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 200023034: Late S election effective from requested tax year
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation treatment beginning with a specified tax year, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election under…
PLR 200023033: Late S election recognized from formation date
A corporation's founder intended S corporation treatment from the formation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS concluded that the corporation had reasonable cause for the late…
PLR 200023032: Late S election allowed after accountant failed to file
A corporation's president intended S corporation status and asked its accountant to apply for the election. The accountant failed to file Form 2553, so the corporation had no S election on file. The…
PLR 200023031: Post spinoff stock repurchases leave earlier ruling intact
A public company spun off a controlled company under an earlier IRS ruling. The controlled company then planned to repurchase some of its own shares through its brokerage subsidiary and possibly…
PLR 200023030: Surviving spouse's inherited IRA transfer avoids current income
A deceased person's IRAs named a trust as beneficiary. His surviving spouse, who controlled allocations from that trust, proposed placing the IRA assets in a subtrust she could amend or revoke and…
PLR 200023029: Late S election accepted for corporation's first year
A corporation with two shareholders intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation date and operated on that basis. After its first tax year ended, it discovered that its S election had not…
PLR 200023028: Late S election allowed from incorporation date
A corporation's shareholders wanted S corporation treatment from its incorporation date, but no election was filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under IRC §…
PLR 200023027: Late S election effective from requested date
A corporation's shareholder intended to elect S corporation treatment from the company's incorporation date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late…
PLR 200023026: Trust severance recognized and reverse QTIP election extended
An estate made a QTIP election for a marital trust but omitted a reverse QTIP election and did not allocate the decedent's generation skipping transfer tax exemption. The executor proposed dividing…
PLR 200023025: Exempt interest dividends retain their character for recipient funds
Several tax-free investment funds proposed investing cash in affiliated tax-exempt money market funds. The question was how to treat exempt-interest dividends received from those money funds when…
CCA 200023024: Unpaid transfer of foreign tax losses creates no constructive distribution
Related foreign corporations used a foreign tax rule that allowed one company to surrender expenses to another, reducing the recipient's foreign tax. No company paid for the surrendered expenses.…
PLR 200023023: Extra time to file stock acquisition elections
A purchaser bought two corporations, including three affiliates, from a consolidated group. The purchaser and seller's parent intended to make joint IRC § 338(h)(10) elections so the stock purchases…
PLR 200023022: Municipal employee benefit pool receives income and employment tax treatment
Political subdivisions formed a risk pool to provide life and health benefits to their employees, officials, retirees, and dependents. Its members and governing trustees came from local governments,…
PLR 200023021: Fund share split-off treated as redemption without fund level gain
A group of open-end investment funds proposed moving each fund's retirement share class into a corresponding new fund. After shareholder approval, holders would surrender their old retirement shares…
PLR 200023020: Occasional family use does not prevent residence trust treatment
A married couple planned to put their separate half interests in a vacation residence into qualified personal residence trusts. Their adult son, who was not their dependent and had his own nearby…
PLR 200023019: Multistep reorganization separates two operating businesses
A public corporate group proposed a series of transfers and distributions to separate two businesses with different technology and management needs. Subsidiaries would move one business into newly…
CCA 200023018: Conditional federal project funding does not guarantee local notes
A state authority issued notes to fund interim loans for local public projects. Each locality first obtained a federal agency's commitment for permanent financing and pledged the resulting funds…
PLR 200023017: Investment fund combination qualifies as a reorganization
One closed-end investment fund planned to transfer substantially all its assets and liabilities to another fund for voting common and preferred shares, then dissolve and distribute those shares to…
CCA 200023016: Counsel advises against challenging stock and property losses
Three related corporations transferred properties to a new corporation for different classes of stock. One contributed properties whose tax basis exceeded their value, then sold part of its…
TAM 200023015: Truck chassis taxable while mounted aerial equipment is exempt
A manufacturer sold heavy truck chassis fitted with long-reach aerial cranes or lifts and stabilizing outriggers. The IRS concluded that the chassis were subject to the IRC § 4051 retail excise tax…
