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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CCA 9938003: Swap income timing accepted, subject to economic substance
A taxpayer called corporate debt and, in related transactions, received swaption premiums and upfront payments under interest rate swaps. It deducted the debt call premiums and accrued interest…
CCA 9938002: Summonses recommended for offshore account records
Chief Counsel reviewed proposed requests for documents in an examination of two tax years, including records of offshore bank accounts. It recommended summonses directed to the taxpayers instead of…
CCA 9938001: Prior gift finding binds estate tax dispute
A court had already decided in an estate tax lien case that a decedent's transfer of property was a valid gift during life. In a later Tax Court proceeding involving the same estate, Chief Counsel…
PLR 9937056: Pension funding waivers refused, 100 percent excise tax waived
A company sought minimum funding waivers for two years of its defined benefit pension plan. The IRS declined to consider the first year's request because it was filed after the statutory deadline.…
PLR 9937055: IRA property reclassification allowed, transfer between spouses taxable
A married couple used a marital property agreement to give each spouse a half interest in two IRAs titled to one spouse. They proposed moving the other spouse's half interest directly into an IRA in…
PLR 9937054: Pension plan receives a minimum funding waiver for 1998
The IRS granted a defined benefit pension plan a waiver of its minimum funding standard for the plan year ending December 31, 1998. The sponsor reported declining demand, negative income, cash flow…
PLR 9937053: Two foundations may distribute assets to successor foundations
Two private foundations proposed to transfer all their assets to several other private foundations, then notify the IRS of their voluntary termination and dissolve. The IRS ruled that the transfers…
PLR 9937052: Church retirement account qualifies for section 403(b) treatment
A church affiliated nonprofit established a retirement income account for employees and planned to hold its assets with those of a separate defined benefit plan. The IRS ruled that the account…
PLR 9937051: Foundation grant procedures approved for individuals
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve how it selected and monitored grants to individuals. Its procedures called for objective selection, written applications or nominations, outside expert…
PLR 9937050: Accidental crop poisoning qualified as an involuntary conversion
An agricultural business asked whether damage from a product it applied to perennial plants and trees qualified as an involuntary conversion. The product killed or severely damaged the crops and…
PLR 9937049: Corporation permitted to change asset valuation method for interest expense
A corporation left a consolidated group whose parent had elected to value assets at fair market value when apportioning interest expense. The corporation had been bound by that election but wanted…
PLR 9937048: Employee children's scholarship procedures approved
An organization sought advance approval for scholarships funded for the children of a company's employees. A separate tax-exempt organization would select recipients using academic performance, test…
PLR 9937047: Three hospital retirement plans qualified as church plans
A health-care organization formed by two church-affiliated hospital systems asked whether three retirement plans were church plans. The IRS found that the organization and its hospitals shared…
PLR 9937046: Expatriation filing rebutted tax-avoidance presumption
A U.S. citizen planning to give up her citizenship asked the IRS to rule that avoiding U.S. tax was not one of her principal purposes. Her expected net worth exceeded the statutory threshold that…
PLR 9937045: Late bond volume-cap carryforward election accepted
A state political subdivision missed the deadline to elect to carry forward part of its 1998 private activity bond volume cap for residential rental housing bonds. It discovered the omission, filed…
PLR 9937044: Late bond volume-cap carryforward election accepted
A political subdivision of a state received unused 1998 private activity bond volume cap for a solid waste disposal project. It issued bonds but discovered afterward that it had failed to file the…
PLR 9937043: IRS modifies two earlier rulings on grantor retained annuity trusts
The IRS revisited two rulings it had issued to grantors who created six annuity trusts. Each grantor could revoke an annuity that would pass to the grantor's spouse if the grantor died before the…
PLR 9937042: Annuity exchanges in a mortgage program qualify under § 1035 on stated facts
An insurance agent developed a program that pairs a home mortgage with an annuity. A participant pledges the annuity's investment component as collateral for the mortgage, while the contract's…
CCA 9937041: NATO-assigned service members remain U.S. employees for the foreign income exclusion
Chief Counsel considered whether members of the U.S. Armed Forces assigned to NATO could elect the § 911 foreign earned income exclusion. The memorandum distinguishes them from a civilian NATO…
PLR 9937040: Utility transition bond financing does not create income on issuance
A regulated electric utility planned to recover stranded costs from customers as its state opened electricity generation to competition. A state rate order had authorized a customer charge, and a…
