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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IRS grants a partnership extra time to make a late § 754 basis-adjustment election
A limited partnership wanted to make a section 754 election, which lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its property when a partner transfers an interest or receives a distribution. That…
IRS rules on nuclear decommissioning trust transfers in a partial sale of a nuclear power plant
Two owners of a nuclear power plant restructured their stakes. A private seller (a disregarded subsidiary of a taxable parent) is selling part of its undivided ownership interest in the plant to a…
IRS grants a corporate parent extra time to make a late election to file a consolidated return
The parent company of an affiliated group of corporations wanted the group to file a single consolidated federal income tax return, with the parent as the common parent, for a particular tax year.…
IRS grants a new corporate parent extra time to make a late consolidated-return election after an acquisition
A holding company (an LLC that elected to be taxed as a corporation), formed by private equity funds to buy a target corporation, acquired that target through its subsidiary. The target had been the…
IRS grants an estate extra time to make a late portability election under § 2010(c)(5)(A)
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate-and-gift tax exclusion can be passed to their surviving spouse through a "portability" election. This is valuable because it lets the…
IRS grants a foreign insurer extra time to make a late § 953(d) election to be treated as a domestic corporation
A foreign regulated insurance company was bought by a U.S. corporate group. Under section 953(d), certain foreign insurance companies can elect to be treated as domestic (U.S.) corporations for tax…
Late § 754 election allowed for a partnership after two partners died
A partnership missed the deadline to make a § 754 election and asked the IRS for more time. A § 754 election lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets when a partner's interest changes…
Late § 754 election allowed for an LLC taxed as a partnership
An LLC taxed as a partnership meant to make a § 754 election but did not file it on time with its return. A § 754 election lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets when interests change…
Late estate-tax portability election allowed for a surviving spouse
When a married person dies without using all of their federal estate-tax exemption, the leftover amount (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE) can be passed to the surviving spouse, but…
Late estate-tax portability election allowed for a surviving spouse
A married person died leaving part of their federal estate-tax exemption unused. That leftover amount (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE) can be transferred to the surviving spouse, but…
Late § 336(e) election allowed to treat an S-corp stock sale as an asset sale
When someone buys all the stock of an S corporation, the parties can elect under § 336(e) to treat the deal as if the company sold all its assets and liquidated, which usually gives the buyer a…
Late election allowed to treat a trust as a GST trust and allocate exemption
The generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax is a separate transfer tax that applies when wealth skips a generation, but each person has a GST exemption they can allocate to shelter gifts from it. A…
State Medicaid in-home care payments are excludable difficulty-of-care payments
A state Medicaid agency runs an in-home supportive care program that pays individual caregivers to look after disabled or chronically ill people who would otherwise need a nursing home or other…
Tax-free split-off letting one family branch take its own corporation
A publicly traded corporation, owned mostly by three related families plus other shareholders, wants to divide up its main business. It will form a new subsidiary, drop part of the business into it,…
Inadvertent S-corp terminations excused after trusts missed QSST and ESBT elections
An S corporation can only have certain kinds of shareholders. When a shareholder dies and stock passes to a trust, the trust can hold it for a two-year grace period, but to keep it longer the trust…
Late set-aside election allowed on an amended Form 8609 for the low-income housing credit
The low-income housing credit under § 42 rewards owners who rent a share of their units to lower-income tenants. To qualify, an owner must pick a "minimum set-aside" test on Form 8609, and once made…
Late check-the-box election allowed for a foreign entity to be disregarded
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A single-owner foreign entity can elect to be "disregarded," meaning it is ignored as a…
Late election allowed to apportion a consolidated § 382 limitation to departing members
When companies that had losses leave a consolidated group, the group's parent can elect under Treas. Reg. § 1.1502-95(c) to hand off part of the group's § 382 limitation (the annual cap on using…
Late check-the-box election allowed for a foreign entity to be disregarded
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can pick how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A single-owner foreign entity can elect to be "disregarded," meaning it is ignored as a…
Late Form 8996 accepted, allowing an LLC to self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund
A qualified opportunity fund (QOF) is an investment vehicle under § 1400Z-2 that lets investors defer capital gains by putting them into designated low-income "opportunity zones." To be a QOF, an…
