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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Late mortgage-credit-certificate election was deemed timely
A state-authorized issuer created a new mortgage credit certificate program and elected to forgo qualified mortgage bonds so it could allocate volume cap to the program. Bond counsel prepared the requ…
Two pension plans received substitute mortality table approval
A taxpayer requested substitute mortality tables for two pension plans. The request covered aggregated male and female annuitants and nonannuitants, but excluded disabled participants. The IRS approve…
Taxpayer received more time to recharacterize excess Roth IRA contributions
A taxpayer made Roth IRA contributions over several years even though her modified adjusted gross income exceeded the eligibility limit. Her longtime certified public accountant knew both her income a…
Foundation's two college scholarship programs received advance approval
A private foundation requested advance approval for two need-based scholarship programs designed to help students complete college with little or no debt. One program served promising students statewi…
Long-term care premium refund death benefit met contract rules
A life insurance company offered group long-term care coverage with a premium stabilization feature. The feature could use a calculated amount to offset future premiums or, when the insured died, pay …
Company received 45 days to file safe-harbor election statements
A corporate parent incurred success-based fees in three business transactions and reported them under the Revenue Procedure 2011-29 safe harbor. Its timely filed returns deducted 70 percent of the fee…
LLC received relief for an inadvertent S corporation termination
An LLC elected to be taxed as a corporation and as an S corporation. Its original agreement required distributions in proportion to ownership, but a later amendment directed liquidating distributions …
Post-merger company received 60 days to make transaction-fee election
A company paid success-based fees to eight firms in connection with a series of mergers. An accounting firm advised that the fees qualified for the Revenue Procedure 2011-29 safe harbor, and the retur…
Foreign subsidiary received 120 days to elect disregarded status
A U.S. limited liability company formed a wholly owned foreign subsidiary and intended it to be treated as a disregarded entity from its formation date. The subsidiary did not timely file Form 8832, a…
Company received 60 days for a late merger-fee safe-harbor election
A company incurred success-based fees for a series of mergers and a separate target acquisition. The mergers qualified for the Revenue Procedure 2011-29 safe harbor, while the target acquisition did n…
Corporate group received 60 days to elect consolidated filing
A newly formed parent corporation and its subsidiaries failed to timely elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return after acquiring another corporate group. The parent requested relief befo…
Merged company received 60 days to file transaction-fee election
A company incurred success-based fees when it merged into a subsidiary of another company. The acquiring company's tax department, chief financial officer, and outside preparer all intended to use the…
Charitable lead trust termination avoided private-foundation tax
A testamentary charitable lead annuity trust paid an escalating quarterly annuity to a charity, later divided between two successor foundations, with the remainder passing to the grantor's children. T…
Transmission utility received ADFIT normalization guidance
A regulated electric transmission utility used formula rates with projected revenue requirements and later true-up adjustments. After an earlier private letter ruling required corrective action for it…
Electric utility received ADFIT normalization guidance
A regulated electric transmission utility used formula rates with projected revenue requirements and later true-up adjustments. After an earlier private letter ruling required corrective action for it…
Foreign entity received 120 days to elect disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 to elect disregarded-entity treatment from a specified effective date. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and that late…
Surviving company received 60 days to file merger-fee election
A company incurred success-based fees when another company merged into its wholly owned subsidiary. Its internal tax department, chief financial officer, and outside preparer intended to use the Reven…
Bankruptcy restructurings eliminated two excess loss accounts without gain
A consolidated corporate group proposed a multi-step restructuring under a confirmed Chapter 11 plan. Before the restructuring, one subsidiary had an excess loss account in the stock of another subsid…
Four owners received tax-free split-up of an S corporation
A closely held S corporation had four equal owners who disagreed about how to operate its active business. It proposed forming two new S corporations, dividing its assets and liabilities equally betwe…
LLC received 120 days for entity classification and S elections
A domestic LLC's majority and minority owners intended it to be taxed as an S corporation from formation. The company did not timely file either Form 8832 to elect corporate classification or Form 255…
