Private Letter Ruling: Request Requirements, Fees, and Filing

To request a private letter ruling from the IRS, you submit a written request to the appropriate Associate Chief Counsel office following the format prescribed in the current year’s Rev. Proc. 1, currently Rev. Proc. 2026-1. The request must lay out your facts in detail, argue the legal position you want the IRS to adopt, include a declaration signed under penalties of perjury and a deletion statement for public disclosure, and be accompanied by the correct user fee, which for a general ruling runs $43,700.

A favorable ruling binds the IRS to the position it takes, but only for your transaction and only if you execute it exactly as described. That narrow scope is the tradeoff for the certainty it provides.

Before You File: Is a Ruling the Right Tool

A private letter ruling is worth the expense when your proposed transaction involves a genuinely ambiguous application of the tax code and existing published guidance doesn’t answer the question. Complex corporate reorganizations, unusual trust structures with estate or gift tax implications, and non-automatic accounting method changes are typical examples. In some areas the law requires an advance ruling: exempt organizations must obtain one for actions like voluntary termination of private foundation status or advance approval of scholarship programs.¹

Check the annual no-rule list before you invest time. Rev. Proc. 2025-3 identifies topics where the IRS will not or will not ordinarily rule, and the 2026 version follows the same structure. Beyond those lists, the IRS routinely declines to rule on questions of fact (such as fair market value), hypothetical or indefinite future transactions, issues currently in litigation among the parties, issues already under examination on your return, and the effect of proposed legislation.²

One boundary to keep straight: a private letter ruling is not a determination letter. A determination letter applies principles and precedents the IRS has already announced to your facts, and it is handled by IRS Directors rather than the Chief Counsel’s office.² Exempt organizations seeking recognition of tax-exempt status go through the determination letter process. If the answer to your question already exists in a revenue ruling or regulation, you likely need a determination letter, not a PLR.

What the Request Must Contain

Section 7 of Rev. Proc. 2026-1 specifies the required contents, and the format is updated but consistent from year to year.³

Complete Statement of Facts

The factual narrative must cover past events, the current status of all parties, and the precise steps of the proposed transaction. Include names, taxpayer identification numbers, the taxpayer’s accounting period and method, dollar amounts, percentages, and dates.² Attach supporting documents like corporate minutes, trust agreements, or contracts as exhibits. Leaving out a material fact can void the ruling, so err heavily on the side of over-disclosure.

Legal Analysis

After the facts, provide a detailed legal argument supporting your proposed tax treatment. Cite the specific Internal Revenue Code sections, Treasury Regulations, and case law that support your position, and address authority that cuts against you as well. Include the specific ruling language you want the IRS to issue.

Declaration Under Penalties of Perjury

Every request must include a declaration signed under penalties of perjury confirming that all facts are true, correct, and complete.⁴ The prescribed language reads: “Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have examined this request, including accompanying documents, and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the request contains all the relevant facts relating to the request, and such facts are true, correct, and complete.”⁵

You also confirm that the issue is not currently under examination or before a federal court and disclose whether you or a related party previously submitted a request involving the same issue. If a representative is handling the request, they file Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative.⁵

Deletion Statement for Public Disclosure

The IRS is required to publish a redacted version of every ruling under Section 6110, so you submit a deletion statement identifying what should be removed to protect your identity and confidential data.⁶ If you only want names, addresses, and identifying numbers deleted, a simple statement to that effect is enough. If you want more removed, bracket the specific material in a copy of your request and cite the statutory basis under Section 6110(c) for each proposed deletion.⁵

The User Fee

The fee schedule appears in Appendix A of the annual revenue procedure. Under Rev. Proc. 2025-1, the amounts are:

General letter ruling requests: $43,700²
Accounting period requests (Form 1128): $5,750
Non-automatic accounting method changes (Form 3115): $13,225
Relief under Section 301.9100-3: $14,500