Late Form 8996 accepted, allowing an LLC to self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund
A qualified opportunity fund (QOF) is an investment vehicle under § 1400Z-2 that lets investors defer capital gains by reinvesting them in designated low-income "opportunity zones." An entity…
Late check-the-box election allowed for a domestic LLC to be taxed as a corporation
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. By default a domestic LLC with two or more members is a partnership (or, with a single…
Late § 108(b)(5) election allowed to reduce depreciable-property basis first for cancelled debt
When a company's debt is forgiven, it normally has taxable cancellation-of-debt income, but an insolvent company can exclude that income under § 108 in exchange for cutting its tax attributes…
Late check-the-box election allowed for a foreign entity to be disregarded
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can pick how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A single-owner foreign entity can elect to be "disregarded," so it is ignored as a separate…
Late estate-tax portability election allowed for a surviving spouse
A married person died leaving part of their federal estate-tax exemption unused. That leftover amount (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE) can pass to the surviving spouse, but only if…
Late Form 8996 accepted, allowing an LLC to self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund
A qualified opportunity fund (QOF) is an investment vehicle under § 1400Z-2 that lets investors defer capital gains by reinvesting them in designated low-income "opportunity zones." An entity…
Late Form 8996 accepted, allowing an LLC to self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund
A qualified opportunity fund (QOF) is an investment vehicle under § 1400Z-2 that lets investors defer capital gains by reinvesting them in designated low-income "opportunity zones." An entity…
Late check-the-box election allowed for two LLCs to be taxed as corporations
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. By default a domestic LLC with two or more members is a partnership (or, with one owner,…
Inadvertent S-corp termination excused after a trust missed its ESBT election
An S corporation can only have certain kinds of shareholders. A trust can qualify if it makes an electing small business trust (ESBT) election, filed by the trustee. Here all the shares of an S…
Late estate-tax portability election allowed for a surviving spouse
A married person died leaving part of their federal estate-tax exemption unused. That leftover amount (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE) can pass to the surviving spouse, but only if…
IRS pre-approves a foundation's scholarship-award procedures under § 4945(g)(1)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, the procedures for a scholarship program before it made any awards. Under IRC § 4945, scholarship grants a private foundation pays to…
IRS denies § 501(c)(3) exemption to an open-source software organization
An organization that develops and distributes open-source software (tools and patches for mobile apps) applied for recognition as a tax-exempt charity under IRC § 501(c)(3), using the short Form…
IRS revokes a private foundation's exemption for self-dealing loans to a founder's LLCs
The IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of a private foundation because it stopped operating for charitable purposes. On audit, the agency found the foundation's main activity was making loans to LLCs…
120-day extension for an LLC to file a late check-the-box election to be taxed as a corporation
A limited liability company wanted to be taxed as a corporation rather than under the default rules that treat an LLC as a partnership or a disregarded entity. To do that, it had to file Form 8832…
120-day extension for a partnership to make a late § 754 basis-adjustment election
An LLC taxed as a partnership wanted to make a § 754 election, which lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets when a partner's interest changes hands or property is distributed, so the…
120-day extension for a partnership to make a late § 754 basis-adjustment election
An LLC taxed as a partnership wanted to make a § 754 election, which lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets when a partner's interest changes hands, so a buying partner's inside basis…
60-day extension to file a missing § 174 R&E method-change statement with an amended return
A corporate group that files a consolidated return had to change its accounting method to comply with § 174 as amended by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which requires research or experimental…
Late S-corp election relief plus 9100 extension for a PLLC's corporate-classification election
A professional LLC intended to be taxed as an S corporation from the day it was formed. To get there, an LLC normally must both elect to be classified as a corporation (via Form 8832) and elect…
120-day extension for a foreign entity to file a late check-the-box election to be disregarded
A foreign business entity wanted to be treated as a disregarded entity for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its single owner (so the owner reports the entity's income…
120-day extension for a foreign entity to file a late check-the-box election to be disregarded
A foreign business entity wanted to be treated as a disregarded entity for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its single owner (so the owner reports the entity's income…
