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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TAM 200014007: Business property security connects older debt to real estate
A partnership refinanced a loan on business real estate before 1993 and distributed part of the new borrowing to its partners. After the lender canceled part of the debt, the question was whether…
PLR 200014006: IRS finds no principal tax avoidance purpose in expatriation
A longtime U.S. permanent resident returned to his country of birth after an employer transfer and surrendered his green card. His net worth exceeded the threshold that would ordinarily create a…
CCA 200014005: Interest on deposited policy dividends follows dividend rules
A life insurer let policyholders leave dividends on deposit and earn interest. The insurer claimed a reserve deduction for accrued interest before crediting it to policyholder accounts. Chief…
TAM 200014004: Excessive trustee fees paid to children could be taxable gifts
A surviving spouse was the income beneficiary of a trust whose trustees were her children. She agreed to trustee fees that the IRS income tax examiner considered excessive. The IRS advised that, if…
CCA 200014003: Everglades agricultural charge deductible as a business expense
An agricultural company paid Florida's Everglades Agricultural Privilege Tax and deducted it as a real property tax. Chief Counsel advised that the charge was a fee for stormwater treatment…
TAM 200014002: State law barred estate inclusion of trust principal
A surviving spouse was both a beneficiary and co-trustee of a trust created by her spouse's will. The trustees had discretion to distribute trust principal, raising the question whether she held a…
CCA 200014001: Reverse false withholding credits before a refund is paid
Chief Counsel addressed returns claiming refunds based on false wage withholding shown on Forms W-2. When the IRS freezes a claimed refund before paying it, the advice recommends reversing the false…
PLR 200013044: Successor insurer may deduct assumed branch liabilities
A foreign insurer transferred its U.S. branch's assets and liabilities to a domestic insurer. The IRS ruled that the domestic successor could deduct assumed state and local taxes, interest, business…
PLR 200013043: Nonprofit conversion did not trigger gain or loss
A corporation changed its articles and bylaws to convert from for-profit to nonprofit status without dissolving under state law. Its sole member was an organization exempt under § 501(c)(3). The IRS…
PLR 200013042: Nonprofit conversion did not trigger gain or loss
A corporation changed its articles and bylaws to convert from for-profit to nonprofit status without dissolving under state law. Its sole member was an organization exempt under § 501(c)(3). The IRS…
PLR 200013041: Inherited IRAs may be divided but cannot become Roth IRAs
Two spouses died days apart, leaving IRAs that ultimately passed to a trust for their two adult children. The IRS found that disclaimers made on behalf of one spouse and his estate qualified under §…
PLR 200013040: Late S corporation election accepted after filing mistake
A corporation's president intended to elect S corporation status but thought that marking the employer identification number application was enough. The corporation did not file Form 2553, although…
PLR 200013039: Utility contract termination treated 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. The IRS ruled that the contract and…
PLR 200013038: Specialized waste facility classified as seven-year property
A taxpayer planned a facility to process a specific waste under a government contract. The facility housed production equipment, was tailored to that equipment, and was expected to be retired when…
PLR 200013037: Extra time granted for bond cap carryforward election
A county tried to assign part of its private activity bond volume cap to a city, but state law did not permit the assignment. The cap reverted to the state department, which later assigned it to a…
TAM 200013036: Estimated tax credit reduces the base for refund interest
A corporation applied an overpayment from one tax year to the next year's estimated tax. After later payments and litigation, it obtained a refund and sought interest for an earlier six-month…
TAM 200013035: Timing of deductions for railroad employee buyouts
A railroad negotiated payments to protected union employees in exchange for their shares of an annual productivity fund. The replacement arrangement provided an initial payment and a later payment…
PLR 200013034: Extra time granted for binding contract election
A taxpayer acquired a company under a contract entered into before the enactment of § 197 and did not make a valid binding contract election on its return. That election could cause the earlier law…
PLR 200013033: Late corporate classification election deemed timely
A foreign entity with one owner intended to elect to be taxed as a corporation, but its accountant filed the classification election late because of an administrative oversight. The IRS found that…
CCA 200013032: Mailing a late return does not set its refund claim filing date
Chief Counsel advised on late 1993 income tax returns that also claimed refunds of wage withholding. The returns were mailed before the three-year refund lookback expired, but the Service Center…
CCA 200013031: State flood relocation grants to renters are excluded from income
