IRS Letter Rulings and DOL Advisory Opinions
For your convenience, we have included relevant material on some of the IRS Letter Rulings and Department of Labor (DOL) Advisories that affect IRAs.
IRS Letter Rulings
Please Note: The information presented below is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as tax, legal, or investment advice. Whenever making an investment decision, please consult with legal, tax, and accounting professionals.
It is important to note that IRS Private Letter Rulings have limited precedential value. Any opinion or position expressed by the IRS in a Private Letter Ruling may only be relied upon by the particular party or parties who have requested the Private Letter Ruling, and may not be relied upon by the general public as a whole. Therefore, the IRS Private Letter Rulings listed below are contained for educational purposes and are merely intended to provide you with insight regarding some of the opinions and positions that the IRS has taken in the past regarding certain IRA investments and transactions.
IRS Private Letter Ruling 200705032: Allocation of IRAs to a trust upon the death of IRA owner should not be treated as an inherited IRA to decedent's spouse. Thus the rollover of the entire amount into IRAs maintained in the spouse's name would be permissible if accomplished within 60 days and the funds attributable to decedent's IRAs would not be included in gross income of either the trust or the spouse. Additionally, neither the spouse nor the trust was required to withdraw any required minimum distributions with respect to any calendar years prior to rollover.
IRS Private Letter Ruling 200652028: The assignment of IRAs to two separate charities upon the death of IRA Owner in satisfaction of their share of the residue of the Trust as established by decedent will not be considered a transfer under Section 691(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code.
IRS Private Letter Ruling 200650023: A surviving spouse may rollover the account balances from her deceased husband's profit sharing plan and SEP-IRAs into an IRA in decedent's name from which she can then receive penalty-free distributions prior to attaining age 59 and a half in accordance with Section 72(t)(2)(A)(ii) of the Internal Revenue Code.
IRS Letter Ruling 199929029, April 27, 1999: IRA Investment in Subchapter S terminates "s" status
IRS Letter Ruling 2000-2: Executor May Elect to Treat an IRA payable to a Trustee as the named beneficiary as qualified terminable interest property (QTIP)
IRS Letter Ruling 200008044, December 3, 1999: Division of Inherited IRA to Four Separate Trusts Did Not Count as Distribution
IRS Letter Ruling 200027061, April 12, 2000: IRA funds acquired from estate of deceased spouse still qualify for non taxable rollover into survivors IRA
IRS Letter Ruling 200151049, August 21, 2001: Married couple acting in good faith granted extension in Recharacterization of Roth IRA back to Traditional IRA
DOL Advisory Opinions
DOL Advisory Opinion 2006-09A – Investment by a self-directed IRA in notes being offered by an entity that is over 87% owned by the IRA owner's son-in-law would be a prohibited transaction.
DOL Advisory Opinion 2006-01A – Investment by a self-directed IRA in a limited liability company pursuant to an understanding that the LLC will than invest in a corporation that is a disqualified person would constitute a prohibited transaction.
DOL Advisory Opinion 2004-09A – Neither a cash contribution made by a plan sponsor nor a cash credit made by the custodian of a Health Savings Account (HSA) would be a probibited transaction.
DOL Advisory Opinion 2000-10A – IRA Investment in Limited Partnership Not a Prohibited Transaction
DOL Advisory Opinion 1993-33A – A sale and lease back arrangement between an IRA and the daughter and son-in-law of the IRA Owner would be a prohibited transaction.