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.
No determinations match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
201843010: Revokes a children's-cancer charity's 501(c)(3) for private inurement, inflated gift-in-kind reporting, and fundraising against public policy
This is a final IRS determination revoking the 501(c)(3) exemption of a nonprofit organized to help children suffering from cancer and their families. On audit, the IRS found the organization was oper…
Tax-exempt bonds may advance refund defeased Build America Bonds that had become non-tax-advantaged taxable bonds
This Chief Counsel Advice addresses a wrinkle created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which amended section 149(d) to end tax-exempt "advance refundings" (issuing new tax-exempt bonds more than 90 …
Reformation of a trust's Crummey withdrawal error avoids general powers of appointment; 120-day extension to allocate GST exemption
A settlor set up an irrevocable trust for his descendants, wanting the trust assets to stay out of his children's estates and to use up his and his spouse's generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exem…
Reformation of a trust's Crummey withdrawal error avoids general powers of appointment; 120-day extension to allocate GST exemption
A settlor set up an irrevocable trust for his descendants, wanting the trust assets to stay out of his children's estates and to use up his and his spouse's generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exem…
Reformation of a trust's Crummey withdrawal error avoids general powers of appointment; 120-day extension to allocate GST exemption
A settlor set up an irrevocable trust for his descendants, wanting the trust assets to stay out of his children's estates and to use up his and his spouse's generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exem…
Reformation of a trust's Crummey withdrawal error avoids general powers of appointment; 120-day extension to allocate GST exemption
A settlor set up an irrevocable trust for his descendants, wanting the trust assets to stay out of his children's estates and to use up his and his spouse's generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exem…
90-day extension to make a late taxable-REIT-subsidiary (TRS) election under § 856(l)
A real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns medical-office, senior-housing, student-housing, and self-storage properties set up a wholly owned subsidiary and meant to jointly elect (on Form 8875) …
Approves a revised schedule of ruling amounts for a nuclear decommissioning fund under § 468A
A state public utility that owns and operates a nuclear power plant (now shut down and slated for decommissioning) asked the IRS to approve a revised schedule of "ruling amounts" for its qualified nuc…
Consent for a consolidated-group subsidiary to switch to a calendar taxable year while still filing consolidated
The common parent of a corporate consolidated group uses an unusual "52-53 week" tax year that ends on the last Saturday in December. One member of the group (Sub) owns foreign subsidiaries (controlle…
90-day extension to make a late § 831(b) small-insurance-company election
A newly formed small non-life ("property and casualty") insurance company meant to elect under section 831(b)(2) to be taxed only on its taxable investment income, a favorable election available to ce…
Approves a five-year extension for amortizing a multiemployer plan's unfunded liabilities
This ruling approves a multiemployer pension plan's request for an automatic extension of the periods used to amortize specified unfunded liabilities. The extension applies beginning with the plan yea…
Approves a private foundation's scholarship procedures for students in a specialty field
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve its procedures for awarding nonrenewable scholarships to students studying in a specialty field at accredited U.S. post-secondary institutions. Applicants…
Approves renewable need-based scholarships for students from a financially depressed community
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve a scholarship program for high-school graduates who live in a financially depressed community and previously attended specified primary or middle schools.…
A politically active 501(c)(4) can be a section 271 political party, barring a bad-debt deduction
A taxpayer lent money to a section 501(c)(4) organization that later dissolved without repaying the loan, then claimed a worthless-debt deduction under section 166. The organization had reported spend…
Grants 60 days to file a late IC-DISC election after advisers miscommunicated
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation (IC-DISC) for its parent company's export sales. The corporation relied on two accounting fi…
Grants 120 days for a late section 1022 election and basis allocation for a 2010 estate
The executor of an estate for a person who died in 2010 hired an attorney to prepare the estate's tax filings, but the attorney failed to file Form 8939 by the January 17, 2012 deadline. That form was…
Grants 60 days to file an omitted safe-harbor election for success-based acquisition fees
A corporate group acquired a healthcare company and paid contingent fees to two financial advisers. Its tax adviser recommended the Rev. Proc. 2011-29 safe harbor, prepared the required election state…
Grants late section 336(e) election relief for an S corporation stock acquisition
A disregarded purchaser acquired all the stock of an S corporation for its regarded owner, and the purchase agreement said a section 336(e) election would be made. The election was not timely complete…
Unreceived bonus-depreciation refunds cannot reduce a utility's rate base through ADIT
A rate-regulated electric utility made estimated federal tax payments before Congress retroactively extended bonus depreciation for two tax years. Electing bonus depreciation created overpayments, and…
Approves cultural project and travel grants to individuals
A private foundation proposed two nonrenewable grant programs to promote understanding and preservation of a particular culture and its history. One program funds research, scholarship, artwork, perfo…
