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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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…
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…
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…
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…
IRS approves an employer's substitute mortality tables for pension funding for 10 plan years
Employers that sponsor traditional (defined benefit) pension plans must calculate their required annual funding using mortality tables, which predict how long retirees will live and therefore how…
Lower-tier partnership gets 120 extra days to make a late Section 754 election
A partner in an upper-tier partnership died, and both that partnership and a lower-tier partnership it partly owned failed to make timely Section 754 elections for the year. The lower-tier…
Upper-tier partnership gets 120 extra days to make a late Section 754 election
A partner in an upper-tier partnership died, and both that partnership and a lower-tier partnership it partly owned failed to make timely Section 754 elections for the year. The upper-tier…
Corporate separation qualifies for tax-free spin-off treatment with stated exceptions
A publicly traded parent planned to separate two businesses by moving assets through subsidiaries and partnerships, distributing a new controlled corporation internally, and then spinning that…
S corporation split-off qualifies as a tax-free reorganization
An S corporation operated two active businesses, one directly and one through a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. It proposed separating them by having a group of shareholders surrender all their…
Foundation's religion-journalism grant is a qualifying distribution, not a taxable expenditure
A private foundation proposed funding a Type I supporting organization's global religion-journalism project. The project would use nonprofit and for-profit collaborators to produce objective,…
Foreign entity gets 120 extra days to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes from the date it was formed. It missed the deadline to file Form 8832, the form used to make an…
Foreign entity gets 120 extra days to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes from the date it was formed. It missed the deadline to file Form 8832, the form used to make an…
IRS approves a private foundation's journalism fellowship procedures
A private foundation proposed a 12-month fellowship that would provide salary, benefits, training, and newsroom placements to early-career journalists. Applicants would be evaluated through…
IRS approves a private foundation's pharmacy innovation grant procedures
A private foundation proposed competitive grants for licensed pharmacists in a specified state or researchers working with innovative pharmacy practice by pharmacists in that state. Applicants had…
IRS approves a private foundation's health-care scholarship grant procedures
A private foundation that funds health-care education asked the IRS to approve in advance the way it selects and awards scholarships. Under Code Section 4945, grants a private foundation makes to…
IRS denies "unusual grant" treatment for a repeat donor's endowment gift
A publicly supported educational charity asked the IRS to treat a large one-time gift as an "unusual grant." That label matters because public charities must keep a broad base of public support to…
IRS approves a foundation's scholarship procedures for charter-school graduates
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve in advance how it awards a scholarship program aimed at charter high school seniors. Private foundations that give grants to individuals for study can…
Chief Counsel does not object to a lien-release sentence in a draft quitclaim deed
This is a short, informal Chief Counsel Advice sent as an email about the wording of a draft quitclaim deed. The recipient had proposed adding a sentence to the draft deed, apparently to make clear…
IRC 6103(h)(1) authorizes disclosing return information to agency employees
This is a brief, informal Chief Counsel Advice sent as an email answering a "need to know" disclosure question. Federal law generally keeps tax returns and return information confidential under Code…
IRS grants extra time to file a late Section 338(g) election under 9100 relief
The parent of a consolidated corporate group asked the IRS for more time to file a Section 338(g) election. That election lets a stock purchase be treated, for tax purposes, as if the buyer had…
IRS grants relief for an inadvertently terminated QSub election
An S corporation had elected to treat a wholly owned subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (a QSub), which lets the subsidiary be ignored as a separate corporation for tax purposes and…
IRS grants extra time to file a late LIFO inventory election after an S-corp conversion
A business that inventories goods using the last-in, first-out (LIFO) method asked the IRS for more time to file the form that elects LIFO. The taxpayer had used LIFO since it operated as a…
IRS grants extra time to file a late check-the-box election to be a disregarded entity
A business entity with a single owner wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for federal tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner and its activity is reported on the…
IRS grants an estate extra time to make a late portability election
When a married person dies without using up their full federal estate-tax exclusion, the unused portion (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE, amount) can be passed to the surviving spouse…
IRS rules that swaps of product distribution rights are like-kind under pre-TCJA Section 1031
A wholesale distributor (an S corporation) holds franchise-style distribution rights that let it sell certain branded products in defined territories. To move in and out of markets, it sold some of…
IRS grants extra time to file a late accounting-method-change application (Form 3115)
A corporate group that files a consolidated return wanted to change its method of accounting for certain prepaid insurance premium costs. Changing an accounting method usually needs IRS consent, but…
Court-approved sale of inherited shares can avoid indirect self-dealing
A private foundation expected to receive shares of a family corporation from its founder's trust. Litigation required the trust to sell those shares to the corporation, which was a disqualified…
Acquired company qualifies for separate-line-of-business administrative scrutiny
