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.
No determinations match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Coffeehouse denied section 501(c)(3) status because of its commercial operation
An organization planned to operate a coffeehouse during normal commercial hours, charge prices generally matching nearby competitors, employ paid staff, and use common business advertising. It also pl…
Two foreign entities received 120 days to make late disregarded-entity elections
A domestic limited partnership formed two foreign limited liability companies in a tiered ownership structure. The two foreign entities intended to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from their f…
Surviving spouse may roll inherited IRA proceeds into her own IRAs
A decedent's children were originally named as the sole beneficiaries of his IRA, but a state court later named his surviving spouse as the sole beneficiary. The spouse represented that she had an unl…
Parties received more time to complete a section 336(e) election
Purchasers acquired more than 80 percent of an S corporation's stock in a transaction represented to be a qualified stock disposition. The parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the s…
Regulated investment company may revoke its section 4982 election
A regulated investment company had elected to use its calendar taxable year instead of the one-year period ending October 31 when computing capital gain net income for the section 4982 excise tax. It …
Six investment-fund series received late corporate classification relief
Six series of business trusts intended from formation to be treated as corporations and regulated investment companies. Each had filed Form 1120-RIC and operated consistently with that intended status…
Partnership received late section 754 election relief after partner deaths
A limited partnership failed to make a timely section 754 election for three years in which deaths affected partnership interests. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and that re…
Modified ruling preserves S status after a missed ESBT election
Shareholders transferred S corporation stock to an irrevocable trust that was eligible to be an electing small business trust, but the trustee did not timely make the ESBT election. The missed electio…
Private-school scholarship procedures approved under section 4945(g)
A private foundation proposed scholarships for academically qualified students with financial need to attend accredited private schools in grades PK through 12. An independent committee would consider…
Exempt status revoked after organization failed to produce records
The IRS selected a section 501(c)(3) organization for examination to verify that its activities remained consistent with its exempt status. The organization did not provide requested records concernin…
Hospital district retained exemption and was reclassified as a governmental public charity
A hospital district had stopped directly operating a hospital after selling operating assets to a limited liability company and entering lease arrangements. The governing agreements reserved board app…
Charity reclassified after support shifted from fees to public contributions
A charity had originally been classified under section 509(a)(2) because fees were its primary source of support. Its support later shifted to gifts, grants, and contributions, and its reported public…
Social club exemption revoked for excessive nonmember investment income
A social club recognized under section 501(c)(7) reported that substantially all of its income for two examined years came from investments. Social clubs may generally receive no more than 35 percent …
Motorboat racing organization lost exemption for recreational and private purposes
A motorboat racing organization claimed exemption for fostering national or international amateur sports competition. Its articles permitted any lawful purpose and lacked a qualifying dissolution prov…
Condominium association denied section 501(c)(4) status
A condominium association collected owner assessments to pay for utilities, insurance, landscaping, parking, roofing, pest treatment, and other common-property expenses. Membership and voting rights w…
Business-park association denied section 501(c)(4) status
An association managed the common areas, design rules, construction review, and owner assessments for a privately owned commercial business park. Its members were the property owners, and a developer …
Homeowners association denied section 501(c)(3) status
A small homeowners association collected monthly fees from four members and used the pooled funds for property insurance and gardening. Its submitted articles bore a different name, did not establish …
Each taxpayer must sign Form 921-I to extend the assessment period
Chief Counsel advised how taxpayers should execute Form 921-I when a flow-through entity extends the assessment period for each owner’s share of common-improvement costs. The basic Form 921 applies to…
Third party must use the statutory lien-discharge remedy
Chief Counsel advised that a third party paying another person’s tax liability must use the remedies under sections 6325(b)(4) and 7426(a)(4). Those provisions superseded the refund-suit route recogni…
Dragnet clause does not defeat purchase-money mortgage priority
