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 9942050: Utility contract buyout treated as involuntary conversion
An independent power producer agreed to end a long-term electricity sales contract after the purchasing utility threatened to condemn its generating facility. The IRS found that the contract and…
PLR 9942049: Updated area purchase price limits for housing bonds
A housing authority submitted local sales data to support new average area purchase price limits for single-family homes. The IRS found the data more accurate and comprehensive than the figures used…
PLR 9942048: Restated power contracts replace an involuntarily converted agreement
An independent power producer replaced its electricity sales agreement after the utility threatened to condemn its generating facility. The IRS found that the threatened facility and the agreement…
PLR 9942047: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
An electric utility requested a revised schedule of ruling amounts for its nuclear decommissioning fund under section 468A. The IRS found that the utility owned a qualifying interest in the plant…
PLR 9942046: Restated power contracts qualify after a condemnation threat
A power producer replaced a long-term electricity sales agreement after the purchasing utility threatened to condemn its gas-fired generating facility. The IRS found the threatened facility and the…
PLR 9942045: Revised schedule approved for a nuclear decommissioning fund
A utility requested a revised schedule of annual amounts it could contribute to a nuclear decommissioning fund after its regulator changed the estimated date its plant would leave the rate base.…
PLR 9942044: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
A utility sought a revised schedule of amounts it could pay into a nuclear decommissioning fund after its regulator changed the estimated date the plant would leave the utility's rate base. The IRS…
PLR 9942043: Late S corporation election allowed for the second tax year
A corporation and its shareholders believed an attorney had filed its S corporation election, but the IRS had no record of it. The corporation filed an S corporation return for its second tax year…
PLR 9942042: Five-year decommissioning schedule approved for one regulator's share
A utility asked the IRS to revise its nuclear decommissioning fund payment schedule for the portion of a plant regulated by Commission A. The IRS approved the proposed schedule under section 468A,…
PLR 9942041: Five-year fund schedule approved for Commission A
A utility sought a revised payment schedule for its nuclear decommissioning fund under section 468A. Its request covered the portion of plant sales regulated by Commission A; it requested no ruling…
PLR 9942040: Revised decommissioning schedule limited to five years
A utility asked the IRS to revise a nuclear decommissioning fund payment schedule for the portion of its plant subject to Commission A's rates. It sought no ruling for the portion subject to…
PLR 9942039: Late election to count later dividends in the prior tax year
A regulated investment company intended to elect under section 855 to treat certain dividends paid after year-end as paid during the prior tax year. Its administrator missed the deadline to file tax…
PLR 9942038: Revised decommissioning fund schedule approved for five years
A utility requested a revised schedule of deductible payments to its nuclear decommissioning fund. The IRS approved the proposed schedule under section 468A based on the utility's representations,…
PLR 9942037: Child's grantor trust may hold S corporation shares
Parents created a trust for their child, and one parent planned to transfer S corporation shares to it. The child had an absolute right to withdraw each contribution for 30 days. The IRS concluded…
CCA 9942036: Releasing a federal tax lien does not erase the tax debt
District counsel asked what happens when a notice of federal tax lien releases itself automatically, even though the collection period remains open. Chief Counsel advised that the release…
CCA 9942035: Safeguards proposed for joint federal and New York payment plans
Chief Counsel reviewed a proposed IRS and New York State agreement for taxpayers who owe both agencies and want a joint installment arrangement. The advice says federal return information may be…
PLR 9942034: Late request to change tax years treated as timely
Taxpayers filed Form 1128 to request a change in their accounting period, but missed the filing deadline because of their own error. They filed within 90 days of the due date. The IRS found that…
PLR 9942033: Trust amendments preserve generation-skipping tax exemption
A settlor created four trusts in 1963, and the taxpayer asked about court-approved amendments to clarify who would receive property when the trusts ended and to let trustees delegate administrative…
PLR 9942032: Trust 4 amendments preserve generation-skipping tax exemption
A settlor created four trusts in 1963, and the taxpayer sought to clarify the distribution of assets when the trusts end and to let trustees delegate administrative work. Trust 4 was represented to…
PLR 9942031: Trust 3 amendments preserve generation-skipping tax exemption
A settlor created four trusts in 1963, and the taxpayer sought to clarify the distribution of assets when the trusts end and to let trustees delegate administrative work. Trust 3 was represented to…
PLR 9942030: Trust 1 amendments preserve generation-skipping tax exemption
