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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When two shareholder trusts stopped being grantor trusts and missed their QSST elections, the S corporation's termination was inadvertent and its status is restored
An S corporation can only have certain kinds of shareholders. A trust qualifies if it is a grantor trust (treated as owned by an individual) or if its beneficiary files a "Qualified Subchapter S Trust…
An estate too small to require an estate tax return gets a 120-day extension to make a late portability election, preserving the decedent's unused exclusion for the surviving spouse
When someone dies without using their full estate-tax exclusion, the leftover ("deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) can transfer to the surviving spouse, but only if the estate makes a "porta…
A private foundation that inherited a hotel-owning company gets a second five-year period to sell the excess business holdings without triggering the excise tax
A private foundation generally cannot hold more than a small stake in a business (its "permitted holdings"); anything above that is "excess business holdings" and gets taxed under Section 4943 unless …
Surplus from a terminated pension plan can be moved into the employer's two 401(k) profit-sharing plans as a single "qualified replacement plan," avoiding the reversion excise tax
When an employer shuts down an overfunded traditional (defined benefit) pension plan, any leftover money that comes back to the employer is a "reversion" and gets hit with a steep excise tax under Sec…
An estate that was not required to file an estate tax return gets a 120-day extension to make a late portability election, letting the surviving spouse use the decedent's unused exclusion
When someone dies without using up their full estate-tax exclusion, the leftover amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) can be passed to the surviving spouse, but only if the estate…
An S corporation's election terminated when the trustee of a shareholder trust missed the ESBT election, but the lapse was inadvertent and S status is restored
An S corporation can only have certain kinds of shareholders. A trust can qualify if it makes an "Electing Small Business Trust" (ESBT) election, but that election must be filed on time by the trustee…
9100 extension to make a late section 754 partnership basis-adjustment election (754)
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership had a new buyer acquire interests in it. The partnership wanted to make a section 754 election, which lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its …
9100 extension to make a late section 754 partnership basis-adjustment election (754)
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership had a new buyer acquire interests in it. The partnership wanted to make a section 754 election, which lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its …
9100 extension to make a late section 754 partnership basis-adjustment election (754)
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership had a new buyer acquire interests in it. The partnership wanted to make a section 754 election, which lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its …
9100 extension to make a late section 754 partnership basis-adjustment election (754)
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership had a new buyer acquire interests in it. The partnership wanted to make a section 754 election, which lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its …
9100 extension to make a late check-the-box election for an LLC to be a disregarded entity (7701-3)
A limited liability company had elected to be taxed as a corporation. Its sole owner later became an S corporation and elected to treat the LLC as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub), a wholly …
Inadvertent S-corp termination relief after subtrust beneficiaries missed their QSST elections (1362(f))
An S corporation's stock was held in a trust that was treated as owned by one individual, which made it an eligible S corporation shareholder. That trust later split into six subtrusts, and the owner …
Income from selling an affordable-housing zoning-density certificate is qualifying REIT income under 856(c)(5)(J)
A REIT owns a mixed-income apartment building through subsidiaries. To get a low-income housing tax credit allocation, it agreed to permanently set aside some units as affordable. In exchange for that…
Storage-business fees qualify as REIT rents from real property, with container-overuse payments treated as non-qualifying income (856)
A company that plans to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT) runs a household-goods storage business: tenants load their belongings into company-provided containers, which are stacked in …
9100 extension to file a late section 336(e) election on the sale of an S corporation's stock (336)
An S corporation was owned by a single shareholder who sold all of its stock to a corporate buyer. A section 336(e) election lets a qualifying stock sale be treated, for tax purposes, as if the compan…
9100 extension to elect that an acquired subsidiary's loss carryovers expire on joining a consolidated group (1502)
A parent company heads a consolidated group (a set of affiliated corporations that file one combined federal return). Its subsidiary acquired a target company that carried old net operating losses fro…
9100 relief lets an LLC self-certify late as a qualified opportunity fund (1400Z-2)
An LLC taxed as a partnership was set up to be a qualified opportunity fund (QOF), a vehicle that lets investors defer and reduce capital-gains tax by investing in designated low-income "opportunity z…
9100 extension to deliver the U.S.-shareholder notice for a section 338 election on a foreign acquisition (338)
