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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Foundation's grants for emerging women and LGBTQ filmmakers approved
A private foundation proposed one-year production grants for emerging filmmakers in a metropolitan area who identify as female or LGBTQ and are making films or videos about art or artists. Applicants …
Scholarships rewarding local historical-site knowledge approved
A private foundation proposed one-time scholarships for graduates of local high schools who showed interest in and knowledge of a historic site. Applicants needed a good academic record, a passion for…
Medical professional corporation denied exemption because its articles failed the organizational test
A professional service corporation formed to practice medicine applied for section 501(c)(3) exemption. A public charity controlled the corporation through its selected shareholder and a shareholder a…
Partnership received 120 days for a late section 754 election after technical termination
A buyer acquired more than half of a limited liability company's partnership interests while the former section 708 technical-termination rule was still in effect. The acquisition caused a technical t…
Further term extension preserves bankruptcy liquidating trust status
A liquidating trust was created under a confirmed Chapter 11 plan to sell assets and distribute the proceeds to beneficiaries. Its agreement prohibited an ongoing business, limited retained cash to am…
Estate received late QTIP and reverse QTIP election relief
A decedent's revocable trust divided the marital share into generation-skipping transfer tax exempt and nonexempt trusts for the surviving spouse. The spouse was entitled to all income and could recei…
Foreign entity received 120 days for a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign single-owner entity intended to be disregarded for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date. It was owned by a domestic disregarded entity, which in turn was owned by an S corporati…
Estate received 120 days to file a late portability election
An estate represented that it was below the section 6018 filing threshold and was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return. It nevertheless needed Form 706 to elect portability of the deced…
Consolidated group received 60 days for a late section 382 closing-of-the-books election
A consolidated group experienced an ownership change that limited the use of its pre-change losses under section 382. The group missed the deadline to elect to close its books on the ownership-change …
Parties received 45 days to file a late section 336(e) election statement
A partnership purchased all stock of an S corporation, which later merged into a disregarded limited liability company owned by the purchaser. The parties timely signed a binding agreement to make a s…
Taxpayer received 60 days for a late success-based fee safe-harbor election
A partnership paid a contingent financial-adviser fee in connection with an acquisition that ended its partnership status. Its final return followed the Revenue Procedure 2011-29 safe harbor by deduct…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate represented that the decedent's gross estate and adjusted taxable gifts were below the threshold requiring an estate tax return. It still needed to file Form 706 to elect portability of the …
Estate received 120 days for late GST exemption allocations to three trusts
A decedent created an irrevocable trust that immediately divided into three equal trusts for the decedent's children, with the instrument stating that each trust was intended to be exempt from generat…
Education grants for people rebuilding after addiction, homelessness, or incarceration approved
A private foundation proposed educational grants for people recovering from substance abuse or addiction, experiencing homelessness, returning to society after incarceration, or otherwise facing finan…
Reinstatement denied for missing dissolution terms and unexplained donor-advised accounts
A nonprofit corporation sought reinstatement of section 501(c)(3) status after its prior exemption was automatically revoked for failing to file Form 990 for three consecutive tax periods. Its article…
Wellness collaborative denied exemption for promoting member businesses
A nonprofit formed by owners of five for-profit wellness businesses offered health fairs, classes, workshops, and wellness services at apartment complexes, stores, and its own meeting space. The activ…
Cannabis retailer denied section 501(c)(4) social welfare exemption
An organization originally formed as a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation to provide access to medical marijuana later restated its articles as a general stock corporation. It operated a public stor…
Member death-benefit organization denied exemption for serving private interests
An organization provided death benefits to the beneficiaries of active and retired members who died from any cause. Participating groups supplied the names of their participants, fees were based on th…
Death-benefit club denied section 501(c)(7) social-club exemption
A club’s only activity was providing death benefits to members to help with funeral costs. All income came from member dues, and all disbursements paid death benefits. The club had no social or recrea…
Referral network denied section 501(c)(6) business-league exemption
A mutual benefit corporation admitted only one member from each trade or specialty and held weekly meetings where members exchanged business leads, referrals, testimonials, and information about their…
Extension granted to attach Form 3115 to amended return
A taxpayer timely mailed the duplicate copy of Form 3115 and reported all adjustments from its intended automatic accounting-method change, but its tax manager inadvertently failed to attach the origi…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
S corporation received inadvertent-termination relief after trust merger
