nuclear plant sale transfers qualified decommissioning fund tax free
A utility sold a nuclear power plant and related assets to a buyer that assumed decommissioning and other plant liabilities. The IRS ruled that transferring the qualified nuclear decommissioning…
CCA 200036009: Medical claim reserve needs liability for services actually provided
A healthcare network company sought to deduct a year end reserve for medical claims it expected to pay, including claims not yet filed. Chief Counsel advised that liability for preauthorized medical…
PLR 200036008: Court's trust interpretation preserves generation skipping tax protection
A trust did not expressly say who should receive income when a grandchild who inherited a deceased child's share later died leaving children. A state court interpreted the trust to pay that share to…
PLR 200036007: Partnership's coal based synthetic fuel qualifies for section 29 credit
A partnership operated facilities designed to make solid synthetic fuel from coal and had sold its membership interests to new owners. On the represented process and test results, the IRS concluded…
CCA 200036006: Royalty settlement claim of right relief needs more facts
An oil and gas company paid to settle a dispute over royalties it had underpaid to another party and sought section 1341 claim of right treatment for that payment. Chief Counsel said the withheld…
CCA 200036005: Insurers withdraw advance premium accounting applications
Two affiliated insurance taxpayers had applied to change how they accounted for premiums billed before policy inception. They withdrew those applications after final section 832 regulations provided…
CCA 200036004: Insurers withdraw advance premium accounting applications
Two affiliated insurance taxpayers had applied to change how they accounted for premiums billed before policy inception on business written by one and reinsured by the other. They withdrew those…
TAM 200036003: Intent behind later cash distributions matters in section 351 transfer
This short memorandum adds comments to a technical advice memorandum about a transfer of company assets to a subsidiary followed by cash distributions back to the transferor. It says the end result…
TAM 200036002: Actual intent governs whether subsidiary cash is section 351 boot
A parent corporation transferred a business to its wholly owned subsidiary and later received several cash distributions before selling subsidiary shares to the public. An IRS agent proposed…
TAM 200036001: Vehicle lessor owes luxury passenger vehicle excise tax
A business bought luxury passenger vehicles from dealers, leased them to customers, and assigned the leases to finance companies. It argued that it acted only as an agent for the finance companies.…
PLR 200035036: Government pension contributions picked up by employers receive income tax relief
A government pension system asked how federal income tax applies when participating employers pay the employee contributions required by state law. The IRS ruled that these picked-up amounts count…
PLR 200035035: Corrections pension contributions picked up by employers receive income tax relief
A corrections employee pension plan asked how federal income tax applies when participating employers pay the employee contributions required by state law. The IRS ruled that these picked-up amounts…
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.