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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CCA 9952047: Counsel questioned deductions for executive termination insurance premiums
An S corporation bought policies to reimburse it for compensation promised to selected executives if their employment ended, plus riders that could return most of the premiums with earnings. It…
PLR 9952046: S corporation election deadline relief granted
A corporation's shareholder wanted S corporation treatment from the date the business began, but the election was not timely filed. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and granted…
PLR 9952045: Revised state employee deferred compensation plan remains eligible
A state board asked about a revised deferred compensation plan for public employees. The IRS ruled that the plan was an eligible governmental plan under section 457(b), with its assets held in trust…
PLR 9952044: Charitable lead trust annuity qualifies, but deduction is limited to its value
A taxpayer's trust would pay an annual amount to charity after the taxpayer's death, then distribute the remaining assets to family trusts. The taxpayer asked whether the charitable interest…
PLR 9952043: Late S election recognized from incorporation date
A corporation intended to be taxed as an S corporation from the day it was incorporated, but its election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief under…
PLR 9952042: State model deferred compensation plan qualifies under section 457
A state board asked about its revised model deferred compensation plan for local public employers. The IRS ruled that the model plan was an eligible plan under section 457(b), with assets held in…
CCA 9952041: Counsel weighs tax theories for former citizens' short sale gains
After renouncing U.S. citizenship, two individuals received appreciated shares and short sale obligations from domestic partnerships through trusts, then transferred assets and obligations to…
PLR 9952040: Operating fund is a grantor trust, but not a qualified settlement fund
A company involved in a product injury settlement asked how to classify an operating fund established under the settlement agreement. The IRS concluded that the fund was a trust, but not a qualified…
PLR 9952039: Estate may claim future loan interest if expense qualifies under local and federal rules
An estate planned to borrow from a bank to pay estate tax through a ten-year loan that prohibited prepayment and fixed the total interest owed even on default. It asked whether it could deduct all…
PLR 9952038: Liquidating insurer's claim adjustments and debt discharge treatment
The liquidator of an insolvent life insurer asked how to report later adjustments to policyholder claims and the discharge of unpaid claims. The IRS ruled that the insurer no longer held life…
PLR 9952037: Farmland easement qualifies as a conservation contribution with deed changes
A landowner proposed to grant a perpetual conservation easement over farmland, woods, and a stream to a governmental organization. The landowner planned to sell a separate residential parcel and…
PLR 9952036: S corporation status restored after trust shareholder lapse
A trust held stock in an S corporation, but part of the trust ceased to be an eligible shareholder after a grantor died and its two-year eligibility period ended. A later trust division and a missed…
PLR 9952035: Consent dividend enters trust gross income but not unitrust payout income
A charitable remainder unitrust held stock in a corporation planning to distribute accumulated earnings before a proposed REIT conversion. The corporation proposed a cash dividend and a noncash…
PLR 9952034: Business separation qualifies as a Type D reorganization and stock distribution
A corporate group planned to separate two operations in the same business that were managed by shareholders with different approaches. The parent had transferred assets to a controlled company and…
PLR 9952033: Business separation qualifies as a Type D reorganization and stock distribution
A corporate group planned to separate two operations in the same business that were managed by shareholders with different approaches. The parent would transfer assets to a controlled company, then…
PLR 9952032: Business separation qualifies as a Type D reorganization and stock distribution
A corporate group planned to separate two operations in the same business that were managed by shareholders with different approaches. The parent would transfer assets to a controlled company, then…
PLR 9952031: Expatriation request rebuts tax avoidance presumption, but purpose remains open
A former U.S. citizen whose net worth exceeded the statutory threshold asked the IRS to rule that avoiding U.S. tax was not a principal purpose of her expatriation. The IRS found that she made a…
PLR 9952030: Parent receives 30 days to file missed deconsolidation loss statement
A consolidated group sold a subsidiary and missed the required statement for limiting loss disallowance when that subsidiary left the group. Its return included some transaction and basis…
PLR 9952029: Foreign subsidiary distribution receives conditional section 355 treatment
A U.S. parent owned a foreign company that planned to distribute stock of another foreign company to the parent. The group said the change would reduce foreign withholding tax on dividends. The IRS…
PLR 9952028: Supplemental health fund contributions excluded from income and payroll wages
A multiemployer health and welfare fund planned a supplemental account funded by employer contributions to pay unreimbursed medical expenses and certain costs of continuing coverage. The IRS ruled…
