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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Restructured governmental retirement plans get favorable rulings on separate contracts, tax-free transfers, and picked-up contributions
A state agency that runs several governmental defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans reorganized them. It moved the member-funded annuity savings accounts (ASAs) out of the old comb…
Returning a pension plan's actuarial surplus to a tax-exempt employer is allowed and not a taxable reversion
A tax-exempt employer set up a defined benefit pension plan for its employees and later decided to terminate it, pay out everyone, and complete a standard termination through the Pension Benefit Guara…
IRS grants a multiemployer pension plan a 5-year extension to amortize its unfunded liabilities under § 431(d)
Multiemployer pension plans must fund their promised benefits over time, paying down "unfunded liabilities" through scheduled amortization charges. When a plan is struggling, Code Section 431(d) lets …
IRS approves a pension plan's change to its retirement and withdrawal assumptions
A single-employer pension plan must set aside enough money each year to fund the benefits it promises, and its required contribution depends on actuarial assumptions such as how likely workers are to …
A widow who inherited an IRA through her revocable trust may roll it into her own IRA
When someone inherits an IRA, they normally cannot roll it over into their own IRA, but a surviving spouse gets special treatment. Here a husband died naming his revocable living trust, rather than hi…
Approves a five-year extension for amortizing a multiemployer plan's unfunded liabilities
This ruling approves a multiemployer pension plan's request for an automatic extension of the periods used to amortize specified unfunded liabilities. The extension applies beginning with the plan yea…
Children behind "see-through" trusts count as designated beneficiaries, so a deceased 401(k) participant's benefits can stretch over the oldest child's life expectancy
When someone dies with money in a 401(k), how fast the account must be paid out depends on whether there is a "designated beneficiary" who is an actual individual. If a trust is named as beneficiary, …
Returning an overfunded pension contribution to the employer is not a taxable reversion where the overpayment came from a mistake of fact
A company terminated its defined benefit pension plan and, to fully fund the promised benefits, contributed enough money to buy a group annuity contract covering the participants. It later turned out …
Widow may roll her late husband's retirement plan benefit into her own IRA even though it passes through his estate
A man died without naming a beneficiary on his employer retirement plan, so under the plan's terms the benefit became payable to his estate. He also died without a will, and his children disclaimed (f…
Group trust looks through to each beneficiary for the pension-held REIT test
A large pension trust fund pools the retirement money of many separate pension plans into one "group trust" (an "81-100 group trust," named after Rev. Rul. 81-100) and invests it in U.S. real estate, …
60-day rollover deadline waived for retiree who relied on separating spouse for finances
A retiree took a lump-sum distribution from her employer's qualified retirement plan and parked most of it in an ordinary (non-IRA) savings account, missing the 60-day window to roll part of it into a…
Allows overfunded retiree trust assets to fund active employee health benefits
A public utility subsidiary maintained a collectively bargained welfare benefit trust that funded retiree health benefits. After plan changes left the trust overfunded, the company proposed creating a…
Approves student loan repayment-linked retirement plan contributions
An employer proposed amending its 401(k) plan to make nonelective contributions for employees who repay student loans. Participating employees could still make elective plan contributions, but general…
Makes pension funding extension revocation prospective with a make-whole charge
A pension plan had received a conditional 10-year extension for amortizing unfunded liabilities but later failed two conditions. The IRS approved modifying its earlier rulings so the extension would c…
Letting government workers move a frozen cash-balance benefit to a 401(k) plan is tax-free and not an excess contribution
A government employer runs two retirement plans: a defined benefit plan (Plan A) that includes a cash balance component, and a defined contribution 401(k)-style plan (Plan B). It wanted to let certain…
Surviving spouse's IRA rollover through a trust was valid
A decedent named a revocable trust as the beneficiary of his IRA, and the assets were allocated to a survivor's trust for his wife. The wife was the sole income and principal beneficiary and held an u…
Multiemployer plan receives an amortization extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested an automatic extension of the periods for amortizing unfunded liabilities from plan amendments, assumption changes, and actuarial losses. The plan's actuary cert…
Waives 60-day rollover deadline after faulty NUA advice
A retired employee received employer stock from a 401(k) plan after advisers recommended using the net unrealized appreciation tax exclusion instead of rolling the stock into an IRA. The taxpayer late…
Addiction treatment center's pension plan qualifies as a church plan
