PLR - Telephone cooperative’s plan to retire patronage allocations at a discount is approved 

March 4:  The IRS posted a private letter ruling* which concludes that a telephone cooperative’s plan to make patronage allocations by retiring previously allocated patronage amounts at a discount would be qualified patronage exclusions; that the difference relating to the discounted value would not be included in the cooperative’s gross income; and that this plan would not affect the cooperative’s tax-exempt status.

Read PLR 201309017 [PDF 772 KB]

Summary

The telephone cooperative proposed to retire its current patronage allocations to current and former members on an accelerated basis, by retiring previously allocated patronage at a discount (i.e., the present value of the allocated capital credits).


The cooperative requested a ruling from the IRS that, among other items, the patronage allocations would be qualified patronage exclusions; that the difference between the allocation value and the discounted value would not be included in the cooperative’s gross income; and that the proposed allocation retirement would not affect the cooperative’s tax-exempt status.


The IRS reviewed the submission and concluded that the plan for patronage allocations would be qualified patronage exclusions; that the difference between stated value of the allocations and the discounted value would not be included in the cooperative’s gross income; and that the plan would not affect the cooperative’s tax-exempt status.


*Private letter rulings are taxpayer-specific rulings furnished by the IRS National Office in response to requests made by taxpayers and can only be relied upon by the taxpayer to whom issued. It is important to note that, pursuant to section 6110(k)(3), such items cannot be used or cited as precedent. Nonetheless, such rulings can provide useful information about how the IRS may view certain issues.



For more information, contact KPMG’s National Director of Cooperative Tax Services:


David Antoni, in Philadelphia

(267) 256-1627


Or Associate National Director of KPMG’s Cooperative Tax Services


Brett Huston, in Sacramento


(916) 554-1654




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