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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Estate may divide inherited IRAs through direct trustee transfers
A decedent died without naming beneficiaries for a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA, so the estate became the beneficiary of both accounts. The will left the accounts equally to two individual beneficia…
IRS revokes a prior revocation of an annuity ruling
The IRS had previously ruled that choosing a new variable-payment, term-certain annuity option would not cause income inclusion before amounts were actually paid. In 2024, it prospectively revoked tha…
IRS rules a combined universal-life policy and its annuity rider are separate contracts for tax purposes
A life insurance company plans to sell a single product that bundles a universal life insurance policy (the "Base Contract") with a single-premium immediate annuity attached as a rider (the "Annuity R…
IRS rules a combined universal-life policy and its annuity rider are separate contracts for tax purposes
A life insurance company plans to sell a single product that bundles a universal life insurance policy (the "Base Contract") with a single-premium immediate annuity attached as a rider (the "Annuity R…
Estate-beneficiary IRA may be split into separate inherited IRAs, tax-free
A person died owning a traditional IRA, but the custodian had no beneficiary designation on file, so the decedent's estate is treated as the IRA's sole beneficiary. The decedent's will left the residu…
60-day IRA rollover deadline waived for a fraud-scheme victim
A taxpayer withdrew money from a traditional IRA and normally would have 60 days to roll it into another IRA to avoid tax. Before completing the rollover, the taxpayer fell victim to a fraud scheme: s…
Surviving spouse may roll over an IRA that passed through the estate and trust into her own IRA
When someone dies with a traditional IRA, a surviving spouse can usually take the money and roll it into their own IRA, keeping it tax-deferred. That is easy when the spouse is the named beneficiary, …
IRS approves a pension plan's own substitute mortality tables for funding calculations, for up to 10 years
A company that sponsors a single-employer defined benefit pension plan asked the IRS for permission to use its own substitute mortality tables, rather than the standard tables, when calculating the pl…
IRS approves substitute mortality tables for an aggregated group of three defined benefit plans, excluding certain disabled annuitants
A company that sponsors several single-employer defined benefit pension plans asked the IRS for permission to keep using its own substitute mortality tables, rather than the standard tables, when comp…
IRS grants a 1-year approval of substitute mortality tables for a plan's non-annuitant populations after a coverage change
A company that sponsors several defined benefit pension plans asked the IRS for permission to use its own substitute mortality tables for the male and female non-annuitant populations of one plan (Pla…
Approval for a pension plan aggregated group to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables for funding computations
Single-employer defined benefit pension plans must calculate how much money to set aside (their minimum funding) using mortality tables that predict how long participants will live. Instead of the sta…
Approval for a single pension plan (after a merger) to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables for funding computations
Single-employer defined benefit pension plans must calculate their minimum funding using mortality tables. A sponsor with enough participants may ask to use "substitute" mortality tables built from it…
Approval to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables under section 430 for an aggregated group of union defined benefit plans (Group B)
Employers that sponsor traditional (defined benefit) pension plans must calculate how much to fund each year, and those calculations depend on mortality assumptions (how long retirees are expected to …
Approval to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables under section 430 for an aggregated group of non-union defined benefit plans (Group A)
Employers that sponsor traditional (defined benefit) pension plans must calculate how much to fund each year, and those calculations depend on mortality assumptions (how long retirees are expected to …
IRS approves a pension plan's use of plan-specific substitute mortality tables for three plan years under § 430(h)(3)(C)
A company that sponsors a single-employer defined benefit pension plan asked the IRS for permission to use its own plan-specific mortality tables, instead of the standard tables in the regulations, wh…
Approval to change a pension plan's retirement-rate actuarial assumptions under Section 430(h)(5)
Single-employer defined benefit pension plans must be funded to a legal minimum, and the required contribution depends on actuarial assumptions like how likely participants are to retire at each age. …
Conditional approval of a 5-year extension to amortize a multiemployer plan's unfunded liabilities under section 431(d), tied to correcting prior amortization-base errors
A multiemployer defined benefit pension plan asked the IRS for an automatic 5-year extension of the time it has to pay off (amortize) certain unfunded liabilities under Code section 431(d). Reviewing …
10-year approval to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables under section 430 for a seven-plan aggregated group's annuitant populations
A pension plan sponsor that runs an aggregated group of seven defined benefit plans asked the IRS to keep using its own "substitute" mortality tables, built from its participants' actual death experie…
5-year approval of plan-specific base substitute mortality tables under section 430 for two aggregated defined benefit plans, despite an immaterial benefit-dispersion-factor error
