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 200033002: five year depreciation for a raised computer floor
A company built a data center with a raised floor that allowed access to wiring, plumbing, and ventilation for computer equipment. The IRS advised that, on the facts provided, the floor was personal…
CCA 200033001: damages claim over IRS collection conduct
Investors claimed damages under section 7433 after the IRS collected late filing penalties and transferred payments between partnership accounts. The visible memorandum explains that a claimant must…
PLR 200032051: scholarship grant procedures approved
An organization asked the IRS to approve its procedures for awarding individual scholarships. The IRS ruled that the proposed procedures met section 4945(g)(1)'s standards for objective,…
PLR 200032050: charitable use of a debt-financed facility keeps rent outside UBIT
A charity bought a facility with borrowed funds to support job training and other services in an area with high poverty and unemployment. It planned to lease part of the building to an organization…
PLR 200032049: university medical practice sponsors a governmental plan
A medical faculty practice associated with a state university asked whether its employee annuity plan was a governmental plan. The IRS found that the practice was a state instrumentality under…
PLR 200032048: medical faculty annuity plan qualifies under section 403(b)
A tax exempt medical faculty practice asked whether its employee annuity purchase plan met section 403(b). The IRS ruled that the amended and restated plan qualified, so employer and employee…
PLR 200032047: foundation may set aside income for facility expansion
A private foundation wanted to reserve income for renovating and expanding its facility. It explained that the project required time to hire contractors, obtain permits, and complete a financial…
PLR 200032046: affiliated hospital system preserves exempt status
A parent organization sought rulings on integrating several affiliated nonprofit hospitals and health care organizations under common control. The proposed system would centralize management,…
PLR 200032045: Surviving spouse may roll estate IRA proceeds into her own IRA
A deceased taxpayer named his estate as beneficiary of two IRAs. His surviving spouse was the estate's sole executrix, had authority to allocate its assets, and was entitled to its residuary…
PLR 200032044: Surviving spouse may transfer an IRA and a 403(b) annuity to her IRA
A deceased taxpayer's estate was beneficiary of his IRA and section 403(b) annuity. His surviving spouse was sole executrix and a residuary beneficiary entitled to an estate share at least as large…
PLR 200032043: Estate compromise involving private foundations will not be self-dealing
Two private foundations expected to receive part of a decedent's estate. A dispute over changes to the will and trust led the beneficiaries, including a foundation trustee who was also an estate…
CCA 200032042: Correcting refunds caused by return processing errors
A service center asked how to correct refunds generated by mistakes in its initial processing of tax returns. Chief Counsel explained that a refund based on the center's mistaken decision to reduce…
CCA 200032041: Tax treatment and reporting of North Carolina flood relief grants
North Carolina planned grants for farmers and commercial fishermen whose property was damaged by Hurricane Floyd. Chief Counsel advised that the grants are generally income, although recipients may…
CCA 200032040: Send a corporation's levy notice to both the corporation and its representative
A district counsel office asked where to send a notice of intent to levy when a corporation has authorized someone to represent it. Chief Counsel advised that section 6331(d) requires the IRS to…
PLR 200032039: Extra time to file dual consolidated loss agreements and certifications
A consolidated group's subsidiaries and foreign branches had losses from operations in several countries. The group requested more time to file the agreements and certifications required by the dual…
PLR 200032038: Extra time to file a foreign sales corporation election
A corporation's employee completed and signed Form 8279 to elect foreign sales corporation treatment but failed to file it. The corporation found the omission about four months after the filing…
CCA 200032037: Indonesian levies and a later foreign tax credit election
A U.S. corporation operating in Indonesia paid levies under an agreement with an Indonesian government controlled entity. It asked whether the U.S. Indonesia tax treaty automatically treated those…
PLR 200032036: Expatriation submission rebuts tax avoidance presumption
A person who held U.S. and foreign citizenship from birth sought a ruling before giving up U.S. citizenship. Her net worth exceeded a threshold that would otherwise create a presumption of tax…
PLR 200032035: Expatriation filing removes tax avoidance presumption but leaves purpose unresolved
A person planning to renounce U.S. citizenship expected to have net worth above the threshold that creates a presumption of tax avoidance. He requested a ruling about his purpose for expatriating.…
PLR 200032034: Crane truck chassis taxable, but cranes and outriggers excluded
A manufacturer mounted job site cranes on heavy truck chassis and argued that the completed vehicles qualified for an exception from the retail excise tax on truck chassis. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200032033: S corporation status preserved despite trust election and consent errors
