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.
No determinations match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
PLR 9939012: Charitable subtrust funding preserves older trust's GST exemption
Trustees of an irrevocable family and charity trust proposed moving a block of privately held stock into a revocable charitable subtrust. They represented that the original trust was irrevocable by…
PLR 9939011: Revocable charity subtrust leaves family trust's GST exemption intact
Trustees of an irrevocable family and charity trust proposed moving a block of privately held stock into a revocable charitable subtrust. They represented that the original trust was irrevocable by…
PLR 9939010: Family trust may fund revocable charity subtrust without losing GST exemption
Trustees of an irrevocable family and charity trust proposed moving a block of privately held stock into a revocable charitable subtrust. They represented that the original trust was irrevocable by…
CCA 9939009: Intercompany note redemption loss must be deferred
A member of a consolidated group exchanged another member's stock for that member's note, carrying its higher stock basis into the note. It later redeemed the note for cash at face value and claimed…
PLR 9939008: S corporation termination waived after trust's shareholder period expired
An S corporation's stock remained in a living trust after the permitted two year period following the deemed owner's death expired. That made the trust an ineligible shareholder and terminated the S…
PLR 9939007: Municipal sewer plan remains an eligible Section 457 plan
A municipal sewer authority asked whether its amended deferred compensation plan still met § 457. The plan placed deferred amounts in a trust held exclusively for participants and beneficiaries and…
TAM 9939006: Thrift assistance did not require reducing parent stock basis
A consolidated group parent claimed a worthless stock deduction after a subsidiary thrift holding company entered receivership. The IRS examined whether earlier federal thrift assistance affected…
PLR 9939005: Foreign group asset transfer receives stock exchange and redemption rulings
A foreign corporate group transferred businesses and controlled company shares into a new corporation as part of a larger reorganization. The IRS treated the transfer of controlled shares, to the…
CCA 9939004: Pension funding penalties belong with general unsecured bankruptcy claims
A debtor's pension plan had been frozen before it filed for bankruptcy, and the IRS had asserted claims for § 4971 funding deficiency penalties. Chief Counsel advised that the claims should be…
CCA 9939003: Tax adjustment forms did not claim a refund of excess interest
A corporation later discovered mistakes in IRS interest calculations connected with earlier tax adjustments and carrybacks. It argued that two signed Forms 870-AD were informal claims for a refund…
CCA 9939002: Chief Counsel recommends written agreement before reversing refund offset
The National Taxpayer Advocate ordered a hardship refund after the IRS applied an overpayment to another tax year instead of refunding it to the taxpayers. Chief Counsel was not prepared to dispute…
CCA 9939001: State legislators do not qualify for fee basis expense deduction
Chief Counsel reviewed whether state legislators could deduct unreimbursed employee business expenses in computing adjusted gross income under § 62(a)(2)(C). The provision applied to state or local…
PLR 9938052: ESOP loan may use unallocated share earnings, but not allocated share earnings
An employer planned to elect S corporation status and asked how its leveraged employee stock ownership plan could repay a loan used to buy employer shares. The IRS declined to rule on whether the…
PLR 9938051: Surviving spouse may roll estate-allocated IRA proceeds into her own IRA
A deceased IRA owner's will left the residue of his estate to his surviving spouse, who was also the estate's sole executrix. She planned to satisfy a separate trust bequest with other assets,…
PLR 9938050: Foundation grants approved with expenditure responsibility
A private foundation planned to make general support and capital endowment grants to a separate private operating foundation with some overlapping family board members. The proposed grants…
PLR 9938049: Six employee plans qualify as church plans from their adoption dates
An organization affiliated with two churches asked whether its two retirement plans and four welfare plans qualified as church plans from the dates they were adopted. The churches helped create the…
PLR 9938048: Employer-related scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve procedures for scholarships for an employer's children. A public charity would administer the program, use academic competitions to identify finalists,…
PLR 9938047: Scholarship procedures approved with separate limits for special awards
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve scholarships for an employer's children. A public charity would run an academic competition and use independent committees to select recipients. If too…
PLR 9938046: Employer-related scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation sought advance approval for scholarships for an employer's children. A public charity would administer the program and select finalists through academic competitions, with…
