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 9950022: Investment trust rollover option does not change trust classification
A sponsor proposed fixed stock portfolio trusts whose investors could take cash or securities when an initial trust ended, or contribute securities to a later trust. The IRS found that the later…
PLR 9950021: Executive pay plan rules during a subsidiary's public offering
A parent sold a minority stake in a subsidiary through an initial public offering and planned to distribute its remaining shares later. The IRS addressed how the § 162(m) executive compensation…
PLR 9950020: Corporation keeps S status after missed trust shareholder election
Stock in an S corporation passed from a shareholder's estate to a trust, but the income beneficiary did not file a qualified subchapter S trust election on time. The beneficiary’s advisers each…
PLR 9950019: Corporate conversion to nonprofit status triggers no gain under liquidation rules
A taxable corporation amended its articles to become a nonprofit and later received recognition of exemption under § 501(c)(3), effective on the conversion date. It represented that the change did…
PLR 9950018: Ineligible trust shareholders receive S election relief
A corporation elected S status while two trusts owned shares. Their separately managed sub-trusts did not qualify as separate trusts, leaving each original trust with more than one income…
PLR 9950017: Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation with one shareholder intended S corporation treatment from incorporation and operated on that basis. After its first tax year ended, it discovered that it had not filed its S election…
PLR 9950016: Late S election treated as timely for requested tax year
A one-shareholder corporation said it had intended to be an S corporation since incorporation and had operated that way. It discovered after the tax year at issue that its S election was late. The…
PLR 9950015: S election relief requires first-year corporate and shareholder returns
A corporation had no shareholders, assets, or operations until after incorporation. Its president relied on incorrect advice that the S election could be filed with the corporation's first tax…
CCA 9950014: Family partnership formation can create taxable gifts
Two donors contributed marketable securities to a family limited partnership and received partnership interests allegedly worth less than the contributed assets. IRS Field Service Advice agreed that…
PLR 9950013: S election relief where IRS has no record of the filed form
A corporation's sole shareholder said he signed Form 2553 at the accountant's office and that it was sent to the IRS, but the service center had no record of it. The corporation and shareholder…
PLR 9950012: Missed S election filing by representative receives relief
A new corporation's sole shareholder hired a representative to file an S corporation election effective on its incorporation date. The representative missed the filing deadline. The IRS found…
PLR 9950011: Late S election relief depends on adopting a permitted tax year
A two-shareholder corporation intended S status from incorporation but discovered after its first tax year that it had not filed an S election on time. It filed a C corporation return for that year.…
PLR 9950010: Investment funds may revoke a distribution calculation election
Eight regulated investment company funds had elected to use their calendar tax years to calculate capital gains for the § 4982 excise tax distribution requirement. They said the election created…
CCA 9950009: Commuter green cardholders remain U.S. tax residents
An IRS service center asked about green cardholders who live in Canada or Mexico and commute to work in the United States. Chief Counsel advised that they remain U.S. residents for income tax…
CCA 9950008: Increased interest on sham partnerships is an affected item
IRS Field Service Advice considered former § 6621(c)'s higher interest rate for substantial tax underpayments tied to tax motivated transactions involving TEFRA partnerships. It concluded that the…
CCA 9950007: Bankruptcy court cannot appoint tax matters partner on these facts
Related tax shelter partnerships were involved in bankruptcy and TEFRA tax proceedings. Their existing tax matters partner had offered to resign only if a replacement was found. IRS Field Service…
CCA 9950006: Life insurance policy loan interest fails the direct allocation test
A company borrowed against life insurance policies it bought on employees and claimed the loan interest as a deduction against U.S. source income. The IRS district asked whether, assuming the…
TAM 9950005: Seasonal retail sales may be spread across two short tax years
A retailer joined a corporate consolidated group partway through its tax year. It elected to spread income and expenses between the short year before the acquisition and the short year after it,…
CCA 9950004: More facts needed to classify a barge based facility for depreciation
A taxpayer built an entertainment facility on a barge and used a ten year depreciation period for water transportation equipment. The IRS district believed the facility was nonresidential real…
PLR 9950003: One foreign stock transfer leaves an otherwise qualifying merger intact
After a stock merger, a corporate parent proposed transfers and a sale involving several foreign subsidiaries. The IRS ruled that the Foreign Sub 2 stock transfer would not undo the merger's…