A pension plan sponsor asked the IRS to let it use its own "base substitute" mortality tables, built from its participants' actual death experience, in the minimum-funding calculations that Code secti…
10-year approval of substitute mortality tables for two pension plans
A pension plan sponsor asked to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables for two defined benefit plans when calculating minimum funding under Code section 430. The IRS approved the tables for up …
10-year approval of substitute mortality tables for one pension plan
A pension plan sponsor asked to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables for one defined benefit plan when calculating minimum funding under Code section 430. The IRS approved the tables for up t…
10-year approval of substitute mortality tables for Plan 2
A pension plan sponsor asked to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables for Plan 2 when calculating minimum funding under Code section 430. The IRS approved the tables for up to 10 plan years be…
Pension plan may use substitute mortality tables for up to 10 years
A defined benefit pension plan sponsor asked to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables when calculating the plan's minimum funding obligations under Section 430. The tables cover male and femal…
Extending a pension plan's 401(h) retiree-medical account to in-service participants over age 59½ does not jeopardize the plan's qualified status
An employer runs a pension plan that includes a Section 401(h) account, a separate pot inside the pension used to pay retiree medical benefits. That account is overfunded, and the employer has not con…
Surviving spouse may roll estate-owned IRA assets into the spouse's own IRA
A decedent named the estate, rather than the surviving spouse, as beneficiary of two IRAs. The spouse was the estate's sole executor and sole beneficiary. The IRS ruled that the two accounts could be …
Active employees taking age-59½ pension distributions may receive Section 401(h) medical benefits
An employer proposed letting pension-plan participants begin non-lump-sum retirement benefits after age 59½ while they remained employed, as IRC § 401(a)(36) permits. It also wanted those participants…
Five healthcare-system retirement and welfare plans qualify as church plans
A tax-exempt healthcare system affiliated with a church asked whether five defined-benefit, defined-contribution, Section 403(b), welfare, and acquired retirement plans qualify as church plans. The sy…
Pension plans may use section 401(h) accounts for annuitized retirees' health benefits
An employer transferred responsibility for pension payments for a group of retirees to an insurance company through a group annuity contract. Before that transfer, the employer's pension plans used se…
Pension plan approved to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables
A pension plan sponsor requested permission to use mortality tables based on the plan's own experience instead of the standard tables used for minimum-funding calculations. The plan used a five-year e…
Three pension plans may use substitute mortality tables for five years
A sponsor of three defined benefit pension plans asked to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables when computing minimum funding obligations under IRC § 430. The request covered male and female …
Surviving spouse could roll estate-paid pension lump sum into IRA
A pension participant elected a lump-sum benefit and obtained the spouse's consent to waive the joint-and-survivor annuity, but died after completing the paperwork and before payment. The plan require…
Pension plan receives 10-year approval for substitute mortality tables
A pension plan sponsor requested new plan-specific mortality tables after a significant change in the plan's population. The IRS approved substitute tables for male and female annuitants and non-annui…
Fraud victim receives 60 days to complete an IRA rollover
A taxpayer withdrew money from a traditional IRA and failed to redeposit it within 60 days after being drawn into a fraud scheme. Scammers posing as a technology company and a bank persuaded the taxpa…
Retiree-medical reserve cannot fund coverage before employment ends
A company funded a welfare-benefit reserve for medical coverage that began when employees reached a stated retirement age, even if they continued working. Chief Counsel advised that the additional res…
Pension medical account may cover in-service retirees
An employer proposed amending its pension plan so its IRC § 401(h) retiree medical account could pay medical, dental, and vision benefits for employees still working after reaching age 59½. The pensio…
Return of surplus retiree medical assets did not disqualify pension plan
An employer terminated a frozen pension plan that included a separate IRC § 401(h) account for retiree medical benefits. After all pension and medical liabilities were satisfied, assets remained in th…
Pension plan may pay 401(h) retiree-medical benefits to active employees eligible for in-service retirement
A defined benefit pension plan can include a special "401(h) account" that pays medical benefits for retired employees and their dependents. The account here had a surplus, and the employer wanted to …
Surviving spouse may roll inherited retirement plan assets paid through the estate into her own IRA
A surviving spouse usually gets favorable rollover treatment for a deceased spouse's retirement accounts, but here the accounts named the decedent's estate (not the spouse) as beneficiary, which norma…
IRS approved five-year extensions for a multiemployer plan's amortization bases
A multiemployer pension plan requested automatic extensions for amortizing several unfunded liability bases. The IRS initially proposed denial because one base did not match the actuarial valuation an…
Group trust may redeem an investor through an in-kind transfer
A collective group trust limited its investors to eligible retirement arrangements and other qualifying group trusts. It proposed satisfying a withdrawing retirement plan's interest with a pro rata in…