PLR 9938045: Employer-related scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve procedures for scholarships for an employer's children. A public charity would administer the program, use academic competitions to identify finalists,…
PLR 9938044: Scholarship procedures approved with separate limits for special awards
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve scholarships for an employer's children. A public charity would run an academic competition and use independent committees to select recipients. If too…
PLR 9938043: Scholarship procedures approved with separate limits for special awards
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve scholarships for an employer's children. A public charity would run an academic competition and use independent committees to select recipients. If too…
PLR 9938042: Employer-related scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve procedures for scholarships for an employer's children. A public charity would administer the program, use academic competitions to identify finalists,…
PLR 9938041: Social welfare group's subsidiary and trademark royalties receive favorable rulings
A social welfare organization proposed moving its monitoring and marketing work for member service providers to a wholly owned taxable subsidiary. The IRS ruled that the subsidiary's activities…
PLR 9938040: ESOP dividend deduction and salary deferral withholding rulings
An employer asked about passing cash dividends on stock held by its employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) to participants and letting some participants defer an equal amount of current pay into…
PLR 9938039: Division of a private foundation's assets into two foundations
A private foundation proposed transferring all its assets, in equal portions and without payment, to two newly created private foundations. The IRS ruled that the transfers were a significant…
PLR 9938038: Late S corporation election relief granted
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status from the date it was incorporated but did not file the election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and granted relief…
PLR 9938037: Late S corporation election effective from business start date
A corporation was incorporated on one redacted date and began business on another. Its shareholder wanted S corporation status effective from the business start date, but the election was late. The…
PLR 9938036: Required clearinghouse payments deductible when paid
A regulated producer was required to make annual payments toward the costs of a nonprofit clearinghouse created to increase competition in its industry. The taxpayer asked whether it could deduct…
PLR 9938035: Loan interest held through partnership is not passive investment income
An S corporation holding company owned a bank through subsidiaries it elected to treat as qualified subchapter S subsidiaries. The bank transferred interests in commercial loans to a subsidiary,…
PLR 9938034: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
An electric utility asked the IRS to approve a revised schedule of annual payments to its nuclear decommissioning fund. The IRS found that the utility held a qualifying ownership interest in the…
PLR 9938033: Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
An electric utility asked the IRS to approve a revised schedule of annual payments to its nuclear decommissioning fund. The IRS found that the utility held a qualifying ownership interest in the…
CCA 9938032: Reporting of workers' compensation payments
Chief Counsel supplied suggested language for an IRS response to a taxpayer who received payments from a former employer. The advice assumes those payments were for service-related injuries under a…
CCA 9938031: Treaty treatment of athletes' and performers' endorsement income
Chief Counsel advised examiners how to classify U.S.-source endorsement income earned by nonresident performers and athletes under income tax treaties. Income closely and directly linked to a U.S.…
CCA 9938030: Tax investigation records cannot be shared with state disciplinary committee
A state disciplinary committee investigating an attorney wanted to speak with a retired IRS agent about conversations during a corporation's tax investigation. Chief Counsel advised that those…
PLR 9938029: Time granted to make and correct subsidiary S elections
An S corporation intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status for 18 wholly owned subsidiaries, but one Form 966 was late and the first four forms lacked required modifications, and no…
PLR 9938028: Late S corporation election allowed for first tax year
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from its first taxable year, but the attorney handling the election did not prepare or timely file Form 2553. The IRS found…
PLR 9938027: More time to file agreement for dual consolidated losses
Dual resident corporations' losses had offset income on their former consolidated group's returns. A transfer moved the corporations into a new group and constituted a triggering event under the…
PLR 9938026: More time for foreign insurer's domestic treatment election
A parent formed a reinsurance subsidiary abroad and intended for it to elect domestic corporation treatment under § 953(d). The parent and subsidiary filed returns as though the election had been…
PLR 9938025: More time to file foreign sales corporation election
A taxpayer wanted to elect treatment as a foreign sales corporation for a specified tax year, but its CPA firm did not tell the parent the deadline for filing Form 8279. The IRS found that the…
