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 200030025: Scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A foundation sought advance approval of a scholarship program administered by a publicly supported charity. The charity would receive applications, select recipients using academic and other stated…
CCA 200030023: Standard deduction when spouses use different filing statuses
Chief Counsel considered a married couple filing separate returns. One spouse qualified to file as head of household because the spouses lived apart and the statutory conditions were met; the other…
CCA 200030022: IRS must support an exception to community income splitting
Chief Counsel advised how to review separate returns filed by spouses in a community property state. A return reporting half the spouses' total community income and expenses is presumptively correct…
PLR 200030021: Minor's expatriation rebuts tax avoidance presumption only
A former U.S. citizen renounced citizenship before age 18½ and had net worth above the threshold that triggered a presumption of tax avoidance under the law then in force. The taxpayer sought a…
PLR 200030020: Inadvertent S corporation termination receives relief
An S corporation issued stock to a nonresident alien, who could not be an S corporation shareholder. The corporation said it had intended to maintain its S status and redeemed that shareholder's…
PLR 200030019: Family trust may hold S corporation stock
An S corporation shareholder established an irrevocable trust that could receive the corporation's nonvoting stock. The IRS ruled that the shareholder would be treated as the trust's owner under…
PLR 200030018: Family trust may hold S corporation stock
An S corporation shareholder established an irrevocable trust that could receive the corporation's nonvoting stock. The IRS ruled that the shareholder would be treated as the trust's owner under…
PLR 200030017: Proposed regulations govern a foreign stock merger's C reorganization test
Two corporations organized in the same foreign country merged, and the target's shareholders exchanged their shares solely for voting common stock of the surviving corporation. The IRS said that,…
PLR 200030016: Foreign merger qualifies as a C reorganization on stated facts
Two corporations in the same foreign country merged, with the target's shareholders receiving voting stock of the acquirer. On the submitted facts and detailed representations, the IRS ruled that…
PLR 200030015: Foreign merger qualifies as a C reorganization on stated facts
Two corporations in the same foreign country merged, with the target's shareholders receiving voting stock of the acquirer. Earlier stock acquisitions and distributions exceeded half the target's…
PLR 200030014: Charitable lead unitrust receives deductions with a grantor trust issue reserved
A donor proposed a 25-year charitable lead unitrust paying 7 percent of annually valued assets to a family foundation, with the remainder going to grandchildren. The IRS allowed a section 642(c)…
PLR 200030013: Tax treatment of withdrawals after a variable annuity begins
A life insurer offered immediate variable annuities that allowed additional payments and cash withdrawals during a period fixed by the annuitant's life expectancy. The insurer asked how to tax…
PLR 200030012: Children's disclaimers allow a marital trust election
A decedent's will created a trust that could pay income or principal to a surviving spouse and three children. The children timely disclaimed their rights to distributions during the spouse's life…
PLR 200030011: Estate executor's disclaimer of inherited property qualifies
A surviving spouse died after inheriting part of a decedent's residuary estate. The spouse's executor, with court authorization, returned property to the decedent's estate and timely disclaimed part…
PLR 200030010: Grantor retained annuity trust receives income and gift tax rulings
A grantor funded an irrevocable 18-year annuity trust with interests in limited liability companies. The IRS ruled that the grantor would own the entire trust for income tax purposes until death or…
PLR 200030009: Executive deferred compensation agreement qualifies under section 457
Three related tax-exempt employers proposed a deferred compensation agreement for a shared executive. The agreement limited annual deferrals, deferred payment until separation or an unforeseeable…
PLR 200030008: Trustee changes preserve an older trust's GST exemption
A beneficiary and trustee proposed administrative changes to a trust that became irrevocable before September 25, 1985. The changes would permit replacement of qualified independent corporate…
PLR 200030007: Later corporate steps leave prior spin-off ruling intact
A taxpayer had completed stock distributions previously ruled tax-free under section 355 and then proposed three additional corporate steps. These included a subsidiary merger, dividends paid with…
PLR 200030006: Late S corporation election receives conditional relief
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election and granted relief under…
PLR 200030005: Fund expense reimbursements are not preferential dividends
A group of underlying mutual funds and their advisers proposed paying fees to a common adviser to reduce operating expenses of portfolios that invested in those funds. The payments were negotiated…