A settlor created four trusts in 1963, and the taxpayer sought to clarify the distribution of assets when the trusts end and to let trustees delegate administrative work. Trust 1 was represented to…
PLR 9942029: Thirty-day extension granted for three stock purchase elections
A purchaser acquired three foreign corporations through a subsidiary treated as disregarded for U.S. tax purposes, but its advisers failed to file elections to treat the stock purchases as asset…
PLR 9942028: Late application to change a 52-53-week tax year treated as timely
A taxpayer sought to change from a 52-53-week accounting year but filed its Form 1128 late because of an error or misunderstanding. The form reached the IRS within 90 days of its due date. The IRS…
PLR 9942027: Parent granted time to file three foreign stock purchase elections
A foreign corporation acquired two target companies and was deemed to acquire a third through them. Its U.S. parent requested relief after tax professionals failed to file section 338 elections for…
PLR 9942026: Trustee changes preserve estate, gift, and GST tax treatment
Trustees proposed to add a corporate trustee and revise how individual trustees could be appointed or replaced. Some people with appointment rights were also trust beneficiaries. The IRS ruled that…
CCA 9942025: Indemnity rights do not bar cleanup cost deductions
A corporation incurred environmental cleanup costs for properties it operated and sought reimbursement under indemnity rights acquired in an earlier stock transaction. Chief Counsel assumed the…
PLR 9942024: More time to file real property withholding statement
During a corporate share transfer, a CPA firm drafted a statement that the transferred stock was not a U.S. real property interest, but did not know the transfer had already occurred. The IRS found…
PLR 9942023: Convertible commercial unit can remain part of a housing cooperative
A housing cooperative planned to sell shares tied to a unit then used as commercial space. The purchaser's lease would allow either commercial use or conversion to a dwelling, and local rules…
PLR 9942022: Convertible commercial units do not defeat housing cooperative status
A housing cooperative planned to issue shares and proprietary leases for two commercial units. The leases would allow the owners to use the units as dwellings, and the cooperative represented that…
PLR 9942021: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation and operated as one, but later discovered that it had not filed its S election on time. It asked the IRS to treat the election as…
PLR 9942020: Utility transition bonds do not create immediate income
An electric utility planned to finance costs from deregulation by transferring rights to collect customer charges to a subsidiary structure that would issue transition bonds. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 9942019: Utility financing orders and notes do not create immediate income
An electric utility facing deregulation planned to finance transition costs by assigning its right to collect customer charges to a wholly owned special purpose entity that would issue notes. The…
PLR 9942018: Family shareholders' complete stock redemptions receive exchange treatment
Nine family shareholders planned to surrender all their stock in a corporation for cash or a note while other relatives would continue owning it. The IRS ruled that their earlier stock gifts did not…
PLR 9942017: Grantor trust may own S corporation shares
A shareholder placed S corporation stock in an irrevocable trust. The corporation asked whether the trust could hold those shares without jeopardizing its S status. The settlor retained a power to…
PLR 9942016: Trust drafting correction preserves transfer tax treatment
A court corrected an older trust agreement by removing the word “welfare” from a clause allowing distributions to beneficiaries. The IRS accepted the correction as a drafting error consistent with…
PLR 9942015: Estate may make protective alternate valuation election
An estate held publicly traded stock that was sold or distributed within six months after the decedent's death. Its representative proposed a protective election to value the estate under section…
PLR 9942014: Former resident's departure lacked a principal tax avoidance purpose
A former long-term U.S. resident gave up permanent resident status and returned to the country of his birth. His net worth exceeded the threshold that would otherwise trigger a presumption of tax…
PLR 9942013: Trust transfer with expanded spendthrift clause preserves tax status
A trustee proposed moving assets from a granddaughter's trust to a new trust with the same terms except that its spendthrift clause would also cover principal. The original trust was irrevocable…
PLR 9942012: Reload option pricing methods satisfy compensation rule
A public company offered employees new stock options when they exercised existing options and used shares to pay the exercise price and withholding taxes. It proposed setting the new options'…
PLR 9942011: Transfer of pre-1986 welfare fund amounts avoids excise tax
An employer planned to move amounts from a retiree life insurance reserve to a trust intended to provide retiree medical benefits. The transferred amounts would be limited to a pool attributable to…
PLR 9942010: Unused old trust powers and spouse's disclaimers avoid transfer taxes