State deferred compensation plan qualified under section 457(b)
A state restated its governmental deferred compensation plan and requested rulings on its qualification under section 457(b). The plan covered eligible public employees and addressed deferrals, catch-…
Investment fund received 60 days for 27 PFIC elections
An investment fund taxed as a partnership owned stock in 27 passive foreign investment companies. It had previously made section 1296 mark-to-market elections, but a transfer of more than half its cap…
Investment fund received 60 days for a PFIC election
An investment fund taxed as a partnership owned stock in a passive foreign investment company and had previously made a section 1296 mark-to-market election. A transfer of more than half the fund's ca…
Investment portfolio received 60 days for two PFIC elections
An investment portfolio within a larger fund was taxed as a partnership and held stock in two passive foreign investment companies. It had made mark-to-market elections for its first tax year, but a l…
Investment portfolio received 60 days for five PFIC elections
An investment portfolio within a larger fund was taxed as a partnership and held stock in five passive foreign investment companies. It had valid mark-to-market elections and renewed them after one te…
Government mitigation trust qualified for settlement-fund tax treatment
A court-approved trust received part of a settlement paid by defendants accused of violating federal and state law in connection with a product. The trust would fund projects mitigating the resulting …
Marina docks and storage qualified for REIT treatment
A taxpayer planning to elect real estate investment trust status indirectly owned marinas with floating docks, dry dock storage, and, at one property, short-stay cabins. The floating docks were perman…
Surviving LLC received 120 days to elect corporate status
A domestic LLC survived a merger with an entity already taxed as a corporation. The LLC intended to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation from a specified date but inadvertently failed…
Parties received 45 days to file section 336(e) election statement
A partnership acquired all stock of an S corporation through a disregarded entity, and the S corporation later converted to a disregarded LLC. The seller and S corporation timely entered a binding agr…
Salaried pension plan received substitute mortality table approval
A taxpayer requested substitute mortality tables for male and female annuitants in a salaried pension plan, including disabled participants. The plan's nonannuitant population lacked credible mortalit…
Four pension plans received substitute mortality table approval
A taxpayer requested substitute mortality tables for the combined male and female annuitant and nonannuitant populations of four pension plans, including disabled participants. A fifth plan lacked cre…
Hourly pension plan received substitute mortality table approval
A taxpayer requested substitute mortality tables for all male and female annuitant and nonannuitant populations in an hourly pension plan, including disabled participants. A separate ruling would addr…
Real estate brokerage denied charitable exemption
A stock corporation applied for section 501(c)(3) status while operating a commission-based residential real estate business led by its sole employee and director. It described a future apprentice pro…
Open-access biomedical research prizes received advance approval
A private foundation proposed grants for finalists in an international biomedical design competition operated with a foreign organization. Senior staff and an expert biotechnology panel would screen w…
Assets-over merger required a downward partnership basis adjustment
Two partnerships merged using the assets-over form, with the terminating partnership deemed to contribute its assets and liabilities and then distribute an interest in the resulting partnership to its…
S corporation received more time to file its section 336(e) election statement
An S corporation's sole shareholder sold at least 80 percent of its stock to two purchasers in a transaction represented to qualify as a qualified stock disposition. The parties timely entered a bindi…
Estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return because its gross estate and adjusted taxable gifts were below the filing threshold. It nevertheless needed a timely Form 706 to elect…
Partnership received 120 days to make a section 754 election
A limited liability company treated as a partnership intended to make a section 754 election for the year in which an investor purchased an interest, but it did not file the election on time. The part…
Development grant counted as qualifying REIT income
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned joint ventures redeveloping a regional shopping center on city-owned land. A state economic development program reimbursed the property owners for eligi…
Shopping-center grant qualified for the REIT income tests
A real estate investment trust held an interest in joint ventures redeveloping a regional shopping center on land leased from a city. A state program reimbursed the property owners through a city agen…
Missed portability election received a 120-day extension
