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 9949009: Merger payments avoid parachute rules if control does not shift
Two corporations planned a merger that could trigger payments to some executives of the domestic corporation. Its former shareholders would receive more than half the value and voting power of the…
PLR 9949008: Product liability settlement trust qualifies for payment deductions
A manufacturer in bankruptcy proposed a court-supervised trust to pay product liability claims, including claims that would continue in litigation. The IRS ruled that the trust met the regulatory…
PLR 9949007: Late Form 1128 treated as filed on time, with change still open
Taxpayers filed Form 1128 late to request a change in their accounting period. They attributed the delay to an error or misunderstanding and filed within 90 days of the deadline. The IRS found that…
CCA 9949006: Joint venture return information may appear in related examinations
Two entities formed a joint venture and were examined separately by the IRS. An IRS economist's report on the value of assets contributed to the venture contained return information obtained in both…
TAM 9949004: Auto lessor owes luxury vehicle excise tax unless acting as an agent
A vehicle leasing business arranged luxury passenger car leases and then assigned the vehicles and leases to financing companies. It bought and insured the cars before the lessees took possession,…
CCA 9949003: Routine barge hull painting is deductible; engine costs remain open
A barge operator periodically cleaned, sandblasted, primed, and painted hulls to control corrosion. Chief Counsel advised that these costs were current maintenance expenses deductible under § 162…
CCA 9949002: Chief Counsel questions loss carryovers used after a shell merger
A group with old net operating losses acquired a profitable business and merged that business's subsidiary into an inactive member of the loss group. The group then used its pre-acquisition losses…
CCA 9949001: Currency gain does not increase stock basis in related-company sale
A U.S. subsidiary sold stock in one controlled foreign company to another in a transaction treated as a § 304 redemption and § 301 distribution. The transaction involved previously taxed income and…
CCA 9948040: Direct pad-rent assistance is excluded for low-income home owners
Chief Counsel considered a demonstration program that paid rental assistance directly to low-income owners of manufactured homes so they could rent the land beneath their homes. The program applied…
PLR 9948039: Surviving spouse may treat transferred IRA as her own
A surviving spouse inherited her husband's IRA after both had reached the age for required distributions. She transferred its assets to her own IRA, kept them separately accounted for, and then…
PLR 9948038: ESOP may use earnings on pledged shares to repay its loan
An S corporation's employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) borrowed from the company to buy its stock. The unallocated shares served as collateral for the loan. The plan proposed using earnings on…
PLR 9948037: Municipal police pension contributions qualify as employer pickup
A municipality arranged to pay mandatory police pension contributions by reducing officers' cash salaries. Its resolution specified that the municipality would pay the contributions in place of the…
PLR 9948036: Spouse may roll inherited IRA proceeds from a trust into her IRA
A decedent named a testamentary trust as beneficiary of his IRA. His surviving spouse, who was executrix of the estate, allocated the IRA to a subtrust for her benefit and could withdraw all of that…
PLR 9948035: Health system pension plan qualifies as a church plan
A religious congregation sponsored a hospital and related health care organizations, whose employees participated in a defined benefit pension plan. The organizations were tax exempt and, based on…
PLR 9948034: Software development costs may move to current deduction
A taxpayer had been amortizing certain software development costs over three to five years. It requested permission to deduct new costs currently when they were similar to research and experimental…
PLR 9948033: Expatriation treated as having a principal tax avoidance purpose
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 statutory threshold, but she qualified to request an…
PLR 9948032: Stock distributions and later mergers receive tax-free treatment
A parent company owned a distributor that in turn owned two active subsidiaries. To allow the group to conduct additional regulated activities, the distributor transferred both subsidiaries' stock…
PLR 9948031: Gas buyer may claim section 29 credits before contingent interests arise
A buyer purchased interests in natural gas properties that produced from Devonian shale and tight formations. The seller retained a production payment, two payment notes, a repurchase option, and a…
PLR 9948030: Shared mutual fund expenses do not create preferential dividends
Several regulated investment company series created upper-tier funds so broker-advised investors could access their underlying mutual funds. Each underlying fund proposed to pay shareholder…
IRS Bulletin 9948029: Court decisions on tax collection and bankruptcy
This October 1999 Office of Chief Counsel bulletin reports court decisions rather than issuing a ruling to a taxpayer. Its lead item describes a dispute over an insolvent estate's commission income:…