201841008: Denies 501(c)(3) status because the applicant did not document a valid nonprofit corporation
An organization applied for section 501(c)(3) status while its filed articles showed it as a stock-issuing for-profit business corporation. The articles had neither a clause limiting the organization …
201841007: Denies 501(c)(3) status because the articles lacked exempt-purpose and dissolution clauses
A nonprofit corporation applied for section 501(c)(3) status but submitted its bylaws instead of its articles of incorporation. The IRS obtained the articles from the state and found that they did not…
An enforceable owner note can count toward a disregarded entity's net value
Chief Counsel considered how to compute the “net value” of a disregarded entity that held an intercompany note from its corporate owner. Treas. Reg. § 1.752-2(k) treats a disregarded entity as separat…
Equitable reformation and estoppel preserve two Forms 872
Chief Counsel considered whether two Forms 872 validly extended the assessment period. Both forms used an incorrect caption, but the advice concluded that a court could reform the captions to reflect …
Grants 120 days for a late section 59(e) election on research expenditures
A corporation intended to file its return and elect under section 59(e) to deduct research and experimental expenditures ratably over ten years. Its internal tax accountant mistakenly believed Form 70…
Grants 120 days for a late section 754 election after a partnership-interest transfer
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership timely filed its return for a year in which one member transferred part of its interest to another member, but it did not attach a section 754 electi…
A construction grant for a REIT redevelopment project is qualifying income
A REIT planned to redevelop a distressed, high-vacancy property into modern retail, residential, and other uses. It applied for a state economic-development grant that would reimburse documented const…
Grants 120 days to elect the investment tax credit for renewable facilities
A taxpayer intended to make the irrevocable section 48(a)(5) election to claim the investment tax credit instead of the section 45 production tax credit for renewable-energy facilities. Its internal t…
Advance approval of a private foundation's scholarship procedures for economically disadvantaged foreign students under section 4945(g)(1)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, the procedures for a scholarship program funding the education of economically disadvantaged students in foreign countries, aiming to give th…
Advance approval of a private foundation's procedures for postdoctoral science research fellowships under section 4945(g)(3)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, the procedures for a program that funds three-year fellowships for postdoctoral scientists working in physical and life sciences, technology,…
LLC allowed to switch back to partnership taxation within the usual 60-month lock-out because ownership changed by more than half
An LLC can choose how it is taxed (disregarded, partnership, or corporation), but once it elects to change its classification, it generally cannot change again for 60 months. Here an LLC started as a …
Children behind "see-through" trusts count as designated beneficiaries, so a deceased 401(k) participant's benefits can stretch over the oldest child's life expectancy
When someone dies with money in a 401(k), how fast the account must be paid out depends on whether there is a "designated beneficiary" who is an actual individual. If a trust is named as beneficiary, …
An auction platform for partnership interests is a "qualified matching service," so trading on it does not make the partnerships publicly traded
Under § 7704, a partnership whose interests are "publicly traded" gets taxed as a corporation, which partnerships generally want to avoid. But the regulations create a safe harbor: transfers through a…
Partnership gets a late section 754 election after a member bought out another, subject to basis-adjustment conditions
An LLC taxed as a partnership had one member transfer her entire interest to another member. The partnership filed its return for that year on time but did not include the § 754 election that would le…
A liquidation provision that created a second class of stock made an S election invalid, but the IRS treats the defect as inadvertent
An S corporation may have only one class of stock, meaning all shares must confer identical rights to distributions and liquidation proceeds. Here an LLC elected to be taxed as an S corporation, but i…
Partnership gets more time to make a section 754 basis-adjustment election it filed its returns as if it had made
A § 754 election lets a partnership adjust the basis of its assets after a partner's interest changes hands, matching inside basis to what happened at the partner level. The election has to be filed w…
Grantor granted more time to allocate GST exemption to two trusts after the accountant left it off the gift tax return
A grantor set up and funded two irrevocable trusts for descendants and reported the gifts on a gift tax return (Form 709), but the accounting firm that prepared the return failed to allocate any of th…
Estate gets extra time to split a marital trust into QTIP and non-QTIP shares and fix its generation-skipping tax planning
When a spouse dies, property left in trust for the surviving spouse can qualify for the unlimited estate-tax marital deduction if the executor makes a "QTIP" election under § 2056(b)(7). Where only pa…
Advance approval of a private foundation's procedures for two artist grant programs under section 4945(g)(3)
A private foundation that funds the arts asked the IRS to approve, in advance, the procedures for two educational grant programs supporting individual artists. This advance approval matters because gr…
501(c)(3) exemption denied to an organization that conducted no activities and did not respond to IRS requests