PLR 9952027: Parent gets 30 days to file omitted allowed-loss statement
A member of a consolidated group sold preferred stock of another group company and reported a loss, but the parent omitted the statement needed to claim any allowed loss under Treas. Reg. §…
PLR 9952026: Trusts' late elections receive conditional S corporation relief
Four trusts held stock in a corporation, but their beneficiaries did not file qualified subchapter S trust elections on time. The IRS ruled that the trusts qualified to be QSSTs if state law allowed…
PLR 9952025: QSub elections preserve nonrecognition while built-in gains tax carries over
An S corporation planned to acquire two S corporation targets through mergers and elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary treatment for them and a third subsidiary. The IRS ruled that the mergers…
PLR 9952024: QSub elections preserve nonrecognition while built-in gains tax carries over
An S corporation planned to acquire two S corporation targets through mergers and elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary treatment for them and a third subsidiary. The IRS ruled that the mergers…
PLR 9952023: Estate gets 60 days to make farm special use valuation election
An estate held interests in family farmland and filed a protective special use valuation election with its timely estate tax return. After a tax professional advised that a section 2032A election…
PLR 9952022: QSub elections preserve nonrecognition while built-in gains tax carries over
An S corporation planned to acquire two S corporation targets through mergers and elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary treatment for them and a third subsidiary. The IRS ruled that the mergers…
PLR 9952021: QSub elections preserve nonrecognition while built-in gains tax carries over
An S corporation planned to acquire two S corporation targets through mergers and elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary treatment for them and a third subsidiary. The IRS ruled that the mergers…
PLR 9952020: QSub elections preserve nonrecognition while built-in gains tax carries over
An S corporation planned to acquire two S corporation targets through mergers and elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary treatment for them and a third subsidiary. The IRS ruled that the mergers…
PLR 9952019: QSub elections preserve nonrecognition while built-in gains tax carries over
An S corporation planned to acquire two S corporation targets through mergers and elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary treatment for them and a third subsidiary. The IRS ruled that the mergers…
CCA 9952018: Foreign insurance premium tax reaches a U.S. insured even when its parent pays
A foreign parent bought casualty coverage for its U.S. subsidiary and other group companies through a foreign broker. Chief Counsel advised that premiums paid to a wholly owned, disregarded foreign…
CCA 9952017: Cell service sales commissions need more factual development
An IRS office asked whether a cellular telephone provider could currently deduct commissions paid to independent sales representatives for signing customers. Chief Counsel answered only that further…
CCA 9952016: Bankruptcy consolidation does not make one partnership's partner every partnership's tax matters partner
Related partnerships were consolidated for a bankruptcy proceeding, and an IRS office asked whether a person who was a partner in only some of them could serve as tax matters partner for all their…
CCA 9952015: Counsel flags bifurcation and dividend deduction questions for stock-linked instrument
A company issued an instrument linked to another company's stock, with periodic payments and settlement in cash or stock. Chief Counsel said the field should request further advice on whether the…
CCA 9952014: Counsel analyzes foreign trust beneficiaries' indirect stock ownership
Two foreign trusts indirectly owned shares in foreign corporations, and an IRS office asked whether two U.S. spouses should be treated as owners of those shares. Chief Counsel said the available…
PLR 9952012: Gift of vested stock options avoids immediate income, but exercise taxes employee
An employee planned to give vested, exercisable nonqualified stock options to children or trusts for their benefit. The IRS ruled that making the gift would not itself create taxable income or gain…
CCA 9952011: Counsel urges more reserve analysis and advises against litigating two years
An IRS office questioned whether a property and casualty insurer's reserves for unpaid claims were fair and reasonable under the section 832 regulations. Chief Counsel said the issue needed more…
Determination 9952010: Proposed increase in asset capitalization threshold denied
A taxpayer filed Form 3115 seeking to raise its minimum capitalization threshold for machinery, equipment, furniture, and fixtures from $1,000 to $2,000. The IRS denied the requested accounting…
CCA 9952009: Cash bail reporting by Pennsylvania district justices
IRS Chief Counsel advised on Form 8300 reporting when Pennsylvania district justices receive cash bail. A district justice authorized to accept bail counts as a court clerk under the reporting rule,…
CCA 9952008: Interest on a deficiency after an overpayment credit election
A taxpayer elected to apply an income tax overpayment to the following year's estimated taxes. The IRS later found a deficiency for the earlier year, but the deficiency was smaller than the portion…
TAM 9952007: Tight formation gas credit survives price decontrol
