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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Medical charity lost exemption over insider benefits and poor records
A medical charity provided some free or reduced-cost care and accepted public and private insurance, but its founder controlled its operations and finances. The examination found numerous bank…
Member death-benefit association lost charitable exemption
An association accumulated funds to assist injured or disabled members and to pay funeral expenses when a member died. Its only reported activity was buying beverages for an annual inspection and…
Medical-interpreter certifier lost charitable exemption
An organization educated medical interpreters and operated a national certification program that administered written and oral exams. The IRS accepted that leadership training, workshops,…
Investment-funded social club lost exemption
A fraternity-related organization held investments and used the income to provide housing for chapter members. Investment income had been its sole reported income for years, and it did not provide…
Computer records may prove a lost collection waiver
Chief Counsel was asked whether account entries could show that a Form 900 collection waiver had been processed and accepted when the physical form was missing. The advice explained that loss of the…
Partnership AAR period may close before assessment period
Chief Counsel explained that the section 6229 period can close while a partner's section 6501 assessment period remains open. Section 6229 supplies a minimum assessment period for partners, not a…
Protective refund claims are available for gift tax
Chief Counsel considered whether a taxpayer may file a protective refund claim for gift tax. Examination had denied such a claim solely because it related to gift tax. The advice concluded that…
Advisor below fee threshold had no section 6112 duty
Chief Counsel corrected an earlier email about a section 6112 list request. Based on the information supplied, the advisor did not meet the section 6111 fee threshold for material-advisor status.…
Entity could elect corporate status within 60-month limit
An eligible entity had previously changed its federal classification and later became a partnership after gaining more than one owner. It wanted to elect association status taxable as a corporation…
Consolidated group received 60 days to waive CNOL carryback
A consolidated group intended to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss, and its returns were filed consistently with that intent, but the required election…
Basis increases for acquired partnership interests were amortizable
A publicly traded partnership converted to corporate form and transferred interests in lower-tier partnerships that held an intangible subject to section 197's anti-churning rules. The transfer…
Closed-year tax-exempt controlled entity election received relief
A corporation owned by a section 501(c)(3) organization was treated as a tax-exempt controlled entity and served as general partner of a low-income housing partnership. The taxpayer intended to…
Pension plan received substitute mortality tables for annuitants
A pension plan requested substitute mortality tables for its participant populations. The IRS approved tables for male and female annuitants, including disabled participants, for ten plan years.…
Pension plan received substitute mortality tables for annuitants
A pension plan requested substitute mortality tables for an included group of participants. The IRS approved tables for male and female annuitants, including disabled participants, for ten plan…
Pension plan received substitute mortality tables for all populations
A pension plan requested substitute mortality tables for its participant populations. The IRS approved tables for male and female annuitants and nonannuitants, including disabled participants, for…
Two pension plans received substitute mortality tables for annuitants
A taxpayer requested substitute mortality tables for two pension plans treated on an aggregated basis. The IRS approved tables for male and female annuitants, excluding disabled participants, for…
Dormant charity loses exemption for showing no activity or records
The IRS revoked a charity's section 501(c)(3) exemption because it did not substantiate any exempt operations. Its filed returns reported no revenue or expenses other than depreciation, later…
Private foundation may set aside funds for facility renovations
A private foundation planned a multiyear renovation of its operating facility and requested approval to set aside funds rather than pay them immediately. The IRS approved the set-aside under section…
Private foundation's scholarship procedures are approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for a college scholarship program. The IRS approved the procedures under section 4945(g)(1), so grants made under them would not be taxable…
Racing and gaming advocacy group is denied agricultural exemption
An organization sought section 501(c)(5) exemption as an agricultural organization. Its activities promoted horse and greyhound racing, pari-mutuel wagering, electronic gaming, entertainment, and…
Consolidated group receives late CNOL carryback waiver relief
The parent of a consolidated group intended to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss but failed to file a valid election with the return. The group filed…
Foreign insurer receives more time to elect domestic treatment
