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 200034013: Stock purchase did not change corporate control for parachute payment rules
An investor bought preferred stock and some directors' common stock in a public company, gaining more than 20 percent of the voting interest. That level created a presumption of changed effective…
PLR 200034012: Foreign subsidiary transfers treated as tax free divisive reorganizations
A corporate group had separated two businesses so that one could sell more to unrelated customers. This letter addressed the earlier transfers of foreign subsidiaries and assets in two countries…
PLR 200034011: Corporation allowed S election from incorporation date
A corporation's sole shareholder wanted S corporation treatment starting on the incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under…
CCA 200034010: REIT preferred shares treated as fast-pay stock
Chief Counsel analyzed a financing arrangement using two classes of stock in a real estate investment trust. One class received early distributions that returned much of its investment, while the…
PLR 200034009: Tax treatment of nuclear plant decommissioning funds in a sale
A buyer planned to acquire a nuclear power plant, assume its decommissioning obligations, and receive assets from the sellers' decommissioning funds. The IRS ruled that transferring the qualified…
PLR 200034008: Tax treatment of a nuclear plant purchase and decommissioning funds
A buyer acquired a nuclear power plant and its qualified and nonqualified decommissioning funds while assuming the obligation to retire the plant. The IRS ruled that transfer of the qualified fund…
PLR 200034007: Tax treatment of a nuclear plant purchase and decommissioning funds
A buyer planned to acquire a nuclear power plant and its qualified and nonqualified decommissioning funds and assume the obligation to retire the plant. The IRS ruled that the proposed transfer of…
PLR 200034006: Condominium association may revoke prior homeowners association tax elections
A condominium association filed Form 1120-H for two years after its accountant failed to explain that filing the form elected special treatment under section 528. A new accountant found that…
PLR 200034005: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund contribution schedule approved
A utility with an interest in a nuclear plant requested a revised schedule of amounts it could contribute to its qualified decommissioning fund under section 468A. The IRS found that the utility had…
CCA 200034004: Restated foreign corporation earnings may inform interest apportionment
A U.S. corporation restated earlier financial earnings of its controlled foreign corporations after adopting new accounting guidance. It then used the restated figures to adjust its basis in the…
CCA 200034003: Gas supplier refunds are income before customer rebates are deductible
A gas utility received refunds from upstream suppliers after a federal regulator reduced their rates. State rules required the utility to pass the refunds to its customers through later rate…
PLR 200034002: Seller's tax treatment of a nuclear plant and decommissioning fund sale
A utility planned to sell its interest in a nuclear plant and transfer its decommissioning funds while the buyer assumed related liabilities. The IRS ruled that transferring the qualified fund would…
CCA 200034001: Unenrolled preparer's offer appeal and the collection deadline
Taxpayers gave an unenrolled return preparer a power of attorney, and the preparer signed an appeal after the IRS rejected their offer in compromise. Chief Counsel advised that the preparer lacked…
PLR 200033050: Senior care affiliation preserves exemption and avoids unrelated business income
A charitable parent organization and several senior care providers planned to form an affiliated system under common control. The parent would oversee budgets, leadership, and other major decisions…
PLR 200033048: New IRA payment series can qualify for the early distribution exception
A taxpayer had been taking periodic IRA payments intended to qualify for the exception to the 10 percent early distribution tax. She planned a much larger payment in 2000, which the IRS said would…
PLR 200033047: Employer stock dividends can be deductible and exempt from payroll tax
An employer amended its profit sharing plan so its stock fund would operate as an employee stock ownership plan. It asked about dividends paid to participants, additional compensation they deferred…
TAM 200033046: Point of service HMO plan is commercial type insurance
A tax exempt health maintenance organization offered a main plan that paid physicians fixed amounts and a smaller point of service plan that paid for visits without withholding part of the fees. The…
CCA 200033045: Duplicate dependent claims on original returns call for deficiency procedures
A service center bulletin told staff to disallow duplicate dependent exemptions on certain late original returns and notify the taxpayer. Chief Counsel advised that the bulletin did not conflict…
CCA 200033044: Summons notices must include the full description of records sought
An IRS examiner wanted records from a decedent's attorney for an estate tax audit. The examiner asked whether copies of the summons sent to other people named in the requested records could omit…
CCA 200033043: Severance payments generally count as FICA wages
Chief Counsel reviewed six lower court decisions about severance payments made during layoffs and downsizing. The courts treated the payments as wages subject to FICA tax, including payments linked…
