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 9932019: Jointly held assets count in debt cancellation insolvency test
A taxpayer claimed he was insolvent when a lender canceled part of his debt. He left out property he held with his spouse as tenants by the entirety because creditors pursuing him alone could not…
PLR 9932018: Extension granted for entity classification election
An eligible entity intended to elect corporate tax treatment effective on a specified date but missed the deadline for filing its classification election. The IRS found that the requirements for…
CCA 9932017: More facts needed on private operation of bond-financed prison
A private company managed a correctional facility built with purportedly tax-exempt bonds and agreed to cover shortfalls in debt service. The IRS could not yet determine whether the management…
CCA 9932016: Cash bond deposit became a tax payment after deficiency notice
A taxpayer sent the IRS money as a cash bond deposit against possible tax deficiencies. After the IRS mailed a deficiency notice, the taxpayer did not ask within the petition period for the money to…
CCA 9932015: Authorized signatures on IRS closing agreements
The IRS considered who could sign four closing agreements implementing a Tax Court settlement and whether missing internal review signatures made them invalid. It advised that an Appeals Team Chief…
CCA 9932014: Limited mitigation relief for deferred production costs
A production company sought a refund for a closed tax period after a court required certain costs to be spread over years in which installment payments were received. The IRS advised that the…
PLR 9932013: Earlier ruling excluding protected assets from insolvency test revoked
The IRS revoked an earlier letter ruling that had allowed a taxpayer to leave a home and other property protected from creditors under state law out of the insolvency test for canceled debt. It now…
CCA 9932012: Timing of losses on interest rate hedges
An equipment leasing company used transactions to protect against rising interest rates before issuing securities backed by leases, then claimed the resulting losses immediately. The IRS said more…
CCA 9932011: Parent had not established subsidiary stock was worthless
A parent company claimed an ordinary loss on stock of a subsidiary that sold most of its assets after abandoning a medical device. The IRS advised that the parent had not yet proved the stock wholly…
CCA 9932010: Interest starts when credited overpayment becomes next year's tax payment
A corporation applied an overpayment from one year to the next year's estimated tax, but none of the credit was needed to avoid an estimated tax penalty. An audit later found a deficiency for the…
CCA 9932009: IRS levy on Social Security benefits after tax lien judgment
The IRS had obtained a judgment foreclosing a federal tax lien and wanted to levy on the taxpayers' Social Security benefits. It advised that the tax lien did not merge into the judgment, so a…
CCA 9932008: Tax lien prevailed over unrecorded receivables assignment
A business assigned customer invoices to people who advanced money against the receivables, but their financing statement was never recorded. The IRS advised that the assignees did not have a…
CCA 9932007: Full concession of captive insurance premium issue accepted
An automobile dealer paid for coverage of extended service contracts, with a related captive insurer ultimately assuming the risks. Appeals proposed conceding the dispute over whether the payments…
CCA 9932006: No ruling on film broadcast rights amortization changes
A company filed two Form 3115 applications for subsidiaries seeking to change how they amortized broadcast rights for feature films. The proposed method would spread each title's cost on a…
CCA 9932005: Different employment tax tests for city advisory board members
A city paid residents to serve on advisory boards and did not withhold income or FICA taxes from their meeting payments. The IRS left to District Counsel the question whether the members were public…
CCA 9932004: Juror fees reported on Form 1099-MISC without wage withholding
A state asked how to report compensation paid to grand jurors. The IRS advised that jurors were not employees for FICA purposes and that their fees were not subject to federal income tax…
CCA 9932003: Reporting compensation from international organizations
The IRS reconsidered how U.S. citizens employed by international organizations should calculate and report their compensation. It advised that taxable compensation was nominal salary less a…
CCA 9932002: Payroll processor not liable for clients' deposit penalty if not employer
An employee leasing business processed payroll and filed employment tax returns under its own employer number for workers directed by its clients. It was penalized for missing the deposit schedule…
TAM 9932001: Spouse's trust income right qualified for estate tax marital deduction
A will created a trust for a surviving spouse and directed trustees to pay her all net income at least quarterly. Other clauses aimed to preserve her government benefits by limiting use of trust…
PLR 9931053: Pension plan qualified as a church plan from 1974
A tax-exempt organization associated with a church sponsored a pension plan for employees of affiliated organizations. The plan was administered by a committee whose main purpose was plan…
PLR 9931052: Tax-exempt employer's annuity plan met section 403(b) requirements
