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 200031053: Grant for a public highway abroad furthers a foundation's charitable purpose
A private foundation proposed to fund construction and repair of a public highway in a foreign country where a majority of residents lived below the official poverty level. The grant agreement…
PLR 200031052: Hospital system restructuring preserves stated exemptions
A hospital proposed a new nonprofit parent to oversee it and several affiliated organizations. The parent was receiving separate recognition as a section 501(c)(3) supporting organization. The IRS…
PLR 200031051: Parent receives 60 more days to elect QSub treatment
A parent corporation formed a wholly owned subsidiary and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) treatment from its formation date. The people responsible for its tax filings…
PLR 200031050: Split-off of two businesses qualifies for tax-free reorganization treatment
A corporation owned equally by two brothers operated two businesses. After management disagreements, it proposed to transfer one business and cash to a new corporation, then give that corporation's…
PLR 200031049: Investment fund series receive partnership and allocation rulings
Trusts with several investment fund series asked how a master-feeder structure would be treated for federal income tax purposes. The IRS ruled that each series would be a separate entity and would…
PLR 200031048: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the corporation's first tax year and instructed its accountant to file Form 2553. The accountant missed the deadline, although…
PLR 200031047: Active rental receipts excluded from passive income, with late QSub relief
An S corporation with accumulated C corporation earnings and profits owned several rental properties and subsidiaries. It asked whether receipts from its properties counted as passive investment…
PLR 200031046: IRA stock ownership treated as inadvertent S election termination
A corporation issued stock to an investor's IRA after the investor received advice to buy through the account. The IRA's ownership terminated the corporation's S election, and the corporation later…
PLR 200031045: City-controlled property entity is part of the city for tax purposes
A city formed and funded a nonprofit corporation to hold property near its reservoir and oversee development that would protect the water supply. The city appointed and could remove the…
PLR 200031044: Corporation granted relief for late S election
A corporation's owner intended S corporation treatment from a specified date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under IRC § 1362(b)(5).…
PLR 200031043: Late S election effective from corporation's formation date
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from the date it was incorporated, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and…
PLR 200031042: Investment fund asset transfer qualifies as a Type C reorganization
One investment fund proposed to transfer substantially all its assets and liabilities to another fund for shares, distribute those shares to its own shareholders, and dissolve. Based on the stated…
PLR 200031041: Combining family trusts preserves specified tax treatment
The trustees of three older family trusts planned to combine the trusts created for each child after the primary beneficiary's death, reducing the number of separately administered trusts. The plan…
PLR 200031040: Asia-Pacific investment funds qualify for Type C reorganization treatment
Two open-end investment funds focused on Asia and the Pacific Basin proposed a combination. The target fund would transfer all its assets and liabilities to the acquiring fund for shares of…
PLR 200031039: Direct foreign branch transfer treated as transfers down the corporate chain
A domestic corporation planned to transfer its foreign branch business directly to a foreign subsidiary several levels down its ownership chain, while rights to the subsidiary's preferred shares…
PLR 200031038: Rental receipts, usufruct ownership, and an S corporation trust provision
An S corporation asked about three issues affecting its stock ownership and rental receipts. It owned and managed rental properties, partly through subsidiaries, and represented that its staff…
PLR 200031037: Late S corporation election accepted for intended effective date
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status effective on a redacted date, but it missed the filing deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election and granted relief under…
PLR 200031036: Tax avoidance was not a principal purpose of planned expatriation
A U.S. citizen who had lived primarily in another country since 1959 planned to relinquish her U.S. citizenship. Her net worth exceeded the threshold that could trigger a presumption of tax…
PLR 200031035: Former resident's departure lacked a principal tax avoidance purpose
A long-term U.S. resident relinquished his lawful permanent resident status. His net worth exceeded the threshold under the expatriation rules then in effect, raising a presumption that avoiding…
PLR 200031034: Proposed unitrust reformation preserves specified charitable tax treatment
Trustees proposed to change the payment formula for a charitable remainder unitrust that would receive property after a surviving spouse's death. During its first taxable year, the trust would pay a…
CCA 200031033: When disputed insurance reimbursements became accruable income