PLR 200033042: Added LLC transactions leave an earlier spin off ruling in place
A company had received an earlier ruling on a proposed distribution of subsidiary stock to its shareholders. It then proposed transferring and selling part of its interest in a limited liability…
PLR 200033041: Late section 338 elections receive a 30 day extension
A corporate parent missed the deadline to elect section 338 treatment for an acquired foreign company and two deemed acquisitions of its affiliates. The parent said it relied on tax professionals to…
PLR 200033040: Late branch tax elections receive a 30 day extension
A taxpayer missed the deadline for its first U.S. federal income tax return after failing to request an automatic filing extension. It discovered before filing that the late return would make its…
PLR 200033039: Late S corporation election accepted for reasonable cause
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from its first year with a shareholder and operations. Its legal and accounting advisers misunderstood who would file Form 2553, so no election…
CCA 200033038: IRS may reject an offer when a controlled corporation is delinquent
An individual offered to compromise several tax liabilities, but her wholly owned professional corporation had unpaid employment taxes and had missed tax deposits. Chief Counsel advised that section…
PLR 200033037: Employee stock separation qualifies as a divisive reorganization
A corporate group proposed separating two business segments so key employees of one segment could hold a larger direct interest in that business. The plan involved a contribution to a controlled…
PLR 200033036: Actively managed property rents are not passive investment income
An S corporation with accumulated earnings and profits leased and managed two buildings as its sole business. It described extensive tenant services, repairs, maintenance, inspections, and operating…
PLR 200033035: Housing partnership transfer triggers some terminations but no credit recapture
An investor planned to transfer its interests in partnerships owning low income housing projects to a holding partnership. It asked whether the transfer would avoid terminating the operating…
PLR 200033034: Business split off qualifies for nonrecognition treatment
Three shareholders wanted to separate two businesses so each could focus on the operation in which they worked. One shareholder would exchange all her stock in the parent company for all the stock…
PLR 200033033: Housing holding partnership classification and credit recapture
An investor proposed moving interests in partnerships owning low income housing projects into a holding entity with a second member. The IRS ruled that the holding entity would be classified as a…
PLR 200033032: Housing holding partnership classification and credit recapture
An investor proposed moving interests in partnerships owning low income housing projects into a holding entity with a second member. The IRS ruled that the holding entity would be classified as a…
PLR 200033031: bank holding company separates controlled businesses and liquidates three subsidiaries
Corp 1, a bank holding company, proposed a series of internal transfers and distributions involving D1, D2, Controlled 1, Controlled 2, and other domestic corporations. The transaction would…
PLR 200033030: partnership transfers terminate some OLPs but avoid low income housing credit recapture
A limited partner planned to contribute interests in operating partnerships that owned low income housing projects to a holding limited partnership. The IRS ruled that the contribution would…
PLR 200033029: a holding company separates Business B from Business C through a Type D spin off
Distributing is a publicly traded holding company that conducts three businesses through subsidiaries. It proposed contributing its Sub 2 stock to a new Controlled corporation and distributing the…
PLR 200033028: reasonable cause permits a late S corporation election if Form 2553 is filed within 60 days
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status and filed its tax return, along with its shareholders' returns, as though the election had been made. The Service had no record of Form 2553, and…
PLR 200033027: a 30 day extension permits a section 338(g) election for Target 1
A foreign purchasing company acquired all of the stock of five foreign target corporations, and the common parent of its consolidated group intended to make section 338(g) elections for those…
PLR 200033026: a 30 day extension permits a section 338(g) election for Target 2
A foreign purchasing company acquired all of the stock of five foreign target corporations, and the common parent of its consolidated group intended to make section 338(g) elections for those…
PLR 200033025: a 30 day extension permits a section 338(g) election for Target 3
A foreign purchasing company acquired all of the stock of five foreign target corporations, and the common parent of its consolidated group intended to make section 338(g) elections for those…
PLR 200033024: a 30 day extension permits a section 338(g) election for Target 4
A foreign purchasing company acquired all of the stock of five foreign target corporations, and the common parent of its consolidated group intended to make section 338(g) elections for those…
PLR 200033023: a 30 day extension permits a section 338(g) election for Target 5
A foreign purchasing company acquired all of the stock of five foreign target corporations, and the common parent of its consolidated group intended to make section 338(g) elections for those…