Multiemployer plan amortization extensions approved
A multiemployer pension plan requested automatic extensions for amortizing three unfunded liability bases beginning with its 2023 plan year. The plan submitted an actuary's certification that it met t…
Surviving spouse could roll estate-paid IRA proceeds into own IRA
An IRA owner died intestate after the owner's estate had become the IRA beneficiary. The surviving spouse was the estate's sole administrator and, under state law, was treated as its sole beneficiary.…
Substitute mortality tables approved for two pension plans
A plan sponsor requested new substitute mortality tables after a group annuity purchase caused its previously approved tables to no longer predict future mortality accurately. The new tables used expe…
Substitute mortality tables approved for two pension plans
A plan sponsor requested new substitute mortality tables after a group annuity purchase caused its previously approved tables to no longer predict future mortality accurately. The new tables used expe…
Pension plan may use its 401(h) account for active employees eligible for age-59½ in-service pensions
An employer’s qualified defined benefit plan maintained a separate IRC § 401(h) account for retiree medical benefits. The employer proposed allowing certain non-key, non-collectively bargained employe…
Surviving spouse who is sole executor and sole estate beneficiary may roll over inherited IRAs into her own IRA
A person died before reaching age 73, leaving several IRAs that named the estate as the primary beneficiary. The surviving spouse was both the sole executor of the estate and the sole beneficiary of e…
Merged pension plan may keep using its existing substitute mortality tables
When a single-employer defined benefit pension plan calculates its funding obligations under section 430, it normally uses standard IRS mortality tables, but a plan can get IRS approval to use its own…
Trust can split inherited retirement accounts to a charity and heirs without triggering tax at the trust level
A woman died owning several retirement accounts that all named her revocable trust as the beneficiary. The trust splits the money two ways: a percentage goes to a private foundation (the charitable sh…
IRS approves substitute mortality tables for a pension plan's funding calculations
A single-employer defined benefit pension plan asked the IRS for permission to use its own substitute mortality tables, instead of the IRS standard tables, when calculating the plan's minimum funding …
Retroactive revocation of an earlier pension minimum-funding waiver
Employers that sponsor defined benefit pension plans generally must put in at least a minimum amount of funding each year. Section 412(c) lets the IRS waive that minimum for a plan sponsor facing temp…
A contingent deferred annuity linked to a taxpayer's own brokerage account is treated as an annuity under Section 72, with no straddle or loss-deferral side effects
A life insurance company plans to sell a "contingent deferred annuity," a product that guarantees a person lifetime income if their own investment account ever runs dry. Unlike a normal annuity, the b…
Conditional approval of a multiemployer pension plan's 5-year amortization extension, with one improperly extended base denied and required to be reversed
This is an IRS ruling on a multiemployer pension plan's request to stretch out (amortize) certain unfunded liabilities over an extra five years, which eases the plan's minimum funding requirements und…
A contingent deferred annuity linked to a customer's own brokerage account is treated as an annuity under section 72
A life insurance company designed a new "contingent deferred annuity," a guaranteed lifetime income product that attaches to a brokerage account the customer already owns rather than to money held by …
In-service employees age 59½ may draw 401(h) retiree medical benefits without disqualifying the pension plan
A company runs a defined-benefit pension plan that includes "401(h) accounts," a feature that lets a pension plan pay retiree medical benefits. It amended the plan to let employees who are at least ag…
Surviving spouse may roll a deceased spouse's 403(b) annuities, paid through a trust, into her own IRAs tax-free
A man died at 73 holding several 403(b) retirement annuities through his employer. He had named a joint revocable living trust as the beneficiary of those annuities. His surviving spouse is now the so…
A struggling employer wins a one-year waiver of its pension funding requirement, with strings attached
An employer that sponsors a defined benefit pension plan could not make its required minimum contribution for the plan year without serious financial strain. Code section 412(c) lets the IRS waive the…
Longevity contract qualifies as an annuity while the linked brokerage account remains separate
A taxpayer proposed buying a life insurance company's longevity contract linked to a separately owned taxable investment account. The contract would support lifetime withdrawals and begin guarantee pa…
Insurer's longevity contract qualifies as an annuity while the linked account remains separate
A life insurance company proposed a longevity contract linked to an individual's separately owned taxable investment account. The contract would support lifetime withdrawals and begin guarantee paymen…
Retiree medical account contribution satisfies the section 401(h) subordination limit
An employer maintained a qualified pension plan with a section 401(h) account that paid retiree medical benefits. It proposed an additional contribution to that medical account and asked whether the a…
Fraud victim received relief for a late IRA rollover
A taxpayer withdrew money from a traditional IRA after scammers falsely claimed that her identity had been stolen and directed her to move and send funds. She recovered part of the money and returned …
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.