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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Charity-controlled medical professional corporation fails the organizational test
To be exempt under section 501(c)(3), an organization must pass the "organizational test": its founding document (for a corporation, the articles of incorporation) must limit its purposes to exempt…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) status to a group whose main activity was securing member discounts
To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3), an organization must be both organized and operated exclusively for charitable (or other exempt) purposes, and it cannot mainly serve the private interests…
Late relief granted for a consolidated group to elect to waive its net operating loss carryback
A corporate group that has a net operating loss (NOL) can normally carry it back to earlier years for a refund, but it can instead elect to waive the carryback and save the loss for future years.…
Late relief granted for a foreign-formed partnership to make a section 754 basis-adjustment election
A section 754 election lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets after a partner is admitted or an interest changes hands, so the incoming partner's inside basis lines up with the value…
Late relief granted for a foreign-formed partnership to make a section 754 basis-adjustment election
A section 754 election lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets after a partner is admitted or an interest changes hands, so the incoming partner's inside basis lines up with the value…
Late relief granted for a partnership to make a section 754 basis-adjustment election
A section 754 election lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets after a partner sells an interest, so the buyer's share of inside basis matches what they paid (often unlocking added…
Late relief granted for a partnership to make a section 754 basis-adjustment election
When someone buys into a partnership, a section 754 election lets the partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets so the new partner's inside basis matches what they paid, which can produce extra…
Late relief to make an IC-DISC election after the company mistakenly filed an S-corporation election instead
An interest-charge domestic international sales corporation (IC-DISC) is a special export-incentive entity, and a company has to elect that status by filing Form 4876-A within 90 days of starting…
A religious residential community qualifies as a "religious order," so its members' support is not taxable wages
When people who take religious vows work for their order, the support the order gives them (food, housing, and similar) is exempt from federal employment taxes. This taxpayer is a tax-exempt…
Late relief granted for two depreciation and R&E elections missed when the firm e-filed the return late
Certain tax elections have to be made on a timely filed return, so a late return can cost the taxpayer the election. A consolidated group of corporations planned two such elections for one tax year:…
Late relief granted to file a "separate line of business" election for a retirement plan
A large employer that runs genuinely separate lines of business can test each one on its own for the coverage and nondiscrimination rules that retirement plans must satisfy, but only if it notifies…
A REIT's share of a lump-sum city payment to keep apartments affordable counts as qualifying REIT income
A real estate investment trust (REIT) has to earn most of its income from passive real estate sources, and a company that fails those income tests can lose its REIT status. This taxpayer, a REIT,…
Reimbursement of a jointly owed drug fee is not the distributor's gross income
A U.S. subsidiary (Taxpayer) is a limited-risk distributor of prescription drugs that are developed and manufactured by two foreign affiliates that hold the drug patents. Together the companies form…
Late-election relief lets a foreign entity file Form 8832 to be taxed as a partnership
A foreign business entity (X) intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes as of the date it was formed, but it inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832, the…
Late-election relief lets a foreign entity file Form 8832 to be taxed as a partnership
A foreign business entity (X) intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes as of the date it was formed, but it inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832, the…
Inadvertent S-corporation termination excused where operating agreement created a second class of stock
A company (X) that had been an LLC taxed as a partnership elected to become an S corporation but left its operating agreement unchanged. Earlier distributions to its two owners had thrown their…
IRS revokes a charity's 501(c)(3) status for not responding to an audit
This final adverse determination revokes an organization's 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The group had applied on the streamlined Form 1023-EZ and been recognized as exempt, then was selected for an…
IRS reclassifies a youth-services charity from a school to a publicly supported organization
This final determination changes how a charity qualifies as a public charity, without disturbing its tax-exempt status. The organization serves at-risk youth through residential treatment,…
IRS reclassifies a public charity from 509(a)(1) to 509(a)(2) support status
This final determination changes how a public charity qualifies as a public charity; it does not touch its tax-exempt status. The organization had originally been classified as a publicly supported…
IRS revokes a rehab charity's exemption after a for-profit took over its operations
This final adverse determination revokes the 501(c)(3) exemption of a nonprofit spinal-injury rehabilitation center. The organization had been converted from a for-profit clinic that used a…
IRS revokes a charity's 501(c)(3) status after an audit it never completed
This final adverse determination letter revokes an organization's 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The group had applied on the streamlined Form 1023-EZ and been recognized as exempt, then was selected…
IRS revokes a charity's 501(c)(3) status for failing to answer an audit
This is a final adverse determination letter revoking an organization's tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3). The group had received a favorable exemption ruling and said it was formed to…
Most free employee meals are taxable, while snacks and limited emergency meals are excluded
A company provided free meals and snacks to employees at its headquarters and argued that several business reasons made the benefits tax-free. The National Office found that broad goals involving…
Former consolidated parent gets 60 days to waive a CNOL carryback
A corporation was the parent of a consolidated group until an unrelated buyer acquired it, ending the old group's tax year and bringing the companies into a new consolidated group. The former parent…
Clean-energy bond proceeds get an 18-month expenditure extension
A municipal authority issued new clean renewable energy bonds to finance solar and battery systems at a police facility and a public school. It expected to spend all available proceeds within the…
Estate gets 120 days to make a QTIP election for a newly discovered asset
A decedent's will gave the surviving spouse a lifetime usufruct over the remaining estate property. The executor timely filed Form 706 but did not make a qualified terminable interest property…
Estate gets 120 days to allocate GST exemption to four trusts
A decedent created an irrevocable trust that was divided into three separate trusts for the primary benefit of the decedent's children. The governing instrument stated an intent for the original…
QDOT trustees get 120 days to report the surviving spouse's citizenship
