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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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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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)…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Condominium association denied social-club exemption
A seven-unit condominium association sought exemption as a social club under section 501(c)(7). Membership automatically followed ownership of a unit, and member dues paid for lawn care, snow…
Member hardship-benefit association denied charitable exemption
An association collected annual dues and automatically paid fixed benefits to members or their immediate families after specified events, including a death, an immigration arrest, a prolonged…
Charitable carryover adjustment uses annual NOL absorption and current contributions first
A corporation had multiple years of net operating loss carryovers and charitable contribution carryovers available in a year when one charitable carryover was about to expire. Chief Counsel advised…
Farm-credit patronage dividends excluded from REIT income tests
A limited liability company planning to elect REIT status borrowed from a regulated farm cooperative to acquire timberlands. As an equity holder and borrower, it was entitled to patronage dividends…
Seven subsidiaries received 120 days for late QSub elections
An S corporation acquired seven wholly owned domestic subsidiaries on several dates and consistently treated each one as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary, but inadvertently failed to file the…
LLC received 120 days for late corporate classification election
After a sequence of acquisitions, name changes, a merger, conversion into a single-member LLC, ownership transfers, and an upstream liquidation, the taxpayer intended to be classified as an…
Estate received 120 days for late 65-day distribution election
An estate made a distribution during the first 65 days of a fiscal year and intended under section 663(b) to treat it as paid or credited on the last day of the preceding fiscal year. The election…
QDOT received 120 days to report surviving spouse's citizenship
A noncitizen surviving spouse established a qualified domestic trust and later became a United States citizen after continuously residing in the country. No principal distributions were made before…
Affordable-housing LLC received extensions for two related elections
A single-member LLC wholly owned by a section 501(c)(3) organization served as general partner of a low-income housing partnership. Its partnership agreement required it both to elect out of…
Four operating units conducted active businesses for section 6166
A decedent's revocable trust held a large interest in a closely held corporation with six operating units. The estate asked whether four units' activities rose to the level of carrying on a trade or…
Nuclear decommissioning fund transfer received tax-neutral treatment
A utility holding company agreed to sell a nuclear generating unit and transfer its qualified and nonqualified decommissioning fund assets to a buyer that planned an accelerated decommissioning…
Charitable lead trust termination caused no gain or loss
A charitable lead annuity trust paid an annuity to a charitable foundation and originally provided for the remainder to revert to the settlor or the settlor's assigns. The settlor assigned the…
Pro rata division of grandfathered trust was tax neutral
An irrevocable pre-September 25, 1985 trust for a son and his issue proposed dividing pro rata into five equal subtrusts, one for each child and that child's issue, because the children had…
Terminally ill donor's disclaimed life estates valued with special factor
An income beneficiary disclaimed life estates in three trusts while in hospice care with a medical prognosis of at least a 50-percent probability of death within one year. She died five days later,…
Pension plan received waiver of 100-percent funding excise tax
A company requested waiver of the 100-percent excise tax on a pension plan's uncorrected minimum required contribution. It furnished evidence that imposing the tax would cause substantial business…
Parties received 45 days to complete late section 336(e) election
An individual purchased all shares of an S corporation, and the parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the qualified stock disposition as an asset disposition. The election failed…
Six pension plans received substitute mortality table approval
An employer requested substitute mortality tables for six pension plans covering male and female union and nonunion participants, including disabled participants. The IRS approved the four combined…
Four pension plans received annuitant mortality table approval
An employer requested substitute mortality tables for the combined male and female annuitant populations, including disabled participants, of four pension plans. The IRS approved the tables for ten…
Two pension plans received substitute mortality table approval
An employer requested substitute mortality tables for two pension plans' combined annuitant and nonannuitant populations, excluding disabled participants. The IRS approved the tables for ten plan…
Fraternity-house landlord lost social-club exemption
A corporation owned and maintained fraternity housing but was not itself a fraternity or sorority. Its income came from investment returns and rent paid by undergraduate occupants associated with…
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.