Chief Counsel considered whether a cross-collateralization, or dragnet, clause prevents a deed of trust from qualifying as a purchase-money mortgage for federal tax lien purposes. The advice found no …
Consolidated group continued after new-parent transactions
A consolidated corporate group underwent a series of transactions involving a newly formed parent, merger subsidiary, and entity-classification elections. Chief Counsel concluded that the original con…
Nuclear decommissioning fund transfer preserved qualified status
A seller planned to transfer ownership of a nuclear power plant and its qualified nuclear decommissioning fund to a purchaser as part of a transaction treated as an asset sale for federal tax purposes…
Formula term qualified charitable lead annuity interest
A revocable trust directed its residue to a charitable lead annuity trust after the deaths of the grantor and spouse, either directly or through a marital trust. The charitable trust would pay a five-…
Administrative delay did not make pension buyout an accelerated payment
A governmental retirement system offered eligible members a lump sum in exchange for reduced future cost-of-living increases. Members elected the buyout with their retirement applications, but adminis…
Genetic testing costs qualified only to the extent allocable to medical care
A taxpayer wanted to use a health-care flexible spending account to buy a bundled genetic-testing product that supplied ancestry information, health testing, and reports. The IRS concluded that labora…
Conditional relief granted for invalid S election and trust shareholder
An S corporation’s original election omitted the signature of a shareholder’s community-property spouse. Later, a trust intended to be a qualified subchapter S trust held shares but its governing agre…
Extension granted for accounting-method change forms
A consolidated group failed to timely submit originals and signed duplicate copies of three Forms 3115 after its return preparer failed to file a requested Form 7004 extension. The forms covered depre…
Partnership received extension for section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership failed to make a timely section 754 election for the year in which ownership interests were transferred. The company represented that it acted reason…
Late ESBT elections received inadvertent-termination relief
Six trusts acquired stock in an S corporation but their trustees did not timely elect electing small business trust status. The first failures terminated the corporation’s S election, and later failur…
Spouses received time to recharacterize excess Roth IRA contributions
A married couple contributed to Roth IRAs during years when their modified adjusted gross income exceeded the eligibility limit. They discovered the problem after the ordinary deadlines for recharacte…
Employer-related scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation proposed scholarships for lineal descendants of employees of affiliated companies. An independent community committee would select recipients using academic, extracurricular, and …
Statehood advocacy group denied section 501(c)(3) status
An organization created educational websites, classroom materials, teacher seminars, videos, and civics resources about democracy and equality for a political unit. It also promoted statehood for that…
Gated condominium association denied section 501(c)(4) status
A condominium association collected monthly dues to maintain a gated building’s common areas and structural elements. Membership was limited to unit owners, who owned the common areas, and the buildin…
Nuclear decommissioning fund transfer preserved qualified status
A seller planned to transfer ownership of a nuclear power plant and its qualified nuclear decommissioning fund to a purchaser as part of a transaction treated as an asset sale for federal tax purposes…
Nuclear decommissioning fund transfer preserved qualified status
A seller planned to transfer ownership of a nuclear power plant and its qualified nuclear decommissioning fund to a purchaser in a transaction treated as an asset sale for federal tax purposes. Both s…
Fund allowed to revoke taxable-year election for excise tax
A regulated investment company had elected to use its calendar taxable year, instead of the one-year period ending October 31, when calculating capital gain net income for the section 4982 distributio…
Fund allowed to revoke taxable-year election for excise tax
A regulated investment company had elected to use its calendar taxable year, instead of the one-year period ending October 31, when calculating capital gain net income for the section 4982 distributio…
Fund allowed to revoke taxable-year election for excise tax
A regulated investment company had elected to use its calendar taxable year, instead of the one-year period ending October 31, when calculating capital gain net income for the section 4982 distributio…
Early trust termination avoided GST and gift tax but triggered capital gain
A pre-September 25, 1985 irrevocable trust paid all income to the settlor’s son and was to distribute the remainder to his descendants. The beneficiaries obtained court approval to terminate the trust…
Early trust termination avoided GST and gift tax but triggered capital gain
A pre-September 25, 1985 irrevocable trust paid all income to the settlor’s son and was to distribute the remainder to his descendants. The beneficiaries obtained court approval to terminate the trust…