CCA 9948028: Coordinating federal and state offers in compromise
District counsel asked whether an IRS district could agree with Virginia and West Virginia to accept joint or simultaneous offers settling federal and state tax debts. Chief Counsel found no legal…
CCA 9948027: Deficiency procedures for the child tax credit
Chief Counsel considered how the IRS could recover an overstated child tax credit under the law applicable to 1998 returns. The nonrefundable part reduces tax, so an overstatement can create a…
PLR 9948026: Relief for a late S corporation election
A corporation's shareholders intended it to be an S corporation, but its election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief under § 1362(b)(5). The corporation…
PLR 9948025: After-school care rooms in a low-income housing project
A low-income housing project wanted to convert a limited number of rental units into rooms for its free after-school care program. The program served only project residents, and demand had outgrown…
PLR 9948024: Gift and generation-skipping tax treatment of a QTIP trust
A person funded an irrevocable trust for a spouse, elected qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) treatment, and allocated part of the person's generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax…
PLR 9948023: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation treatment from the date it was incorporated, but its election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and…
PLR 9948022: Spin-off ruling survives a change in stock issuance plans
A corporation had received an earlier ruling on a restructuring and distribution of a controlled corporation. That ruling relied mainly on a plan for the controlled corporation to issue stock within…
PLR 9948021: S corporation election relief for a sole shareholder
A corporation's sole shareholder wanted S corporation treatment from the date of incorporation, but the corporation did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 9948020: Late S election effective when the corporation began activity
A corporation was incorporated before it first had shareholders, assets, or business activity. Its sole shareholder wanted S corporation status from that later first activity date, but the election…
CCA 9948019: Tax treatment of employees' local travel reimbursements
Chief Counsel analyzed twelve examples of an employer reimbursing employees for daily travel between home and work locations other than their usual offices. Ordinary commuting to a regular or…
CCA 9948018: Mileage reimbursements for commuting and temporary assignments
Chief Counsel answered questions about an employer's mileage reimbursements when employees travel from home to other work sites. Under Rev. Rul. 99-7, travel to a temporary site may be deductible,…
PLR 9948017: S election relief after accountant failed to file Form 2553
Two shareholders intended their corporation to elect S status when operations began. Their accountant prepared Form 2553 but did not send it to them for signature and filing. The corporation and…
CCA 9948016: Mileage, parking, and other daily travel reimbursements
Chief Counsel answered five questions about an employer reimbursing daily travel between employees' homes and work sites. For an employee with a regular workplace, travel to a temporary assignment…
PLR 9948015: S election relief after attorneys did not file Form 2553
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment for its first taxable year. Corporate resolutions called for preparing and filing Form 2553, and the shareholder believed the…
PLR 9948014: Trust settlement preserves generation-skipping tax exemption
A son and grandson disputed how a trust established under an earlier will should distribute its assets. A court-ordered mediation produced a proposed settlement: the son would receive 40 percent of…
PLR 9948013: Relief for a late S corporation election
A corporation's shareholders intended S corporation status from its incorporation date, but its election was filed late. The IRS found reasonable cause for the delay and granted relief under §…
PLR 9948012: Extension to file two foreign stock purchase elections
A corporate group missed the deadline for two § 338(g) elections connected with acquisitions of foreign corporations. The IRS found that the former common parent had relied on tax professionals,…
PLR 9948011: Employee stock purchase plan qualifies under section 423
A company asked whether its employee stock purchase plan met § 423 and how participants would be taxed. Employees could buy company shares through three-month option periods using contributions from…
PLR 9948010: Active rental income excluded from S corporation passive income
An S corporation rented commercial properties and provided inspection, maintenance, cleaning, and management services through employees and contractors. It asked whether the rent counted as passive…
PLR 9948009: Late S election for a wholly owned corporation
A corporation with one shareholder intended to elect S corporation status from the year it was incorporated, but Form 2553 was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed…
PLR 9948008: Late S election for a corporation with several shareholders