An organization applied for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status using the streamlined Form 1023-EZ, attesting that its organizing documents met the requirements. When the IRS asked for details about its actua…
Companion ruling grants the other spouse extra time to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation to a GRAT
This is the companion to PLR 201839012, covering the other gift-splitting spouse for the same grantor retained annuity trust (GRAT). A taxpayer created a GRAT that continued for family members after t…
Fund company gets more time to make the joint election that shifts a built-in loss from asset basis to stock basis
When property with a built-in loss (basis higher than value) is contributed to a corporation in a tax-free § 351 exchange, § 362(e)(2) normally forces the receiving corporation to reduce its basis in …
Spouse granted extra time to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation to a GRAT
A taxpayer created a grantor retained annuity trust (GRAT) that continued for family members after the annuity term ended, giving it generation-skipping transfer (GST) potential. The taxpayer and spou…
New owners may re-elect S corporation status early, waiving the usual five-year wait after a prior termination
When a corporation's S election is terminated, § 1362(g) normally bars it from electing S status again for five years unless the IRS consents. Here the sole shareholder had voluntarily terminated the …
Returning an overfunded pension contribution to the employer is not a taxable reversion where the overpayment came from a mistake of fact
A company terminated its defined benefit pension plan and, to fully fund the promised benefits, contributed enough money to buy a group annuity contract covering the participants. It later turned out …
Parent company gets extra time to elect to file a consolidated return for the year it acquired a group of subsidiaries
A group of affiliated corporations can choose to file one combined ("consolidated") federal income tax return instead of separate returns, but the group makes that election simply by filing the consol…
Corporation gets more time to file the election to be treated as an IC-DISC after its form went missing
An interest-charge domestic international sales corporation (IC-DISC) is a special export tax vehicle that lets qualifying exporters defer some U.S. tax on export income. To claim that status, a corpo…
Corporation gets more time to file the election to be treated as an IC-DISC after its form went missing
An interest-charge domestic international sales corporation (IC-DISC) is a special export tax vehicle that lets qualifying exporters defer some U.S. tax on export income. To claim that status, a corpo…
Tax-free treatment for a corporate spin-off separating two business lines within a foreign-parented group
A domestic corporation inside a larger foreign-parented group ran two separate business lines and wanted to split them apart so the group could be organized by business rather than by geography. To do…
Widow may roll her late husband's retirement plan benefit into her own IRA even though it passes through his estate
A man died without naming a beneficiary on his employer retirement plan, so under the plan's terms the benefit became payable to his estate. He also died without a will, and his children disclaimed (f…
Partnership gets more time to make a section 754 basis-adjustment election it missed
When someone buys into a partnership, the partnership can make a § 754 election so the new partner's share of the partnership's assets gets a basis adjustment that matches what they paid, which usuall…
Extra time granted to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation after accountant missed it
A taxpayer set up a grantor retained annuity trust (GRAT) that, once the annuity term ended, continued for the benefit of the taxpayer's descendants, meaning it could later generate a generation-skipp…
Partnership gets consent to undo its election out of bonus depreciation after a technical termination
A limited partnership placed depreciable equipment in service and, on its return, elected under § 168(k)(7) NOT to take the 50% bonus (additional first-year) depreciation, because the general partner …
Late allocation of GST exemption to a charitable lead trust is allowed after the accountant forgot to make it
A married couple set up and funded an irrevocable charitable lead unitrust that pays a foundation for 20 years, then hands the remainder to their grandchildren. Because the grandchildren are two gener…
Advance approval of an employer-related scholarship program
A private foundation, funded by the founder of a for-profit corporation and his wife, asked the IRS to approve in advance the way it will run an employer-related scholarship program. This approval mat…
501(c)(3) exemption denied to a nonprofit art gallery
An organization that started as a for-profit LLC art gallery converted to a nonprofit and applied for 501(c)(3) charitable exemption. It ran a gallery showing and selling the work of local "exhibiting…
501(c)(3) exemption denied to a wedding-industry networking group
A group formed as a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation to connect professionals in the wedding industry (caterers, bakers, photographers, venues, and the like) applied to be recognized as a tax-exem…
Community-property incomplete-gift non-grantor trust gets six favorable rulings
A married couple in a community-property state set up an "incomplete-gift non-grantor" trust (often called an ING or, in community-property form, a CING) funded with their community property. The trus…
Community-property incomplete-gift non-grantor trust gets six favorable rulings
A married couple in a community-property state set up an "incomplete-gift non-grantor" trust (often called an ING or, in community-property form, a CING) funded with their community property. The trus…
Community-property incomplete-gift non-grantor trust gets six favorable rulings
A married couple in a community-property state set up an "incomplete-gift non-grantor" trust (often called an ING or, in community-property form, a CING) funded with their community property. The trus…
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.