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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A partnership gets more time to make the deemed-sale election on contributing appreciated property to a REIT
When appreciated property owned (directly or through a partnership) by a C corporation becomes property of a real estate investment trust (REIT), the tax rules under Treasury Regulation section 1.337(…
A partnership gets more time to make the deemed-sale election on contributing appreciated property to a REIT
When appreciated property owned (directly or through a partnership) by a C corporation becomes property of a real estate investment trust (REIT), the tax rules under Treasury Regulation section 1.337(…
A partnership gets more time to make the deemed-sale election on contributing appreciated property to a REIT
When appreciated property owned (directly or through a partnership) by a C corporation becomes property of a real estate investment trust (REIT), the tax rules under Treasury Regulation section 1.337(…
A foreign entity gets extra time to elect to be taxed as a corporation
The "check-the-box" rules under Treasury Regulation section 301.7701-3 let an eligible business entity choose how it is taxed for U.S. purposes by filing Form 8832 (an entity can elect to be treated a…
A foreign entity gets extra time to elect to be taxed as a corporation
The "check-the-box" rules under Treasury Regulation section 301.7701-3 let an eligible business entity choose how it is taxed for U.S. purposes by filing Form 8832: a foreign entity whose members all …
A utility gets an approved schedule of deduction amounts and a revised ruling amount for its nuclear decommissioning fund
Under section 468A, an electric utility that owns a nuclear power plant can take current tax deductions for money it sets aside in a qualified fund to pay for eventually decommissioning (safely disman…
A utility gets an approved schedule of deduction amounts and a revised ruling amount for its nuclear decommissioning fund
Under section 468A, an electric utility that owns a nuclear power plant can take current tax deductions for money it sets aside in a qualified fund to pay for eventually decommissioning (safely disman…
A company's botched S corporation election is treated as valid under the inadvertent-invalidity rule
An S corporation is a business that elects to be taxed by passing its income through to its shareholders instead of paying corporate-level tax, but the election only works if the company meets the S c…
A tax-free spin-off paired with a merger of the spun-off business into an unrelated public company
A publicly traded parent company wanted to separate one of its two businesses and combine that business with an unrelated public company. To do it tax-free, the parent used a spin-off under section 35…
Extra time granted for a captive insurer to make the section 831(b) small-company election
A small non-life insurance company can elect under section 831(b) to be taxed only on its investment income rather than on its underwriting income, a popular structure for "captive" insurers owned by …
A county's development incentive payment counts as qualifying REIT income
A real estate investment trust (REIT) gets its favorable tax treatment only if almost all of its income is passive real estate income: at least 95% and 75% of gross income must come from rents and oth…
A utility that abandoned a half-built nuclear project gets a section 165 abandonment loss
A regulated electric utility set out to build new nuclear generating units at one of its plants, co-owned with an unrelated joint owner. The project ran years behind schedule and far over budget, and …
Assets absorbed in a merger qualify as an "unusual grant," protecting public-charity status
A public charity keeps its "publicly supported" status only if it passes a math test: enough of its money must come from the general public rather than from a few large donors. A single huge gift can …
501(c)(3) exemption revoked back to day one because the articles never met the organizational test
To be a section 501(c)(3) charity, an organization must pass an "organizational test": its founding document (its articles of incorporation) must limit its purposes to exempt purposes and must include…
501(c)(6) business league loses exemption for not producing records or filing returns
A business league recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(6) lost that status because it stopped cooperating with the IRS. Exempt organizations must keep adequate books and records under section…
501(c)(3) exemption revoked after the organization went dormant for years
A nonprofit that had been recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) lost that status because it stopped operating. The organization was originally formed to provide dental care and to train den…
501(c)(7) social club loses exemption for too much nonmember income and missing records
A social club that had been recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(7) lost that status after an IRS examination. Such clubs must be organized and operated mainly for the pleasure and recreation…
Returning a case to Exam to fix penalty paperwork is not a prohibited ex parte communication
This short Chief Counsel advice, written as an email, addresses the ex parte rules that keep IRS Appeals independent from the examiners whose work it reviews. An Appeals Officer handling a deficiency …
Wagering excise tax should be assessed against the operator's own EIN, not an unrelated LLC's
This is informal Chief Counsel advice, written as an email, about how to fix a botched wagering-tax assessment. A taxpayer was convicted of running an illegal gambling operation, and the IRS prepared …