A corporation with several shareholders had intended to be an S corporation since incorporation and had operated on that understanding. After its first taxable year ended, it discovered that its…
PLR 9948007: Late S election after a year of operating as an S corporation
A corporation with one shareholder had operated as though it were an S corporation from a redacted date. Only after that taxable year ended did it discover that its S election had not been filed on…
CCA 9948006: Nonrecourse notes in low-income housing eligible basis
Field Service asked whether three nonrecourse promissory notes financing a low-income apartment building counted in its eligible basis for the housing tax credit. Chief Counsel concluded that they…
CCA 9948005: Former common parent can extend a group's assessment period
District Counsel asked which corporation could sign a consent extending the assessment period for an earlier consolidated group's tax returns after a spin-off, merger, and name change. Chief Counsel…
CCA 9948004: Levy form for Social Security retirement benefits
District Counsel asked whether the IRS should use Form 668-W to levy on a taxpayer's Social Security benefit payments. Chief Counsel said the form was proper when the taxpayer already had a fixed…
TAM 9948003: Limits on grouping export sales for FSC pricing
A manufacturer and its foreign sales corporation changed how they grouped export transactions when computing allowable commissions. They combined selected products from different lines to increase…
CCA 9948002: Bonus payments and FICA deferred compensation timing
An employer sought a refund of FICA taxes on management bonuses, arguing that they should have been counted as deferred compensation wages in an earlier year. Chief Counsel concluded from the…
CCA 9948001: Identifying the common law employer of leased truck drivers
A district director asked whether truck drivers supplied by a labor leasing company were employees of that company or of its trucking company client. Chief Counsel did not identify the employer for…
PLR 9947042: Excess benefit plan alongside a multiemployer pension plan
Trustees of a multiemployer pension plan proposed a separate excess benefit plan to pay benefits above § 415's limit for the qualified plan. The IRS ruled that creating the separate plan and…
PLR 9947041: Prior ESOP dividends do not prevent lump sum distributions
The employer paid cash dividends on stock held by its employee stock ownership plan directly to participants. The company asked whether those earlier dividend payments would prevent later payments…
PLR 9947040: School board insurance association receives employee and agency status rulings
An association of local school boards pooled members' insurance risks and wanted to establish a retirement plan under § 403(b) for its employees. The IRS considered the state law that created and…
PLR 9947039: Hospital retirement plans remain governmental after county transfers the hospital
A nonprofit teaching hospital asked whether its defined benefit pension plan and profit sharing plan qualified as governmental plans after a county conveyed the hospital to it. Under the conveyance…
PLR 9947038: Youth-services funding qualifies as a program-related investment
A private foundation planned to fund a public charity that provided housing and support to at-risk youth. The foundation would also help manage the charity's program, provide staff assistance, and…
PLR 9947037: Asset sale permits lump sum distributions from a 401(k) plan
A corporation sold more than 85 percent of the assets of one of its business divisions to an unrelated buyer. Employees of that division went to work for the buyer, while the seller kept its 401(k)…
PLR 9947036: Inherited IRA may pay through a trust and be divided for two children
A person died before the required start date for IRA distributions and had named a trust as the IRA's beneficiary. After other beneficiaries disclaimed or received assets outside the IRA, the…
PLR 9947035: Foundation may claim a further qualifying distribution when building rights transfer
A private foundation built a building on leased land for its own use and for a charity's benefit. It had already claimed the construction costs as qualifying distributions. After the building loan…
PLR 9947034: Identical interests in corporate to LLC conversion avoid gift valuation rule
A shareholder asked whether § 2701 would apply when a corporation merged into a new LLC that would be taxed as a corporation. Each shareholder would receive the same number of LLC units as shares…
PLR 9947033: Buyers and sellers get 30 days to file a late stock purchase election
A parent company and the individual sellers of an S corporation intended to file a joint § 338(h)(10) election after the buyer acquired the stock, but a valid election was not filed by the deadline.…
PLR 9947032: Revised funding schedule approved for nuclear plant decommissioning
An electric utility asked the IRS to revise the annual ruling amounts for its nuclear decommissioning fund. The IRS addressed the utility's qualifying interest and Commission A's determination of…
TAM 9947031: U.S. portion of a noncompete payment to a Swiss entity is subject to withholding
A U.S. manufacturer paid a Swiss entity to refrain from competing in North America. The IRS advised that the payment was neither business profits nor a royalty exempt from U.S. tax under 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.