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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Late research expenditure elections allowed for three years
A corporation failed to make section 59(e) elections for research and experimental expenditures in three fiscal years. That election permits qualifying section 174 expenditures to be deducted…
Foreign entity allowed late partnership election
A foreign limited liability partnership defaulted to corporate classification because all its members had limited liability. When a U.S. citizen became a partner, the entity and its owners intended…
Late taxable REIT subsidiary election allowed
A real estate investment trust wholly owned a subsidiary formed to facilitate industrial real estate investments. The parties intended to elect both corporate classification for the subsidiary and…
Late partnership basis election allowed after partner's death
A partnership failed to make a section 754 election on the return for the year in which one of its partners died. The election would apply the partnership-property basis adjustments required by…
Late foreign disregarded entity election allowed
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a disregarded entity but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the standards for discretionary filing…
Late QSub election allowed
An S corporation acquired all the stock of a subsidiary and intended qualified subchapter S subsidiary treatment from the acquisition date. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8869. The IRS found…
Late average-income housing election allowed
An owner placed a low-income housing project in service but failed to make the correct irrevocable minimum set-aside election on Form 8609. Contemporaneous documents showed that the owner intended…
Late election out of bonus depreciation allowed
A partnership claimed additional first-year depreciation on land improvements, building improvements, machinery, and equipment placed in service during a taxable year. Its accounting firm did not…
Foreign entity received 120 days to file a late partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the…
Foreign entity received 120 days to file a late partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the…
Foreign entity received 120 days to file a late partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the…
Foreign entity received 120 days to file a late partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the…
Foreign entity received 120 days to file a late disregarded-entity classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a foreign disregarded entity for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity satisfied…
Foreign entity received 120 days to file a late disregarded-entity classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a foreign disregarded entity for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity satisfied…
Housing partnership received 120 days to defer a building's credit period on Form 8609
A partnership placed a low-income housing building in service in one year and intended to begin the building's ten-year credit period in the following year. Its contemporaneous records reflected…
More time granted to make the § 362(e)(2)(C) basis election for a built-in-loss property transfer
A taxpayer transferred property to a corporation in a tax-free § 351 exchange, but the property's tax basis was higher than its value (a built-in loss). To stop the same loss from being duplicated,…
Consolidated group gets more time to make four tax elections it missed by filing its returns late
A corporate group that files a single consolidated tax return intended to make four elections on its returns for two years: to amortize research expenses over 10 years under § 59(e), to opt out of…
Foreign entity gets more time to elect "disregarded entity" tax treatment
A foreign company wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its single owner and its income flows directly to that owner. Under the…
Foreign entity gets more time to elect corporate ("check-the-box") tax treatment
A foreign company wanted to be treated as a corporation for U.S. tax purposes. Under the "check-the-box" rules in Treasury Regulation 301.7701-3, an eligible entity can choose its own classification…
Nonprofit-owned housing entity gets late relief to elect out of tax-exempt-entity depreciation treatment
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit created a wholly owned entity (treated as a corporation for tax purposes) to act as general partner in a low-income housing partnership. Because that entity is controlled by a…
Late Form 8716 electing a non-calendar tax year for an S corporation is accepted
An S corporation wanted to use a tax year that ends on a date other than the calendar year-end it would otherwise be required to use. Section 444 lets certain pass-through entities make that choice…
Late Form 8996 self-certifying an Opportunity Zone fund is treated as timely filed
A limited partnership was set up to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), the vehicle investors use to defer capital gains by putting money into distressed Opportunity Zones. To become a QOF, an…
Estate gets more time to make a portability election so the surviving spouse can use the unused exclusion
When someone dies, their estate can make a "portability" election so the surviving spouse can use the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion (the DSUE amount). That election is made by filing…
LLC gets late relief to be treated as a corporation and as an S corporation
A single-member LLC intended to be taxed as a corporation and then elected as an S corporation, both effective the same date. To do that it needed to file the entity-classification election and the…
LLC gets more time to elect to be disregarded after being acquired by a corporation
An LLC had elected to be an S corporation, which meant it was automatically treated as a corporation (an "association") for tax purposes. A single corporation then bought all of the LLC's units in…
Foreign entity gets more time to elect to be disregarded from its owner
A U.S. individual formed a foreign entity, which was later transferred to a corporation. By default that foreign entity is treated as a corporation (an "association") for U.S. tax purposes, but the…
Estate gets more time to make a portability election so the surviving spouse can use the unused exclusion
When someone dies, their estate can make a "portability" election so the surviving spouse can use the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion (the DSUE amount). That election is made by filing…
Partnership gets more time to file a late Form 1128 to switch to a calendar year
A partnership wanted to change its tax year to a calendar year, which requires filing Form 1128 with its tax return. Its accounting firm timely got an extension to file the return but then missed…
Extra time granted to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation on gifts to two trusts
A married taxpayer set up two identical irrevocable trusts, one for each child, and made gifts to them. Gifts to that kind of trust are automatically allocated part of the taxpayer's…
Extra time granted to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation on gifts to two trusts
A married taxpayer set up two irrevocable trusts, one for each child, and made gifts to them. Gifts to that kind of trust are automatically allocated part of the taxpayer's generation-skipping…
90-day extension to file a late IC-DISC election after the IRS had no record of the original
