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 9951038: Threatened condemnation gives power contract involuntary conversion treatment
An independent electricity producer ended its power purchase agreement after a public utility threatened to condemn its generating facility. The IRS treated the contract and facility as one economic…
PLR 9951037: Power contract termination receives involuntary conversion treatment
An independent electricity producer ended its power purchase agreement after a public utility threatened to condemn its generating facility. The IRS treated the contract and facility as one economic…
PLR 9951036: Late elections for foreign stock acquisition receive more time
A corporate group missed the deadline to elect asset-acquisition treatment under § 338 for its foreign purchaser's acquisition of a foreign target and its affiliates. The IRS gave the group's parent…
TAM 9951035: Circular loans did not put S corporation owners at risk
A husband borrowed from one S corporation, lent the proceeds to two S corporations he owned, and had those corporations lend the money back to the first. The taxpayers claimed losses passed through…
CCA 9951034: Child's reported investment income counts toward parent's EIC limit
A parent may elect to report a child's interest, dividends, and capital gain distributions on the parent's tax return. Chief Counsel advised that, when the parent makes that election, the child's…
PLR 9951033: Business separation qualifies as a Type D reorganization
A corporate group proposed to separate one business from another so the parent could increase its borrowing capacity while keeping an investment grade credit rating. The parent would transfer…
PLR 9951032: IRS modifies earlier annuity-trust rulings
Two grantors had obtained rulings about annuity interests in seven grantor retained annuity trusts. The IRS later concluded that the earlier ruling was wrong to imply that a revocable annuity…
PLR 9951031: IRS modifies rulings on five annuity trusts
Three grantors had obtained rulings about annuity interests in five grantor retained annuity trusts. The IRS later concluded that the earlier ruling was wrong to imply that a revocable annuity…
PLR 9951030: Expatriation was not principally for tax avoidance
A former U.S. citizen requested a ruling after renouncing citizenship while her net worth exceeded the threshold in § 877(a)(2). She had become a citizen of the country where her parents were born…
PLR 9951029: Marital trust holding family-company stock qualifies for deduction
A grantor planned to place part of his closely held corporation stock in a marital trust for his spouse after his death. The spouse would receive all trust income during her life and could require…
PLR 9951028: Splitting an irrevocable trust preserves stated tax treatment
Trustees proposed to divide an irrevocable family trust holding company stock into three trusts, each with one of the original trustees and the same potential beneficiaries. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 9951027: Cross-border business combination receives conditional tax rulings
A foreign corporate group and U.S. participants proposed contributions to a new foreign corporation and then to a new U.S. corporation to combine related businesses. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 9951026: Lost election form qualifies for S corporation filing relief
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year, but its prepared Form 2553 was lost after an accountant passed it to an attorney for filing. The IRS found reasonable…
PLR 9951025: Variable-annuity funds retain diversification look-through
A life insurer planned to have one fund in a variable annuity separate account invest in two other funds, creating a fund of funds. The IRS ruled that the diversification look-through rule under §…
PLR 9951024: Insurance takeout bonuses are not capital contributions
A property insurer received bonuses for taking policies out of a state-backed insurance association and keeping replacement coverage in force. It asked whether those payments were contributions to…
PLR 9951023: Trust can qualify as an electing small business trust
A family trust planned to exchange an interest in a limited liability company for stock in a new S corporation. It asked whether it could qualify as an electing small business trust (ESBT). The IRS…
PLR 9951022: Trust can qualify as an electing small business trust
A family trust planned to exchange an interest in a limited liability company for stock in a new S corporation. It asked whether it could qualify as an electing small business trust (ESBT). The IRS…
PLR 9951021: Trust can qualify as an electing small business trust
A family trust planned to exchange an interest in a limited liability company for stock in a new S corporation. It asked whether it could qualify as an electing small business trust (ESBT). The IRS…
PLR 9951020: Trust can qualify as an electing small business trust
A family trust planned to exchange an interest in a limited liability company for stock in a new S corporation. It asked whether it could qualify as an electing small business trust (ESBT). The IRS…
PLR 9951019: Former resident's departure lacked a tax avoidance purpose
A former U.S. permanent resident surrendered her green card after returning with her husband to their country of citizenship. Her net worth exceeded a threshold that ordinarily triggered a…
PLR 9951018: Trust can qualify as an electing small business trust
