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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Invalid EIN excused late taxable REIT subsidiary election
A REIT acquired a subsidiary and intended to elect both corporate classification for the subsidiary and taxable REIT subsidiary status. The forms were timely mailed using an EIN that the sellers had r…
Foreign entity received late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign eligible entity with one owner intended to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from that owner but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the entity met …
Partnership received late section 754 election relief
A partnership timely filed its return for a year in which partnership interests had been transferred but inadvertently omitted a section 754 election. The IRS granted 120 days to file the election for…
Estate received late section 1022 carryover-basis election relief
The executor of an estate for a decedent who died in 2010 missed the January 2012 deadline to file Form 8939 and elect the section 1022 carryover-basis regime in place of the reinstated estate tax. Th…
Interest allowed on non-liable spouse's misapplied remittance
A wife joined her husband in selling property subject to a federal tax lien securing his old joint liabilities with a former spouse. Because an IRS discharge letter overstated the government's interes…
Agriculture scholarship procedures received approval
A private foundation proposed nonrenewable scholarships for students pursuing post-secondary agriculture-related degree programs in the United States and another country. An independent committee of a…
Fraternity housing club lost section 501(c)(7) exemption
The IRS revoked a fraternity housing corporation's section 501(c)(7) social-club exemption because rental of its fraternity house was its only activity and source of income, with no income from member…
Charity reclassified as private non-operating foundation
An organization remained exempt under section 501(c)(3), but the IRS changed its foundation classification from a section 509(a)(2) publicly supported organization to a private non-operating foundatio…
Farmers market lost section 501(c)(3) exemption
The IRS revoked a farmers-market organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption on both organizational and operational grounds. Its articles lacked the required dissolution clause, and a later amendment t…
Marketing consultancy denied section 501(c)(3) status
An organization sought section 501(c)(3) status to provide business-development and marketing consulting, principally for nonprofits and public-works organizations. The IRS found that its services wer…
Missing organizing provisions caused exemption revocation
An organization received section 501(c)(3) status after attesting on Form 1023-EZ that its organizing document contained the required limits on purpose and disposition of assets at dissolution. During…
Commercial medical equipment business lost exemption
A section 501(c)(3) organization operated two off-premises stores that sold and rented durable medical equipment to the general public at competitive commercial prices. Although it offered charity car…
Missing organizing documents caused exemption revocation
An organization obtained section 501(c)(3) status through Form 1023-EZ after attesting that its organizing document contained the required limits on purpose and disposition of assets at dissolution. D…
GST exemption automatically allocated to indirect skips
A settlor transferred limited partnership interests to three irrevocable trust shares for the settlor's children, and the settlor and spouse elected to split the gifts. Their timely gift tax returns m…
FCC spectrum sale qualified as an involuntary conversion
A television broadcaster sold part of a station's spectrum-based content distribution rights during the FCC's spectrum incentive auction. If it had declined to participate, the FCC's repacking process…
FCC purchases of station spectrum qualified under section 1033
A media company sold all spectrum-based content distribution rights associated with two television stations to the FCC through its incentive auction. The company believed that if it declined to partic…
Trust funding stayed incomplete while committee powers avoided transfer tax
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and family members, retaining consent, support-limited, and testamentary appointment powers while a family committee held joint distribu…
Retained trust powers kept the transfer incomplete
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and family members, retaining consent, support-limited, and testamentary appointment powers while a family committee held joint distribu…
Joint trust powers avoided committee transfer tax
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and family members, retaining consent, support-limited, and testamentary appointment powers while a family committee held joint distribu…
Family committee powers did not create taxable gifts
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and family members, retaining consent, support-limited, and testamentary appointment powers while a family committee held joint distribu…
Retained appointment powers prevented a completed gift
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and family members, retaining consent, support-limited, and testamentary appointment powers while a family committee held joint distribu…
Trust committee distributions avoided member gift tax
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and family members, retaining consent, support-limited, and testamentary appointment powers while a family committee held joint distribu…
Multi-step business separation qualified for tax-free treatment
A corporate parent proposed a multi-step separation of two businesses involving foreign subsidiaries, two internal distributions, a public spin-off, and a possible exchange of new controlled-company s…
Late ESBT elections caused an inadvertent S termination
An S corporation shareholder held stock through a revocable grantor trust. At the shareholder's death, the stock passed to two successor trusts that qualified as electing small business trusts, but th…
Retroactive QEF elections allowed for two PFICs
A taxpayer became a U.S. tax resident while owning interests in two foreign corporations that were passive foreign investment companies. The taxpayer relied on a certified public accountant who did no…
Indirect skips received automatic GST exemption allocations
A settlor transferred limited partnership interests to three irrevocable trust shares for the settlor's children, and the settlor and spouse elected to split the gifts. Their timely gift tax returns m…
Substitute mortality tables approved for eight plans
A controlled group requested permission to use substitute mortality tables for eight aggregated pension plans. The request covered male and female annuitants and nonannuitants, including disabled part…
Pension plan substitute mortality tables approved
A pension plan requested permission to use substitute mortality tables for its male and female annuitants and nonannuitants, including disabled participants. The IRS found that the submitted rates wer…
Soccer referee association denied section 501(c)(6) exemption
An association of soccer referees applied for exemption as a business league under section 501(c)(6). It trained and evaluated referees, but its primary activity was scheduling members for games, coll…
Charity exemption retroactively revoked for misstatements, lobbying, and illegal activity
The IRS retroactively revoked a corporation's section 501(c)(3) exemption after finding that its original application materially misstated how it would operate. The examination report said the organiz…
Broadcast spectrum sale qualified as an involuntary conversion