A nonprofit residential addiction treatment center serving clergy, religious personnel, and seminarians asked whether its frozen defined benefit plan qualified as a church plan. The center had longsta…
Welfare trust amendment triggered income but not a disqualified-benefit tax
An employer had an overfunded welfare benefit trust originally used for retiree health benefits under a collective bargaining agreement. It proposed amending the trust so its assets could also pay hea…
Pension plan receives five-year amortization extension
A pension plan requested an extension of the periods for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that without relief the plan would have an accumulated funding deficiency, tha…
60-day rollover deadline waived after reliance on spouse
A retiree received a lump-sum distribution from an employer's employee stock ownership plan. She deposited the check in a joint credit union account, then moved the portion intended for an IRA into an…
Surviving spouse may roll estate-paid plan distribution into IRA
A governmental deferred compensation plan paid a deceased participant's account to his estate because he had not named a beneficiary. His surviving spouse was both executor and sole beneficiary of the…
Governmental deferred-compensation plan met Section 457 requirements
A city board requested rulings on a deferred-compensation plan for employees and independent contractors of the city and participating agencies. The plan included designated Roth contributions, deemed…
Multiemployer plan received five-year amortization extensions
A multiemployer pension plan requested automatic extensions for amortizing 71 listed unfunded-liability charge bases. The plan's actuary certified that, without relief, the plan would have an accumula…
State deferred compensation plan qualified under Section 457(b)
A state board adopted a deferred compensation plan for state and local government employees. The plan included automatic enrollment with an opt-out period, standard and catch-up deferral limits, requi…
Multiemployer plan received an amortization extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested an automatic extension of the periods for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. The plan's actuary certified that without relief the plan would incur an acc…
Conditionally approves revised pension-plan actuarial assumptions
A pension plan sponsor asked to change non-prescribed assumptions used to calculate the plan's funding target. The sponsor said participants were retiring later and cash-balance participants were leav…
Church-controlled social-service ministry's pension plan qualifies as a church plan
A nonprofit social-service ministry asked whether its frozen defined benefit pension plan qualified as a church plan under section 414(e). A church official was the ministry's sole member, appointed i…
Selective cash-balance offsets fail pension nondiscrimination and participation tests
An employer maintained a cash-balance pension plan and a profit-sharing plan. The cash-balance plan offset benefits for nonhighly compensated employees by their profit-sharing benefits, reducing those…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year funding extensions
A multiemployer pension plan requested automatic extensions for amortizing 18 unfunded-liability charge bases established as of January 1, 2015. Its actuary certified that without relief the plan woul…
Taxpayer receives waiver for IRA rollover missed after adviser error
A taxpayer cashed in an IRA annuity intending to roll the proceeds into another IRA. Her financial adviser instead deposited and invested the money in a non-IRA account, and a medical condition impair…
Pension plan's retiree medical account may fund tax-free HRA reimbursements
A bank maintained a qualified defined benefit plan with a separate section 401(h) account for retiree medical benefits. It also maintained an unfunded retiree-only health reimbursement arrangement tha…
Hospital retirement plans qualify as church plans
A nonprofit hospital sponsored a defined benefit plan, a defined contribution plan, and a section 403(b) plan for its employees. The hospital operated under the sponsorship of a religious order, was l…
Cash balance plan may change its interest-rate lookback month
A tax-exempt health system had converted its traditional defined benefit pension plan into a cash balance plan while protecting benefits earned under the old formula. It wanted to use September as the…
Multiemployer plan receives an amortization extension for unfunded liabilities
A multiemployer plan requested an automatic extension of the periods for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that without relief the plan would have a funding deficiency i…
Multiemployer plan receives a five-year funding extension
A multiemployer pension plan asked to extend the periods for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. The plan's actuary certified that without relief the plan would face an accumulated funding defi…
Multiemployer plan receives a five-year funding extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested more time to amortize specified unfunded liabilities. The plan's actuary certified that without the relief the plan would face an accumulated funding deficiency,…
Multiemployer plan receives a five-year funding extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested a five-year extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. The plan's actuary certified that without the extension the plan would have an accumulated f…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year funding extension