North Carolina offered relocation grants to renters displaced from their primary residences by Hurricane Floyd flooding. Chief Counsel advised that the payments were general welfare assistance and…
CCA 200013030: Flood grants replacing farm and fishing income are taxable
North Carolina asked about Hurricane Floyd grants for crop yield losses, damaged commodities, uncollected growers' assessments, and fishing harvest losses. Chief Counsel advised that grants…
CCA 200013029: IRS may use a different receipt for noncash walk-in payments
Chief Counsel reviewed whether federal tax law requires the IRS to use Form 809 when someone pays tax in person by a noncash method and asks for a receipt. Section 6314 requires a receipt on request…
PLR 200013028: Extension granted for two stock purchase elections
A corporate group missed the deadline for a joint section 338(h)(10) election on one stock acquisition and a section 338(g) election on a foreign target acquisition. The IRS found that the taxpayers…
PLR 200013027: S corporation election preserved after ineligible shareholder
A company's S corporation election terminated when shares were placed in the name of an ineligible shareholder. The company's former accountants did not flag the problem, and a new firm later…
PLR 200013026: Research training stipends are fellowships, not wages
A medical education organization paid living stipends to research fellows in programs modeled on National Institutes of Health training awards. The IRS accepted that the fellows pursued their own…
PLR 200013025: Trust asset division preserves GST status without gain
Three irrevocable trusts created before September 25, 1985 proposed to transfer their nonrealty assets into matching new trusts. The new instruments preserved the same beneficiaries and distribution…
PLR 200013024: Late S corporation election allowed for first year
A corporation's sole shareholder believed its S corporation election had been filed on time, and both filed returns consistent with S treatment for two years. The IRS found reasonable cause for the…
PLR 200013023: Housing credit allocation may reflect redesigned buildings
A low-income housing project was redesigned with a different number of buildings before its state credit agency issued a carryover allocation. The agency approved the redesign, but its allocation…
PLR 200013022: Actively managed property rents are not passive S corporation income
A property holding company planned to elect S corporation status and treat two subsidiaries as qualified S subsidiaries. It and its subsidiaries rented an industrial property and nearby parking…
PLR 200013021: Mall service arrangements and REIT rental income
A shopping center REIT asked whether tenant services supplied by independent businesses would affect its rental income qualification. The IRS found that a satellite provider's contracts with…
PLR 200013020: Spin-off changes leave earlier rulings in force
Taxpayers modified a planned section 355 spin-off after receiving an earlier ruling. The changes included a private placement instead of a public stock offering, different preferred stock in an…
CCA 200013018: Nonprofit affiliates' consolidated return eligibility needs more facts
A taxable parent included several nonprofit corporations in its consolidated income tax return and used their losses against group income. Chief Counsel advised that the nonprofits were not exempt…
CCA 200013017: Prototype chip costs and the research credit
A chip designer sought a research credit for wafers and mask sets made by outside manufacturers during product development. Chief Counsel concluded that the manufacturing costs did not qualify as…
CCA 200013016: Separate assessment consents advised after corporate mergers
Two consolidated corporate groups underwent a series of combinations and mergers while the IRS was examining earlier tax years. Chief Counsel considered whether Forms 872 extending assessment…
PLR 200013015: Ending QTIP trust creates deductible charitable gift
A surviving spouse held a lifetime income interest in a trust for which her late husband's estate had claimed a marital deduction. The trustees proposed to end the trust, pay the spouse the…
PLR 200013014: Dividing a grandfathered trust preserves GST exemption
Beneficiaries of a trust created before September 25, 1985 disagreed over its management and proposed dividing it into two trusts for different family branches. The IRS found that the division would…
CCA 200013013: Medical device testing may qualify as research expense
A medical device manufacturer deducted costs incurred through product development and sales release under section 174. Chief Counsel advised that finishing the initial design did not end all…
PLR 200013012: Fiduciary distribution duties create no general appointment power
A daughter administered her father's property under a will that required income distributions to the children and allowed payments to their mother for actual living expenses. The IRS concluded that…
CCA 200013011: Loss on one leg of offsetting notes lacks economic substance
A taxpayer bought paired notes whose interest returns moved in opposite directions with LIBOR, then sold the declining notes while retaining offsetting gains in the others. Chief Counsel viewed the…
CCA 200013010: Research subsidiaries' cost sharing status requires more facts