Chief Counsel analyzed when a manufacturer had a fixed right to insurance reimbursements for tort claims. Litigation over certain claims meant its right to payment from third-party insurers was not…
PLR 200031032: Pavement maintenance vehicles taxable, with equipment exclusions
A company built three types of trucks for pavement grinding, marking, and transporting materials. It asked the IRS to treat its Type 1 and Type 2 vehicles as exempt mobile machinery, or…
PLR 200031031: Lottery assignment option does not accelerate nonassigning winners' income
A state lottery asked whether a law allowing jackpot winners to assign future annual prize payments would change the tax timing for winners who kept their annuities. Under the law, an assignment…
CCA 200031030: Bankruptcy discharge limits levy notice to prepetition property
Chief Counsel reviewed a draft IRS levy notice for a taxpayer whose tax liability had been discharged in bankruptcy. The IRS had filed a federal tax lien before the bankruptcy petition and was…
PLR 200031029: Late S election accepted without deciding trust shareholder eligibility
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from incorporation but discovered that its election had not been filed on time. Its stock was later transferred to a trust that appeared to be an…
PLR 200031028: Stock option exercises after a corporate spin-off
After a corporate spin-off, employees' options to buy parent stock were replaced with options to buy stock of two subsidiaries. The IRS ruled that neither subsidiary would recognize gain or loss…
PLR 200031027: S election accepted from corporation's incorporation date
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 and granted…
PLR 200031026: Synthetic fuel credit treatment for a partnership's coal facilities
A partnership operating coal-based synthetic fuel facilities asked about the section 29 credit after new members acquired the original members' interests. Based on the submitted process information,…
CCA 200031025: Transfer pricing disclosure and amended-return setoffs
Chief Counsel considered a corporation's transfer pricing adjustments for transactions with several controlled foreign corporations. It concluded that a potential decrease in taxable income…
PLR 200031024: Developer receives more time to file alternative cost method request
A real estate development partnership included its request to use the alternative cost method in its timely filed 1998 return but failed to send a separate copy to the district director. It…
CCA 200031023: Hedged swap treated as foreign subsidiaries' loans to U.S. parent
Chief Counsel reviewed a U.S. parent's arrangement with foreign subsidiaries and banks, documented as a long-term notional principal contract with assigned future cash flows. The parent wanted…
PLR 200031022: Clarifying adopted descendants' trust rights preserves GST exemption
Two trusts created under a decedent's will were irrevocable by September 25, 1985, and had received no later additions. Their trustees sought a court ruling on whether references to descendants and…
CCA 200031021: Criminal Tax declines search warrant referral over willfulness evidence
District Counsel resubmitted a proposed search warrant in a criminal tax investigation. After reviewing undercover transcripts, the IRS Criminal Tax office found the evidence of a willful tax crime…
CCA 200031020: Attorney fee claim after tax shelter and interest settlements
Chief Counsel analyzed whether taxpayers could recover attorney fees after settling a tax shelter deficiency case and an interest abatement dispute. The taxpayers argued that an earlier closing…
PLR 200031019: Trustee replacement powers preserve a trust's GST exemption
A beneficiary and trustee settled management disputes by proposing changes to one of twelve trusts created before September 25, 1985. The changes let the current income beneficiary participate in…
PLR 200031018: Independent trustee replacement preserves GST and estate tax treatment
A beneficiary and trustee proposed management changes to one of twelve older trusts after disputes arose. The trust was irrevocable before September 25, 1985, and had received no later additions.…
PLR 200031017: Trust management changes preserve GST exemption and avoid estate inclusion
A beneficiary and trustee proposed management changes to one of twelve trusts created before September 25, 1985. The trust paid its income to the beneficiary after age 30 and had received no later…
PLR 200031016: Trustee replacement does not disturb grandfathered trust treatment
A beneficiary and trustee proposed changes to the administration of one of twelve trusts created before September 25, 1985. This trust paid income to the beneficiary after age 35 and had received no…
CCA 200031015: Insufficient facts to determine foreign corporation's PFIC status
Chief Counsel considered whether a foreign corporation was a passive foreign investment company (PFIC) over twelve years. It could not decide the company's status for any year because the facts did…
PLR 200031014: Administrative trust changes preserve GST exemption
A beneficiary sought rulings on management changes to one of twelve trusts created before September 25, 1985. The proposed agreement would let the income beneficiary and an adult remainder…
PLR 200031013: Trust management changes preserve grandfathered GST treatment