A taxpayer acquired a specialized company that continued to operate autonomously with its own leadership, board, finances, human resources, payroll, offices, technology, customers, and employee…
Estate gets extra time to split a QTIP trust and make a reverse QTIP election
A decedent's estate timely made a QTIP election for a trust benefiting the surviving spouse. The estate's law firm did not advise that the trust should be severed into GST-exempt and GST-nonexempt…
Estate gets a late QTIP election and zero GST inclusion ratios for two trusts
A decedent had created trusts that, at death, provided for a marital-deduction trust, a credit shelter trust, and a trust for the decedent's mother. The estate's accountant failed to make the…
Estate gets a late QTIP election and zero GST inclusion ratios for two trusts
A decedent had created trusts that, at death, provided for a marital-deduction trust, a credit shelter trust, and a trust for the decedent's mother. The estate's accountant failed to make the…
Nuclear plant owner receives a revised decommissioning-fund contribution schedule
A holding company acquired an ownership interest in a nuclear generating unit, the related decommissioning trust assets, and the corresponding decommissioning liability. It asked the IRS to approve…
Community-property trust gets incomplete-gift, power, and basis rulings with an income-tax caveat
A married couple in a community-property state created an irrevocable trust for themselves, family members, and friends, with distributions controlled through retained powers and a nonfiduciary…
Community-property trust gets incomplete-gift, power, and basis rulings with an income-tax caveat
A married couple in a community-property state created an irrevocable trust for themselves, family members, and friends, with distributions controlled through retained powers and a nonfiduciary…
Community-property trust gets incomplete-gift, power, and basis rulings with an income-tax caveat
A married couple in a community-property state created an irrevocable trust for themselves, family members, and friends, with distributions controlled through retained powers and a nonfiduciary…
Community-property trust gets incomplete-gift, power, and basis rulings with an income-tax caveat
A married couple in a community-property state created an irrevocable trust for themselves, family members, and friends, with distributions controlled through retained powers and a nonfiduciary…
Community-property trust gets incomplete-gift, power, and basis rulings with an income-tax caveat
A married couple in a community-property state created an irrevocable trust for themselves, family members, and friends, with distributions controlled through retained powers and a nonfiduciary…
Community-property trust gets incomplete-gift, power, and basis rulings with an income-tax caveat
A married couple in a community-property state created an irrevocable trust for themselves, family members, and friends, with distributions controlled through retained powers and a nonfiduciary…
Executor gets an IRA rollover waiver after the account owner's cognitive decline
An IRA owner withdrew cash while experiencing severe cognitive impairment and did not roll it over within 60 days. Medical evidence showed a persistent decline, and the owner's son was later…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year extensions for unfunded-liability amortization
A multiemployer pension plan requested more time to amortize unfunded liabilities arising from plan amendments, actuarial losses, and actuarial assumption changes. The plan's actuary certified that…
Two plans may use substitute mortality tables for annuitants but not nonannuitants
A taxpayer requested permission for two defined benefit pension plans to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables. The IRS approved substitute rates for the plans' combined male and female…
Seven pension plans may use combined substitute mortality tables for 10 years
A taxpayer requested permission for seven defined benefit pension plans to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables. The proposed tables combine the plans' male participants into one population…
Plan may use substitute mortality tables for three populations but not a fourth
A defined benefit pension plan asked to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables for up to 10 plan years. The IRS approved substitute rates for union men, non-union men, and female annuitants.…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year extensions for unfunded-liability amortization
A multiemployer pension plan requested more time to amortize a series of unfunded-liability charge bases. The plan's actuary certified that without relief the plan would face an accumulated funding…
Section 501(c)(5) exemption denied to a commercial farm operation
A mutual benefit corporation applied for exemption as an agricultural organization under Section 501(c)(5). It had no members, grew and sold its own crop, paid its founder and sole director a…
Bankruptcy liquidating trust keeps its status during another one-year extension
A Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan created a trust to pursue estate litigation claims, liquidate the resulting assets, and distribute the proceeds to claim holders. The trust had an initial five-year term…
Foreign entity gets extra time to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes but failed to timely file Form 8832. It asked the IRS for an extension under the regulatory election relief…
Foundation receives rules for inherited business interests, apartment rent, and mortgage debt
A private foundation is the remainder beneficiary of a trust that will distribute corporate and limited liability company interests after the death of the current beneficiary. The assets include an…
Couple gets extra time to allocate GST exemption to two trusts
A grantor transferred property to two trusts for family beneficiaries, and the grantor and spouse elected to split the gifts on their gift tax returns. Their accountant prepared the returns but…
Couple gets extra time to allocate GST exemption to two trusts
A grantor transferred property to two trusts for family beneficiaries, and the grantor and spouse elected to split the gifts on their gift tax returns. Their accountant prepared the returns but…
Subsidiary receives late QSub and S corporation election relief
An S corporation acquired all of a subsidiary's stock but failed to timely file the intended qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) election. A trust later acquired the subsidiary, 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.