CCA 200023014: Cost sharing buy-in payment should be measured as a royalty
A U.S. corporate group and its foreign subsidiary entered a cost sharing arrangement involving technology the U.S. group had developed. Chief Counsel advised that the 1994 final IRC § 482…
TAM 200023013: Customer owes primary tax on added truck axle
A truck dealer sold a taxable truck body, installed it on a customer's new chassis, and sometimes also sold and installed extra axles. The IRS concluded that an axle is a chassis component, so its…
TAM 200023012: Mixed service truck tire is taxable without retroactive relief
A manufacturer sold a heavy duty tire marketed for mixed on and off road service on dump trucks and other trucks. The IRS concluded that the tire was of a type used on highway vehicles, so its sale…
TAM 200023011: Off road marketed truck tire remains subject to tire tax
A tire manufacturer marketed a heavy duty drive axle tire for severe off road use. The tire was also original equipment on dump trucks that were highway vehicles subject to the truck excise tax…
CCA 200023010: Captive liability policies need further risk analysis
A corporate group paid premiums to its wholly owned insurer for liability coverage and sought to deduct them as insurance expenses. An examining agent argued that expected claims would exceed the…
CCA 200023009: Teacher retirement coverage affects Social Security and Medicare taxes
An IRS coordinator asked how Social Security and Medicare taxes apply when public school employees work multiple jobs, retire and return, or move between school districts. Chief Counsel explained…
CCA 200023008: Mortgage insurer can reserve for losses at default notice
A mortgage guaranty insurer covered lenders against borrowers' payment defaults. It increased its unpaid loss reserves when a lender notified it of a default, while an IRS agent argued it should…
CCA 200023006: Staffing firm's wage base refund depends on employer status
A staffing firm supplied workers who had often earned wages from a client earlier in the same year. It applied a new FICA and FUTA wage base to the wages it paid, then sought refunds on the theory…
CCA 200023005: Tax levy reaches settlement except attorney fee priority
A subcontractor completed construction work and later settled claims against a surety, but the IRS had served a tax levy on the surety before the settlement. Chief Counsel advised that the…
PLR 200023004: Late accounting period application treated as timely
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 to request a change in its tax year, but the application arrived after the filing deadline and within 90 days of it. The IRS found that the taxpayer acted reasonably and…
TAM 200023003: Preferred stock redemption raises extraordinary dividend questions
A corporate shareholder received convertible debentures when an issuer redeemed all of one class of preferred stock, then claimed a dividends received deduction and a loss after allocating stock…
TAM 200023002: Late bond rebate payment counts from its original due date
A municipal bond issuer missed its first arbitrage rebate payment. After discovering the omission, it paid the rebate plus interest within 180 days and claimed an offset for negative arbitrage in…
CCA 200023001: Allocate discharged joint debt between spouses on separate returns
A husband and wife were jointly liable for a debt that was discharged, then filed separate tax returns. The lender's Form 1099-C identified both spouses, raising the question of how much…
PLR 200022059: Partial foundation transfer preserves status but requires grant oversight
A private operating foundation transferred about one-third of its assets to a related private foundation for the recipient's endowment. The IRS ruled that the transfer would not terminate the…
PLR 200022058: Pension plan receives waiver of funding deficiency tax
An employer asked the IRS to waive the 100 percent additional tax on its pension plan's accumulated funding deficiencies for plan years ending in 1994 through 1998. It reported severe business…
PLR 200022057: Hospital retirement plan qualifies as a church plan
A church affiliated hospital asked whether its employee retirement plan qualified as a church plan under IRC § 414(e). The hospital and its parent corporation were listed in the church's official…
PLR 200022056: Shared services for a civic center preserve tax exemption
A social welfare organization that operated a park formed a charitable subsidiary to build and run a civic or convention center. It planned to share staff, office space, equipment, and supplies with…
PLR 200022055: Charitable trust may transfer assets to a private foundation
A nonexempt charitable trust planned to transfer more than half its assets to a newly formed private foundation so its charitable programs could continue. The IRS ruled that the transfer falls under…
PLR 200022054: Family foundation may divide assets among four foundations
A private foundation whose trustees had different charitable priorities planned to transfer all its assets to four new private foundations, then dissolve under state law. The new foundations would…
PLR 200022053: Set-aside for pediatric research counts as a distribution
A private operating foundation planned a five-year grant to a hospital to support a scientist in pediatric genetic research. It asked whether the amount reserved in 1999 could count as a qualifying…