An eligible electing small business trust that owned S corporation shares merged into a second trust. The surviving trust filed an ESBT election using a later effective date than the actual share tran…
S corporation received inadvertent-termination relief after trust merger
An eligible electing small business trust that owned S corporation shares merged into a second trust. The surviving trust filed an ESBT election using a later effective date than the actual share tran…
S corporation received inadvertent-termination relief after trust merger
An eligible electing small business trust that owned S corporation shares merged into a second trust. The surviving trust filed an ESBT election using a later effective date than the actual share tran…
S corporation received inadvertent-termination relief after trust merger
An eligible electing small business trust that owned S corporation shares merged into a second trust. The surviving trust filed an ESBT election using a later effective date than the actual share tran…
S corporation received inadvertent-termination relief after trust merger
An eligible electing small business trust that owned S corporation shares merged into a second trust. The surviving trust filed an ESBT election using a later effective date than the actual share tran…
Foreign entity received extension to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity intended to be classified as a disregarded entity but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the requirements for discretionary electi…
Extension granted for section 336(e) election after S corporation stock sale
A purchaser acquired all stock of an S corporation from its shareholders, and the parties intended to treat the qualified stock disposition as an asset sale under section 336(e). They did not timely e…
Scholarship grant procedures received advance approval
A nonexempt charitable trust operated a scholarship program for local high school students. A committee of school officials selected recipients using equally weighted scholarship, ability, need, and o…
Employer-related scholarship and educational grant procedures approved
A private foundation proposed an employer-related program offering both scholarships for accredited education and educational grants for summer programs, evening classes, and talent development to qua…
Medical management service organization denied charitable exemption
A nonprofit successor to a for-profit company provided medical and administrative services to for-profit healthcare practices for ordinary fees, while also conducting incidental ministry activities su…
Housing assistance organization denied charitable exemption for defective articles
A nonprofit planned to renovate foreclosed homes and provide them rent-free to families while offering financial education and other support. Its original articles did not limit its purposes to charit…
Accounting consultants denied business league exemption
A membership organization for accounting businesses offered each member an initial free consultation followed by customized management consulting for quarterly fees. More than a redacted percentage of…
Medical marijuana patient aid organization denied charitable exemption
An organization planned to raise funds that dispensaries would use to provide a one-month supply of medical marijuana and transportation assistance to financially needy patients in a state program. It…
Two-business split-up qualified as tax-free divisive reorganizations
A company operated two businesses through separate wholly owned limited liability companies and wanted to separate the businesses among two groups of owners. Each subsidiary would elect corporate tax …
Late QSub and corporate classification elections received 120-day extensions
An S corporation acquired all the stock of another S corporation and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status for the acquired company. It later converted both entities to limited li…
Foreign entity received 120 days for late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a disregarded entity from a specified date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the requirements for discretionary…
Three-year trust extension did not disturb liquidating trust classification
A trust was created under a Chapter 11 liquidation plan solely to liquidate and distribute transferred assets, without continuing a trade or business. The bankruptcy court had already extended its ori…
Corporation received 60 days to file late IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation and entered a commission arrangement with a related company. Its law firm organized the enti…
Partnership received 60 days to elect success-fee safe harbor
A partnership paid financial advisers success-based fees in connection with its acquisition. Its return preparer applied the Revenue Procedure 2011-29 safe harbor, which treats 70 percent of qualifyin…
Parties received late relief for section 336(e) stock-sale election
A consolidated group sold all the stock of a subsidiary and intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as an asset disposition. The purchase agreement called for the election, but …
Two pension plans approved to use substitute annuitant mortality tables
A taxpayer requested substitute mortality tables for two defined benefit pension plans. The IRS approved the substitute rates for male and female annuitants, including disabled participants, for ten p…
Life insurer could not make reserve interest-rate elections on amended returns
A life insurance group sought to use amended returns to elect five-year recomputation of the applicable federal interest rate used for reserves on older contracts. Chief Counsel concluded that the doc…
Pending merger had to be considered in valuing gifted public stock
A corporate co-founder transferred publicly traded shares to a grantor retained annuity trust shortly before the company announced a merger that followed extended negotiations. The stock price rose su…
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.