A decedent's estate claimed the marital deduction for property passing to a qualified domestic trust because the surviving spouse was not a U.S. citizen. The spouse later became a citizen after…
Acquirer gets 60 days to make a late success-based fee safe-harbor election
A corporate group incurred success-based fees while acquiring another business. Its accounting firm prepared the election statement for the Revenue Procedure 2011-29 safe harbor but inadvertently…
Foreign entity gets 120 days to elect disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity with a single owner intended to be treated as a disregarded entity from its formation date. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The entity represented that…
Foreign entity gets 120 days to elect disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity with a single owner intended to be treated as a disregarded entity from its formation date. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The entity represented that…
Foreign entity gets 120 days to elect disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity with a single owner intended to be treated as a disregarded entity from its formation date. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The entity represented that…
Missed QSST elections caused an inadvertent S corporation termination
An S corporation's stock was held through two trusts that became divided into separate shares after shareholder deaths. The shares could no longer rely on the temporary rules for post-death trusts,…
Spouse gets 120 days to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocations
A donor created an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential and later made gifts to it over a series of years. The donor and spouse intended not to allocate their GST…
Spouse gets 120 days to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocations
A donor created an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential and later made gifts to it over a series of years. The donor and spouse intended not to allocate their GST…
Donor gets 120 days to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocations
A donor created an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential and later made gifts to it over a series of years. The donor and spouse intended not to allocate their GST…
Spouse gets 120 days to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocations
A donor created an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential and later made gifts to it over a series of years. The donor and spouse intended not to allocate their GST…
Donor gets 120 days to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocations
A donor created an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential and later made gifts to it over a series of years. The donor and spouse intended not to allocate their GST…
Donor gets 120 days to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocations
A donor created an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential and later made gifts to it over a series of years. The donor and spouse intended not to allocate their GST…
Two pension plans may use substitute mortality tables for annuitants
A pension plan sponsor asked to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables for two plans when computing minimum funding under IRC § 430. The IRS approved the tables for the plans' aggregated male…
Employer-related scholarship procedures approved for a private foundation
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve an employer-related scholarship program for employees' dependent children. An independent third-party administrator will publicize the program, process…
Gymnastics organization's exemption revoked for private inurement and benefit
The IRS revoked the Section 501(c)(3) exemption of an organization that provided gymnastics instruction. The organization had replaced a related for-profit business in the same space while retaining…
Appeals may decline cases raising only constitutional and non-tax issues
Chief Counsel advised that the IRS Independent Office of Appeals may interpret its procedures to decline cases presenting only constitutional and non-tax issues. Publication 5 states that Appeals…
Acquisition debt uses the partners' functional currency for Section 988 calculations
A foreign corporation used a disregarded acquisition entity to borrow in several currencies and buy a corporate group. It later contributed that entity to a partnership whose separate business used…
Affiliated group gets 60 days to file its first consolidated return
A corporate parent created a new affiliated group by acquiring another corporation and intended to file a consolidated federal income tax return for the group. It failed to make a valid election…
Parties get 45 days to file a late Section 336(e) election statement
An LLC taxed as a partnership bought all the stock of an S corporation from its shareholders, and the parties represented that the sale was a qualified stock disposition. They timely entered a…
Estate gets 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent left a surviving spouse and an unused portion of the federal estate and gift tax exclusion. The estate represented that it was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because of the gross…
Surviving LLC gets 120 days to elect corporate classification after a merger
An S corporation merged into an LLC, with the LLC surviving, and the parties intended the transaction to qualify as an IRC § 368(a)(1)(F) reorganization. The LLC also intended to be treated as an S…
Partnership gets 120 days to make a late Section 754 election
A limited partnership intended to make an IRC § 754 election after a partner died but failed to include a properly executed election with its return. The partnership represented that the failure was…
Real estate developer gets 45 days to make a late debt-income exclusion election
A real estate developer recognized cancellation-of-debt income after a wholly owned LLC purchased debt that had financed a condominium project. The developer's accountant reported the income on the…
Surviving spouse is treated as IRA beneficiary through a conduit trust
An IRA owner died after required minimum distributions had begun and had named a revocable trust as the IRA beneficiary. At death the trust became irrevocable, and its subtrust required every…
Investment advisers and their client funds are not aggregated as Section 382 owners
A publicly traded loss corporation asked how to identify owners of its stock for the IRC § 382 ownership-change rules. Three investment advisers managed funds and accounts that collectively held, or…
LLC gets late classification and S elections plus inadvertent-termination relief
An LLC intended to be treated as an S corporation from its formation date, but it did not timely file either its entity-classification election or its S corporation election. Its sole shareholder…
LLC gets late classification and S elections plus inadvertent-termination relief
An LLC intended to be treated as an S corporation from its formation date, but it did not timely file either its entity-classification election or its S corporation election. Its sole shareholder…
LLC gets late classification and S elections plus inadvertent-termination relief
An LLC intended to be treated as an S corporation from its formation date, but it did not timely file either its entity-classification election or its S corporation election. Its sole shareholder…
LLC gets late classification and S elections plus inadvertent-termination relief
An LLC intended to be treated as an S corporation from its formation date, but it did not timely file either its entity-classification election or its S corporation election. Its sole shareholder…
S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election and…
S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election and…
S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election and…
S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election 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.