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.
CCA 200028003: U.K. supplemental withholding ends under new U.S. rules
Chief Counsel answered questions about U.K. intermediaries that made supplemental U.S. tax withholding on dividends paid to account holders in countries without an applicable treaty. Final U.S.…
CCA 200028002: No interest abatement for late returns filed without payment
A taxpayer filed several overdue income tax returns without paying the amounts due, then requested interest abatement after the IRS delayed processing and lost the returns. Chief Counsel advised…
CCA 200028001: Regulatory goodwill did not acquire tax basis in thrift reorganizations
A thrift acquired two failing institutions in tax free G reorganizations and recorded supervisory goodwill for regulatory accounting. After a law phased out the ability to count that goodwill as…
PLR 200027064: Beneficiary may direct an inherited IRA trustee transfer
A beneficiary inherited an IRA and wanted its trustee to move the assets directly to another IRA trustee for different investments. The IRS ruled that the beneficiary could initiate that trustee to…
PLR 200027063: Conditional waiver of pension plan minimum funding standard
The IRS granted a conditional waiver of the minimum funding standard for a defined benefit pension plan's 1999 plan year. The sponsor had negative working capital and net worth, and its cash flow…
PLR 200027062: IRA payment schedule qualifies for early distribution tax exception
An IRA owner who began withdrawals at age 53 proposed equal monthly payments using a 30.4 year life expectancy and a 6% interest rate. The IRS found the interest rate and the prior November account…
PLR 200027061: Surviving spouse may roll over intestate share of deceased spouse's IRAs
A deceased IRA owner had named his estate as beneficiary before marrying. Under state law, his surviving spouse was entitled to an intestate share that included one-half of each of two IRAs. The IRS…
PLR 200027060: Divorce transfer of IRA does not require the recipient to continue periodic payments
A divorce decree directed that part of one former spouse's IRA be transferred to a new IRA for the other spouse. The transferring spouse had been receiving substantially equal periodic payments to…
PLR 200027059: Outsourced workers did not separate from service for 401(k) distributions
A company outsourced information services to an unrelated contractor. The contractor hired all 342 displaced employees, who initially continued providing services to the company under the…
PLR 200027058: Employer stock may retain lump sum treatment when other plan assets are rolled over
A company proposed to distribute employer stock from its profit-sharing plan to participants and transfer the rest of each participant's balance to its separate money purchase pension plan. It…
PLR 200027057: Merger of elder care charities preserves exemption and avoids unrelated income
Three related organizations asked about a merger that would combine two elder care operations under one surviving nonprofit. The IRS ruled that the merger would preserve the parent and survivor's…
PLR 200027056: Business league may sell subsidiary stock and warrants without losing exemption
A tax exempt business league proposed to sell stock and warrants in a for-profit subsidiary through a private placement. It asked how the transaction would affect its and another exempt subsidiary's…
PLR 200027055: Related foundations may fund a shared charitable organization under stated safeguards
Three private foundations proposed to fund a new charitable organization that would coordinate their activities and appoint most of their trustees. The IRS ruled that the governance changes and…
PLR 200027054: Private foundation asset transfers require grant oversight
A private foundation proposed to transfer three-fourths of its assets in equal shares to three other private foundations under common control. The IRS ruled that this would be a section 507(b)(2)…
CCA 200027053: Keep a duplicate of each original deficiency notice
A service center asked Chief Counsel about differences between deficiency notices mailed to taxpayers and copies reprinted after taxpayers petitioned the Tax Court. Some reprints omitted information…
CCA 200027052: Innocent spouse relief changes only that spouse's liability
Chief Counsel addressed how to handle a joint tax liability when one spouse receives relief under section 6015 and the other spouse has a bankruptcy discharge, has died without estate assets, or has…
CCA 200027051: Filing with an IRS representative abroad starts tax deadlines
Chief Counsel addressed returns filed with IRS representatives at U.S. embassies and when filing starts assessment, refund claim, and refund interest periods. A return received before its prescribed…
CCA 200027050: Protect tax claims while a Chapter 13 debtor assumes an offer
Chief Counsel considered a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filed after the IRS accepted an offer in compromise that the taxpayer had not yet completed. It advised the IRS to file a protective claim for the…
CCA 200027049: Chapter 13 orders directing future tax refunds to trustees
Chief Counsel examined bankruptcy court orders directing the IRS to send Chapter 13 debtors' future income tax refunds to trustees. The memo asks whether sovereign immunity, the meaning of income…
CCA 200027047: Reimbursements for commuting to regular worksites are wages