A beneficiary sought rulings on management changes to one of twelve trusts created before September 25, 1985. This trust was to pay income to the beneficiary after age 34 and had received no later…
PLR 200031012: Trust management changes preserve grandfathered GST treatment
A beneficiary sought rulings on management changes to one of twelve trusts created before September 25, 1985. This trust was to pay income to the beneficiary after age 21 and had received no later…
PLR 200031011: Trust management changes preserve grandfathered GST treatment
A beneficiary sought rulings on management changes to one of twelve trusts created before September 25, 1985. This trust paid all income to the beneficiary and had received no later additions. The…
PLR 200031010: Trust management changes preserve grandfathered GST treatment
A beneficiary sought rulings on management changes to one of twelve trusts created before September 25, 1985. This trust was to pay income to the beneficiary after age 40 and had received no later…
PLR 200031009: Trust management changes preserve grandfathered GST treatment
A beneficiary sought rulings on management changes to one of twelve trusts created before September 25, 1985. This trust was to pay income to the beneficiary after age 30 and had received no later…
PLR 200031008: Trust management changes preserve grandfathered GST treatment
A beneficiary sought rulings on management changes to one of twelve trusts created before September 25, 1985. This trust was to pay income to the beneficiary after age 30 and had received no later…
CCA 200031007: Assigned income creates constructive dividends for common shareholders
A domestic corporation routed income from customer payments through an unrelated intermediary to a foreign corporation with substantially the same shareholders. Chief Counsel treated the arrangement…
TAM 200031006: Tribal trust deposits are taxable to minor beneficiaries when made
A tribe deposited per capita payments from gaming revenue into an irrevocable trust for its minor members. The children could not receive the money until age 18, and their interests could not be…
CCA 200031005: Parent's guarantee fee escapes insurance excise tax, treaty result unresolved
A U.S. corporation paid its foreign parent for guaranteeing its subsidiaries' equity contributions to a project. Chief Counsel treated the payment as a guarantee fee, rather than an insurance…
CCA 200031003: Hotel owner must remove personal lodging costs from business expenses
A sole proprietor lived with his spouse in the hotel he operated and argued that he needed to stay on the premises. Chief Counsel advised that he could not be an employee of his own sole…
PLR 200031002: Relief for S election invalidated by an ineligible shareholder
A corporation intended to elect S status, but a partnership still held its shares for part of the period before transferring them to a trust. That ineligible shareholder made the corporation's…
TAM 200031001: General-use optometry equipment did not qualify for disabled access credit
An optometrist claimed the section 44 disabled access credit for a visual field analyzer and a hand-held eye imaging device. Both could be used with patients in wheelchairs, but they also served…
PLR 200030033: Charity's office project would not create unrelated business income
A charitable organization proposed building an office complex in a depressed area, with most space leased to a local government and the rest available to minority-owned businesses or other…
Written determination 200030032: Pension funding waiver granted with contribution condition
The IRS granted a conditional waiver of the minimum funding standard for a defined benefit pension plan's 1999 plan year. The sponsor had reported losses in 1997 and 1998 and lacked enough cash to…
PLR 200030031: IRS reverses prior ruling on hotel workers' separation from service
A hotel management company discharged workers when an unrelated operator took over several hotels, and the new operator rehired most of them. The IRS revoked its earlier ruling that these workers…
PLR 200030030: State college savings program qualifies under section 529
A state agency asked whether its college savings program qualified for exemption from federal income tax under section 529. The program used approved financial institutions to hold separate…
PLR 200030029: Healthcare charities' merger preserves exemption and public charity status
Two exempt organizations that raised funds and supported healthcare services proposed a merger, with one organization surviving. They represented that the survivor would carry on both organizations'…
PLR 200030028: Healthcare charities' merger preserves exemption and public charity status
Two exempt organizations that raised funds and supported healthcare services proposed a merger, with one organization surviving. They represented that the survivor would carry on both organizations'…
PLR 200030027: Conference guest quarters further a private foundation's exempt purpose
A private operating foundation ran multi-day conferences and planned to build guest quarters for attendees. It said travel to local motels interrupted the conferences and promised to rent the new…
PLR 200030026: University research grant avoids taxable expenditure treatment
A private foundation proposed a grant to a publicly supported university fundraising organization for a computing research project. The requested ruling focused on funding the university's economic…
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.