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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Foreclosure-referral organization denied 501(c)(3) exemption
An organization that assisted homeowners facing foreclosure applied for recognition under section 501(c)(3). The IRS denied exemption because the organization mainly collected intake information and m…
Music scholarship and educational grant procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for a grant program supporting young classical musicians. The program would make merit-based awards for music education, lessons, sheet music, or instru…
Employer-related scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for renewable scholarships benefiting eligible children of a company’s nonunion, full-time employees and employees of its affiliates. Awards could suppo…
Charity lost exemption after failing to substantiate its operations
A charity recognized under section 501(c)(3) reported receiving cash donations and making emergency-assistance payments, but it did not provide receipts, canceled checks, bank statements, or enough in…
Inactive charity lost its section 501(c)(3) exemption
A public charity formed to support rural development, youth empowerment, and people in poverty stopped operating, had no income or assets during the examination year, and was administratively dissolve…
Family-run religious organization lost exemption for private benefit
A religious organization operated from a home garage, and its congregation consisted primarily of the founder-pastor’s immediate and extended family. The IRS found that members made tithes to the orga…
Examination form preserved a taxpayer’s unresolved refund claim
A field examination produced a signed Form 4549 showing that taxpayers were due a refund after a loss reduced their taxable income. The Taxpayer Advocate Service later submitted Form 982 on a differen…
GST exemption automatically applied to direct-skip trusts
A husband created separate trusts for grandchildren and transferred partnership interests to them, with the spouses electing to split the gifts. Their gift tax returns incorrectly described the transf…
Corporate group received more time to elect consolidated filing
A newly formed parent corporation acquired the stock of another corporation, terminating the acquired corporation’s former consolidated group and creating a new affiliated group. The new group failed …
Business split qualified as two tax-free D reorganizations
An S corporation planned to divide a business and its operating property among shareholders by forming two new controlled corporations. It would contribute roughly one-third of the business assets to …
Partnership received more time to elect out of bonus depreciation
A partnership intended not to claim additional first-year depreciation on property placed in service during its short final tax year. Its return preparer learned shortly before the filing deadline tha…
Estate received 120 days to make a portability election
A decedent’s estate was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return, but it needed Form 706 to elect portability of the deceased spouse’s unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The …
Missed ESBT elections did not end S corporation status
Two revocable trusts held stock in an S corporation, and each trust continued after its owner died. The trusts remained eligible S corporation shareholders for two years after the deaths, but their tr…
Corporation received 120 days to file its S election
A corporation intended to be treated as an S corporation from a specified effective date but did not timely file the required election. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under section…
Utility’s retroactive bonus-depreciation rate adjustment met normalization rules
A regulated electric utility claimed bonus depreciation and used the resulting accumulated deferred federal income tax balance to reduce its rate base. Congress extended bonus depreciation retroactive…
Husband’s GST exemption automatically applied to direct-skip trusts
A husband created separate trusts for grandchildren and transferred partnership interests to them, with the spouses electing to split the gifts. Their gift tax returns incorrectly described the transf…
Consolidated group received more time to expire unusable loss carryovers
A consolidated corporate group acquired another consolidated group in a qualifying cost-basis transaction. The acquired companies had net operating loss carryovers that the parent determined would be …
Later liquidation steps did not disrupt earlier spin-offs
A public company carried out a multi-step domestic and international restructuring that included several section 355 spin-offs and section 368 reorganizations. More than a year later, a subsidiary pla…
Spouses received more time to opt out of automatic GST allocation
A donor and spouse made split gifts to several trusts with generation-skipping transfer tax potential. They intended not to allocate GST exemption automatically to five of the trusts, but their CPA fa…
Student-loan payoff grant procedures received advance approval
A private foundation proposed one-time grants to help selected college seniors pay outstanding student loans. Eligibility was limited to current recipients of another scholarship, and an independent c…
Employer-related scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation proposed scholarships for children, dependents, and grandchildren of employees of a related employer. An independent committee would select recipients using academic performance, …
Refugee and immigrant scholarship procedures received approval
A private foundation proposed nonrenewable scholarships for current or former refugee and immigrant clients of a charitable organization and members of their families. Applicants had to fall within a …
International student grant procedures received advance approval
A private foundation proposed scholarships for highly capable students at an institution in another country to pursue post-secondary education or training in the United States or, in some cases, their…
REIT received 90 days to elect taxable subsidiary status
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned a corporation that leased qualified health-care property from the REIT and used eligible independent contractors to operate it. The sponsor intended the…
Partnership received 120 days to make a section 754 election
A partnership admitted a purchaser of a membership interest but did not make a section 754 election with its timely return for that year. The partnership relied on a tax professional, was unaware that…
Regulatory business separation qualified as a tax-free spin-off
A privately held corporate group operated two active businesses and wanted to separate one business to satisfy regulatory requirements for the other. Subsidiaries would distribute two operating-compan…
Public-company segment spin-off qualified as a D reorganization
A publicly traded company planned to contribute one business segment to a newly formed controlled corporation and distribute all controlled shares pro rata to its shareholders. After the distribution,…
Foreign entity received late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign eligible entity became wholly owned through a disregarded entity and intended to elect treatment as disregarded from its owner. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 by the required date…
Partnership could reverse bonus depreciation after discovering state tax costs
A partnership claimed additional first-year depreciation on qualified property placed in service during a tax year. After the federal return deadline, the partnership and its return preparer discovere…
Consolidated group could cure an omitted Form 3115 attachment
A consolidated corporate group changed depreciation methods to claim bonus depreciation and shorten the recovery period for computer software. Its adviser prepared Form 3115 and the group timely maile…
