Section 355

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Today, the Wall Street Journal considers again, on its front page above the fold, the potential benefits of corporate spin-off transactions (https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-reason-investors-love-spinoffs-juicier-returns-1507681008 (subscription required)). The Journal article notes that the S&P Spin-Off Index has outperformed the S&P 500 Index by nearly 190 percentage points in the last ten years.…

On September 21, 2017, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued Revenue Procedure 2017-52[1] (the “Rev. Proc.”), introducing an 18-month “pilot program” in respect of corporate “spin-off,” “split-up” and “split-off” transactions (“Spin-off Transactions”[2]). Under this pilot program, the IRS will again issue private letter rulings on the general federal income tax consequences of Spin-off Transactions intended to qualify as tax-free under Section 355 (a “Transactional Ruling”).[3]

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released Revenue Procedure 2016-45 (the “Revenue Procedure”) on August 26, 2016, permitting taxpayers once again to seek private letter rulings on issues of “corporate business purpose” and “device” under Section 355 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (dealing with tax-free spin-offs and related transactions). The corporate business purpose and device requirements under Section 355 have long been matters on which the IRS has preemptively declined to issue letter rulings or determination letters (these are commonly referred to as “no-rule” areas, the full list of which is reissued annually; see, e.g., Rev. Proc. 2016-3). The Revenue Procedure states that the IRS has determined that there are a number of unresolved legal issues relating to the corporate business purpose and device requirements that may be germane to determining the tax consequences of a transaction. As a result, the IRS will consider ruling requests, dated on or after August 26, 2016, related to the corporate business purpose and device requirements, subject to the overall standard requiring that the request present a “significant issue” and the general latitude of the IRS not to rule if, in their view, the facts and circumstances so warrant.

By removing these issues from the no-rule list, the IRS offers corporations considering a tax-free spin-off the possibility of significantly greater comfort on the U.S. federal income tax treatment of the transaction. The change in position may also reflect recognition by the IRS that while existing published and non-published guidance on corporate business purpose and device addresses many open issues in respect of these requirements of Section 355, significant issues remain that may merit seeking an IRS determination before a transaction proceeds.

The removal of corporate business purpose and device from the no-rule list follows on the heels of the July issuance of proposed regulations under Section 355 addressing the “device” and “active trade or business” requirements of Section 355. Notably, the Revenue Procedure does not specifically discuss whether questions about the application or interpretation of the new proposed regulations relating to device are amenable to ruling requests (indeed, the Revenue Procedure does not mention these proposed regulations at all). Click here for our client alert on the proposed regulations on “device” and “active trade or business”.

A brief background on private letter rulings and no-rule areas under Section 355 follows.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) have published proposed regulations that would modify the device and active trade or business requirements for tax-free spin-offs under section 355 of the Code in three important respects.

First, the proposed regulations clarify the “device” test and…