A foreign insurance company intended to elect under section 953(d) to be treated as a domestic corporation and join its parent's consolidated return. The return was prepared and filed as if the…
S corporation and QSub receive inadvertent termination relief
An LLC taxed as an S corporation acquired another LLC and elected to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. The parent's operating agreement still contained partnership provisions that…
Tax-exempt controlled entity receives late depreciation election relief
A corporation owned by a section 501(c)(3) organization was a general partner in a partnership that developed low-income rental housing. The partnership depreciated its property as though the…
Scholarship grant procedures approved for a private foundation
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve its procedures for scholarships to high school seniors who have been accepted by qualifying U.S. universities but lack the resources to attend. A…
Consolidated group gets 60 days to waive a CNOL carryback after returning its refund
A consolidated corporate group generated a consolidated net operating loss (CNOL), carried it back to an earlier year, and received a refund. The parent later returned the refund and sought to make…
Consolidated group gets 60 days to waive a CNOL carryback after returning its refund
A consolidated corporate group generated a consolidated net operating loss (CNOL), carried it back to an earlier year, and received a refund. The parent later returned the refund and sought to make…
Surviving spouse may roll over an IRA after other beneficiaries disclaim it
A decedent named a trust as the sole beneficiary of an IRA and did not name a contingent beneficiary. Within nine months of death, the trust, the decedent's son, and two grandchildren disclaimed…
Tax-exempt-controlled corporation gets 75 days to make a late depreciation election
A tax-exempt organization wholly owned a corporation that served as general partner of a low-income housing partnership. Without an election under Section 168(h)(6)(F)(ii), the corporation would be…
Former spouses' delayed property buyout is incident to divorce and not a taxable gift
Two former spouses kept equal interests in real property under a court order entered less than seven months after their divorce. More than six years later, a fire caused major damage, one spouse…
Consolidated group gets 60 days to make late consent dividend elections
A consolidated corporate group had subsidiaries that were treated as paying and receiving consent dividends for two tax years. Its accounting firm analyzed personal holding company tax only at the…
Fiber and antenna-system lease payments qualify as REIT real-property rents
A real estate investment trust leases permanently affixed fiber optic and coaxial cable systems, conduit, and distributed antenna systems to telecommunications customers. Its agreements grant…
IRS pre-approves a foundation's internship and research grant procedures
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, the procedures it uses to award educational grants under Internal Revenue Code section 4945(g)(3). Private foundations normally owe an…
IRS pre-approves a foundation's medical-school pipeline scholarship program
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, the procedures for a scholarship program it runs to fund the education of certain qualifying students. Private foundations normally owe an…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) status to a club whose charity was incidental to its social events
The IRS denied tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) to an unincorporated membership club. The group described itself as a social organization that promotes individuality and self-expression…
Accrual taxpayers on an impermissible method may use Rev. Proc. 2018-60 to fix their § 451 timing
This Chief Counsel Advice answers a procedural question about when businesses must report income after the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The TCJA amended section 451 so that an accrual-method taxpayer…
IRS grants an estate extra time to make a late portability election
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exemption, the surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through…
IRS lets an investment partnership aggregate its nonoperating mineral royalty interests for depletion
A U.S. investment partnership owns mineral royalty interests, spread across several tracts of land, that entitle it to royalties on production but do not require it to bear any exploration,…
IRS grants an estate extra time to make a late portability election
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exemption, the surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through…
In a spin-off, cash paid into terminating pension plans counts as a transfer to creditors
A publicly traded parent corporation planned to separate one of its two businesses into a new, separately traded company (a "spin-off") intended to qualify as a tax-free divisive reorganization…
Married couple's community-property trust is a non-grantor trust and their contributions are incomplete gifts
A married couple in a community property state set up an irrevocable trust for themselves, their children, two other individuals, and charities. Distributions are controlled by a "Power of…
Partnership gets 120 extra days to make a late Section 754 basis-adjustment election