CCA 9950002: Treaty benefits and U.S. withholding on music royalties depend on facts
Foreign corporations licensed recordings through several companies, with some rights involving use in the United States. The IRS examined whether royalties paid along that chain were subject to U.S.…
CCA 9950001: Abated tax assessments cannot support reinstated liens after discharge
A bankruptcy order discharged a debtor's income tax liabilities while leaving existing tax liens attached to certain property owned before bankruptcy. An IRS employee then released the liens and…
PLR 9949047: Pension plan receives a conditional minimum funding waiver
A plan sponsor sought relief from its minimum funding obligation for a plan year after a sharp decline in business tied to falling oil prices. The IRS granted a waiver for the year ending December…
PLR 9949046: Subsidiary workers may join parent company's stock ownership plan
A holding company sponsored an employee stock ownership plan that invested mainly in its stock. It asked whether employees of several single member limited liability companies could participate…
PLR 9949045: Medical school's parking fees are related to its educational mission
A medical school planned to build a parking deck for its employees, students, and visitors. It also proposed to let faculty, students, and staff of nearby schools in its educational consortium park…
PLR 9949044: Assisted living project counts as residential rental property
A nonprofit rehabilitation hospital proposed an assisted living project for people with significant physical disabilities. Residents would receive personal care and other support services, with…
PLR 9949043: Utility stocks and funds qualify as similar replacement property
An investor sold a minority stake in a private utility to a city after the city threatened to use eminent domain. The investor proposed using the proceeds to buy public utility stocks or utility…
PLR 9949042: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
An electric utility that owned part of a nuclear plant requested a revised schedule for payments into its nuclear decommissioning fund. The IRS found that the utility had a qualifying ownership…
PLR 9949041: Insurance agency seller may use alternative installment basis recovery
An owner sold his interest in an insurance agency for an advance payment and further payments tied to commission income over five years. He asked to recover his tax basis as he received the…
PLR 9949040: Late S corporation election accepted for intended tax year
A corporation's shareholders intended to elect S corporation status for its tax year beginning on a redacted date, but the election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 9949039: Rural health loan fund furthers charitable purpose
A tax exempt organization proposed a revolving loan fund to improve access to health care in underserved rural communities. It would lend to nonprofit and for profit providers that could not obtain…
PLR 9949038: Hospital joint operating company preserves tax exemption
Two hospital systems proposed to place hospitals under a joint operating company with authority over services, contracts, and management, while the hospital systems retained budget approval. The IRS…
PLR 9949037: Surviving spouse may amortize inherited half of business intangibles
A surviving spouse inherited her late husband's half of a business they had owned as community property. She asked to amortize intangible assets attributable to both halves under § 197. The IRS…
TAM 9949036: Corporate jet operation treated as transportation service
A company supplied a bank with a jet, pilots, maintenance, and other services for executive travel. The question was whether the company's losses were from a rental activity subject to the passive…
TAM 9949035: Related-party asset purchases count toward bond expenditure limit
A city issued qualified small issue bonds for a manufacturing facility and elected the $10 million limit. Within three years before the bond issue, the facility's principal user bought land and his…
CCA 9949034: Avoided bankruptcy payments leave the taxpayers' tax assessments in place
A company paid its insiders' personal taxes and later entered bankruptcy. The bankruptcy trustee challenged the payments, and the IRS agreed in a court-approved settlement to return part of them to…
CCA 9949033: Parents who never married cannot use the special dependent support test
An IRS district office asked whether the special support test in § 152(e) applied when a child's parents had never married each other. Chief Counsel advised that it did not. The memorandum read the…
CCA 9949032: An old levy warning does not itself trigger written Counsel approval
An IRS counsel office asked whether an Internal Revenue Manual exception for jeopardy levies conflicted with § 7429's written approval rule. The manual generally called for a fresh warning if the…
CCA 9949031: Display furniture held mainly for sale is not depreciable
A furniture manufacturer displayed its products in showrooms, later sold many display pieces, and deducted depreciation on them. Chief Counsel advised that, on the established facts, the company…
CCA 9949030: Merger raises recapture and filing issues for dual consolidated losses
Chief Counsel alerted an examination office to possible noncompliance with the dual consolidated loss rules after a corporate merger. A domestic subsidiary had losses in another country that its…
