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 200015023: Estate gets 30 days to make reverse QTIP election
An estate claimed the marital deduction for two trusts benefiting the surviving spouse but missed the reverse QTIP election for both. The election would keep the decedent as the transferor of the…
PLR 200015022: Late S election may take effect for the requested tax year
A corporation intended to elect S corporation treatment beginning in a specified tax year but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief under…
CCA 200015021: Retiree health account does not fit cafeteria plan rules
A state proposed letting retiring employees put accrued leave and unpaid wages into an account for future health insurance, with any unused balance paid to survivors. In advice to district counsel…
PLR 200015020: Late S election may begin when company started business
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the day the company began business, but its election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline…
PLR 200015019: Reasonable cause permits late S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation treatment from a specified date but missed the filing deadline. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election and granted relief under section…
PLR 200015018: Late S election granted for shareholders' intended date
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from a specified date but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay under section 1362(b)(5). It…
PLR 200015017: Securities fund may aggregate certain section 704(c) gains and losses
A securities fund organized as a partnership planned to pool assets from feeder investors and make daily allocations. It asked to combine gains and losses built into contributed qualified financial…
PLR 200015016: Securities fund may aggregate certain section 704(c) gains and losses
A securities fund organized as a partnership planned to pool assets from feeder investors and make daily allocations. It asked to combine gains and losses built into contributed qualified financial…
PLR 200015015: Securities fund may aggregate certain section 704(c) gains and losses
A securities fund organized as a partnership planned to pool assets from feeder investors and make daily allocations. It asked to combine gains and losses built into contributed qualified financial…
PLR 200015014: Securities fund may aggregate certain section 704(c) gains and losses
A securities fund organized as a partnership planned to pool assets from feeder investors and make daily allocations. It asked to combine gains and losses built into contributed qualified financial…
PLR 200015013: Securities fund may aggregate certain section 704(c) gains and losses
A securities fund organized as a partnership planned to pool assets from feeder investors and make daily allocations. It asked to combine gains and losses built into contributed qualified financial…
PLR 200015012: Interest rate update does not trigger partnership valuation rules
A partnership agreement signed before October 8, 1990 required installment payments when certain interests were purchased after an owner's death. The partners proposed changing the interest rate on…
PLR 200015011: Trust's contribution to LLC qualifies for nonrecognition
The trustee of three trusts planned to contribute most of their assets to a new LLC taxed as a partnership. The assets included securities and indirect interests in commercial real estate. Section…
PLR 200015010: Trust's contribution to LLC qualifies for nonrecognition
The trustee of three trusts planned to contribute most of their assets to a new LLC taxed as a partnership. The assets included securities and indirect interests in commercial real estate. Section…
PLR 200015009: Trust's contribution to LLC qualifies for nonrecognition
The trustee of three trusts planned to contribute most of their assets to a new LLC taxed as a partnership. The assets included securities and indirect interests in commercial real estate. Section…
PLR 200015008: Trust transfers exempt from generation-skipping transfer tax
A decedent was continuously unable to change the disposition of her property from the 1986 enactment date for the generation-skipping transfer tax until her death. A court approved a revocable trust…
CCA 200015007: Foundation's partnership interest does not bar ordinary sales or liquidation
A family trust gave a small partnership interest to a private foundation shortly before the decedent died. The estate argued that the foundation's presence restricted sales or liquidation because of…
PLR 200015006: Multistage corporate separation qualifies for stated nonrecognition rules
A publicly traded corporate group proposed separating one division from its other businesses through subsidiary mergers, entity classification elections, contributions, and three successive…
CCA 200015005: Mortgage certificate losses from stock redemption plan should be denied
A corporation's subsidiaries formed a partnership that bought the corporation's stock. After the corporation redeemed much of that stock, the partnership treated the proceeds as dividend income and…
PLR 200015004: Dividing grandfathered trust preserves GST tax exemption
A family trust traced to two trusts that had become irrevocable before September 25, 1985. The beneficiaries proposed dividing one branch of the trust into three shares for separate family lines,…