PLR 200030004: Duty-related disability benefits excluded from income
A city maintained pension plans for its police officers and firefighters. State law required their members to receive disability benefits for injuries or diseases arising from official duties, with…
CCA 200030003: Credit enhancement raises doubts about tax-exempt bonds
An authority issued bonds for a proposed development, while a separate credit enhancement backed by payments under a federal lease was expected to cover debt service. Chief Counsel advised that the…
TAM 200030002: Statutory rate controls a foreign tax credit safe harbor
A U.S. corporation's subsidiary paid taxes in a foreign country under an agreement that also gave it a right to conduct business there. Because the subsidiary received that economic benefit, it used…
TAM 200030001: Conference meals for contractors face the partial deduction limit
A brokerage firm provided meals and drinks to its independent contractor representatives at multi-day sales and education conferences. It deducted the full cost for representatives, arguing that the…
PLR 200029056: Government pension contributions for military service qualify as employer payments
A local government proposed allowing employees to buy pension service credit for military service through an irrevocable payroll election. It would pay the elected amounts to its governmental plan…
PLR 200029055: ESOP holdings of S corporation stock avoid unrelated business tax
An employer's stock was held by an employee stock ownership plan and by the ESOP component of a second retirement plan. The employer proposed electing S corporation status and asked whether the…
CCA 200029054: Closing a restaurant held for sale does not create a deductible loss
A restaurant operator closed underperforming locations and offered some for sale. It claimed losses at closure based on the gap between each restaurant's tax basis and estimated sale value, even…
PLR 200029053: Business split-off qualifies as a tax-free reorganization
Shareholders of an S corporation disagreed over management of its businesses and proposed separating one business into a new corporation. The original company would transfer that business's assets…
PLR 200029052: Late S corporation election accepted after filing failure
A corporation intended to elect S status for a tax year but its attorney failed to file Form 2553. The corporation believed the election had been filed and submitted an S corporation return before…
PLR 200029051: Undergraduate tuition benefits qualify for income exclusion
A state university system offered tuition waivers and reimbursements to employees of its colleges and universities. The IRS concluded that the system was itself an educational organization and that…
PLR 200029050: Employee stock buyback terms do not create a second stock class
An S corporation gave a key employee nonvoting common stock under an employment agreement. The agreement required the company to buy that stock after specified events, with different prices for…
PLR 200029049: Related steps do not prevent a foreign corporate migration from qualifying
A foreign subsidiary planned to migrate under a corporate continuance statute. Around that migration, the group planned a dividend, stock recapitalization, transfers of subsidiary shares,…
PLR 200029048: Timely disclaimer of a trust principal interest is not a gift
A trust beneficiary retained an income interest but disclaimed a fractional share of a separate interest in trust principal. The beneficiary had accepted income, but represented that he had accepted…
PLR 200029047: Buyers and sellers receive more time for affiliate stock elections
A buyer and seller timely filed a section 338(h)(10) election for an acquired company but omitted its subsidiaries from the election. They requested more time after discovering the omission. The IRS…
IRS memorandum 200029046: Residence ruling request withdrawn after ownership objection
A couple proposed putting their home into a limited partnership and asked whether they would still satisfy section 121's two-year ownership requirement for excluding gain on a home sale. In a…
PLR 200029045: Missed first-year S election receives conditional relief
A newly formed corporation intended to elect S status from its first tax year. Its president relied on an attorney and accountant to prepare Form 2553, but each believed the other would do it, so no…
PLR 200029044: Transfer of bare title does not recapture housing credits
A partnership operating a low-income housing project planned to transfer record title to its nonprofit general partner and lease the project back. The arrangement was intended to secure a local real…
PLR 200029043: Corporation may reelect S status before five years pass
A corporation had revoked its S corporation election and wanted to elect S status again before the usual five-year waiting period ended. It represented that 77 percent of its shares were then owned…
PLR 200029042: Merger payments to target employees avoid parachute rules
A public company acquired another public company in a merger that converted the target's shares into buyer shares. Although the buyer's original shareholders gained a substantial indirect interest…
PLR 200029041: Foreign subsidiary stock purchase receives late election relief
A foreign corporation bought all the shares of another foreign corporation, but its U.S. shareholder failed to file a planned section 338(g) election on time. The IRS found reasonable conduct and…