PLR 200033022: revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved for five years
A taxpayer owning an undivided interest in a nuclear power plant requested a revised schedule of ruling amounts for its nuclear decommissioning fund. The request reflected decommissioning costs…
PLR 200033021: revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved for five years
A taxpayer owning an undivided interest in a nuclear power plant requested a revised schedule of ruling amounts for its nuclear decommissioning fund after the prior schedule ended in 1998. The…
PLR 200033020: taxpayer may revise and revoke an investment income election
A taxpayer used Form 4952 to elect to include all net capital gain in investment income for Year 1, following a practice from earlier years. For Year 1, only a small part of the gain was needed to…
PLR 200033019: revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved for five years
A taxpayer owning an undivided interest in a nuclear power plant requested a revised schedule of ruling amounts for its nuclear decommissioning fund. The IRS concluded that the taxpayer had a…
PLR 200033018: actively managed property rents are not S corporation passive investment income
A real estate company owned, leased, and managed residential and commercial properties it had developed. Its employees and contractors supplied maintenance, repairs, tenant work, grounds care,…
PLR 200033017: federally assisted housing project receives a 10 year holding period waiver
A partnership acquired an existing apartment project financed under a federal rural housing program and planned to rehabilitate it. Because fewer than 10 years had passed since the project's last…
CCA 200033016: Puerto Rico location savings under a section 936 cost sharing election
Chief Counsel advised a district office about a Puerto Rico manufacturer whose parent claimed location savings after the subsidiary was treated as having made a section 936(h) cost sharing election.…
PLR 200033015: trust reformation to include minor adoptees does not trigger income or gift tax
A settlor created separate trusts for five children, but the instrument excluded all adopted descendants. After one child adopted a minor, a court reformed the trust to reflect the settlor's stated…
PLR 200033014: qualified brokers are not employees for real estate brokerage services
A commercial real estate firm asked whether its licensed brokers, including people who also manage an office, were employees for federal tax purposes. The IRS ruled that brokers who meet section…
PLR 200033013: late reverse QTIP election permits GST exemption allocation to a trust
An estate timely filed Form 706 and made a QTIP election for its marital share, but its tax preparer omitted the Schedule R needed for a reverse QTIP election for Trust C-1. The trust had been…
CCA 200033012: depreciation method elections for five year property
An equipment leasing company used different depreciation methods for property placed in service over six tax years. The IRS advised that its straight-line elections for five year property in Years 2…
PLR 200033011: separate life insurance policies and taxable family coverage
A company offered employees basic life insurance paid by the company and optional coverage paid by employees. The IRS ruled that the company could treat the basic coverage and the optional coverage…
PLR 200033010: late S corporation election treated as timely
A company intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation and operated on that basis, but discovered after its first tax year that it had missed the election deadline. The IRS ruled under…
PLR 200033009: late S corporation election treated as timely
A company intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation and operated on that basis, but discovered after its first tax year that it had missed the election deadline. The IRS ruled under…
PLR 200033008: extra time to elect partnership classification
A foreign entity with two owners, both shielded from liability, would be classified as an association under the default entity classification rules. Its owners intended to elect partnership…
PLR 200033007: trustee succession changes preserve GST tax exemption
The trustees and beneficiaries of three trusts sought court approval to change how successor trustees are chosen, including an independent trustee. They wanted to preserve the trusts' exemption from…
CCA 200033006: timing of a former section 121 home sale election
A homeowner who qualified under the former section 121 rule sold his principal residence but filed no return and made no tax payment for that year. Six years later, after receiving a deficiency…
CCA 200033005: informing taxpayers before extending assessment deadlines
This Chief Counsel memorandum addresses requests made after 1999 to extend the time for assessing tax. Section 6501(c)(4)(B) requires the IRS to tell taxpayers each time that they may refuse an…
TAM 200033004: index options and covered calls under the straddle rules
An insurance company held a diversified stock portfolio, bought put options on stock index futures, and sold call options on individual stocks. The dispute was whether these positions formed tax…
CCA 200033003: no expedited refund before an overpayment is determined
A corporation sought an expedited refund on amended returns while the IRS was still examining losses it wanted to carry forward from earlier years. It offered a bond and other security because the…
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.