A gas producer claimed the § 29 credit for gas from two tight formation wells. The gas had been committed or dedicated to interstate commerce by April 20, 1977, but its price was later decontrolled…
CCA 9952006: Interest timing for deficiencies after credit elections
A corporation elected to apply reported overpayments to the following years' estimated taxes, and the IRS later determined deficiencies for the earlier years. Chief Counsel advised that interest…
CCA 9952005: Discretionary bonuses treated as FICA wages when paid
A company sought a FICA tax refund for bonuses it had reported as wages when paid. It argued that the bonuses should instead have been counted as deferred compensation in an earlier year under §…
CCA 9952004: Bridge bank included in a consolidated tax group
A thrift in a consolidated tax group entered receivership, and a newly chartered mutual savings association took over its assets and liabilities. The group's parent argued that the new institution…
CCA 9952003: Court should resolve competing claims to sale surplus
The IRS redeemed and resold property after a senior lienholder's sale, paid the decedent's tax debt, and held surplus proceeds. A former spouse and the decedent's known children had possible claims…
CCA 9952001: Related stock sales treated as exchanges under an integrated plan
A corporate group moved subsidiaries holding assets it wanted to keep to other group members before selling two companies to outside buyers. The internal transfers produced deemed redemptions under…
PLR 9951053: Inherited IRA distributions may use oldest son's life expectancy
A woman inherited her husband's IRA, treated it as her own, and named her three sons as beneficiaries. She took lifetime distributions based on her own recalculated life expectancy and died in 1998.…
PLR 9951052: Moving average basis for employer stock allocated to plan accounts
A company's profit-sharing plan held employer stock in a pooled fund without assigning particular shares to participants. When the plan was restated, it allocated stock to individual accounts and…
PLR 9951051: Spouse may transfer inherited IRA assets through a controlled trust
A husband named a trust as beneficiary of two IRAs and died before age 70½. His surviving wife was the trust's sole trustee and could allocate its assets to a subtrust whose principal she could…
PLR 9951050: Affiliated health care plans qualify as church plans
A nonprofit health care group asked whether four retirement plans and its welfare plans qualified as church plans. The IRS found that the group's affiliated entities shared religious ties with a…
PLR 9951049: Five hospital employee plans qualify as church plans
A nonprofit corporation and affiliated hospital asked whether their profit sharing and welfare benefit plans qualified as church plans. Both organizations appeared in the church's official…
PLR 9951048: Employer's annuity plan qualifies under section 403(b)
A tax exempt employer asked whether its employee annuity plan met the rules for a § 403(b) arrangement. The plan allowed voluntary salary reductions, required employee contributions as a condition…
PLR 9951047: Unit sale permits 401(k) lump sum distributions
A health care company sold substantially all the assets of one business unit to an unrelated buyer. The employees who moved to the buyer had accounts in the seller's 401(k) plan. The IRS concluded…
PLR 9951046: Surviving spouse may roll estate IRA assets into own IRA
A deceased IRA owner had named her estate as beneficiary. Her surviving spouse was the estate's sole executor and proposed to receive the IRA assets through an outright marital bequest, then place…
PLR 9951045: Late section 338(h)(10) election gets filing extension
A corporate purchaser and the shareholders of an acquired S corporation intended to make a § 338(h)(10) election but missed the filing deadline. They requested extra time under the § 301.9100…
PLR 9951044: Cross border contributions receive nonrecognition rulings
Foreign and U.S. companies proposed a series of transfers to combine related businesses in a new foreign corporation and a new U.S. corporation. The IRS ruled that the two groups of property…
PLR 9951043: Cross border contributions receive nonrecognition rulings
Foreign and U.S. companies proposed a series of transfers to combine related businesses in a new foreign corporation and a new U.S. corporation. The IRS ruled that the two groups of property…
PLR 9951042: Corporate separation qualifies for stock distribution rulings
A publicly traded foreign corporation separated two related businesses from its remaining operations after regulatory restrictions hindered expansion. It asked the IRS to treat a series of…
PLR 9951041: Government employer contributions excluded from employee income and withholding
A political subdivision established a qualified retirement plan that required employee contributions. It agreed to pay those contributions for employees, who could choose a different retirement plan…
PLR 9951040: Public garden set aside qualifies as a charitable distribution
A private foundation planned to build a public garden but expected its design and construction payments to extend beyond its fiscal year. It asked to count money reserved for the project as a…
PLR 9951039: Late S corporation election receives relief
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status for its first taxable year, but its attorney failed to prepare Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election under §…
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.