A family trust planned to exchange an interest in a limited liability company for stock in a new S corporation. It asked whether it could qualify as an electing small business trust (ESBT). The IRS…
PLR 9951017: Trust can qualify as an electing small business trust
A family trust planned to exchange an interest in a limited liability company for stock in a new S corporation. It asked whether it could qualify as an electing small business trust (ESBT). The IRS…
PLR 9951016: Former resident's departure lacked a tax avoidance purpose
A former U.S. permanent resident surrendered a green card after returning with a spouse to their country of citizenship. The resident's net worth exceeded a threshold that ordinarily triggered a…
CCA 9951015: Protective amended return did not extend the assessment deadline
Taxpayers filed an amended return just before the deadline for assessing tax. It showed more total tax but zero currently owed, explaining that additional tax would arise only if they won a separate…
PLR 9951014: Stock recapitalization and business spin-off qualify for nonrecognition
A holding company wanted to separate a business before raising capital through a public stock offering. It proposed changing the voting rights of one subsidiary's shares and distributing the new…
PLR 9951013: State agency's deferred compensation plan qualifies under section 457
A state agency asked whether its employee deferred compensation plan qualified under § 457. The plan held deferred pay and earnings in trust for participants, including through qualifying annuity…
PLR 9951012: Integrated mergers treated as a direct asset acquisition
A company first acquired a target through a subsidiary merger because the target's contracts could not yet be transferred. It later planned to merge the target into the parent company. The IRS ruled…
PLR 9951011: Sale of subsidiary's operating assets supports ordinary worthless-stock losses
Two domestic affiliates owned all the stock of a foreign manufacturing subsidiary that planned to sell its operating assets. The subsidiary's remaining liabilities would exceed its cash proceeds,…
CCA 9951010: Mitigation rules cannot fully reopen barred loan-fee years
A bank group had deducted loan referral fees, then agreed during an audit to capitalize and amortize them. It later argued that the audit adjustments were improper and sought to unwind their effects…
PLR 9951009: Trust settlement partitions shares without gift or income tax gain
Beneficiaries disputed how a family trust's property should be divided at termination and reached a settlement that split each of two existing shares between family branches. Under the settlement,…
CCA 9951008: Interest on a later tax deficiency starts when an elected overpayment is used
A taxpayer elected to apply reported overpayments to estimated taxes for the following years, but the IRS later found deficiencies for the earlier years. Chief Counsel advised that interest on a…
CCA 9951007: A remittance remained a tax payment despite the lack of assessment
Two taxpayers sent the IRS money described as an advance tax payment before signing a closing agreement that settled a partnership-related dispute. The IRS never assessed the resulting liability,…
CCA 9951006: Counsel finds reasonable basis to identify goodwill in asset transfer
A corporation treated a sale of operating facilities and the acquisition of replacement property as a like-kind exchange. The IRS audit team believed the sale included goodwill, although the…
CCA 9951005: Mandated asset sales were abnormal retirements for depreciation purposes
A business sought refunds after selling assets that a regulator had required it to stop leasing to customers. It argued that the sales were normal retirements and that proceeds should reduce its…
CCA 9951004: Dissolving a venture was substantively a sale of a partnership interest
A partnership and its joint venture partner dissolved their venture and arranged transfers of interests in two real properties through a qualified intermediary. The taxpayer sought like-kind…
CCA 9951003: Mitigation rules could not remove income from closed tax years
Partnerships had deducted contract expenses in early years and later reported related recapture income. The IRS proposed to disallow the early deductions because it viewed the contracts as shams,…
CCA 9951002: A foreign government's late withholding refund claim was barred
A foreign government sold a diplomatic residence, and the buyer withheld tax from the sale proceeds under the rules for foreign sellers of U.S. real property. The IRS later confirmed that the sale…
TAM 9951001: IRS revokes earlier advice on audio conferencing services
The IRS had issued technical advice in 1992 about whether amounts paid for certain audio conferencing services were subject to the communications tax under § 4251. This memorandum revokes that…
PLR 9950044: Separate excess benefit plan does not jeopardize a pension plan's status
A multiemployer pension plan proposed a separate excess benefit plan to pay retirement benefits above the limits that § 415 permits the qualified plan to provide. The excess plan would receive…
PLR 9950043: Pension funding waiver denied after temporary hardship was not shown
A company requested a waiver of the minimum funding standard for its defined benefit pension plan. The company reported a net operating loss and had filed for Chapter 11 reorganization, while the…
PLR 9950042: Private foundation may divide its assets among three foundations