A deceased beneficiary had general testamentary powers of appointment over two trusts created before October 22, 1942, but his will expressly declined to use them. The IRS ruled that the unused…
PLR 9942009: Conversion to limited partnership preserves S election
An S corporation planned to convert under state law into a limited partnership while electing to remain classified as a corporation for federal tax purposes. Its original shareholder would hold the…
CCA 9942008: Workers' compensation fund income is not exempt as state income
Chief Counsel advised that a private nonprofit workers' compensation insurer created under state law did not qualify for the section 115(1) exclusion for 1992 through 1997. Its income did not accrue…
CCA 9942007: Bond sanctions apply without a physical change in facility use
A tax exempt organization used proceeds from bonds described as tax exempt to buy rental storage facilities. Counsel was asked whether section 150(b)(3) applied if the facilities were never used for…
PLR 9942006: Limited appointment preserves trust's conditional GST exemption
A son used a limited power of appointment over a trust created under his mother's will to provide interests for his spouse, children, and grandchildren. The trustees asked whether that exercise…
TAM 9942005: Mutual insurer excludes surplus notes from equity base
A mutual life insurer reported surplus notes as surplus on its regulatory annual statement but excluded them when calculating its federal tax equity base. The IRS concluded that the exclusion was…
TAM 9942003: Deferred service payments are not built-in gain after ownership change
A company received advance payments for services and, under its accounting method, included them in income when it performed the services. After an ownership change, it reported earlier receipts as…
TAM 9942002: Railroad track audit may be selective but must apply accounting method consistently
A railroad argued that an examiner who reviewed some track structure costs had to examine all related costs. The IRS advised that the examiner could select which activities to audit. For three other…
PLR 9942001: Indexed settlement payments and annuity security interest qualify on stated facts
A physical injury claimant planned to receive settlement payments whose variable portion would follow an objective investment index or portfolio formula. The IRS ruled that this formula did not, by…
CCA 9941054: Counsel suspends earlier film participation advice pending review
Chief Counsel told IRS staff to refrain from acting on an earlier advice memorandum about film participations and section 404. Counsel said those issues needed further consideration and that it was…
PLR 9941053: Foundation may indemnify trustee for property sale liabilities
A private foundation expected to receive proceeds from a trust's sale of property that might have environmental contamination. Its trustee could face liability and defense costs from that sale, so…
PLR 9941052: Foundation transfers to settle trustee dispute avoid excise taxes
A private foundation agreed to transfer cash and securities to a second foundation to settle a dispute over who should serve as trustee. A later transfer would follow when assets arrived from a…
PLR 9941051: Dialysis center subsidiary preserves charity's exemption
A tax exempt kidney dialysis provider formed a wholly owned taxable subsidiary to hold a minority interest in a partnership with local physicians. The partnership would operate a new dialysis center…
PLR 9941050: Surviving spouse treated as receiving plan benefits directly for rollover
A retirement plan participant died, leaving his plan benefit to a trust. His surviving spouse was the trust's sole trustee and could allocate the benefit to a subtrust of which she was the sole…
PLR 9941049: Late tax year change application treated as timely filed
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 late to request permission to change its tax year. The delay resulted from an error or misunderstanding, and the form arrived within 90 days of its due date. The IRS found…
PLR 9941048: University support entities keep exemption, with conditions on rent income
A university planned to fund two charitable support organizations and a taxable real estate management company. The IRS ruled that the planned funding, shared resources, and business company's…
PLR 9941047: Government agency pension contributions excluded from employees' current income
A state agency adopted a resolution to pay required employee contributions to a qualified state pension plan. Employees could not take the contribution amounts in cash instead. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 9941046: Money market fund asset transfer qualifies as a stock for property reorganization
One money market fund transferred substantially all its assets to another fund in exchange for voting stock and assumption of its liabilities, then distributed the stock to its shareholders and…
PLR 9941045: Corporation gets time to file late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended it to operate as an S corporation from its first tax year and believed its accountant had filed Form 2553. The IRS had no record of the election. It found…
PLR 9941044: Foreign asset transfers and distributions qualify for specified tax treatment
A public company planned to separate one business from another by placing foreign business assets under a subsidiary before a proposed stock distribution. The letter addresses transactions in three…
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.