A surviving spouse's tax advisor did not tell her that the deceased spouse's estate needed to file Form 706 to elect portability of the unused exclusion amount. The estate represented that its value a…
Utility's revised deferred-tax calculations satisfied normalization rules
A regulated electric transmission utility used formula rates with projected annual revenue requirements and later true-up adjustments. A commission order required it to change how accumulated deferred…
Taxpayers could undo automatic GST exemption allocations to two trusts
A married couple created two irrevocable trusts primarily for their children and did not intend to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to their gifts. Their accountant failed to explai…
Late GST opt-out elections were allowed for two family trusts
A husband and wife made gifts to two irrevocable trusts that were designed primarily for their children and had generation-skipping transfer potential. They did not want GST exemption allocated to the…
Partnership received late section 754 election relief after a partner's death
A partnership had a partner consisting of a single-member limited liability company disregarded from its owner. The owner died, and the partnership relied on an advisor who failed to make a section 75…
Late return preserved election out of bonus depreciation
An electric utility partnership consistently elected not to claim additional first-year depreciation and intended to do the same for the year at issue. Its financial statements, draft partner schedule…
S corporation received 120 days for a late QSub election
An S corporation wholly owned one subsidiary, which in turn wholly owned a second subsidiary. The parent intended to treat the lower-tier subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from the par…
Taxpayer could elect out of automatic GST allocations for five trusts
A taxpayer made two taxable transfers to one trust by exercising a limited power over property also subject to a general testamentary power. The taxpayer also funded four irrevocable annuity trusts wh…
Late GST opt-out elections were granted for five trusts
A taxpayer made a taxable transfer to one trust by exercising a limited power over property that was also subject to a general testamentary power. The taxpayer also funded four irrevocable trusts that…
Spouse received relief to opt out of an automatic GST allocation
A spouse held both a general testamentary power and a limited power over property in a trust created by the spouse's parent. The spouse exercised the limited power to transfer property to a new trust …
Two appointed trust transfers received late GST opt-out relief
A spouse held a general testamentary power and a limited power over a trust created by the spouse's parent. The spouse used the limited power in two years to transfer property to a trust for a child, …
Parties received relief to complete a late section 336(e) election
Two individuals sold at least 80 percent of an S corporation's stock to a partnership in a transaction represented to be a qualified stock disposition. The parties intended to make a section 336(e) el…
Affiliated group received 60 days to file its consolidated return election
A domestic parent and two subsidiaries formed an affiliated group but did not timely elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return for the year at issue. The parent relied on a qualified tax …
Pension plan received substitute annuitant mortality table approval
A taxpayer requested plan-specific substitute mortality tables for the male and female annuitants of one pension plan, including disabled participants. The IRS approved the tables for ten plan years a…
Two pension plans received substitute annuitant mortality table approval
A taxpayer requested aggregated substitute mortality tables for the male and female annuitants of two pension plans, including disabled participants. The IRS approved the tables for ten plan years aft…
Pension plan received five-year substitute mortality table approval
A taxpayer requested substitute mortality tables for the male and female annuitants of one pension plan. The IRS approved the tables for five plan years, excluding disabled participants, after finding…
Four pension plans received conditional substitute mortality table approval
A taxpayer requested aggregated substitute mortality tables for the male and female annuitant and nonannuitant populations of four pension plans, including disabled participants. The IRS approved the …
Five pension plans received conditional participant mortality tables
A taxpayer requested combined substitute mortality tables for the male and female participants of five pension plans, including disabled participants. The IRS approved the tables for ten plan years af…
Modified employee-child scholarship program received approval
A private foundation modified an existing scholarship program for children of employees of a related corporation in the United States and a foreign country. An independent tax-exempt administrator and…
National finalist scholarship for employees' children received approval
A private foundation proposed four-year college scholarships for up to two children of employees of a related company. Recipients first had to become finalists in an independent nonprofit organization…
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.