CCA 9937039: A driver's license alone was not a basis for an ITIN in 1999 advice
After Utah changed its driver's license law, IRS walk-in units received ITIN applications from people who wanted a license but did not qualify for a Social Security number. Chief Counsel advised…
CCA 9937038: Liquidating a foreign subsidiary before sale does not secure the Subpart F business asset exclusion
A U.S. company owned a foreign holding company, which in turn owned a foreign operating company. Counsel was asked whether the holding company could avoid Subpart F income by liquidating the…
PLR 9937037: Equipment rental receipts are active income for S corporation passive-income rules
An S corporation's subsidiary rented personal property and employed staff to market, maintain, install, remove, and recover the equipment. The parent asked whether receipts from that rental business…
PLR 9937036: Two funds receive relief for late regulated investment company elections
Two investment funds had one-day initial tax years and prepared returns electing regulated investment company treatment under § 851. Their administrator mailed the returns on the due date, but the…
PLR 9937035: Data processing fees avoid communications tax, but purchased phone service is taxable
A company connected merchants' payment terminals to financial service providers through its data network. It asked whether its customers' fees for processing and software downloads, and its own…
PLR 9937034: Partnership-interest gain is passive only to the extent of underlying securities gain
An S corporation with old C corporation earnings owned an interest in a limited partnership, which in turn held a general partner interest in another partnership. The limited partnership could…
PLR 9937033: Corporate separation receives 18 rulings before a proposed acquisition
A corporation wanted to separate one business into a new company before that company acquired an unrelated target. It proposed transferring the business assets to the new company, distributing its…
PLR 9937032: Bank loan transfer does not recapture suspended bad-debt reserves
A mutual savings bank transferred loans to a wholly owned investment company, reducing its outstanding loans below the amount it held at the close of an earlier base year. It asked whether that…
CCA 9937031: Law firm withdraws accounting-method request for client expenses
A law firm asked to change how it accounted for expenses incurred on clients' behalf. It proposed deducting reimbursable service charges when paid and reporting later reimbursements as income, while…
PLR 9937030: Partnership gets 30 days to make a late § 754 basis election
A partnership intended to elect under § 754 to adjust the basis of partnership property but omitted the election from its return. After discovering the omission, it asked the IRS for more time under…
PLR 9937029: Former resident's departure found to lack a principal tax-avoidance purpose
A former long-term U.S. resident gave up a green card and returned to the country of birth to care for parents. Because the person's net worth exceeded the statutory threshold, the expatriation…
PLR 9937028: Company gets late S election relief if it files Form 2553 within 60 days
A newly formed corporation intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year, but its attorney failed to prepare and timely file Form 2553. The corporation and its sole shareholder…
PLR 9937027: Expatriation tax-avoidance presumption rebutted, but actual purpose left open
A former long-term U.S. resident gave up a green card and moved back to the country of birth, where the person's spouse and parents were also born. The person's net worth exceeded the threshold for…
PLR 9937026: GST exemption allocated automatically between estate trusts, then within one share by trust terms
An estate filed its tax return without Schedule R, the form used to allocate generation-skipping transfer (GST) exemption, but attached the decedent's trust agreement. The IRS found that the…
PLR 9937025: Target liquidation does not disturb earlier spin-off rulings
A corporation had already spun off a subsidiary and the subsidiary had acquired an unrelated target. An earlier IRS letter ruled on the tax treatment of the asset transfer and spin-off, but gave no…
PLR 9937024: Housing credit agency may correct building count in carryover allocation
A housing project received a carryover allocation of low-income housing tax credits, but its application misstated the number of residential buildings. The state agency assigned building…
PLR 9937023: Foreign subsidiary gets more time for a disregarded-entity election
A domestic corporation owned a foreign subsidiary through another foreign entity and wanted the entities disregarded for U.S. federal tax purposes. The upper foreign entity timely elected…
CCA 9937022: Factory loss belongs in year of sale, not year it was idled
A manufacturer closed a facility, turned off its power, and moved it to an assets-held-for-sale account in one fiscal year. It sold the facility in the next fiscal year but claimed a loss on the…
PLR 9937021: Former resident rebuts expatriation presumption, with actual purpose undecided
A former long-term U.S. resident relinquished permanent resident status and returned to the country where the resident, spouse, and parents were born. Net worth exceeded the threshold for a…
TAM 9937020: Election to give up NOL carryback remains effective after audit changes
A corporation elected to give up the carryback period for a net operating loss and later sought to disregard that election after audit changes made a carryback more useful. The IRS advised that the…