PLR 9949029: Thirty more days to elect deferral for Canadian retirement plans
A U.S. resident had established Canadian Registered Retirement Savings Plans before moving to the United States. The taxpayer filed U.S. returns without electing under Revenue Procedure 89-45 to…
PLR 9949028: Late S corporation election allowed if Form 2553 is filed within 60 days
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year. Its president completed Form 2553, but the law firm handling the election failed to mail it on time. The corporation and…
PLR 9949027: Intercompany purchase advances get a limited interest-free period
A U.S. company planned to pay related foreign sellers in advance for goods, partly to manage currency risk after a change in intercompany invoicing. The agreement allowed an advance only after an…
PLR 9949026: Life insurance policy failures from excess premiums receive a waiver
A life insurer accepted premiums above the guideline limits for certain flexible premium policies and failed to return the excess with interest within the required period. Its monitoring system…
PLR 9949025: Proposed trust settlement keeps generation-skipping tax exemption
Beneficiaries and trustees of a trust that became irrevocable in 1981 proposed a settlement, subject to court approval, of disputes over distributions and trust administration. The plan increased…
PLR 9949024: Split off of one business among three companies receives tax rulings
Shareholders of a closely held corporation disagreed about how to run one of its businesses. The corporation proposed to place that business in three new companies and exchange each new company's…
PLR 9949023: Timely disclaimers permit a marital trust QTIP election
A decedent's will put the residuary estate in a trust that paid income to the surviving spouse but also allowed principal payments to descendants during the spouse's life. The estate proposed to…
PLR 9949022: Late Form 8716 accepted for a proposed September tax year
A corporation seeking S corporation status wanted to keep its September 30 tax year and intended to file Form 8716 for a § 444 election. Its tax professional failed to file the form by the deadline.…
PLR 9949021: First-year S election gets conditional late-filing relief
A corporation intended to be an S corporation in its first tax year, but its shareholders misunderstood when to file Form 2553. It filed an election for its second year on time and filed first-year…
PLR 9949020: Inadvertent S election termination relieved after LLC transfers stock
An S corporation's sole shareholder sold its stock to an LLC, an ineligible S corporation shareholder. The LLC later distributed the stock to two of its individual members after a new accountant…
PLR 9949019: Inadvertent S election termination relieved after LLC transfers stock
An S corporation's sole shareholder sold its stock to an LLC, an ineligible S corporation shareholder. The LLC later distributed the stock to two of its individual members after a new accountant…
PLR 9949018: Trust changes and QSST elections allow conditional S status relief
A shareholder put S corporation shares into two trusts, but their beneficiaries did not file qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) elections on time. The corporation also discovered that the trusts'…
PLR 9949017: IRS grants one corporation late S election relief
A corporation's shareholder intended S corporation treatment beginning with the corporation's first tax year, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
CCA 9949016: Refinery processes generally stay in the petroleum depreciation class
A refinery sought to move assets used in several processes from petroleum refining Class 13.3, with a ten-year recovery period, to chemical manufacturing Class 28.0, with a five-year period. Chief…
PLR 9949015: Misunderstood S election filing gets 60-day relief
A corporation's sole shareholder intended the company to be an S corporation but misunderstood how to file the election. The omission came to light when the accountant discussed preparing the…
PLR 9949014: Termination vesting does not alone disqualify performance awards
A company planned restricted stock awards that ordinarily vested only if an executive stayed employed and performance targets were met. The awards could also vest earlier after termination without…
PLR 9949013: Late S election accepted for the requested effective date
A corporation's shareholder intended the corporation to elect S status from a specified date, but the election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline under §…
PLR 9949012: Missed S election deadline relieved from incorporation date
A newly incorporated company intended to elect S corporation status effective on its incorporation date but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for that failure under §…
PLR 9949011: Parent gets 30 days to file a late consolidation waiver statement
A subsidiary left its parent's consolidated tax group and later rejoined it after the parent acquired control of another company. The parent included the subsidiary in its consolidated return but…
PLR 9949010: Late S election relief starts when business activity began
A corporation was incorporated before it first had shareholders, acquired assets, or began business. Its sole shareholder wanted S corporation treatment from that later starting date, but the…
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.