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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TAM 9941043: Gaming license payouts may be business expenses when spent
A tax exempt youth hockey organization ran bingo games and sold pull-tabs under a Washington gaming license. It sought refunds after claiming deductions for gaming proceeds transferred to its…
PLR 9941042: Transfers to single member LLCs disregarded for federal tax purposes
This letter gives four rulings separated from an earlier letter about a group of subsidiaries. After specified liquidations and stock acquisitions, a subsidiary planned to place assets or stock into…
PLR 9941041: Corporate separation and subsidiary restructurings receive specified nonrecognition treatment
A publicly traded corporation planned to separate two businesses so that a subsidiary holding one of them could raise capital through a stock offering. The plan involved subsidiary liquidations,…
CCA 9941040: Bankruptcy stay permits tax assessment after petition period or consent
IRS counsel asked whether a bankruptcy automatic stay prevents tax assessments. Chief Counsel advised that the stay itself permits assessments in cases filed on or after October 24, 1994. The IRS…
CCA 9941039: When a later refund claim can amend a timely one dollar claim
IRS counsel considered a timely refund claim for one dollar that stated its legal and factual grounds, followed by a larger claim after the filing deadline. Counsel advised that the later claim can…
CCA 9941038: IRS may check a representative's tax compliance for practice oversight
IRS counsel asked whether local staff may check the tax records of practitioners who submit a power of attorney to represent taxpayers. Chief Counsel advised that section 6103(h)(1) allows IRS…
PLR 9941037: Late Form 1128 treated as timely filed
Taxpayers requested more time to file Form 1128 for a change in accounting period. The form was late because of an error or misunderstanding but was filed within 90 days of its due date. The IRS…
PLR 9941036: Structured settlement payments need no information return on stated facts
A company responsible for structured settlement payments asked whether it had to report checks sent to injured claimants, a garnishor, or possible buyers of the claimants' payment rights. On the…
PLR 9941035: Insurer's stock transfer to domestic holding company receives conditional rulings
A foreign insurer transferred the stock of its U.S. insurance subsidiary through a disregarded entity to a new domestic holding company. Subject to a tax-free exchange and specified elections and…
PLR 9941034: S corporation election preserved after trust ownership lapse
An S corporation's shares remained in a former owner's living trust beyond the two-year period allowed after the owner's death. That made the trust an ineligible shareholder and terminated the S…
CCA 9941033: Subsidiary employer recognizes no gain from parent stock options
A foreign parent granted options on its own stock to employees of a U.S. subsidiary and related companies. Employees paid the parent when they exercised the options, while the subsidiary claimed…
PLR 9941032: Extra time granted for dual consolidated loss agreements
A taxpayer with losses from a foreign branch had included those losses in its parent's consolidated U.S. income but had missed required agreements and certifications for three fiscal years. It also…
CCA 9941031: Counsel concurs that an entity ceased to be a railroad employer
The IRS received a Railroad Retirement Board opinion about whether an entity remained an employer under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. Based solely on the…
PLR 9941030: Governmental deferred compensation plan qualifies under section 457
A regional government instrumentality asked about its amended deferred compensation plan and an associated annuity contract. The IRS ruled that the plan was eligible under section 457(b).…
PLR 9941029: Revised nuclear decommissioning funding schedule approved
A utility asked the IRS to revise the annual amounts it could contribute to a nuclear plant decommissioning fund under section 468A. The plant had been out of service after an accident, and the…
PLR 9941028: More time granted for a section 338 stock purchase election
A corporation bought another company's stock but its tax advisers did not file a section 338 election by the regulatory deadline. After the buyer merged into the acquired company, the successor…
PLR 9941027: Supplemental share repurchase plan leaves prior ruling in force
Two corporations sought a supplement to an earlier ruling about a distribution. They said the controlled company planned to repurchase shares through both open market purchases and a tender offer.…
PLR 9941026: More time allowed for S subsidiary election
An S corporation owned all of a newly formed subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary, but its consultant did not advise it to make the required election. The IRS…
PLR 9941025: Buyer and seller receive more time for section 338(h)(10) election
A corporate buyer and the individual seller of an S corporation intended to make a section 338(h)(10) election but missed its filing deadline after relying on tax professionals. The IRS found that…
PLR 9941024: Insurer receives waiver for excess life policy premiums
A life insurer's computer system used an annual expense charge where a monthly charge belonged, making the permitted premium limit too high for some flexible premium policies. The affected contracts…