A tax-exempt employer asked whether its employee annuity plan met section 403(b) requirements. The plan allowed salary reduction and rollover contributions, made benefits nonforfeitable, and limited…
PLR 9931051: Former employer stock kept its tax treatment after a spinoff
A company spun off a business, and its employee stock ownership plan moved to the new employer while still holding shares of the former employer. The plan asked whether those shares retained their…
PLR 9931050: Pension plan received waivers of liquidity shortfall tax
A company's defined benefit pension plan fell short of the liquid assets required for two quarters. The company had suffered a loss, lacked cash, and later contributed enough to fully fund the…
PLR 9931049: IRA beneficiaries may use separate life expectancy distributions
After an IRA owner's death, her husband transferred the assets into eight IRAs in his own name and named six equal beneficiaries. He died the next year, and the beneficiaries divided seven IRAs into…
PLR 9931048: IRA beneficiary may elect life expectancy payments
A husband inherited his wife's IRA, moved its assets into eight IRAs in his own name, and named six equal beneficiaries. After his death, the beneficiaries split seven of those IRAs into separate…
PLR 9931047: Retirement plan termination date set for successor plan test
A company terminated its profit sharing plan after a change in ownership, but its new corporate group maintained another defined contribution plan. Tax rules can restrict distributions from a…
PLR 9931046: Discharged workers separated from service for 401(k) distributions
A facilities management company discharged workers when another, unrelated company took over part of its contract. Many workers then applied for jobs with the new contractor. The employer asked…
PLR 9931045: Homeowners association received time to make tax elections
A homeowners association's new officers learned that the association had missed its tax filing and election requirements. They asked for more time to elect the tax treatment available under section…
PLR 9931044: Convertible bond awards treated as employee stock options
A foreign company designed employee awards using convertible bonds and matching loans because its law did not permit shares to be reserved for ordinary stock options. The IRS treated each bond and…
PLR 9931043: Bond investment advisory fee was not a qualified administrative cost
A county paid a single advisory fee for investment advice, portfolio management, and securities transactions involving funds that included tax-exempt bond proceeds. It asked whether the fee could…
PLR 9931042: Hospital districts' integrated system retained governmental and bond tax treatment
Two public hospital districts planned to combine management of their health care systems through a jointly controlled parent organization. The IRS granted eleven requested rulings. It found that the…
TAM 9931041: Social club could count all employee tips for the employer FICA credit
A tax-exempt social club paid employer Social Security and Medicare taxes on tips earned by its food service employees. It claimed the section 45B credit against unrelated business income tax and…
TAM 9931040: AMT depletion preference uses the mineral property's AMT basis
A quarry operator deducted mining development and exploration costs for regular tax purposes but had to capitalize and amortize them for alternative minimum tax (AMT) purposes. It asked which…
CCA 9931039: IRS staff reassignment did not justify interest abatement
The IRS temporarily reassigned examination staff to customer service during filing season, delaying work on pending tax cases. An IRS office asked whether interest caused by those delays could be…
CCA 9931038: Taxpayers may designate how federal tax deposits are applied
A taxpayer representative asked whether taxpayers can direct how the IRS applies federal tax deposits. Chief Counsel advised that they can. An effective designation must be written, accompany the…
IRS General Litigation Bulletin 9931037: Bankruptcy, collection, and litigation case updates
This May 1999 Office of Chief Counsel bulletin summarizes recent tax litigation and an alert about electronic bankruptcy filings. Its lead item discusses an Eleventh Circuit decision allowing a…
CCA 9931036: Preventing reclamation of bankruptcy refund checks
A Chapter 13 trustee deposited a debtor's tax refund check without the debtor's endorsement. After the debtor made a refund claim, the Treasury's Financial Management Service reclaimed the money…
CCA 9931035: Advice on Brazilian foreign tax credits after the Riggs appeal
The D.C. Circuit reversed a Tax Court ruling that disallowed foreign tax credits tied to purported Brazilian withholding tax on restructured debt paid by Brazil's Central Bank. Chief Counsel…
CCA 9931034: Taxpayer withdrew mortgage servicing rights method change requests
A taxpayer withdrew two requests to change how it amortized purchased mortgage servicing rights. It had proposed treating individual mortgages as separate assets instead of treating a pool as one…
PLR 9931033: IRA distributions and QTIP trust shares met stated tax requirements
A retiree planned required withdrawals from retirement accounts and a rollover IRA, followed by division of the IRA between family and marital trust shares after death. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 9938009: Two-shareholder corporation granted late S election relief
A corporation with two 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…
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.