A multiemployer plan requested an automatic five-year extension for amortizing certain unfunded liabilities. Its original application included bases related to funding-method changes, plan mergers, an…
Medical practice receives conditional pension funding waiver
A medical practice sought a waiver of the remaining minimum required contribution to its pension plan for the 2016 plan year. It had suffered a temporary substantial business hardship after two senior…
Inherited retirement distributions may use daughter's life expectancy
A decedent named a retirement-account subtrust as beneficiary of traditional and Roth IRAs and two section 403(b) annuity contracts. Her daughter was the subtrust's sole beneficiary, and the trust req…
Foreign retirement fund is a nonexempt employees' trust
A retirement fund organized as a trust under foreign law held separate accounts funded by employers, employees, and investment income. Contributions were irrevocable, assets could not revert to an emp…
Plan receives five-year extension to amortize unfunded liabilities
A multiemployer plan requested an automatic extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities arising from plan amendments, actuarial losses, and changes in assumptions. The IRS approved a five-…
S corporation ESOPs may use ordered allocation methods to prevent nonallocation years
Chief Counsel considered several plan provisions intended to prevent an S corporation ESOP from entering a section 409(p) nonallocation year. Stock previously transferred out of an ESOP under the regu…
Plan receives five-year extension for unfunded-liability amortization
A multiemployer plan requested an automatic extension for amortizing several unfunded-liability bases arising from combined charges, experience losses, a benefit change, and an assumption change. The …
Pension plan benefit amendments received mixed funding rulings
A multiemployer defined benefit plan had a five-year extension to amortize unfunded liabilities and later proposed benefit changes under a funding improvement plan. The IRS rejected the plan's claim t…
Multiemployer plan received a five-year funding-amortization extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested an automatic extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that, without relief, the plan would have an accumulated funding defi…
Pension plan received five extra years to amortize unfunded liabilities
A multiemployer pension plan applied for an automatic extension of the amortization periods for specified unfunded liabilities beginning with its 2016 plan year. The plan's actuary certified that a fu…
Divorce-related events qualified for a late IRA rollover waiver
During divorce proceedings, a taxpayer withdrew money from her IRA to buy a residence after her spouse said he would provide the needed funds and was subject to related legal obligations. The spouse d…
Indirect church-employer loans violate retirement account rules
Chief Counsel considered whether the rule barring loans from a church section 403(b)(9) retirement income account to the employer applies to indirect as well as direct loans. In one situation, partici…
IRA rollover deadline waived after unauthorized withdrawals
A taxpayer's spouse repeatedly withdrew three distributions from her IRA without her knowledge or consent. After discovering the withdrawals, she contacted a criminal attorney about pursuing theft cha…
Religious organization's pension plan qualifies as a church plan
A tax-exempt religious organization formed by a religious institute within a church maintained a frozen defined benefit plan for its employees. Its board appointed a committee whose principal purpose …
Adviser mishandling justified a waiver of the IRA rollover deadline
An IRA owner consulted an attorney about using a self-directed IRA to buy real estate. Following the attorney's instructions, she had an IRA distribution wired to the attorney's title-company account …
Timely cure payments or refinancing prevented deemed distributions from plan loans
Chief Counsel analyzed how a retirement plan loan's regulatory cure period applies when a participant misses installment payments. In the first situation, missed monthly payments occurred in different…
Surviving spouse could roll estate-held IRA proceeds into her own IRA
A decedent named his estate as the beneficiary of his IRA, and his will directed the residuary estate to a trust benefiting his surviving spouse and later beneficiaries. A state court terminated the t…
Multiemployer plan received a five-year funding extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested a five-year extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. The plan's actuary certified that without the extension the plan would have an accumulated f…
IRS prospectively ends a pension plan's amortization extension
A multiemployer pension plan had received conditional approval to extend by 10 years the periods for amortizing certain unfunded liabilities. The IRS modified that ruling after the plan first failed o…
Mismatched back-to-back deferred compensation arrangements violate section 409A
A foreign investment corporation deferred fees owed to a U.S. manager, which separately deferred compensation owed to investment professionals under an intended back-to-back arrangement. The upper-tie…
Severance-or-pension choice would disqualify governmental pension plan
A governmental defined benefit pension plan asked about proposed legislation that would let affected hospital employees choose between a cash severance payment and a subsidized early-retirement benefi…
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.