PLR 9941023: Tax treatment of mutual insurer rehabilitation and asset transfer
A mutual life insurer under court rehabilitation proposed to transfer substantially all its assets and insurance obligations to a stock insurance subsidiary. Its members would receive stock in a…
PLR 9941022: Extra time to complete stock purchase election
A corporate buyer and the sellers of an S corporation agreed to make a section 338(h)(10) election, but a form delivered at closing was never completed or filed. They sought relief after discovering…
PLR 9941021: Pre-1986 welfare funds may cover other employee benefits
An employer had a tax exempt welfare trust with a separate account for retirees' life insurance. It proposed to use the portion attributable to employer contributions made before 1986 for other…
PLR 9941020: Extra time to elect disregarded status for foreign entity
A United States corporation owned a foreign entity and intended to elect to treat it as disregarded for federal tax purposes. A miscommunication with its accountants caused the election to be…
PLR 9941019: Police officer's service injury pension excluded from income
A police officer retired under a township disability plan after injuries sustained on duty prevented a return to police work. The plan paid a disability pension based on prior salary, with an offset…
CCA 9941018: Stock warrant value becomes cost basis of technology license
A company acquired a technology license by paying cash and issuing stock warrants to the licensor. It later abandoned the technology and, after the warrants were exercised, sought to deduct the full…
PLR 9941017: Supplemental rulings on spinoff and foreign subsidiary transfers
After a corporation spun off a controlled company, the parties reported changes to foreign subsidiary transfers and other facts omitted from an earlier ruling. The IRS issued supplemental rulings…
PLR 9941016: Mutual fund share class conversion has no immediate tax
Nineteen investment funds planned to end their institutional share classes by converting those shares into Class A shares of the same fund. The IRS ruled that neither the funds nor shareholders…
CCA 9941015: Partner level insolvency review required before debt income assessment
A partnership agreed to increase its discharge of indebtedness income, and the IRS assessed tax against its partners through computational adjustments without deficiency notices. Chief Counsel…
CCA 9941014: Directly assess excess tentative refund without negligence penalty
A company received a tentative refund after carrying a capital loss back to a year already in refund litigation. Examination later found part of the tentative refund excessive because it reflected a…
TAM 9941013: Prepaid school tuition qualifies for gift tax exclusion
A grandparent paid a private school directly for several future years of two grandchildren's tuition. The payments were assigned to specified years and students and would not be refunded if the…
PLR 9941012: Coal seam gas credit ruling denied but project receives transition relief
A gas producer recompleted older wells to produce gas from coal seams and sought the section 29 fuel credit based on state well category determinations. The IRS denied the requested ruling because a…
CCA 9941011: Sports league settlement does not support ten year loss carryback
A professional sports team owner sought a ten year carryback for losses attributed to its league's settlement of player lawsuits. Chief Counsel advised that the settlement payments did not meet…
CCA 9941010: Interest on a partnership tax adjustment may qualify for abatement
A partner asked the IRS to abate interest after a partnership audit, alleging that the agency had failed to act promptly. Chief Counsel advised that a tax liability arising from the partnership…
CCA 9941009: Mortgage servicing rights do not qualify for income forecast depreciation
A mortgage servicer used the income forecast method to amortize purchased rights to service home loans, then filed amended returns seeking larger deductions based on later data. Chief Counsel…
CCA 9941008: Distributor settlement and related fees must be capitalized
A product distributor settled lawsuits after exercising an option to take back a regional distribution business. It deducted two settlement payments and related professional fees as current business…
TAM 9941007: Treaty does not generally bar timely filing rule for foreign corporations
A foreign corporation filed U.S. tax returns late and challenged a proposed denial of deductions under section 882(c)(2). It argued that the timely filing requirement conflicted with the business…
TAM 9941006: Bankruptcy legal fees do not create a specified liability loss
A company capitalized legal and other professional fees from a bankruptcy reorganization. It later liquidated, deducted the fees as a loss, and sought a ten year carryback for that part of its net…
CCA 9941005: Exchanged equipment requires separate property classes
A taxpayer exchanged several kinds of assets and put disputed machinery and equipment into one group when calculating gain deferred under section 1031. Chief Counsel advised that the disputed items…
TAM 9941004: Estate cannot deduct remainder interest in amended trust
An estate claimed a charitable deduction for the future interest that several charities would receive under a trust. The trust had originally called for a charitable remainder unitrust, but the…
