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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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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
Baseball-support group primarily benefited a for-profit team's players
An organization said it would support baseball, community relations, youth tickets, education, and preservation activities. Its financial records instead showed substantial spending on players of a…
Automatic funeral benefits for members served private interests
A membership organization collected one-time fees and paid funeral expenses when a member or family member died. The payments were automatic, with no qualification or review for financial need. The…
Auto-repair purchasing group provided particular services to members
An organization of independent auto-repair businesses negotiated supplier pricing and rebates for its members. It planned to use vendor rebates for administration, advertising, recruiting,…
Payment processor qualified as a third party settlement organization
A software and payment-processing provider asked whether it was a third party settlement organization for payments settled through two platforms. The IRS found that both platforms established third…
Transfer disqualified nuclear decommissioning fund without self-dealing
An owner preparing to sell a shut-down nuclear unit planned to transfer all assets from its qualified nuclear decommissioning fund to a nonqualified fund within the same trust. The IRS agreed to…
Gift of nonvoting LLC interests to charitable trust avoided self-dealing
A trust creator planned to give a charitable lead annuity trust nonvoting interests in an LLC whose only assets were promissory notes owed by trusts for descendants. Those note obligors were…
Historic-certification application received filing relief
A property owner hired a consultant to prepare and file an application for historic-status certification before a rehabilitation project was placed in service. The consultant prepared the…
Estate received time for QTIP and reverse QTIP elections
An estate intended to obtain the marital deduction for a trust benefiting the surviving spouse, but its attorney reported all trust assets as jointly owned property and made no QTIP election. The…
Energy infrastructure fees qualified as REIT real-property rents
A REIT planned to lease an offshore oil and gas platform, storage-tank capacity, and pipeline capacity to unrelated users. Fees could depend on reserved capacity, throughput volume, public inflation…
Eight pension plans received substitute mortality-table approval
A controlled group asked to use substitute mortality tables for the combined male and female annuitants, including disabled participants, in eight defined benefit pension plans. The IRS approved the…
Pension plan received conditional substitute mortality-table approval
A pension plan requested substitute mortality tables for four participant populations. The IRS approved tables for male annuitants, female annuitants, and male nonannuitants for ten plan years, but…
Three pension plans received combined substitute mortality tables
A controlled group requested substitute mortality tables for participants in three defined benefit pension plans. The IRS approved combined male and combined female tables covering annuitants and…
Three plans received combined mortality tables including disabled participants
A controlled group requested substitute mortality tables for three defined benefit pension plans. The IRS approved combined male and combined female tables covering annuitants and nonannuitants,…
Two pension plans received combined substitute mortality tables
A taxpayer requested permission to use substitute mortality tables for two defined benefit pension plans. The IRS approved combined male and combined female tables for annuitants and nonannuitants,…
Pension plan received substitute mortality tables for annuitants
A pension plan requested substitute mortality tables for its participant populations. The IRS approved male and female annuitant tables, including disabled participants, for ten plan years. Male and…
Pension plan received conditional substitute mortality-table approval
A pension plan requested substitute mortality tables for all male and female participants, including disabled participants. The IRS conditionally approved the tables for ten plan years. Because the…
Renewable college scholarship procedures approved
A private operating foundation sought approval for a renewable college scholarship program serving high school students in its local area. Applicants had to rank in the top ten percent of their…
Employer-related college scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed nonrenewable college scholarships for children of employees of a company and its subsidiaries. An outside organization would administer the program and independently…
Insurance-agent association denied business-league exemption
An association of insurance agents sought exemption as a business league under section 501(c)(6). Its members could sell products from several carriers, but membership was limited to agents who sold…
Real-estate education charity lost exemption over records and private benefit
The IRS revoked a real-estate education organization's section 501(c)(3) status after an examination of its finances and operations. Tuition revenue flowed through personal accounts, and the…
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.