PLR 200015003: Administrative trust changes preserve GST tax exemption
A trust created in 1965 had two shares for separate family branches and had received no additions after September 25, 1985. The trustee proposed replacing the named corporate successor trustee with…
PLR 200015002: Trustee and consultant changes preserve GST tax exemption
A testamentary trust was divided into two family shares, and the trustee represented that no assets had been added to the trusts after September 25, 1985. The trustee proposed replacing the named…
PLR 200014045: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation and operated that way, but discovered after its tax year ended that it had filed its election late. The IRS ruled that the election would be…
PLR 200014044: IRS approves the form of a nonprofit employer's 403(b) plan
A tax-exempt employer asked whether the written form of its employee retirement plan met IRC § 403(b). The employer had replaced future annuity contributions with contributions to custodial accounts…
PLR 200014043: S corporation payments may service ESOP loans without adding to annual contributions
A corporation planned to elect S corporation status and asked how payments on shares held in its employee stock ownership plan would affect existing plan loans. The IRS ruled that distributions on…
PLR 200014042: IRS treats power contract termination as an involuntary conversion
An independent power producer agreed to terminate a long-term electricity purchase contract after the utility threatened to condemn its generating facility if negotiations failed. The IRS found that…
PLR 200014041: IRS grants extra time for an LLC's corporate classification election
A single-owner limited liability company sought more time to elect treatment as a corporation for federal tax purposes. Its owner intended that treatment, but its officers believed the accountants…
PLR 200014040: Art gallery expansion qualifies foundation as an operating foundation
A private foundation expanded its educational work by opening an art gallery in condominium units donated by two board members. The IRS ruled that the expansion preserved its § 501(c)(3) exemption…
PLR 200014039: IRS rules on pro rata distribution of subsidiary stock
A company proposed distributing all the stock it held in a subsidiary to its own shareholders. It represented that the distribution would let the subsidiary expand into activities that rules for its…
PLR 200014038: IRS approves a revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule
A utility with an ownership interest in a nuclear plant asked the IRS to revise the schedule of annual payments it could make to its nuclear decommissioning fund. Three public utility commissions…
PLR 200014037: IRS finds continuity of interest in proposed merger
A nonprofit corporation had converted under state law from a publicly funded type to a privately funded type. Its members planned to merge it into a stock corporation they had formed and exchange…
CCA 200014036: Interest and penalties after theft of tax payments
Chief Counsel considered whether a taxpayer owed interest and penalties after tax payments were stolen by a bank lockbox employee, an IRS employee, or the taxpayer's accountant. It advised crediting…
CCA 200014035: Earned income credit and work during civil commitment
Chief Counsel considered whether pay earned at a treatment facility counts toward the earned income tax credit under § 32. It advised that pay earned by a person who is civilly committed counts as…
IRS Bulletin 200014034: Litigation digest and five Chief Counsel memoranda
This General Litigation Bulletin compiles summaries of court decisions and five Chief Counsel advice memoranda. The case digest covers bankruptcy, tax collection, and related disputes. Two memoranda…
CCA 200014033: Offsetting another refund to recover an erroneous payment
Chief Counsel addressed how the IRS may recover a nonrebate erroneous refund, such as a duplicate or misdirected payment, when no new tax assessment or judgment exists. It advised that the IRS may…
PLR 200014032: IRS approves split of a family owned corporation
Five siblings owned a corporation with two businesses and proposed separating them because of management disagreements. The corporation would transfer assets and cash to a new corporation, then give…
PLR 200014031: Manufactured home park rents are not passive investment income
An S corporation owned and operated a manufactured home park and asked whether the rents it received were passive investment income under § 1362. The corporation described maintenance, security,…
PLR 200014030: Corporate split produces gain on one asset transfer
A closely held family business proposed dividing its operations among three corporations to resolve shareholder disagreements. The IRS ruled that the proposed transfers and stock distribution would…
PLR 200014029: IRS grants relief for a late S corporation election
A corporation said it had intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation and had operated on that understanding. It later discovered that its S corporation election had not been filed on…
PLR 200014028: IRS treats a late S corporation election as timely
A corporation's sole shareholder said a Form 2553 had been prepared and filed for its first tax year, but the IRS had no record of a timely filing. Corporate minutes and a state notice showed the…