Extra time granted to file a late section 336(e) election after a tax professional missed the deadline
When a buyer purchases all the stock of an S corporation, the parties can elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as if it were a sale of the company's assets, which can give the buyer a st…
IRS will disqualify a nuclear decommissioning fund at the owner's request, triggering a taxable deemed distribution
A utility that owns part of a nuclear power plant set aside money to pay for eventually decommissioning the plant, splitting it between a "qualified" fund (which gets favorable tax treatment under sec…
U.S. citizen abroad may re-elect the foreign earned income exclusion early after switching countries and employers
A U.S. citizen working overseas may exclude foreign earned income from U.S. tax under section 911, but once he revokes that election he normally cannot make it again for five years without IRS permiss…
Inadvertent S-corp termination relief where trusts missed their ESBT and QSST elections
An S corporation's stock passed through a chain of trusts after a shareholder died. His grantor trust could stay an eligible S-corporation shareholder for only two years after his death. Before that w…
120-day extension granted to make a late § 754 basis-adjustment election
A partnership can make a § 754 election that lets it adjust the tax basis of its property when a partnership interest changes hands (for example, when a partner dies) or when property is distributed. …
Splitting a decedent's IRA (left to his estate) into separate inherited IRAs for the heirs is not a taxable distribution
A man died after he had started taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) from his IRA, and he had named his estate (not a person) as the account's beneficiary. His will left the estate's interest …
Permission granted to revoke an accountant's inadvertent election out of the installment method
When property is sold for payments spread over more than one year, the seller normally reports the gain gradually under the "installment method" as payments come in, but the seller can choose to "elec…
IC-DISC election given effect despite a conflicting form filed the same day
An Interest Charge Domestic International Sales Corporation (IC-DISC) is a special type of company that gives U.S. exporters a tax benefit on export sales, but only if the corporation properly elects …
Substitute mortality tables approved for a defined benefit pension plan under § 430(h)(3)
Employers that sponsor single-employer defined benefit pension plans must calculate their minimum funding obligations under Internal Revenue Code § 430 using mortality tables (assumptions about how lo…
Employer-related scholarship procedures approved under § 4945(g)(1)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve in advance the way it runs an employer-related scholarship program, which awards college scholarships to the dependent children of employees at several af…
501(c)(3) exemption denied to a lobbying "action organization"
A membership association focused on a universal emergency telephone number (911-type service) applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt charity under Internal Revenue Code § 501(c)(3). The group was al…
501(c)(3) exemption revoked for not keeping records or responding to the IRS
A tax-exempt § 501(c)(3) organization has to keep adequate books and records (Internal Revenue Code § 6001), file annual information returns (§ 6033), and let the IRS examine its activities. Here the …
501(c)(3) exemption revoked; articles never limited purpose to exempt purposes
A § 501(c)(3) organization must be "organized exclusively" for exempt purposes, which means its founding document (here, its articles of incorporation) has to limit the organization to charitable or o…
501(c)(3) exemption revoked for having no valid organizing document
To be tax-exempt under Internal Revenue Code § 501(c)(3), an organization must pass both an "organizational test" (its founding document must limit it to exempt purposes and dedicate its assets to tho…
How IRS records self-authenticate as evidence under FRE 902 and the § 7514 seal
This Chief Counsel Advice is an internal legal analysis of how IRS documents can be admitted into evidence without live testimony from a witness to authenticate them. Under Federal Rule of Evidence 90…
Inadvertently terminated S corporation elections restored under § 1362(f)
Three related corporations had each elected to be taxed as an S corporation, a pass-through status that avoids corporate-level tax but comes with strict ownership rules. During a restructuring, a newl…
120-day extension granted to make a § 2032A special-use farm valuation election
When someone dies owning farmland, the estate can elect under Internal Revenue Code § 2032A to value that land at its farm-use value rather than its (usually higher) fair market value, which can cut t…
Corrected non-pro-rata allocations received inadvertent S election termination relief
An S corporation amended its operating agreement to permit non-pro-rata allocations, creating a second class of stock and terminating its S election. The corporation later amended the agreement again …
Foreign bank could apply interest and liability-ratio rules after closing U.S. branch
A foreign bank planned to close its U.S. branch and transfer most branch assets to its home office. It represented that interest earned after the closure would continue to be treated as effectively co…
Non-pro-rata operating agreement amendment received S election relief
An S corporation amended its operating agreement to permit non-pro-rata allocations, creating a second class of stock and terminating its S election. The corporation later corrected the operating agre…