Two domestic subsidiaries developed technology under agreements with affiliated companies, many of them foreign. Chief Counsel advised that a cost sharing participant must reasonably expect benefits…
PLR 200013009: Mutual bank conversion meets specified reorganization tests
A mutual savings bank proposed to convert to stock form and place the new bank beneath a mutual holding company and a stock holding company. The IRS ruled on specific issues needed to analyze the…
CCA 200013008: Retained fees after securities sales are taxable income
A corporation formerly exempt from income tax sold securities linked to pools of financial assets and retained rights to later fees. After becoming taxable, it sought to offset those fees with…
PLR 200013007: Late S corporation election allowed after filing mix-up
A new corporation's shareholders intended S corporation status from its first tax year, but its attorney and accountant each believed the other had filed Form 2553. The corporation and shareholders…
CCA 200013006: No abandonment loss for supervisory goodwill
A bank holding company claimed an abandonment loss after a change in federal law curtailed its ability to count supervisory goodwill toward regulatory capital. Chief Counsel concluded that this…
PLR 200013005: Delayed workers' compensation increase excluded from income
An employee injured at work received workers' compensation benefits and an additional amount because payment of the award had been unreasonably delayed or refused. The state law treated the increase…
CCA 200013004: Lease stripping arrangements lack economic substance
A taxpayer entered into layered sales and leases of computer and store equipment. One party accelerated rental income, while another claimed related rent or depreciation deductions after the lease…
CCA 200013003: Bridge thrift belongs to failed institution's consolidated group
A parent corporation disputed tax assessed on the operations of a mutual thrift that received the assets and liabilities of its failed subsidiary. Chief Counsel advised that the new thrift was a…
CCA 200013002: Processing improper Social Security withholding refund claims
A service center asked how to process returns seeking refunds of tax withheld on Social Security benefits paid to taxpayers in the Philippines, where the claimed treaty refund was unavailable. Chief…
CCA 200013001: State audit referral may support a small deficiency notice
A service center used New York State audit reports to examine federal returns and asked whether it needed the state's full administrative file before issuing a deficiency notice for less than…
CCA 200012085: Foreign postmark can establish timely filing under IRS policy
An IRS representative abroad asked whether a foreign postmark could make a federal return timely after a Tax Court case raised doubts. Chief Counsel explained that IRS policy accepted returns mailed…
PLR 200012084: City-funded benefit trust treated as part of the city
A city sought a ruling on a trust it planned to use for employee retirement welfare benefits. The city would supply all funding, control the trust's operations, and retain the power to amend or end…
PLR 200012083: Deferred pay transferred to a 401(k) plan receives conditional tax treatment
An employee could elect to defer pay under a nonqualified plan and transfer an allowed amount to an employer's qualified cash or deferred plan after annual testing. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200012082: Nuclear fuel storage costs qualify for decommissioning fund use
An electric utility planned to build a spent fuel storage installation while decommissioning a retired nuclear plant. The IRS ruled that the installation's construction, operation, and…
CCA 200012081: Chief Counsel advises against changing Form 1099-B broker instructions
A field report proposed changing Form 1099-B instructions to say that a corporation directly buying some of its own shares must report those purchases to shareholders. Chief Counsel advised against…
CCA 200012080: Condemnation award interest belongs on Form 1099-INT
Chief Counsel corrected an earlier memorandum about information reporting for the interest portion of a real property condemnation award. The earlier advice said that the interest did not meet…
CCA 200012079: IRS employee may give personally served complaint to private insurer
An IRS employee sued personally by a taxpayer asked whether giving the civil complaint to a private liability insurer would violate the rules protecting tax return information. Chief Counsel said…
CCA 200012078: Form SS-10 can extend FICA assessment for underreported tips
An IRS revenue agent asked which consent form should extend the time to assess FICA tax on an employee's underreported tips. Chief Counsel advised using Form SS-10, although Form 872 could also work…
PLR 200012077: IRS finds a tax avoidance purpose in planned expatriation
A person who planned to renounce U.S. citizenship asked the IRS to rule that avoiding U.S. tax was not one of the principal purposes. The IRS accepted the submission as complete and made in good…
PLR 200012076: Charity receives income from inherited employee stock options
A retired executive planned to leave some vested nonqualified employer stock options to a charitable organization. The IRS ruled that, if the charity exercised the options after the executive's…
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.