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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501(c)(3) revoked, a dog-rescue charity whose operators were charged with animal cruelty and that stopped responding to the IRS
The IRS revoked the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status of an animal-welfare organization that had been recognized as a dog rescue. During an examination, the revenue agent could not reach the organization:…
501(c)(3) revoked, an inactive organization gave the IRS no records to verify its exempt purpose
The IRS revoked an organization's 501(c)(3) status after it failed to answer the agency's information requests during an examination. The organization had been set up by a person who created many…
501(c)(7) social club revoked, a public dog show generated most of its income from nonmembers
The IRS revoked the 501(c)(7) tax-exempt status of a social club whose main activity was a dog show open to the general public. Tax-exempt social clubs must be operated substantially for the…
IRS approves a private foundation's set-aside to fund a foreign cancer hospital under 4942(g)(2)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve a "set-aside" under Section 4942(g)(2), a way to count money earmarked for a specific long-term charitable project as a qualifying distribution now,…
IRS approves a private foundation's set-aside to fund a foreign cancer hospital under 4942(g)(2)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve a set-aside under Section 4942(g)(2), which lets a foundation count money reserved for a specific long-term charitable project as a qualifying…
Church auxiliary is exempt from filing Form 990
An organization exempt under Section 501(c)(3) asked to be excused from filing Form 990. Treasury regulations exempt an integrated auxiliary of a church from that annual return requirement. Based on…
Pension plan may use substitute mortality tables for up to 10 years
A defined benefit pension plan sponsor asked to use plan-specific substitute mortality tables when calculating the plan's minimum funding obligations under Section 430. The tables cover male and…
Motorsports facility denied Section 501(c)(3) status
An organization formed to operate a community motorsports facility applied for recognition under Section 501(c)(3). Its activities would include drag racing, drifting, off-road racing, motocross,…
Housing project gets 120 days to make omitted average-income election
The owner of a multi-building low-income housing project intended to elect the average-income minimum set-aside under Section 42(g)(1)(C). Its contemporaneous records showed that intent, but it…
60-day extension for a qualified opportunity fund to file its late Form 8996 election
A limited liability company formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property intended to be treated as a qualified opportunity fund. It had no income or expenses during its first tax year and…
120-day extension for a foreign entity to make a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for U.S. federal tax purposes as of a specified date but did not file Form 8832 on time. It asked the IRS for an extension under…
Inadvertent S corporation termination excused after trust beneficiaries missed their QSST elections
An S corporation can only have certain kinds of shareholders; a trust generally qualifies only if the beneficiary files a Qualified Subchapter S Trust (QSST) election on time. Here five trusts…
120-day relief for an LLC to make late corporate-classification and S corporation elections
An LLC is treated by default as a partnership (if it has multiple owners) or as a disregarded entity (if it has one), so to be taxed as an S corporation it must both elect to be classified as a…
60-day extension to file a late Form 8996 self-certifying as a Qualified Opportunity Fund
A Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) lets investors defer capital gains by putting them into businesses in designated low-income areas, but the fund must certify itself each year by filing Form 8996…
60-day extension to make a late success-based fee safe harbor election under Rev. Proc. 2011-29
When a company buys another business, fees paid to advisors that come due only if the deal closes ("success-based fees") normally must be capitalized unless the buyer keeps detailed records showing…
60-day extension to make a late GILTI high-tax exclusion election for a group of controlled foreign corporations
A U.S. corporation that heads a consolidated group owns a group of controlled foreign corporations (CFCs). Under the GILTI rules of section 951A, a U.S. shareholder must include a CFC's income in…
90-day extension to file a corrected IC-DISC election (Form 4876-A)
A company set up a new corporation to serve as an interest-charge domestic international sales corporation (an IC-DISC), a type of entity that provides a tax benefit for U.S. exporters. To get…
Billboard REIT's advertising-display income qualifies as rents from real property
A real estate investment trust (REIT) owns outdoor advertising displays, such as billboards, including digital ones that rotate multiple ads. REITs must earn most of their income from real-estate…
75-day extension to file a late section 336(e) election treating a stock sale as an asset sale
Buyers purchased all the stock of an S corporation from its shareholders. When a stock sale meets the definition of a "qualified stock disposition," the parties can elect under section 336(e) to…
Section 1059A does not cap import basis at the customs value derived under the deductive value method
A U.S. corporation owned by a foreign parent imports finished goods that the parent manufactures abroad and resells them to unrelated U.S. buyers. Section 1059A stops importers from claiming a…
120-day extension to file a late Form 8832 electing partnership classification
A foreign entity wanted to be classified as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes as of a specific date, which requires filing Form 8832 (the entity classification election). Through…