CCA 9941003: Foreign tax authority's information cannot be disclosed without consent
A taxpayer in a Tax Court case requested information that the IRS had received from a foreign taxing authority. The IRS sought that authority's permission to disclose it, but permission was refused.…
CCA 9941002: Bankruptcy trustee is entitled to prepetition share of tax refund
Chapter 7 debtors agreed with their trustee to turn over most of a tax refund, but then elected to apply the overpayment to a later tax year. Chief Counsel advised that the refund's prepetition…
CCA 9941001: Interest applies to deferred tax on gas property installment sale
A seller of producing gas properties reported its sale as a noncontingent installment transaction, while receiving payments tied to gas production. It argued that section 453A interest on deferred…
PLR 9940043: Contributions for forfeited leave are nonelective plan contributions
A bank asked about contributing the value of employees' otherwise forfeited paid leave to a qualified governmental retirement plan. Employees could use their leave or receive the plan contribution,…
PLR 9940042: Limited pension contribution reversion will preserve plan qualification
An employer sought permission to treat part of its defined benefit pension plan contributions as disallowed so the excess could be returned. The IRS ruled that contributions up to $37,758 could be…
PLR 9940041: Surviving spouse may roll over lump sum plan distribution
A surviving spouse had been receiving required annual payments from a deceased participant's qualified retirement plan. She proposed taking the remaining interest in one much larger payment and…
PLR 9940040: Electric grid operating agreement is a management contract
A rural electric cooperative planned to give an independent system operator control over transmission services while retaining ownership of its grid assets. It asked whether their agreement was a…
PLR 9940039: Utility buyout qualifies as involuntary conversion
An independent power producer agreed to terminate its power purchase agreement after a utility threatened to condemn its generating facility if negotiations failed. The producer received cash and…
PLR 9940038: Expatriate's submission rebuts tax avoidance presumption
A former U.S. citizen sought a ruling that renouncing citizenship was not principally motivated by avoiding U.S. taxes. His net worth exceeded the threshold that normally creates a tax avoidance…
PLR 9940037: Power agreement buyout qualifies as an involuntary conversion
An independent power producer accepted cash to terminate its power purchase agreement after a utility threatened to condemn its generating facility if negotiations failed. The producer later…
PLR 9940036: Extra time granted to file consent dividend election forms
A corporation asked for more time to file Forms 972 and 973 to make a consent dividend election under section 565 for an earlier tax year. Its outside accounting firm had filed the return without…
PLR 9940035: Transfer of half a foundation's assets treated as an adjustment
After two trustees divorced, a private foundation proposed transferring about half its net assets to another private foundation without payment. The IRS ruled that the transfer was a significant…
PLR 9940034: Charity's planned building rental preserves exemption
A public charity planned to build a facility with debt-free land and cash from a related organization. It would use part of the building for its educational work and rent other space to the related…
PLR 9940033: Tax allocation reimbursements excluded from REIT gross income
Two companies split their real estate and operating businesses and agreed to reimburse each other for taxes and tax refunds tied to assets held before the split. The company receiving the real…
CCA 9940032: Tax liens and possible estate representative liability
Chief Counsel reviewed a district office memorandum about property that passed through a decedent's ex-wife to the decedent's children. It agreed that federal tax liens under section 6321 attached…
CCA 9940031: IRS must release real estate after delayed levy sale
The IRS seized two parcels of real estate before its tax collection period expired, but a bankruptcy filing canceled the scheduled sale. More than two years passed without a completed sale. Chief…
PLR 9940030: Extra time to elect real property debt income exclusion
A limited partner filed a return before receiving a partnership Schedule K-1 reporting income from a debt reduction. The partner missed the deadline to elect the section 108(c) treatment for…
PLR 9940029: Late S corporation election allowed after filing mistake
A corporation's president said he signed Form 2553 to elect S corporation status for its first tax year, but the accountant never mailed it. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline…
PLR 9940028: Jointly owned life policy avoids transfer for value limit
One sister bought a life insurance policy on both parents, let it lapse, and later arranged with her sister to pay for a policy they would own together. The sisters represented that Sister 2 owed no…
PLR 9940027: Late S corporation election treated as timely
A corporation with two shareholders had operated as an S corporation since it was formed, but discovered after its first tax year that its election was not filed on time. It asked the IRS to treat…
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.