An interest-charge domestic international sales corporation (IC-DISC) is a special entity that can give U.S. exporters a tax benefit, but a company has to elect that status by filing Form 4876-A…
75-day extension for an affiliated group to make a late election to file a consolidated return
A group of related corporations can choose to file one combined "consolidated" federal income tax return, with the top company as the common parent. That choice is made by actually filing the…
75-day extension for a consolidated group to elect to waive its NOL carryback period
When a corporate group that files a consolidated return has a net operating loss, the default rule lets it carry that loss back to earlier years, but the group can instead elect to waive the…
120-day extension to file a late check-the-box election treating a foreign entity as disregarded
A foreign entity with a single owner wanted to be treated as a disregarded entity (ignored as separate from its owner) for U.S. federal tax purposes. That requires filing Form 8832, the…
75-day extension to file a late Section 336(e) election treating a stock sale as an asset sale
When a buyer purchases all the stock of an S corporation, a Section 336(e) election lets the parties treat the stock sale as if it were a sale of the company's assets, which is often better for tax…
60-day extension for a fund to make a late mark-to-market election on PFIC stock
U.S. investors in a passive foreign investment company (PFIC) can elect, under Section 1296, to "mark to market" their shares, meaning they report the annual change in value instead of facing the…
Late Form 8996 QOF self-certification treated as timely after taxpayer wrongly assumed no filing was due
A limited liability company (taxed as a partnership) was formed to invest in an opportunity zone business and operate as a Qualified Opportunity Fund, or QOF. To become a QOF, an entity must…
Late Form 8996 self-certification as a Qualified Opportunity Fund treated as timely after preparer's omission
A limited liability company (taxed as a partnership) was set up to operate as a Qualified Opportunity Fund, or QOF, the investment vehicle that lets investors defer capital gains by putting them…
120-day extension to file a late check-the-box election treating a foreign company as a disregarded entity
A foreign company wanted to be treated as a disregarded entity (ignored as separate from its owner) for U.S. federal tax purposes. To do that it had to file Form 8832, the entity-classification…
IRS grants more time to perfect a success-based-fee safe-harbor election
When a business pays a "success-based fee" (an advisor's fee that is owed only if a deal closes), the tax rules presume the whole fee must be capitalized rather than deducted. Revenue Procedure…
Extra time granted to make an alternate valuation election after a CEO supplied false values
An estate normally values a deceased person's property as of the date of death, but Section 2032 lets the executor instead elect "alternate valuation," using values six months after death, when that…
Extra time granted for an estate to make the portability election
When someone dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exemption, their surviving spouse can inherit the unused amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a…
Extra time granted for an estate to make the portability election
When someone dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exemption, their surviving spouse can inherit the unused amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a…
Extra time granted for a foreign entity to file its corporation (association) election
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity here intended to be taxed as an association (that is, as a corporation)…
Extra time granted for a foreign entity to file its corporation (association) election
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity here intended to be taxed as an association (that is, as a corporation)…
Extra time granted for a foreign entity to file its corporation (association) election
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity here intended to be taxed as an association (that is, as a corporation)…
Extra time granted to elect to capitalize interest to personal property under § 266
Section 266 lets a taxpayer choose to add certain carrying charges, such as interest on a loan used to buy personal property, to the property's cost (capitalize them) instead of deducting them right…
Extra time granted to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation for a trust
The generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax applies when wealth passes to grandchildren or later generations. Each person has a GST exemption they can allocate to shield transfers from that tax. For…
Extra time granted to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation for a trust
The generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax applies when wealth passes to grandchildren or later generations. Each person has a GST exemption they can allocate to shield transfers from that tax. For…
Extra time granted for a foreign entity to elect corporation (association) status
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity here had earlier elected to be disregarded (treated as if it did not…
Extra time granted for a foreign entity to elect corporation (association) status
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity here had earlier elected to be disregarded (treated as if it did not…
Late § 336(e) election allowed so an S corporation stock sale can be treated as an asset sale
When buyers acquire at least 80% of an S corporation's stock, the seller and buyer can jointly elect under Section 336(e) to treat the sale as if the company had sold its assets, which often gives…
LLC gets 60 more days to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund after its accountant wrongly said no return was due
An LLC (taxed as a partnership) was set up to invest in a qualified opportunity zone and to operate as a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), a structure that lets investors defer and reduce…
Estate received more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The…
Parties received more time to make a Section 336(e) election
A buyer acquired more than 80 percent of an S corporation's stock, and the parties intended to treat the stock sale as an asset sale under Section 336(e). They did not timely sign the required…
Estate received more time for QTIP and reverse QTIP elections
An estate timely filed Form 706, but its accountant did not advise the executor to make QTIP and reverse QTIP elections for a marital trust or include Schedule R. The trust required income…
Estate received more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return did not timely make a portability election for the decedent's unused exclusion amount. The IRS concluded that the estate met…
Estate received more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount. The IRS concluded that the estate satisfied…
Partnership received more time to self-certify as an opportunity fund
A partnership formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property intended to operate as a qualified opportunity fund. Its accounting firm did not know of that intent and omitted Form 8996 from…
Partnership received more time to self-certify as an opportunity fund
A partnership formed to invest in a qualified opportunity zone business intended to operate as a qualified opportunity fund. Its accounting firm filed an extension and the members' individual forms…
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.