120-day extension for a foreign entity to file a late check-the-box election to be disregarded
A foreign business entity wanted to be treated as a disregarded entity for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its single owner (so the owner reports the entity's income…
Late S-corp election relief plus 9100 extension for an LLC's corporate-classification election
A state LLC intended to be taxed as an S corporation from a certain date. To get there, an LLC normally must both elect to be classified as a corporation (via Form 8832) and elect S-corporation…
Inadvertent-termination relief for two S corporations after a trust missed its QSST election
Two S corporations (X and Y) had a shareholder, A, who died. Under A's will, the shares passed to a trust. A trust can hold S-corporation stock only in limited ways; one path is for the trust's…
Parent treated as owning "friendly PC" stock, so the professional corporations must join its consolidated return
State licensing laws often require a professional corporation (PC) to be owned only by licensed professionals, which stops an ordinary corporate parent from holding the PC's shares directly. This…
Triple S-corp relief for an LLC (late classification, late S election, and second-class-of-stock termination)
An LLC intended to be taxed as an S corporation from the day it was formed and had always filed that way, but it hit three separate problems. First, it never filed the forms to be classified as a…
60-day extension to elect out of bonus depreciation under § 168(k)(7)
Bonus depreciation under § 168(k) lets a business immediately deduct a large percentage of the cost of qualifying property in the year it is placed in service. A taxpayer can instead elect out of…
75-day extension to file a late § 336(e) election treating an S-corp stock sale as an asset sale
A § 336(e) election lets certain sales of a corporation's stock be treated, for tax purposes, as if the corporation had sold its assets. Buyers often want this because it gives the assets a…
120-day extension for an entity to file a late check-the-box election to be taxed as a corporation
A business entity wanted to be taxed as a corporation rather than under the default classification (partnership or disregarded entity). To do that, it had to file Form 8832, the "check-the-box"…
Relief accepting a late Form 8996 to self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund
A qualified opportunity fund (QOF) is an investment vehicle that lets investors defer and reduce tax on capital gains they roll into designated low-income "opportunity zones" under § 1400Z-2. To be…
Consent for a cost-sharing arrangement to switch to the elective method for valuing stock-based compensation
When a U.S. company and its foreign subsidiary share the cost of developing intangibles under a cost sharing arrangement (CSA), the transfer pricing rules require them to include the cost of…
120-day extension to file a late Section 754 election to adjust partnership property basis
A Section 754 election lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its property when a partner's interest changes hands or property is distributed, so the new numbers line up with what partners…
Late-filed Form 8996 treated as timely so an LLC can self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund
A qualified opportunity fund (QOF) is an investment vehicle that gets tax breaks for putting money into designated low-income "opportunity zones." To become one, an entity must self-certify each…
Tax treaty exempts a foreign corporation's branch profits tax on the dividend equivalent amount from its U.S. LLCs
When a foreign corporation runs a U.S. branch, the U.S. charges a "branch profits tax" (Section 884) on top of the regular corporate income tax. The idea is to mimic the tax that would apply if a…
Mutual fund reorganization qualifies as tax-free under Section 368 even though sanctioned foreign stock transfers later
Two mutual funds organized as separate series of the same investment company want to merge, with the Target Fund folding into the Acquiring Fund. Both are regulated investment companies (RICs) with…
Advance approval of a private foundation's scholarship and vocational-grant procedures
A private foundation that makes grants to individuals must get the IRS to approve its grant procedures in advance. Otherwise, under Section 4945, the grant counts as a "taxable expenditure" and…
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…
Advance approval of a foundation's scholarship program and specific-objective grant program
A private foundation that gives grants to individuals needs the IRS to approve its grant-making procedures in advance, or the grants count as taxable expenditures under Section 4945 and trigger an…
501(c)(3) exemption denied to an off-road motorsport event organization
An organization applied for tax-exempt charitable status under Section 501(c)(3), but the IRS denied it. The group's sole activity was an annual off-road vehicle event: a multi-day gathering of…
501(c)(3) exemption denied to a family-reunion and family-scholarship organization
An organization applied for charitable exemption under Section 501(c)(3), but the IRS denied it. The group was formed to plan and run reunions for one family, providing the location, transportation,…
501(c)(3) exemption denied to an employee mutual-benefit association
An organization applied for charitable exemption under Section 501(c)(3), but the IRS denied it. The group is a mutual-benefit association open to full-time permanent employees of one employer who…
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.