A corporation's S election was ineffective because a trust's deemed owner signed its shareholder consent as trustee. Later, successor trusts did not make timely electing small business trust…
PLR 200032032: Planned expatriation found to lack a principal tax avoidance purpose
A naturalized U.S. citizen living abroad planned to renounce his citizenship. His expected net worth would exceed the threshold that creates a presumption of tax avoidance under the expatriation…
PLR 200032031: Filing extension for a foreign sales corporation election
A corporation and its accounting firm misunderstood which one would prepare and file Form 8279 to elect foreign sales corporation treatment. They discovered the missed deadline before the IRS did.…
PLR 200032030: Extension to file a dual consolidated loss election and certifications
The parent of a consolidated group missed the deadline to file an agreement and certifications under the dual consolidated loss regulations. Its accounting firm had discussed the rules but had not…
PLR 200032029: More time to elect corporate tax classification for a partnership
A business converted under state law into a limited partnership but intended to be taxed as a C corporation from its creation date. Its attorney and accountant did not file the required Form 8832…
PLR 200032028: Extra time to split a marital trust for generation skipping tax purposes
An estate had made both a qualified terminable interest property election and a reverse election for generation skipping transfer tax purposes on a marital trust. It allocated a stated amount of…
PLR 200032027: S corporation status continues after stock was issued to an IRA
A corporation with an S election issued stock in the name of a shareholder's IRA after the IRA paid the balance of his stock purchase note. An IRA was not an eligible S corporation shareholder, so…
PLR 200032026: More time to make a section 338 election for a foreign target
A consolidated group missed the deadline to make a section 338(g) election for one target in a complex foreign acquisition. The IRS found that the parent reasonably relied on tax professionals,…
PLR 200032025: Actively managed rental receipts are not passive investment income
A corporation planning an S election owned and managed apartment buildings and rental houses. It employed office, property management, resident management, and maintenance staff, and its properties…
PLR 200032024: Extension to elect section 338 treatment for an acquired holding company
A consolidated group missed the deadline for a section 338(g) election concerning an acquired foreign holding company. Its tax professionals had been responsible for the filing, and the parent…
PLR 200032023: Late S corporation election treated as timely if filed within 60 days
A corporation intended to be an S corporation and operated on that basis, but discovered after the end of a tax year that its S election had not been filed on time. The IRS ruled that the election…
PLR 200032022: Late S election allowed for a single shareholder corporation
A corporation with one shareholder intended to be an S corporation from incorporation and operated on that basis. After its tax year ended, it discovered that its S election had not been filed on…
PLR 200032021: First year S election permitted after Form 2553 was omitted
A corporation's sole shareholder intended it to be taxed as an S corporation from its first year but did not know Form 2553 was required. The corporation filed an S corporation return, and the…
PLR 200032020: Late S election effective for corporation's first tax year
A single shareholder corporation intended to elect S status from incorporation and operated as though the election had taken effect. After its tax year ended, it discovered that the election had not…
PLR 200032019: Larger deferred retirement liability payment leaves prior spin-off rulings intact
After a stock distribution, two corporations expected a larger payment to adjust their allocation of retirement benefit liabilities. A new union agreement and more retirements than expected had…
PLR 200032018: Potential S election termination from partnership conversion treated as inadvertent
An S corporation converted under state law into a limited partnership and later converted back to a corporation. The intervening form might have created a second class of stock, which could…
PLR 200032017: Merger option exchange and vesting under parachute payment rules
A merger replaced a target company's employee stock options with options in the acquiring company. The IRS ruled that added exchange value for options already vested before the merger was not a…
PLR 200032016: More time for a section 338 election on acquired Target 4 stock
A consolidated group missed the deadline to elect section 338(g) treatment for stock acquired in a foreign target. The IRS found that the parent had relied on tax professionals, had no returns…
PLR 200032015: Late generation skipping exemption allocation to three trusts allowed
A grantor and spouse funded three irrevocable trusts for their children in 1985, but neither allocated generation skipping transfer tax exemption when filing their gift tax returns. After the…
PLR 200032014: Business separation qualifies as a divisive reorganization and stock distribution
A publicly traded corporate group planned to separate two operating businesses by transferring assets to a controlled corporation and distributing its stock to the parent's shareholders. The IRS…
CCA 200032013: A later issued Social Security number can support a prior year earned income credit claim