A television broadcaster sold part of its spectrum-based content distribution rights while the Federal Communications Commission was conducting an incentive auction and mandatory repacking of broadcas…
GST exemption automatically allocated despite gift-tax return errors
A married couple transferred limited-partnership interests to separate irrevocable trusts for their two children and elected to split the gifts. Their timely Forms 709 mistakenly reported the transfer…
GST exemption automatically allocated to three children's trusts
A married couple transferred limited-partnership interests to three separate irrevocable trusts for their children and elected to split the gifts. Their timely Forms 709 mistakenly reported the transf…
Late section 338(g) election granted after adviser error
A corporate purchaser acquired all the stock of a foreign target and intended to make a section 338(g) election so the stock purchase would be treated as an asset acquisition. A qualified tax professi…
IRA divided for four trust beneficiaries using eldest child's life expectancy
A decedent named a revocable trust as beneficiary of an IRA, and the trust became irrevocable at death for the benefit of the decedent's four children. The trustees proposed direct trustee-to-trustee …
Partnership received 120 days to make late section 754 election
A limited partnership failed to make a timely section 754 election for a year in which partnership interests were treated as transferred. The partnership represented that it acted reasonably and in go…
Late historic-status application treated as timely for rehabilitation credit
A taxpayer renovated property in a registered historic district but failed to submit Part 1 of the Historic Preservation Certification Application before placing the property in service. The taxpayer …
Partnership received 120 days for section 754 election after partner's death
A limited liability company classified as a partnership timely filed its return for the year in which a partner died but inadvertently omitted a valid section 754 election. The partnership represented…
Possession resident treated as nonresident noncitizen for transfer taxes
A taxpayer was born abroad to parents who were not U.S. citizens and later moved to a U.S. possession, where he became a permanent resident and then a naturalized U.S. citizen. The IRS found that he d…
Foreign partnership received 120 days for section 754 election
A foreign limited partnership failed to make a timely section 754 election for a year in which partnership interests were transferred. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith, was no…
Partnership received 120 days to file omitted section 754 election
A state-law partnership timely filed its federal return but inadvertently omitted a valid section 754 election to adjust the basis of partnership property. It represented that it acted reasonably and …
S corporation received relief for missed QSST elections
An S corporation shareholder placed shares in a grantor trust that was to divide into separate trusts for three beneficiaries after the shareholder's death. The beneficiaries failed to make timely qua…
Late section 338(g) election granted for foreign target acquisition
A domestic corporation acquired all the shares of a foreign target for cash and intended to make a section 338(g) election so the stock purchase would be treated as an asset acquisition. The election …
Late Form 1128 treated as timely after accountant error
A taxpayer relied on an accountant to file Form 1128 to change its tax year from June 30 to December 31, but the form was not filed by the deadline for the required short-period return. After discover…
REIT subsidiary's distribution was not a preferential dividend
A REIT subsidiary made a pro rata common-stock distribution while new management mistakenly believed no preferred shares remained outstanding. Management later discovered preferred stock entitled to a…
GST exemption automatically allocated to three children's trusts
A married couple transferred limited-partnership interests to three separate irrevocable trusts for their children and elected to split the gifts. Their timely Forms 709 mistakenly reported the transf…
GST exemption automatically allocated to two children's trusts
A married couple transferred limited-partnership interests to two separate irrevocable trusts for their children and elected to split the gifts. Their timely Forms 709 mistakenly reported the transfer…
Fellowship grant procedures for young innovators approved
A private foundation proposed a fellowship program for young innovators and leaders whose projects would improve life in their state. It expected to award five stipends per year during a trial period,…
IRS approves a private foundation's scholarship-grant procedures under § 4945(g)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, the procedures it uses to award college scholarships. Private foundations normally owe an excise tax on grants to individuals for study, but …
Dissolving foundation's asset transfer qualifies as an unusual grant
A publicly supported charity serving injured special-operations veterans asked whether it could exclude a large transfer from its public-support calculation as an unusual grant. A dissolving foundatio…
Family-specific orphan fundraiser denied section 501(c)(3) status
An unincorporated association applied for section 501(c)(3) status to hold a fundraiser for five children from one family after both parents died. The planned event would use all raised funds to offse…
S corporation gets 120 days to file late QSub election
An S corporation intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status for a wholly owned domestic subsidiary as of the subsidiary's incorporation date. It failed to file Form 8869 on time becaus…
Successor gets 45 days to file late section 336(e) election statement
A partnership acquired all shares of an S corporation whose shareholders had agreed with the corporation to treat the stock sale as an asset sale under section 336(e). The purchaser then converted the…
REIT gets 90 days to make two late TRS elections
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned two foreign corporations that held legal title to self-storage properties and obtained financing. The REIT's outside tax advisers overlooked the need to…
Spouses get 120 days to allocate GST exemption to two trusts
A married couple created separate irrevocable trusts for each of their two children and the children's descendants before the end of 2000. They elected gift splitting on their Forms 709, but their acc…
Foreign LLC gets 120 days to elect partnership status
A foreign limited liability company became owned by two U.S. persons and intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes from that ownership date. It did not timely file Form 8832 …
Insurer gets 90 days to make late section 831(b) election
A non-life insurance company intended to elect the alternative tax on investment income under section 831(b) for its first year. Its captive-management company did not file the return because it incor…
Solar facilities sold through negotiated rates are not public utility property
A regulated electric utility could acquire solar generating facilities selected for large customers under a state program. The customers and original resource owners negotiated the power price, and th…
Foreign entity gets 120 days to elect disregarded status
A single owner formed a foreign eligible entity and intended it to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from a specified date. The entity failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that th…
Foreign entity gets 120 days to elect disregarded status
A single owner formed a foreign eligible entity and intended it to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from a specified date. The entity failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that 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.