PLR 200029040: Recapitalized shares avoid distribution and section 306 treatment
A closely held company planned to replace its common stock with new classes carrying different voting, dividend, and liquidation rights. It wanted to preserve a principal shareholder's operating…
PLR 200029039: Tribal authority qualifies as a political subdivision
A federally recognized tribe created an authority to organize businesses, acquire property, and support tribal economic welfare. The tribe delegated portions of its eminent-domain and taxing powers…
PLR 200029038: Supplement corrects a corporate separation ruling
The IRS supplemented an earlier private letter ruling about a corporate separation. It corrected descriptions of a disregarded entity, a year in the legend, and the stock that a parent would…
PLR 200029037: Two-step separation of businesses qualifies for reorganization treatment
A public company proposed separating one business from another through subsidiary transfers and two stock distributions. The plan also included a cash payment, a public offering by the new company,…
PLR 200029036: Fund receives more time to elect prior-year dividend treatment
An investment fund declared dividends that it intended to treat as paid in an earlier tax year under section 855(a). A tax department that normally handled its filings inadvertently missed the…
PLR 200029035: Target employee merger payments avoid parachute tax rules
Two public companies merged, and some target executives received payments or accelerated vesting of options and restricted stock. The target's former shareholders held more than half of the buyer's…
CCA 200029034: Export receipts depend on when assigned contracts were shipped
A company acquired export sales contracts from an unrelated manufacturer and later received deferred contract payments and warranty or repair income. Chief Counsel advised that receipts for products…
PLR 200029033: Charitable appointers do not make lead trusts grantor-owned
A donor created three charitable lead trusts that pay annual amounts to qualified charities before passing remaining assets to family beneficiaries. Family members could select charities to receive…
PLR 200029032: Internal business separation qualifies as a D reorganization
A corporate group planned to move unregulated business activities into a controlled subsidiary while leaving regulated activities in the distributing company. The distributing company would transfer…
PLR 200029031: Donors may serve as trustees of a marketable-asset unitrust
Two donors created a charitable remainder unitrust and later became its sole trustees. They amended the trust to bar assets without an objectively ascertainable market value, such as real estate or…
CCA 200029030: How to evaluate medical resident FICA refund claims
Chief Counsel advised IRS staff reviewing FICA refund claims for medical residents. Staff should first identify each resident's common law employer because that determines whether state coverage…
PLR 200029029: Extension granted for a late section 338 election
A corporate group acquired all the stock of a foreign target through subsidiaries treated as disregarded for U.S. tax purposes. The group intended to make a section 338(g) election to treat the…
PLR 200029028: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation's sole shareholder intended to elect S corporation status from the corporation's incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The corporation showed reasonable cause for…
PLR 200029027: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status from the corporation's incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The corporation showed reasonable cause for the…
PLR 200029026: Late low-income housing set-aside election allowed
A partnership failed to make a proper election of the income and rent set-aside for its low-income housing project under section 42(g)(1). It sought extra time to make the election. The IRS found…
PLR 200029025: Conditional extension for a foreign target election
A corporate group acquired a foreign corporation that owned part of a foreign target, then bought the target's remaining shares. The group intended to make a section 338(g) election for the target…
PLR 200029024: Extension granted for a late section 338 election
A corporate group acquired all the stock of a foreign target through a foreign subsidiary. The group intended to make a section 338(g) election to treat the stock purchase as an asset purchase, but…
PLR 200029023: Extension granted for a late section 338 election
A corporation acquired all the stock of a foreign target directly. It intended to make a section 338(g) election to treat the stock purchase as an asset purchase, but missed the filing deadline. It…
PLR 200029022: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
An investor-owned utility requested a revised schedule of permitted contributions to its nuclear decommissioning fund after its prior schedule expired. Two utility commissions had allowed…
PLR 200029021: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
An investor-owned utility requested a revised schedule of permitted contributions to its nuclear decommissioning fund after its prior schedule expired. Two utility commissions had allowed…
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.