PLR 200022052: Policyholders recognize no gain on a deemed stock exchange
An insurer completed a demutualization and holding company formation covered by an earlier IRS letter ruling. It supplied additional facts about its membership interests, stock, continuing life…
CCA 200022051: Schedule C expenses and business proof affect earned income credit
IRS counsel addressed Schedule C income reported to claim the earned income credit when business expenses were omitted or the business could not be shown to exist. Under IRC §§ 32 and 1402, net…
CCA 200022050: Flood repair aid generally excluded from homeowners' income
North Carolina asked how to treat aid for low-income homeowners replacing or repairing homes damaged by Hurricane Floyd. IRS counsel treated the state's replacement loans and repair assistance as…
PLR 200022048: Gaming revenue trusts defer income for tribal members
A federally recognized tribe asked about trusts holding gaming revenue payments for minor members and members found legally incompetent. The IRS ruled that creating and funding the trusts, and…
PLR 200022047: Investment funds may revoke distribution period elections
Three regulated investment funds asked to revoke elections that used their December 31 tax year to calculate capital gain distributions for the section 4982 excise tax. They said the short interval…
PLR 200022046: Foreign entity receives more time for classification election
A foreign entity and its parent intended from the entity's formation to have it disregarded as separate from the parent for federal tax purposes. They failed to file the required Form 8832 on time.…
PLR 200022045: Business split-off after shareholder management dispute
A consulting corporation proposed to transfer all shares of one subsidiary to a shareholder in exchange for that shareholder's shares of the parent. The shareholder managed that subsidiary, while…
PLR 200022044: Family business may split after management disagreement
Four siblings owned a corporation, and one wanted to separate because of management disagreements. The corporation proposed to place some business assets and cash in a new corporation, then give all…
PLR 200022043: S corporation receives extension for subsidiary elections
An S corporation intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status for three wholly owned subsidiaries but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found that the company met the requirements…
PLR 200022042: Bond investment earnings count toward housing project's financing test
A partnership building low-income housing sought to know whether earnings from temporarily investing tax exempt bond proceeds count in the financing test for the housing credit. Higher project costs…
PLR 200022041: Corporation receives relief for late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended it to be an S corporation from its first tax year and relied on an accountant to file Form 2553. The accountant failed to file on time because of a…
PLR 200022040: Partnership gets more time to elect a basis adjustment
A partner died, and the partnership filed its tax return without a section 754 election to adjust the basis of partnership property. The IRS found that the requirements for discretionary filing…
PLR 200022039: Three business units split among shareholder families
Three related families owned a corporation with three business subsidiaries and had developed management conflicts. The corporation proposed to distribute each subsidiary to a different shareholder…
PLR 200022038: State mortgage bonds may finance homes on reservation land
A state housing agency asked whether its tax exempt mortgage bonds could finance homes on Indian reservation land inside the state's borders. Section 143 requires financed homes to be within the…
PLR 200022037: Late S corporation election receives reasonable cause relief
A corporation intended to elect S corporation treatment effective on a stated date but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and said the election could be…
PLR 200022036: Parent gets extension to file a consolidated return
Two subsidiaries filed a consolidated return, but their parent company was omitted. The group requested more time to elect consolidated filing with the parent as the common parent. The IRS found…
PLR 200022035: Trust beneficiary treated as owner of withdrawable share
A trust beneficiary could withdraw each year up to $5,000 or five percent of the trust's net principal, and could appoint its income. The IRS ruled that the beneficiary is treated as owner of the…
PLR 200022034: Utility stock sale proceeds may be reinvested in utility funds or stocks
An investor held a noncontrolling stake in a privately owned utility. The shareholders sold their stock to a city after the city threatened to acquire the utility by eminent domain. The investor…
PLR 200022033: Corporate group gets 30 days to file a late consolidated return
A parent corporation and two subsidiaries intended to file a consolidated federal income tax return, but their tax preparer filed neither the return nor an extension by the deadline. They requested…
PLR 200022032: Shareholder separation qualifies under the corporate distribution rules
Two shareholder groups wanted to separate their interests in a business and its subsidiary. The subsidiary would transfer one branch to its parent, and the parent would contribute other assets to…
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.