Chief Counsel explained when employer reimbursements for daily trips from home to work are taxable wages under Revenue Ruling 99-7. Reimbursement can be excluded under an accountable plan only when…
CCA 200027046: IRS may require a bond for deferred estate tax
Chief Counsel changed its earlier advice about security for a section 6166 extension to pay estate tax. It concluded that the IRS may require a section 6165 bond as a condition of granting the…
CCA 200027045: Contact rules for final summons letters
Chief Counsel reviewed letters sent to summoned parties before the IRS seeks court enforcement of a summons. An unmodified Form 2848 permits direct written contact with a represented taxpayer under…
PLR 200027044: Unused sick leave converted to retirement benefits is not current income
A public employer and its retirement system proposed converting employees' unused sick leave into supplemental benefits or service credits under a defined benefit plan. Employees could not take cash…
PLR 200027043: Late S corporation election accepted with timely Form 2553
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status, but its attorneys and accountant did not prepare or file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election under section…
PLR 200027042: Thirty-day extension for a section 338(h)(10) election
A buyer and the sellers of an S corporation missed the deadline for a joint section 338(h)(10) election after relying on tax professionals to file it. The IRS found that they acted reasonably and in…
PLR 200027041: Green card surrender lacked a principal tax avoidance purpose
A former long-term U.S. resident surrendered his green card after moving to another country. His net worth exceeded the statutory threshold that could create a presumption of tax avoidance under…
PLR 200027040: Mexican residents' annuity payments exempt from U.S. withholding
An insurer planned to sell annuity contracts to individual Mexican residents who were not U.S. citizens. The IRS ruled that contract distributions to a qualifying owner or beneficiary would be…
PLR 200027039: Late S corporation election accepted for formation year
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from the date it was formed, but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election under section 1362(b)(5). It…
PLR 200027038: Lawyer's missed Form 2553 receives late-election relief
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from incorporation and relied on its attorney to make the election. The attorney did not prepare or file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for…
PLR 200027037: Partnership operating receipts retain their character for S corporation tests
A real estate company contemplating an S corporation election asked how investments in certain publicly traded partnerships would affect its passive investment income tests. The IRS ruled that the…
CCA 200027036: When a bank's bad debt conformity election may be revoked
Chief Counsel advised when the IRS may revoke a bank's election to treat regulatory loan charge-offs as conclusively worthless for section 166 deductions. Revocation may follow a pattern of…
PLR 200027035: Thirty-day extension for dual consolidated loss filings
A taxpayer included a subsidiary's foreign office loss in its U.S. consolidated returns for two years but missed the agreement and certifications required by the dual consolidated loss rules. Its…
PLR 200027034: Cold storage warehouses and refrigeration systems are REIT real property
A company planning a real estate investment trust election asked whether its cold storage warehouses and central refrigeration systems counted as real property under section 856. The IRS found the…
PLR 200027033: Late S corporation election treated as timely if filed within 60 days
A corporation's shareholders wanted S corporation status from the corporation's formation date, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election under…
PLR 200027032: Inadvertent trust ownership does not end S status permanently
An S corporation's shares passed to four trusts after a shareholder's death, and two trusts lacked the elections needed to be eligible shareholders. The IRS held that the S election terminated when…
PLR 200027031: Late S election allowed from incorporation 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 election under section…
PLR 200027030: Reasonable errors in universal life policy testing receive relief
A life insurer identified universal life contracts that failed the guideline premium requirements because of calculation, coding, programming, and manual processing errors. It proposed refunds with…
PLR 200027029: Current owners' clubhouse renovation assessment is capital
A nonexempt homeowners' corporation imposed a special assessment on current property owners to renovate a clubhouse. The funds for that work were earmarked and kept apart from regular dues, while…
PLR 200027027: Extension to file a life insurer consolidated return
Two subsidiaries missed the deadline to elect a consolidated return for their short tax year after one company acquired them. They had filed separate returns, and the IRS later reclassified one…
CCA 200027026: Premerger tax overpayments may offset successor group liabilities
Chief Counsel examined whether one consolidated group's preacquisition overpayments could be credited against a later consolidated group's unpaid taxes after the first group joined the second. It…
PLR 200027025: Late trust severance and reverse QTIP election allowed