A private foundation proposed to transfer all its net assets equally to three other private foundations because its directors had differing charitable interests and investment approaches. The IRS…
PLR 9950041: Government employer may pick up mandatory pension contributions
A government employer adopted a resolution to pay mandatory employee contributions to a defined contribution plan, with no employee choice to receive the amounts as cash. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 9950040: Employer pick-up of service credit contributions avoids current income tax
A government employer proposed to pay contributions that its employees would otherwise make to buy prior or additional pension service credit. The employees would make binding payroll elections to…
PLR 9950039: Conservation foundation may form a service company with a related business
A conservation foundation held land subject to a public-access easement and needed services connected with adjacent submerged lands and its operations. After an unrelated manager sought to retire,…
PLR 9950038: Expatriate rebuts tax-avoidance presumption, but motive remains open
A former U.S. citizen sought a ruling that avoiding U.S. tax was not a principal purpose of her expatriation. Her net worth exceeded the threshold that would ordinarily trigger a presumption of tax…
PLR 9950037: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation's shareholder intended to elect S corporation status from the date of incorporation, but the election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the failure and granted relief…
PLR 9950036: Power authority may finance its governmental share of a hydroelectric project
A public power authority planned to issue debt to upgrade and relicense a hydroelectric project. Federal law and customer contracts reserved part of the project's capacity for public utilities,…
CCA 9950035: Bail bond agent commissions and employment tax relief
A bail bond company treated its agents as independent contractors and let them keep their commissions from the premiums they collected. IRS Chief Counsel said section 530 relief would probably be…
CCA 9950034: Religious exemption from a dependent's identification number requirement
IRS Chief Counsel advised that § 151(e)'s dependent identification number requirement did not end an existing, narrow administrative exemption for members of certain religious groups. Under that…
CCA 9950033: Failure to pay penalty on automated substitute returns
The IRS asked whether it could impose the failure to pay penalty after preparing a return for a person who had not filed one. Chief Counsel advised that an automated substitute return, together with…
PLR 9950032: Corporate group receives rulings on a planned business spin-off
An affiliated corporate group planned to separate one of its two businesses and raise capital through a public stock offering after the separation. The plan involved transfers of assets and…
PLR 9950031: Late S corporation election receives conditional relief
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from its first tax year and relied on an agency to prepare the required filings. The agency did not file Form 2553 on time, although the…
CCA 9950030: Refund deadline controls a former home sale exclusion election
An IRS tax technician asked about the one-time home sale gain exclusion available under former § 121, before the 1997 law change. Some taxpayers had paid tax after failing to buy a replacement home,…
PLR 9950029: Partner receives more time to elect treatment of discharged debt
A partnership's preparer reported a partner's share of discharged debt as rental income on Schedule K-1, so the partner did not know to make an election under § 108(c). The IRS found that the…
PLR 9950028: Partner receives 45 days for a missed discharged debt election
A partner knew that a partnership's debt had been reduced but did not know an election might exclude the resulting income under § 108(c). The partnership's preparer reported the partner's share as…
PLR 9950027: Foreign company receives more time to elect partnership status
A foreign business company intended to elect partnership treatment for U.S. federal tax purposes, but its entity classification election was filed too late for the intended effective date. The IRS…
PLR 9950026: Late S election allowed after filing with the first return
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation status from its incorporation. An accountant prepared Form 2553 but did not tell the shareholder when to file it, so the shareholder submitted…
PLR 9950025: Active property management keeps rent outside S corporation passive income
An S corporation with accumulated earnings and profits owned and managed industrial rental properties. Its employees and contractors provided maintenance, inspections, tenant assistance, emergency…
CCA 9950024: Subsidiary cannot claim a consolidated group's tax refund for its parent
A subsidiary filed a refund claim to carry its later net operating loss back to a year when it had joined its parent's consolidated return. IRS Field Service Advice concluded that the common parent,…
PLR 9950023: Late accounting year change application treated as timely
Taxpayers filed Form 1128 after the deadline to request a change in their accounting year. They said an error or misunderstanding caused the delay, and the filing occurred within 90 days of the due…
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.