A foreign company bought all the stock of another foreign company (and, through it, several foreign subsidiaries), all of which were controlled foreign corporations. The buyer wanted to make a "sectio…
9100 extension to apply late for FIRPTA withholding certificates on U.S. real property sales (1445)
A U.S. corporation bought interests in three limited liability companies from foreign sellers. Because the interests counted as "United States real property interests," the FIRPTA rules in IRC § 1445 …
IRS approves a revised schedule of nuclear decommissioning fund contributions under § 468A
A public utility that owns part of a nuclear power plant set aside money each year in a special fund to pay for eventually decommissioning (safely dismantling) the plant. Under IRC § 468A, a utility c…
IRS approved a utility's revised schedule for nuclear decommissioning fund contributions
A regulated electric utility asked the IRS to conduct the mandatory review of its revised schedule of annual contributions to a qualified nuclear decommissioning fund. The utility owned a redacted per…
IRS approves a utility's revised nuclear decommissioning funding schedule
A public utility asked the IRS to approve a revised schedule of deductible payments to its nuclear decommissioning reserve fund. The utility owns a redacted percentage of a nuclear plant, and two publ…
IRS permits retroactive QEF elections for two foreign investments
A U.S. taxpayer invested in two foreign corporations, partly through a foreign grantor trust, but her tax professional failed to identify the companies as passive foreign investment companies or advis…
IRS clears a private foundation trust's full asset transfer to its beneficiary foundation
A charitable trust and its sole beneficiary are both tax-exempt private nonoperating foundations under common control. After a planned transaction involving one trust asset, the trust intends to trans…
IRS approves a charitable trust's transfer of all assets to its beneficiary foundation
A charitable trust and its sole beneficiary are both tax-exempt private nonoperating foundations under common control. After a planned transaction involving one trust asset, the trust intends to trans…
IRS grants a partnership 120 days to make a late Section 754 election
A partnership intended to elect under IRC § 754 to adjust the basis of partnership property after one member bought additional interests from another member. It inadvertently omitted the election from…
IRS grants a partnership 120 days to make a late Section 754 election
A partnership failed to make an IRC § 754 election for the tax year in which one of its partners died. The election would permit adjustments to the basis of partnership property following a transfer o…
IRS grants four foreign entities 120 days to make late classification elections
Four foreign eligible entities intended to elect to be disregarded as separate from their owners for U.S. federal tax purposes when their classifications first became relevant. Each entity failed to f…
IRS approves a private foundation's scholarship procedures
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve its procedures for a scholarship program serving high school and college students pursuing undergraduate study in social work, elementary education, or co…
IRS excuses a church's integrated auxiliary from filing Form 990
A tax-exempt organization asked the IRS to excuse it from filing the annual Form 990 information return. Treasury Regulation Section 1.6033-2(g)(1)(i) provides that an integrated auxiliary of a church…
IRS approves a private foundation's leadership scholarship procedures
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve its procedures for scholarships to students attending private higher-education institutions, particularly a specified university. Applicants must meet cit…
IRS approves a private foundation's set-aside for a new public high school
A private foundation asked to set aside funds over three years to help build a new public high school in a distressed city. The existing school was aging, the district faced declining enrollment and a…
Homeowners association denied Section 501(c)(3) status for serving members' private interests
A homeowners association applied for recognition as a tax-exempt charity under IRC § 501(c)(3). It used member dues to maintain neighborhood streets, a playground, security lighting, storm-water syste…
Fraternal organization denied exemption because its grants were not insurance-like benefits
An organization operating through local chapters applied for recognition as a tax-exempt fraternal beneficiary society under IRC § 501(c)(8). It offered scholarships to members and grants to chapters …
Skydiving club denied charitable status because recreation was a substantial purpose
An unincorporated skydiving club applied for recognition as a tax-exempt charity under IRC § 501(c)(3). It held jump days through a for-profit skydiving company, arranged transportation and meals, org…
Private foundation's artist fellowship grant procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval under IRC § 4945(g)(3) for a fellowship program honoring accomplished visual artists in one state. The program would periodically make a nonrenewable gr…
Qualifying private school excused from filing Form 990
A private school below the college level asked the IRS for an exception from filing Form 990. Based on the information submitted, the IRS determined that the school had a general academic program and …
Religious entertainment organization denied exemption over substantial recreational and commercial purposes
An organization sought recognition as a tax-exempt religious and charitable organization under IRC § 501(c)(3). It planned to distribute Gospel-themed books and films and operate virtual and indoor th…