120-day extension for an estate to make a late portability (DSUE) election
When a married person dies without using all of their federal estate-and-gift tax exclusion, the unused amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) can be passed to the surviving…
60-day extension to elect out of bonus depreciation on 7-year and 15-year property
A partnership (an LLC taxed as a partnership) bought property it classified as 7-year and 15-year property and claimed the extra "bonus" first-year depreciation deduction under section 168(k) on its…
Inadvertently invalid S-corporation election excused after an ineligible LLC held shares
A corporation elected to be taxed as an S corporation, but the election was invalid from the start because one of its shareholders was an LLC taxed as a partnership. S corporations may only have…
120-day extension to file a late Form 8832 electing partnership classification
A foreign entity wanted to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes, effective a specific date, which requires filing Form 8832 (the entity classification election). It missed the…
Tax-free treatment for a multinational group's three-step spin-off separating two businesses
A publicly traded foreign parent company sits atop a worldwide group that runs two distinct businesses, and it wants to separate them. To do that, it laid out a long series of internal…
Inadvertent invalid QSub election excused, subsidiary treated as a QSub under section 1362(f)
An S corporation acquired another S corporation as a wholly owned subsidiary and elected to treat that subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (a QSub), which lets the parent treat the…
120-day extension to make a late section 754 basis-adjustment election
A state limited liability company taxed as a partnership meant to make a section 754 election for a particular tax year but inadvertently failed to make it properly. A section 754 election lets a…
120-day extension to file a late Form 8832 electing disregarded-entity status
A private limited company organized in a foreign country was acquired by a U.S. corporation, which wanted the foreign company treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes (meaning its…
120-day extension to make a late section 754 basis-adjustment election
A limited liability limited partnership had a partner die during a tax year. When a partnership interest transfers (including on a partner's death), a section 754 election lets the partnership…
County-government support association's income is excludable under section 115(1)
A nonprofit corporation, already recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(4), exists to support and strengthen county governments in its state. Every county is a member, pays standardized dues,…
IRS approves a private foundation's scholarship procedures under IRC 4945(g)(1)
A private foundation asked the IRS to pre-approve how it picks and pays scholarship winners. Foundations need this sign-off because a grant to an individual for study is normally a "taxable…
IRS relieves a church-affiliated mission society from filing Form 990
A tax-exempt organization asked the IRS to be excused from filing the annual Form 990 information return. A Treasury regulation, Section 1.6033-2(g)(1)(iv), exempts a "mission society" from that…
IRS relieves a church's integrated auxiliary from filing Form 990
A tax-exempt organization asked the IRS to be excused from filing the annual Form 990 information return. A Treasury regulation, Section 1.6033-2(g)(1)(i), exempts an "integrated auxiliary of a…
IRS denies 501(c)(4) exemption to a lakeside-subdivision homeowners' association
A homeowners' association for a subdivision next to a lake applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt social welfare organization under IRC Section 501(c)(4). The association maintains three common…
IRS relieves a church-affiliated mission society from filing Form 990
A tax-exempt organization asked the IRS to be excused from filing the annual Form 990 information return. A Treasury regulation, Section 1.6033-2(g)(1)(iv), exempts a "mission society" from that…
IRS relieves a church's integrated auxiliary from filing Form 990
A tax-exempt organization asked the IRS to be excused from filing the annual Form 990 information return. A Treasury regulation, Section 1.6033-2(g)(1)(i), exempts an "integrated auxiliary of a…
IRS approves a foundation's scholarship and study-and-research grant procedures under IRC 4945(g)(1) and (g)(3)
A private foundation asked the IRS to pre-approve two grant programs: a scholarship program under IRC Section 4945(g)(1) and a study-and-research grant program under IRC Section 4945(g)(3).…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) exemption to a community entrepreneurship, arts, and music organization
An unincorporated association applied (on the streamlined Form 1023-EZ) to be recognized as a tax-exempt charity under IRC Section 501(c)(3). Its mission was to promote entrepreneurial leadership…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) exemption to a cannabis-industry economic-development nonprofit
A nonprofit corporation applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt charity under IRC Section 501(c)(3). Its stated purpose was to promote a "responsible cannabis-related tourism industry" and cannabis…
Carbon-storage payments on a REIT's timberlands are REIT-qualifying income
A real estate investment trust (REIT) owns large tracts of timberland through an operating partnership. It agreed to let an unrelated company inject and permanently store captured carbon dioxide…
REIT excludes double-counted "prime rents" from data-center joint ventures for the REIT income tests
A real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns carrier-neutral colocation data centers forms joint ventures (JVs) with capital partners to build a more capital-intensive type of data center.…