Governmental deferred compensation plan qualified under section 457(b)
A state-sponsored nonqualified deferred compensation plan and trust was made available to employees of participating local governments. The plan included regular and catch-up deferrals, designated Rot…
Partnership received extra time for success-based fee safe harbor election
A partnership paid a success-based fee in a transaction that transferred a controlling interest in the partnership. The fee was omitted from the books and records sent to the return preparer, so the p…
Late ESBT election received conditional S corporation relief
A trust acquired shares of an S corporation but did not timely elect to be treated as an electing small business trust. That failure terminated the corporation's S election, although the corporation a…
LLC received 120 days to file late corporate classification election
A limited liability company intended to be taxed as an association taxable as a corporation, but its advisers did not tell it to file Form 8832. The company represented that it had always intended cor…
LLC received late Form 8832 corporate classification relief
A limited liability company intended to be taxed as an association taxable as a corporation, but its advisers did not tell it to file Form 8832. The company represented that it had always intended cor…
Corporation could reelect S status before five-year waiting period ended
An S corporation's shares were held by a grantor trust whose grantor died. The corporation's S election later terminated, and the trust proposed to sell all shares to a newly formed employee stock own…
Charitable trust contributions remained incomplete gifts and avoided split-interest trust rules
A settlor created an irrevocable trust for individuals and a foundation while retaining consent and limited appointment powers. The IRS ruled that the initial contribution was an incomplete gift and t…
Trust transfer remained an incomplete gift and committee powers caused no estate inclusion
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and other lifetime beneficiaries. The grantor retained powers to direct distributions, while a committee could act with the grantor's co…
Trust transfer remained an incomplete gift and committee powers caused no estate inclusion
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and other lifetime beneficiaries. The grantor retained powers to direct distributions, while a committee could act with the grantor's co…
Trust transfer remained an incomplete gift and committee powers caused no estate inclusion
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and other lifetime beneficiaries. The grantor retained powers to direct distributions, while a committee could act with the grantor's co…
Trust transfer remained an incomplete gift and committee powers caused no estate inclusion
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and other lifetime beneficiaries. The grantor retained powers to direct distributions, while a committee could act with the grantor's co…
Trust transfer remained an incomplete gift and committee powers caused no estate inclusion
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and other lifetime beneficiaries. The grantor retained powers to direct distributions, while a committee could act with the grantor's co…
Foreign entity received time to make a late partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership but did not timely file Form 8832. It had previously filed an election to be classified as a corporation, effective before it held ass…
Foreign entity received time to make a late partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership but did not timely file Form 8832. It had previously filed an election to be classified as a corporation, effective before it held ass…
Pension plan may use substitute mortality tables for all participant populations
A defined benefit pension plan asked to use substitute mortality tables for its male and female annuitants and nonannuitants, including disabled participants. The IRS approved the tables for 10 plan y…
Aggregated pension plans may use substitute mortality tables for annuitants
A taxpayer requested substitute mortality tables for the combined male and female annuitants of three pension plans. The IRS approved the tables, including their application to disabled participants, …
Charity lost exemption after serving its founders' private interests
An organization formed to provide and maintain housing for its founders' adopted special-needs children. It raised money and used its funds to add space to the founders' personal residence, where the …
Business property association failed the social-welfare test
A nonprofit association maintained common areas and building exteriors for business owners in a commercial shopping center. Membership depended on owning a lot, and assessments were allocated accordin…
Social club lost exemption after recurring nonmember income exceeded the limit
A social and recreation club operated golf and other member facilities but also earned income from nonmembers and a cell-tower easement. The IRS found that nonmember income consistently exceeded the 3…
Professional association lost charity status but received nonretroactive relief
A national organization and its regional subordinates had been recognized as a § 501(c)(3) public charity and covered by a group exemption. Its activities included professional standards, certificatio…
Inactive alternative-fuel coalition lost charity status
An organization was formed to reduce petroleum consumption by promoting alternative-fuel vehicles and related programs. It had been recognized under § 501(c)(3), but its representative reported that i…
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.