REIT received late taxable-subsidiary election relief
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned a corporation that leased qualified health-care property from the REIT and used eligible independent contractors to operate it. The sponsor intended the…
Court reformation preserved limited powers and GST allocation
A grantor created three irrevocable trusts for grandchildren, but drafting errors gave beneficiaries powers broad enough to risk estate inclusion and gift tax on lapsing withdrawal rights. A state cou…
Court reformation preserved limited powers and GST allocation
A grantor created three irrevocable trusts for grandchildren, but drafting errors gave beneficiaries powers broad enough to risk estate inclusion and gift tax on lapsing withdrawal rights. A state cou…
Court reformation preserved limited powers and GST allocation
A grantor created three irrevocable trusts for grandchildren, but drafting errors gave beneficiaries powers broad enough to risk estate inclusion and gift tax on lapsing withdrawal rights. A state cou…
Scholarship procedures for association members’ descendants approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for children and grandchildren of association members who had maintained membership for at least three years and were current on dues. Applicants had to be a…
Museum construction set-aside received advance approval
A private foundation planned to build and operate a museum devoted to a continent’s culture and history. It requested approval to set aside funds because the multi-year design and construction work de…
Learning-disability scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation proposed scholarships for students with documented learning disabilities to attend private high schools in a metropolitan area. Awards would cover tuition, books, school fees, and…
Family genealogy organization denied charitable exemption
An organization formed to collect and preserve one family’s genealogy, connect relatives, maintain a family-history website, and produce a family cookbook applied for recognition under section 501(c)(…
Bank account was not exempt from levy
In a brief email responding to an informal section 6334 question, Chief Counsel confirmed that the bank account at issue was not exempt from levy. The public release contains only that conclusion and …
Tax matters partner designation applied year by year
Chief Counsel advised that the person designated as tax matters partner for 2015 should sign the requested extension even though that person was no longer a partner, because TMP status is determined s…
Late NOL carryback waiver could not be made after automatic extension
Section 172(b)(3) permits a taxpayer to make an irrevocable election to forgo the net operating loss carryback period by the return’s due date, including extensions. Treasury Regulation section 1.9100…
DIF examination score could be withheld under section 6103
Chief Counsel advised that the IRS did not need to invoke a common-law privilege to withhold information protected by federal statute. Section 6103(b)(2)(A) expressly provides that no law requires dis…
Partnership received 120 days to make late section 754 election
A partnership had made a section 754 election before a technical termination but failed to make a valid election for the post-termination period. Although it attached a statement showing section 743(b…
Partnership received late section 754 election relief after partner’s death
After a partner died and an heir inherited the partnership interest, the partnership inadvertently failed to make a timely section 754 election for the year of death. It represented that it had acted …
Retained spin-off shares did not evidence a tax-avoidance plan
A public company proposed separating businesses into a controlled corporation, distributing at least 80 percent of the controlled stock, and combining the separated business with an acquiring company.…
Lower-tier partnership received late section 754 election relief
An upper-tier partnership had a section 754 election in effect when one of its partners sold an interest to a new partner. The lower-tier partnership, in which the upper-tier partnership held an inter…
Taxpayer received 60 days to file repair-cost capitalization election
A taxpayer historically deducted repair and maintenance costs for tax purposes while capitalizing them for book purposes. For the year at issue, it intended to elect under Treasury Regulation section …
Shareholder agreement caused inadvertent S election termination
An S corporation had voting and nonvoting common shares with otherwise identical rights. Its shareholders later entered an agreement that could alter their relative rights to distributable earnings an…
LLC received late corporate-classification election relief
A limited liability company intended to be classified as a corporation for federal tax purposes from its formation date but failed to timely file Form 8832. It represented that it acted reasonably and…
Insurance-trustee structure avoided incidents of ownership
An irrevocable trust beneficiary also served as trustee, creating a risk that any policy on the beneficiary’s life would be included in the beneficiary’s estate because the original trust granted broa…
Insurance-trustee structure avoided incidents of ownership
An irrevocable trust beneficiary also served as trustee, creating a risk that any policy on the beneficiary’s life would be included in the beneficiary’s estate because the original trust granted broa…
Late ESBT election preserved S corporation and QSub status
A trust acquired shares of one S corporation but its trustee failed to make a timely electing small business trust election, terminating that corporation’s S status. Later, when the corporation became…
Historic housing cooperative denied charitable exemption
A nonprofit housing cooperative owned and maintained a residential complex designated as a National Historic Landmark. Members bought shares tied to occupancy rights, paid assessments covering housing…
Blockchain and token enterprise denied charitable exemption
An organization applied for section 501(c)(3) status claiming that it would research rising healthcare costs and publish information for consumers, providers, and policymakers. Its websites and whitep…
Recreational roller derby team denied charitable exemption
A roller derby organization promoted women’s health, social interaction, community service, and participation in the sport. Most of its time was devoted to practices and recreational competition, whil…
Round-up donation app failed to establish charitable operation
An organization proposed an app and website that would link to users’ payment cards, round purchases up to the next dollar, hold the added amounts in organization-owned accounts, and later distribute …
Refundable arena membership amounts were not income on receipt
A professional sports franchise planned to finance a new arena by selling non-equity memberships. Members would receive special access and ticket-purchase rights and would be required to buy season ti…
Upstream merger satisfied business-continuity requirement
A holding company owned several classes of stock in an operating company, and the operating company itself held an interest in the holding company. The parties proposed a two-step merger in which an o…
Corporation received 60 days to file late IC-DISC election
A corporation was formed to act as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation for a related company’s export sales. Its law firm prepared Form 4876-A, but responsibility for filing th…
Employee-share repurchase terms did not create second stock class
An S corporation's equity compensation plan allowed employees to acquire shares, while restricting transfers and permitting the corporation to repurchase shares after employment ended. The repurchase …
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.