IRS grants a late Qualified Opportunity Fund self-certification after an accountant's engagement omission caused a missed Form 8996
A company was set up specifically to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), a vehicle that invests in economically distressed "opportunity zones" and lets investors defer and reduce capital gains…
IRS consents to a retroactive QEF election after the taxpayer's accountant failed to flag a foreign holding as a PFIC
A U.S. taxpayer owned shares in a foreign corporation. That corporation was a "passive foreign investment company" (PFIC), a category of foreign holding that carries harsh U.S. tax rules unless the…
IRS grants a REIT more time to file a late election treating a subsidiary as a taxable REIT subsidiary
A real estate investment trust (REIT) can jointly elect with a subsidiary to treat that subsidiary as a "taxable REIT subsidiary" (TRS), which lets the subsidiary run activities a REIT itself cannot…
IRS grants a parent company 75 more days to make a late election for its affiliated group to file a consolidated return
A parent company heads an affiliated group of corporations that wanted to file a single consolidated federal income tax return, with the parent as the common parent, for a given tax year. To do…
IRS grants extra time to make a late Section 336(e) election so an S corporation stock sale can be taxed as an asset sale
When someone buys all the stock of an S corporation, the parties can elect under Section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as if the company had instead sold all its assets, which often gives the buyer…
An S corporation's status terminated when trusts holding its shares missed their QSST elections, but the lapse was inadvertent and S status is restored
An S corporation can only have certain kinds of shareholders. A trust generally does not qualify unless its beneficiary files a "Qualified Subchapter S Trust" (QSST) election, which treats the…
An LLC's S election was invalid because its operating agreement created a second class of stock, but the defect was inadvertent, so S status is preserved
An LLC that had been taxed as a partnership elected to become an S corporation. To qualify as an S corporation, a company can have only "one class of stock," meaning all owners get identical rights…
Extending a pension plan's 401(h) retiree-medical account to in-service participants over age 59½ does not jeopardize the plan's qualified status
An employer runs a pension plan that includes a Section 401(h) account, a separate pot inside the pension used to pay retiree medical benefits. That account is overfunded, and the employer has not…
A utility gets more time to withdraw an overfunded nuclear-decommissioning contribution, plus an approved revised schedule of deductible funding amounts
An investor-owned electric utility owns part of a nuclear power plant and funds its eventual teardown through a Section 468A "qualified nuclear decommissioning fund," which lets it deduct…
A utility gets more time to withdraw an overfunded nuclear-decommissioning contribution, plus an approved revised schedule of deductible funding amounts
An investor-owned electric utility owns part of a nuclear power plant and funds its eventual teardown through a Section 468A "qualified nuclear decommissioning fund," which lets it deduct…
A utility gets more time to pull an overfunded contribution out of its nuclear decommissioning fund, and a revised schedule of deductible funding amounts
An investor-owned electric utility owns part of a nuclear power plant and sets aside money in a special "qualified nuclear decommissioning fund" under Section 468A, which lets it deduct…
IRS grants an LLC partnership a 120-day extension to make a late Section 754 basis-adjustment election
An LLC taxed as a partnership wanted to make a Section 754 election, which lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets when interests change hands or property is distributed, so the inside…
IRS grants a foreign entity a 120-day extension to file a late election to be treated as a partnership
A foreign business entity's default federal tax classification was a corporation, but it wanted to be taxed as a partnership instead. To change that, it had to file Form 8832 (the entity…
A foreign operating subsidiary that never earned revenue still qualifies for an ordinary worthless-stock deduction under Section 165(g)(3)
A domestic company formed a foreign subsidiary to run a licensed business, won the licenses by committing to invest a large sum, but never managed to generate any revenue because of events outside…
IRS grants an S corporation a 120-day extension to file a late QSub election for its wholly owned subsidiary
An S corporation owned all of the stock of a subsidiary and wanted that subsidiary treated as a "qualified subchapter S subsidiary" (QSub), meaning the subsidiary is ignored for tax purposes and its…
A non-pro-rata distribution of a deceased grantor's trust to his private foundation is not self-dealing under the estate administration exception
A man set up a revocable living trust and a private foundation before he died. When he died, the trust became irrevocable and its assets were to be split among his children and the foundation, with…
IRS rules a non-pro-rata distribution plan to a private foundation is not self-dealing under the estate administration exception
A private foundation was in line to receive the residue of a deceased person's revocable trust, which became irrevocable at death. The family members who serve as the trust's trustees, the estate's…
IRS rules a trust's non-pro-rata distribution plan to a private foundation is not self-dealing under the estate administration exception
A private foundation was in line to receive the residue of a deceased person's revocable trust, which became irrevocable at death. The family members who serve as the trust's trustees, the estate's…
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.