A limited partnership meant to make a Section 754 election, which lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets after a partner dies or a partnership interest changes hands, so the new owner…
Private foundation gets 60 extra days to make a late conduit-foundation election so its donors keep the 50% deduction limit
A private foundation that regrants money to other charities wanted "conduit foundation" treatment, which lets its individual donors deduct contributions at the higher 50 percent of income limit…
S corporation gets 120 extra days to make a late QSub election for its wholly owned subsidiary
An S corporation wholly owns a subsidiary corporation and wanted the subsidiary treated as a "qualified subchapter S subsidiary" (QSub). A QSub election makes the subsidiary invisible for tax…
Foreign entity gets 120 extra days to elect to be treated as a disregarded entity
A foreign business entity with a single owner wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as a separate taxpayer and its activities are reported…
Married couple's community-property trust is a non-grantor trust and their contributions are incomplete gifts
A married couple in a community property state set up an irrevocable trust for themselves, their children, two other individuals, and charities. Distributions are controlled by a "Power of…
Spouse gets 120 extra days to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation on years of gifts to a trust
A donor set up an irrevocable trust for his children and their descendants, and over many years he and his spouse made gifts to it and split those gifts on their gift tax returns. Gifts to that kind…
Donor gets 120 extra days to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation on years of gifts to a trust
A donor set up an irrevocable trust for his children and their descendants, and over many years he and his spouse made gifts to it and split those gifts on their gift tax returns. Gifts to that kind…
Spouse gets 120 extra days to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation on years of gifts to a trust
A donor set up an irrevocable trust for his children and their descendants, and over many years he and his spouse made gifts to it and split those gifts on their gift tax returns. Gifts to that kind…
Donor gets 120 extra days to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation on years of gifts to a trust
A donor set up an irrevocable trust for his children and their descendants, and over many years he and his spouse made gifts to it and split those gifts on their gift tax returns. Gifts to that kind…
Entity gets late relief to be taxed as a corporation and to elect S corporation status
An eligible business entity wanted two things effective on the same date: to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation (rather than a partnership or disregarded entity), and to be…
S corporation's inadvertent termination is excused after a trust beneficiary missed the QSST election
A corporation had elected to be taxed as an S corporation, the pass-through regime that avoids corporate-level tax. Its shares were later transferred to a trust. A trust can only hold S corporation…
S corporation's inadvertent termination is excused after six trust shareholders missed their ESBT elections
A corporation elected to be taxed as an S corporation, the pass-through regime that avoids corporate-level tax. Six trusts were shareholders. A trust can hold S corporation stock only if it fits an…
S corporation's inadvertent termination is excused after three trusts missed ESBT elections, subject to an adjustment payment
A corporation elected to be taxed as an S corporation, the pass-through regime that avoids corporate-level tax. Shares were later acquired by three trusts. A trust can hold S corporation stock only…
Pension plan approved to use substitute mortality tables, but subject to yearly actuarial recertification
Single-employer defined benefit pension plans value their liabilities using mortality tables, and a plan with enough of its own credible mortality experience can ask the IRS to approve "substitute"…
Two pension plans approved to use substitute mortality tables, with limits for disabled participants
Single-employer defined benefit pension plans value their liabilities using mortality tables, and a plan with enough of its own credible mortality experience can ask the IRS to approve "substitute"…
Pension plan approved to use substitute mortality tables for its participants
Single-employer defined benefit pension plans must value their liabilities using mortality tables, and a plan with enough of its own credible mortality experience can ask the IRS to approve…
Private foundation's set-aside to build a cultural and arts facility is approved as a qualifying distribution
A private foundation must pay out a minimum amount for charitable purposes each year, but it can instead "set aside" funds for a specific long-term project and still count them as a qualifying…
IRS approves a private foundation's scholarship grant procedures in advance
When a private foundation gives grants to individuals for study, those payments are normally "taxable expenditures" that trigger excise taxes, unless the IRS approves the foundation's award…
Private foundation's set-aside to convert a building into a museum is approved as a qualifying distribution
A private foundation normally has to pay out a minimum amount each year for charitable purposes, but instead of spending immediately it can "set aside" money for a specific long-term project and…
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.