Chief Counsel addressed whether a taxpayer can claim the earned income credit for an earlier year after receiving a qualifying Social Security number. It advised that section 32 requires the number…
PLR 200032012: Dividing a grandfathered trust preserves its generation-skipping tax exemption
Trustees asked whether dividing a family trust into separate trusts for three grandchildren would end its exemption from generation-skipping transfer tax. A court order required each new trust to…
PLR 200032011: Splitting a trust for two grandchildren preserves its generation-skipping tax exemption
Trustees sought to divide a family trust into two trusts because its two principal beneficiaries disagreed about investment strategy. A court approved the division subject to a favorable IRS ruling.…
PLR 200032010: Charitable gifts in an estate settlement qualify for a deduction
An estate and several charities disputed changes to a will and trust that had removed gifts to one charity. Their settlement restored that charity's share of the trust residue and directed another…
PLR 200032009: Siblings may split a business without recognizing gain on specified transfers
Two siblings who owned a corporation equally disagreed about running its sole business. The corporation proposed transferring half of the business assets to each of two new corporations,…
CCA 200032008: Preferred stock issuance leaves a foreign tax credit affiliation question open
A domestic subsidiary issued voting preferred stock to outside purchasers, giving them more than 20 percent of its voting power. Chief Counsel advised that this removed the subsidiary from its…
PLR 200032007: Federal instrumentalities' make-up retirement plans are exempt from FICA and FUTA wages
Two federal instrumentalities maintained unfunded make-up plans that restored retirement benefits and employer matching contributions limited under their qualified plans. The IRS found that…
PLR 200032006: Federal instrumentalities' supplemental plans are exempt from FICA and FUTA wages
Two federal instrumentalities asked how employment taxes applied to their unfunded retirement and thrift make-up plans. These plans supplement benefits or matching contributions limited under…
PLR 200032005: Parent receives more time to file a section 338 election
A corporate parent missed the deadline for a section 338(g) election concerning the stock acquisition of a foreign target. Its tax professionals had been responsible for filing the election, and the…
CCA 200032004: A levy reaches future 401(k) benefits but cannot demand immediate payment
A taxpayer with tax liens against his property deferred retirement and continued working after becoming eligible for normal retirement benefits from a 401(k) plan. Chief Counsel advised that the…
CCA 200032003: Bankruptcy makes a pending compromise offer nonprocessable
Chief Counsel advised that the IRS may return an offer in compromise as nonprocessable if the taxpayer files for bankruptcy before the IRS accepts or rejects it. It also advised that a bankruptcy…
CCA 200032002: Export shipment reinsurance escapes excise tax, but the remitter must seek the refund
U.S. insurers paid federal excise tax on premiums for foreign reinsurance of shipments traveling from the United States to destinations abroad. Chief Counsel advised that section 4371 tax could not…
CCA 200032001: Tax liability from REMIC residual interests depends on transfer facts
Chief Counsel considered whether two domestic corporate partners owed tax on noneconomic REMIC residual interests acquired through partnerships. The partnerships received fees that the memorandum…
PLR 200031060: Disability policy payments to a retirement plan are taxed on later distribution
An employer proposed letting participants use part of their 401(k) elective deferrals to buy long-term disability coverage through the plan. If a participant became disabled, the insurer would pay…
PLR 200031059: IRA withdrawal schedule qualifies as substantially equal payments
A 55-year-old IRA owner asked whether withdrawals from a pool of five IRAs qualified for the substantially equal periodic payment exception to the 10 percent early distribution tax. The owner…
PLR 200031058: Annually recalculated IRA withdrawals meet the equal payment exception
An IRA owner who would turn 56 in 2000 proposed annual withdrawals from a traditional IRA. The first amount used an annuity factor based on the UP-1984 mortality table and an 8 percent interest…
PLR 200031057: University foundation may transfer earmarked assets and manage related foundations
A public charity holds and administers funds for a university system and its constituent institutions. Donors or the institutions may ask it to transfer assets earmarked for a particular institution…
PLR 200031056: IRA beneficiaries use the older daughter's life expectancy for required distributions
An IRA owner named his two daughters as equal beneficiaries but did not establish separate accounts before his death. The IRS treated the older daughter, who had the shorter life expectancy, as the…
PLR 200031055: Transfer of pension surplus to a replacement 401(k) plan reduces reversion tax
A company planned to terminate a defined benefit pension plan, transfer part of its surplus to its 401(k) plan, and receive the rest. The IRS ruled that the 401(k) plan was a qualified replacement…
PLR 200031054: Employer-related scholarship procedures receive advance approval
An organization asked the IRS to approve procedures for scholarships funded by its annual contributions to another nonprofit for employees' children. The nonprofit would select recipients using…
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.