PLR 200014027: IRS grants relief when an attorney missed an S election
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status, but its attorney failed to file Form 2553. Its state registration described it as an S corporation, and the shareholders agreed to make…
PLR 200014026: IRS extends deadline for dual consolidated loss filings
A company included losses from a foreign business in its consolidated tax returns without filing agreements and certifications required by the dual consolidated loss rules. Its tax director had…
PLR 200014025: Expatriation tax presumption rebutted without a final finding
A longtime U.S. resident planned to give up her permanent resident status and requested a ruling on whether tax avoidance was a principal purpose. Her net worth exceeded a threshold that would…
PLR 200014024: Annuity withdrawals qualify as substantially equal payments
Two insurers proposed programs that would make automatic withdrawals from deferred variable annuity contracts before the annuity starting date. Contract holders would commit the entire contract…
PLR 200014023: IRS corrects asset basis ruling in an earlier letter
The IRS replaced one ruling in an earlier letter about a corporate transaction. The corrected ruling says that one receiving corporation's basis in transferred assets equals the transferor's prior…
PLR 200014022: Late S corporation election receives conditional relief
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation, but its Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election based on the submitted facts and…
PLR 200014021: IRS allows late S election for the requested tax year
A corporation decided to elect S corporation status effective for a tax year after its incorporation, but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election on the…
PLR 200014020: IRS approves a stock for assets reorganization
A corporation proposed merging into another corporation in the same country. Its shareholders would receive only voting stock of the acquiring company, apart from limited cash for fractional shares.…
PLR 200014019: IRS grants relief for a late S corporation election
A corporation with one shareholder said it had intended to be an S corporation since incorporation and had operated on that understanding. It later discovered that its S election had not been filed…
PLR 200014018: IRS grants relief for a late S corporation election
A corporation with two shareholders said it had intended to be an S corporation since incorporation and had operated on that understanding. It later discovered that its S election had not been filed…
PLR 200014017: Foreign entity gets more time for partnership election
A foreign entity's owners intended to elect partnership classification for U.S. tax purposes, but the tax group assigned to file Form 8832 missed the deadline. A later ownership change shifted tax…
PLR 200014016: Buyer receives economic interest in gas properties
A buyer proposed acquiring interests in oil and gas properties that could produce fuel eligible for the § 29 credit. The seller would retain a limited production payment, two recourse notes, a…
PLR 200014015: IRS extends condition in an earlier liquidation ruling
An earlier ruling on a subsidiary liquidation depended on selling the subsidiary's stock or dissolving it within twelve months. The parent had received most of the subsidiary's assets and assumed…
CCA 200014014: Related company advances treated as shams or capital
Chief Counsel examined amounts a parent company recorded as loans and advances to subsidiaries through journal entries. Some entries were paired with dividends, and others funded operating expenses;…
PLR 200014013: Agreement to extinguish retained land rights meets estate tax rule
A decedent held an interest in a company whose principal asset was ranchland subject to conservation easements. The easements left some subdivision and commercial use rights in place. The company…
CCA 200014012: Interest start date after an overpayment credit election
A corporation elected to apply an overpayment from one tax year to estimated taxes for the next year. After the IRS found a deficiency for the overpayment year, the parties disagreed about when…
PLR 200014011: Managed residential rents are not passive investment income
An S corporation that owned and managed residential rental properties asked whether its rents counted as passive investment income under § 1362. It described employees and contractors who maintained…
TAM 200014010: Convenience store leases are a rental activity
An S corporation that sold petroleum products leased convenience store sites to an unrelated store operator and also supplied the operator's gasoline. The IRS concluded that providing the sites was…
PLR 200014009: Trust merger preserves generation skipping tax exemption
Trustees proposed merging three older family trusts into one consolidated trust. They represented that each original trust was irrevocable before September 25, 1985, and had received no additions…
CCA 200014008: Development funding supports mineral economic interest
A company advanced funds to a related company under production payment agreements for mineral properties and claimed depletion on the production payments. The issue was whether the funds were…
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.