Women’s legal networking group denied exemption because it served private business interests
A group of women judges and owners of small civil litigation firms applied for recognition as a charitable organization under IRC § 501(c)(3). Its sole activity was occasional tea or lunch meetings to…
Bank holding company may claim an ordinary loss on abandoned subsidiary stock
A bank holding company asked whether its loss from abandoning the stock of its failed bank subsidiary could be treated as an ordinary loss rather than a capital loss. The parent directly owned all of …
Inadvertent trust election defects did not end S corporation status
An S corporation’s stock passed through a family trust and later to four related trusts after the original income beneficiary died. The trustees tried to elect electing small business trust status, bu…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent’s unused estate and gift tax exclusion to the surviving spouse. The estate represented that it was not otherwise re…
Corporate spin-off and related debt assumption receive nonrecognition treatment
A multinational corporate group proposed separating one business from a U.S. distributing corporation into a newly formed controlled corporation and distributing the controlled corporation’s stock to …
S corporation receives 120 days to file a late QSub election
An S corporation acquired all the stock of another domestic corporation and intended to treat the acquired company as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary effective on the acquisition date. It failed t…
Estate granted 120-day extension for a portability election
An estate failed to timely file Form 706 to transfer the decedent’s unused estate and gift tax exclusion to the surviving spouse through a portability election. It represented that the estate’s value …
LLC receives 120 days to file a late corporate classification election
A limited liability company intended from its formation date to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation for federal tax purposes. It failed to timely file Form 8832 making that electi…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partnership intended to make an IRC § 754 election for a prior tax year but failed to file it on time. The IRS concluded that the partnership satisfied the standards for discretionary relief under T…
Timberland carbon-credit issuance income qualifies for REIT income tests
A real estate investment trust owns U.S. timberlands and participates in voluntary programs that issue carbon credits when land-use restrictions produce verified greenhouse-gas reductions. The REIT as…
Taxpayer may reelect the foreign earned income exclusion early
A U.S. citizen working abroad had elected the foreign earned income exclusion and later revoked it. The taxpayer then moved to another foreign country with a different tax rate and began working for a…
Estate receives 120-day portability election extension
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent’s unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The estate represented that it was below the gross-estate and ta…
Foreign entity receives 120-day extension for a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity failed to file Form 8832 to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes. It requested more time under the regulatory relief rules for mis…
Surviving spouse may roll estate-owned IRA assets into the spouse's own IRA
A decedent named the estate, rather than the surviving spouse, as beneficiary of two IRAs. The spouse was the estate's sole executor and sole beneficiary. The IRS ruled that the two accounts could be …
S corporation receives inadvertent-termination relief after two shareholder defects
An S corporation's election terminated when a shareholder renounced U.S. citizenship and became ineligible to hold its stock. A later transfer of shares to a trust also would have terminated the elect…
Subsidiary treated as consenting to consolidated return despite missing Form 1122
A parent corporation mistakenly continued treating its former qualified subchapter S subsidiary as disregarded after revoking the parent's S election. The parent included all of the subsidiary's incom…
Private foundation's scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed scholarships for qualifying graduates and former graduates of specified high schools who plan full-time study at accredited U.S. institutions. Applicants must meet a reli…
Church auxiliary is exempt from filing Form 990
A tax-exempt organization asked the IRS to excuse it from filing annual Form 990 returns. Based on the information provided, the IRS classified the organization as an integrated auxiliary of a church.…
Employee appreciation club denied charitable exemption
An employee appreciation club formed for workers at a county government agency sought recognition under IRC § 501(c)(3). It raised money through snack sales and raffles to hold picnics, holiday partie…
Food-pantry organization's exemption revoked after it ceased operations and failed to provide records
An organization recognized as a public charity to operate a food pantry reported on multiple Forms 990 that it had ceased operations. It was placed in court receivership, and its former chief executiv…
Church-affiliated private school is exempt from filing Form 990
A school asked to be exempt from filing Form 990. The IRS determined that it is a below-college-level educational organization with a general academic program that is affiliated with a church or opera…
Charitable organization's exemption revoked for failing to provide examination records
An organization recognized for charitable and scientific purposes was related to another organization involved in fraudulent activities. During an IRS examination, repeated letters and document reques…
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.