PLR 9937019: Supplemental ruling revises spin-off plan and covers executive stock exchanges
A corporate group changed a separation plan after receiving earlier IRS rulings because it could no longer separate two businesses in the planned way. The revised plan kept one controlled company as…
PLR 9937018: Late S election accepted if company files Form 2553 within 60 days
A newly formed company and its sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from the company's first tax year. The company, its accountant, and its attorney each assumed someone else would file…
PLR 9937017: IRS treats late S election as effective from company's first day
A company's shareholder wanted S corporation treatment from the day the company began business, but the S election was not filed on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing. It ruled…
PLR 9937016: S election can be treated as timely after missing Form 2553
A corporation believed it had filed an S election, and it and its two shareholders filed returns for two years consistent with S corporation treatment. The IRS later told the company it had no…
PLR 9937015: First-year S election treated as timely if Form 2553 is filed within 60 days
A one-shareholder corporation intended S corporation treatment from its incorporation and operated on that basis, but discovered after its first tax year that its election had not been timely filed.…
PLR 9937014: Installer spin-off receives eight rulings under § 355
A corporate group acquired an installation business for products it manufactured, but some customers threatened to stop buying because the group now competed with them. The group proposed a public…
PLR 9937013: Church-supervised ministry qualifies as a religious order
A tax-exempt Christian organization asked whether a ministry it operated qualified as a religious order for federal tax purposes. Prospective members completed years of training and probation, then…
CCA 9937012: Operator of leased institutions is the workers' employer
Chief Counsel advised the IRS on which entity employed workers at institutions a taxpayer leased and operated. The taxpayer controlled hiring, supervision, payroll, and daily operations, while the…
PLR 9937011: Business split qualifies as a tax-free reorganization
Two brothers disagreed over the management and expansion of a corporation's two businesses. The corporation transferred one business to a subsidiary, then planned to exchange that subsidiary's stock…
CCA 9937010: Mortgage insurer may reserve losses when borrowers default
A mortgage guaranty insurer increased its unpaid loss reserve when an insured lender reported a borrower's default. An examiner argued that the insurer had to wait until foreclosure transferred…
PLR 9937009: Managed property rents are not passive investment income
An S corporation asked whether rent from industrial and office properties counted as passive investment income under section 1362. Its subsidiaries, staff, and contractors provided leasing,…
PLR 9937008: Corporate business split receives favorable tax rulings
A corporate group proposed separating two businesses because one business's credit rating made it more costly to borrow for the other. The plan included transfers among domestic and foreign…
CCA 9937007: Acquired group cannot pool its older carryovers
After a takeover, members of an acquired consolidated group brought capital loss and business credit carryovers into the buyer's group. The taxpayer treated the former members as a subgroup and used…
CCA 9937006: Offer form controls which tax refunds the IRS keeps
An IRS office asked which refund retention terms governed when an accepted offer in compromise and its acceptance letter described different tax years. The Form 656 said the IRS would keep refunds…
CCA 9937005: Broadcaster cannot switch its gain deferral election
Three related companies sold FCC-certified broadcasting assets and elected to defer gain by buying replacement property under the former section 1071 rules. They did not buy qualifying replacements…
CCA 9937004: IRS should concede failure-to-pay addition for nonfiler
An IRS office proposed seeking dismissal of a case involving a failure-to-pay addition under section 6651(a)(2). The taxpayer had filed no return, and the IRS had prepared no substitute return under…
CCA 9937003: Receiver may claim employer FICA refund, but not withheld income tax
A court-appointed receiver for an S corporation sought refunds tied to salary paid to its sole shareholder, assuming some pay was unreasonable. Chief Counsel advised that the receiver could not…
CCA 9937002: Later tax lien does not reach annuity death benefit
A taxpayer died before receiving payments from a deferred retirement annuity. The contract paid a death benefit directly to his named beneficiary, and the IRS assessed the taxpayer's income taxes…
PLR 9937001: Business separation qualifies for split-off rulings
A publicly traded corporate group planned to separate one business after an initial public offering of stock in the company that would own it. The group sought rulings on internal transfers and…
PLR 9936052: Inherited IRA keeps its distribution schedule and may qualify for marital deduction
An IRA owner named her son as beneficiary, began required distributions, and then died. The IRS ruled that the son could receive minimum distributions over his remaining fixed life expectancy,…
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.