Reduced fees are available at two tiers: one for taxpayers with gross income below $250,000 and a second for taxpayers with gross income between $250,000 and $1 million.² To qualify, submit a certification of your income level with the request. Submitting the wrong fee amount gets your request returned unprocessed, so confirm the current year’s numbers before you file. If the IRS ends up providing only general information rather than the requested ruling, you may be entitled to a refund of the user fee.⁷

Where and How to Submit

The completed package goes to the specific Associate Chief Counsel division that handles your subject matter. Rev. Proc. 2025-1 identifies eight Associate offices covering areas including corporate tax, international tax, passthroughs and estates, and income tax and accounting.² Sending the request to the wrong division creates delays, so confirm the jurisdictional breakdown in the current year’s revenue procedure before mailing.

The taxpayer or authorized representative must sign and date the request. Paper submissions require a handwritten signature. Encrypted email submissions can use a scanned or digital signature, and faxed submissions must be physically signed before faxing.⁵

Pre-Submission Conferences

If your issue is highly complex or you want to gauge the IRS’s likely reception before investing in a full submission, request a pre-submission conference. In this informal meeting you describe the transaction and issues to the assigned branch, and the IRS attorneys signal whether the request is viable and what additional information they will need. The step is optional but can save considerable time and money if the IRS indicates early that it will not rule.

What Happens After You File

The request is logged and assigned to an attorney within the appropriate Chief Counsel division. That attorney reviews the submission for completeness and typically contacts you or your representative to discuss the issues and clarify facts. Expect multiple rounds of questions on a substantive request.

You are entitled to one conference as a matter of right. This conference of right typically occurs when the assigned attorney is leaning toward an adverse conclusion or wants to explore the legal arguments more fully. Your representative presents arguments directly to the IRS attorney and often to a Branch Chief. Any further conferences are discretionary.

Processing times vary. The IRS generally aims to resolve ruling requests within about 180 days, though complex issues take longer. A fast-track process for certain corporate transactions targets a roughly 12-week turnaround, with specific eligibility requirements that do not extend to all ruling categories.

Withdrawing a Request

You can withdraw at any time before the IRS signs the final ruling, but withdrawal has consequences worth understanding first. The IRS will not return your correspondence or exhibits. More importantly, the Associate office generally notifies the IRS division responsible for examining your return that you withdrew, and may share its preliminary views on the issues you raised.⁷ Withdrawing because you sense an unfavorable answer can therefore draw the attention of an examiner who now has the Chief Counsel’s informal analysis of your transaction. The same notification happens when the IRS declines to issue a ruling. In some cases, the IRS may publish its conclusions on the underlying issue as a revenue ruling or revenue procedure even after withdrawal.

After a Favorable Ruling

A favorable ruling binds the IRS to the position stated, but only for the transaction exactly as you described it. Execute it differently and the ruling no longer protects you. And a private letter ruling cannot be cited as precedent by any other taxpayer or by the IRS against any other taxpayer; federal regulations state that a written determination “may not be used or cited as precedent.”⁸

Federal law requires the IRS to make all written determinations available for public inspection after redacting protected information.⁶ Before publication, you get to review the IRS’s proposed redactions to confirm no private or proprietary information slips through. The IRS must retain the public version for at least three years.⁸

The IRS can also revoke or modify a previously issued ruling. Common triggers include a change in the underlying statute, a Supreme Court decision that shifts the legal landscape, a determination that the ruling was issued in error, or a finding that you misrepresented the facts. In practice, revocations are almost always prospective, so you can rely on the ruling for transactions completed before the revocation date as long as you acted in good faith. Retroactive revocation is reserved for cases involving fraud or deliberate misrepresentation of material facts.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Exempt Organizations Private Letter Rulings and Determination Letters
2
Internal Revenue Service. Internal Revenue Bulletin: 2025-1
3
Internal Revenue Service. Code Revenue Procedures Regulations Letter Rulings
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6065 – Verification of Returns
5
Internal Revenue Service. Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-1
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6110 – Public Inspection of Written Determinations
7
Internal Revenue Service. 32.3.1 Forms of Advice
8
eCFR. 26 CFR 301.6110-7 – Miscellaneous Provisions