An estate's attorney failed to divide a marital trust into generation-skipping transfer tax exempt and nonexempt trusts and omitted the reverse QTIP election from the original estate tax return. The…
PLR 200027024: Partnership's late Form 1128 treated as timely
A partnership filed Form 1128 late to request a tax year for which prior IRS approval was required. The form was filed within 90 days of its due date, and the partnership attributed the delay to an…
PLR 200027023: Late S corporation election granted for intended date
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation status from a specified date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed election and granted relief…
PLR 200027022: Late Form 1128 accepted for processing
Taxpayers filed Form 1128 late to request a change in their accounting period. They represented that the change qualified under the automatic rules and that they had timely filed related extensions…
PLR 200027021: Bank ratio and treaty interest exemption change after license surrender
A foreign bank surrendered its full U.S. banking license and continued some operations through a disregarded U.S. company and a restricted representative office that could not accept deposits. The…
PLR 200027020: Missing S election accepted for corporation's first year
A two-shareholder corporation intended to be an S corporation from incorporation and operated on that understanding. After its first tax year, it discovered that the S election had not been filed on…
PLR 200027019: Local tribal organization treated as a political subdivision
A local tribal organization asked to be treated as a political subdivision of a state for the tax purposes specified in section 7871. Its governing council had delegated authority to enact…
PLR 200027018: Foreign bank keeps U.S. booked branch interest treatment
A foreign bank planned to move some treasury and bookkeeping functions for its U.S. operations to its overseas head office while keeping U.S. branch lending and U.S. books. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200027017: Nonqualified vessel fund withdrawal uses 35 percent rate
A marine transportation corporation made a nonqualified withdrawal from the ordinary income account of its capital construction fund. Section 7518 required an additional tax based on the highest…
PLR 200027016: Children's payment of estate tax on inherited accounts is not a gift
Two children received an individual retirement account and a deferred income settlement account directly from a decedent. The estate asked whether the children's payment of their share of federal…
PLR 200027015: Reformed charitable trust qualifies for estate tax deduction
A decedent's trust directed some income to buy flowers for family graves and the rest to support a church and its student loan program. An Ohio court found that the grave flower provision violated…
PLR 200027014: Reformed annuity trusts preserve charitable estate deduction
A decedent's will left income interests to three siblings and eventual interests to charities, but the original arrangement did not qualify for the estate tax charitable deduction. The estate…
PLR 200027013: Transfer between related nonprofits does not change loss corporation ownership
A tax-exempt organization owned all the stock of a for-profit holding company that was a loss corporation under section 382. It proposed transferring that stock to another tax-exempt organization it…
PLR 200027012: Executive stock options qualify as performance-based compensation
A company granted an executive nonqualified stock options, including an option exceeding the stock plan's annual grant limit. The excess option could be exercised only if shareholders approved an…
PLR 200027011: Late accounting-period application treated as timely
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 late to request a change in its accounting period. The filing occurred within 90 days of its due date, and the delay arose from an error or misunderstanding. The IRS found…
PLR 200027010: Foreign entity receives more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign subsidiary was sold to an unrelated buyer, but its in-house personnel had failed to elect disregarded entity status effective immediately before the sale. The IRS found that the…
PLR 200027009: Gift tax returns effectively allocate generation-skipping tax exemption
A donor created three trusts for the donor's children and their families and tried to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemption on a 1995 gift tax return. The return mislabeled some gifts…
CCA 200027008: Reinsurance premiums may conceal a retailer's sales commissions
A retailer sold credit insurance to customers through an unrelated insurer, then formed a wholly owned insurance subsidiary to reinsure that business. Its direct sales commissions fell and its…
PLR 200027007: Non-native gas injection qualifies as tertiary oil recovery method
An oil producer proposed injecting rented, non-native hydrocarbon gas into two nearly depleted fields to raise reservoir pressure and move more oil to production wells. The IRS ruled that this…
CCA 200027006: Death record mismatch permits math error adjustment with taxpayer notice
Chief Counsel considered returns claiming a dependency exemption or certain credits using a taxpayer identification number that Social Security Administration records linked to someone who died…
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.