Early trust termination avoided GST and gift tax but triggered capital gain
A pre-September 25, 1985 irrevocable trust paid all income to the settlor’s son and was to distribute the remainder to his descendants. The beneficiaries obtained court approval to terminate the trust…
Early trust termination avoided GST and gift tax but triggered capital gain
A pre-September 25, 1985 irrevocable trust paid all income to the settlor’s son and was to distribute the remainder to his descendants. The beneficiaries obtained court approval to terminate the trust…
Early trust termination avoided GST and gift tax but triggered capital gain
A pre-September 25, 1985 irrevocable trust paid all income to the settlor’s son and was to distribute the remainder to his descendants. The beneficiaries obtained court approval to terminate the trust…
Trust termination avoided transfer taxes but triggered capital gain
The beneficiaries of a trust created before September 25, 1985 agreed to terminate it and divide its assets according to the actuarial value of their interests. A court approved the agreement because …
Trust termination avoided transfer taxes but triggered capital gain
The beneficiaries of a trust created before September 25, 1985 agreed to terminate it and divide its assets according to the actuarial value of their interests. A court approved the agreement because …
Trust termination avoided transfer taxes but triggered capital gain
The beneficiaries of a trust created before September 25, 1985 agreed to terminate it and divide its assets according to the actuarial value of their interests. A court approved the agreement because …
Trust termination avoided transfer taxes but triggered capital gain
The beneficiaries of a trust created before September 25, 1985 agreed to terminate it and divide its assets according to the actuarial value of their interests. A court approved the agreement because …
Trust termination avoided transfer taxes but triggered capital gain
The beneficiaries of a trust created before September 25, 1985 agreed to terminate it and divide its assets according to the actuarial value of their interests. A court approved the agreement because …
Health-care provider network denied business-league exemption
A health-care provider network sought exemption as a business league under section 501(c)(6). Its activities included coordinating therapy services and professional standards, but it also planned to n…
Young-professionals group failed the charitable organization tests
A membership organization for young nonprofit professionals applied for exemption under section 501(c)(3). It offered professional development, networking, social events, and advocacy intended to make…
Disability trust failed to establish charitable status
A purported trust sought section 501(c)(3) status for programs intended to help disabled people move toward self-support. It refused repeated requests for a complete signed trust agreement, declined t…
Volleyball officials association denied business-league exemption
An association of volleyball officials sought exemption as a business league under section 501(c)(6). It trained officials and promoted consistent officiating, but it also coordinated, scheduled, and …
Business-referral group denied business-league exemption
A networking group for owners from different professions sought exemption as a business league under section 501(c)(6). It held weekly meetings where members learned about one another's businesses and…
Two-year EIC ban can follow a partial child disallowance
Counsel considered whether the two-year earned income credit ban can apply when only one of several claimed children is disallowed. The advice says yes if a final determination finds that the taxpayer…
Corporate spin-off qualified for nonrecognition treatment
A parent corporation proposed to separate a wholly owned subsidiary by distributing all of the subsidiary's stock to the parent's shareholders. The IRS ruled that the shareholders would recognize no g…
Sole-heir spouse could roll an estate-received IRA into his own IRA
A decedent's IRA named no beneficiary, so its balance was payable to the estate. The surviving spouse was both the estate's sole heir and its sole administrator. The IRS treated the spouse as the paye…
Four-way S corporation split-up qualified for nonrecognition treatment
Four sibling shareholders disagreed over management of an S corporation's business and proposed dividing it into four independently operated segments. The corporation would contribute each segment's a…
Ineligible shareholder received inadvertent S termination relief
An S corporation transferred shares to a person that was not an eligible S corporation shareholder, terminating its S election. The corporation represented that the termination was inadvertent and was…
Late section 336(e) election received filing relief
A consolidated group sold all stock of a subsidiary and intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as an asset disposition. The seller and target signed the required election agree…
Late original Form 3115 received a 45-day filing extension
A corporation joining a consolidated group needed to change from the cash method to an accrual method. Its CPA timely filed the duplicate Form 3115 with the IRS, but a software problem delayed both th…
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.