PLR 9938024: Limited testamentary power does not include trust in son's estate
Parents created a trust that gave their son a power to appoint its remaining property by will to the grantors' descendants and those descendants' spouses. The IRS ruled that this was not a general…
PLR 9938023: Five funds' late section 855 elections treated as timely
Five investment fund series asked for more time to make elections under § 855(a) after their completed returns were sent to the wrong floor and reached the person responsible for filing them late.…
PLR 9938022: Workers' compensation plan qualifies as an insurance company
An unincorporated state workers' compensation plan provided coverage to employers who could not obtain it through ordinary channels. Participating carriers wrote the policies, but the plan reinsured…
PLR 9938021: Prior exchange offer rulings reaffirmed after offer narrows
A corporation had received an earlier ruling on an offer for its shareholders to exchange their stock for stock of a controlled corporation. It then proposed to offer that exchange only to U.S.…
PLR 9938020: Late S corporation election accepted if filed within 60 days
A corporation's first board meeting and employer identification number application showed that its shareholders intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year. The corporation said it…
PLR 9938019: More time to file consolidated group loss elections
A parent corporation reported a worthless stock deduction for liquidated subsidiaries and treated some subsidiary losses as reattributed to itself. Its returns reflected that treatment, but it had…
CCA 9938018: Bank's mutual fund support payments require capitalization
A bank transferred money to two proprietary money market funds after losses threatened to push their share values below one dollar. It argued that the payments were currently deductible business…
PLR 9938017: Extension to elect corporate tax classification
A limited partnership wanted to be taxed as a corporation from an earlier date, but it missed the deadline for choosing that effective date on Form 8832. Its filed form instead used a later…
CCA 9938016: IRS should not deliberately issue late partnership audit notices
An examination team asked whether it could deliberately issue late notices at the start of partnership audits. Under § 6223(e), a late notice could let the partners elect to have their partnership…
PLR 9938015: Late S election treated as timely if Form 2553 is filed
A corporation with one shareholder intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation and had operated on that basis. After its first tax year ended, it discovered that its S election had not…
CCA 9938014: Counsel concurs on an entity's railroad employer status
Chief Counsel reviewed a Railroad Retirement Board opinion about an entity's status under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. Based only on the submitted…
PLR 9938013: Religious order members' service excluded from FICA and wage withholding
A nonprofit that operated religious schools and cared for sick and elderly people asked whether it qualified as a religious order and how to treat goods, services, and cash allowances provided to…
PLR 9938012: Active rental income excluded from S corporation passive income
An S corporation with accumulated earnings and profits owned and operated commercial rental property. Through owners, employees, and contractors, it provided maintenance, landscaping, tenant space…
PLR 9938011: S election accepted after accountant missed filing
A corporation's minutes recorded its shareholders' intent to elect S corporation status for its first tax year. The accountant they relied on did not file Form 2553 on time, although the corporation…
PLR 9938010: Four-shareholder corporation granted late S election relief
A corporation with four shareholders intended to be an S corporation from its incorporation and operated on that basis. After its first tax year, it discovered that its S election had not been filed…
CCA 9938008: Counsel concurs that an entity became a railroad employer
Chief Counsel reviewed a Railroad Retirement Board opinion about an entity's employer status under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act. Based only on the…
CCA 9938007: Foreign asset transfers trigger overall foreign loss recapture
Domestic affiliates of two corporations transferred interests in a joint venture through foreign partnerships and into a foreign corporation. Chief Counsel advised that their election to apply § 367…
CCA 9938006: Form 8821 can authorize employment tax disclosures in labor program
A district office wanted to adapt an agreement with labor agencies for a farm labor contractor licensing program. Chief Counsel advised that a valid Form 8821 could authorize the IRS to disclose a…
TAM 9938005: Voting rights bring transferred stock into estate
A shareholder transferred voting stock in a closely held corporation to a family limited partnership. He later died having retained, as a general partner, the right to vote the partnership's shares.…
CCA 9938004: IRS need not recover child support offsets after earned income credit reversal
The IRS sent a taxpayer's refunds to a state to satisfy past-due child support under § 6402(c). It later disallowed the earned income credits that had produced the refunds and assessed amounts…
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.