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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Estate received 120 days to elect portability for the surviving spouse
An estate failed to file Form 706 by the deadline needed to elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate…
Foreign foundation's indirect investment avoided excess business holdings
A foreign private foundation proposed investing in a foreign passive holding company that could own all of an operating business. The foundation would own the holding company's nonvoting shares and vo…
Controlled corporation received relief for a late tax-exempt-entity election
A corporation wholly owned by a tax-exempt organization was a managing member in entities involved with rehabilitation and leasing of a historic commercial property. It needed to elect under section 1…
Corrected appointment power caused neither estate inclusion nor a gift
An irrevocable trust intended to give the grantor's spouse only a limited testamentary power of appointment, but the trust language did not expressly bar appointments to the spouse, the spouse's estat…
Transitional scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation designed a scholarship program with partner colleges for people who might not normally receive transitional academic scholarships. Eligible applicants included adults with depende…
College-partnership scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation proposed multi-year scholarships for promising students at collaborating four-year colleges and universities who had strong academic records, significant unmet financial need, or …
Set-aside approved for a matching grant to restore a historic building
A private foundation requested approval to set aside a grant for a public charity restoring the steeple and tower of a historic building. The grant would cover about one-third of the project cost and …
Real estate association denied section 501(c)(6) exemption because its MLS served members
A real estate association applied for exemption as a business league under section 501(c)(6). Its activities included advocacy, education, member meetings, community events, public information, and ac…
Condominium association denied section 501(c)(4) exemption because it served unit owners
A ten-unit condominium association applied for exemption as a social welfare organization under section 501(c)(4). It maintained the common areas and building exterior, and each unit owner held an int…
Administrators association denied section 501(c)(4) exemption because it primarily served members
An association of certified educational administrators applied for exemption under section 501(c)(4). It represented members and fee-paying nonmembers in collective bargaining over contracts and salar…
Fire department assistance fund denied section 501(c)(3) exemption because it primarily benefited members
A fund associated with a fire department applied for exemption as a charitable organization under section 501(c)(3). Its governing documents focused on helping members and their immediate families wit…
Car shows serve a substantial recreational purpose
The IRS denied section 501(c)(3) status to a car club whose primary activity was hosting shows for members, car enthusiasts, and the public. The club planned seminars and said some proceeds would bene…
Donor advised fund documentation met the written acknowledgment requirements
Chief Counsel reviewed whether a taxpayer had obtained the contemporaneous written acknowledgment required to substantiate a charitable deduction for a contribution to a donor advised fund. After revi…
Timely cure payments or refinancing prevented deemed distributions from plan loans
Chief Counsel analyzed how a retirement plan loan's regulatory cure period applies when a participant misses installment payments. In the first situation, missed monthly payments occurred in different…
Form 2848 must specifically authorize representation for international information return penalties
Chief Counsel addressed whether a power of attorney covering an income tax return also permits a representative to discuss civil penalties tied to an international information return. Counsel conclude…
Crude oil pipeline agreement income qualified under section 7704
A limited partnership owned an interest in an entity that transported crude oil through a lateral pipeline and a larger pipeline. The entity earned per-barrel transportation fees and could receive rep…
Assumption reinsurance did not materially change an employer-owned life insurance policy
A policyholder held a group flexible-premium variable life insurance policy covering directors and highly compensated employees or individuals. The issuing insurer proposed to transfer the policy to a…
Surviving spouse could roll estate-held IRA proceeds into her own IRA
A decedent named his estate as the beneficiary of his IRA, and his will directed the residuary estate to a trust benefiting his surviving spouse and later beneficiaries. A state court terminated the t…
Grantor received 120 days to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A grantor created three trusts for the grantor's children and made gifts to those trusts. The grantor intended to elect out of the automatic allocation of generation-skipping transfer tax exemption fo…
Taxpayer received 45 days to file a duplicate Form 3115
A corporate taxpayer changed a subsidiary's accounting method for capitalizing certain indirect and mixed service costs under section 263A. It timely attached the original Form 3115 to its consolidate…
Governmental retiree benefit trust income was excluded and no annual return was required
A governmental employer created a trust to prefund medical and death benefits for certain retired employees and their eligible spouses and dependents. Trust assets could be used only for those benefit…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent's estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the gross es…
Foreign entity received 120 days to elect disregarded-entity status
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes from its formation date. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time and requested regulatory relief. The…
Foreign entity received 120 days to elect disregarded-entity status
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes from its formation date. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time and requested regulatory relief. The…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent's estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the gross es…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent's estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the gross es…
Taxpayer received 60 days to make the success-based fee safe-harbor election
A corporation paid success-based adviser fees in a taxable stock acquisition. Its return deducted 70% of the fees and capitalized 30%, following the safe harbor in Revenue Procedure 2011-29, but its t…
REIT owners received 90 days to make late taxable REIT subsidiary elections
Several real estate investment trusts indirectly owned a corporation formed to hold a shared parking garage. The owners and corporation intended the corporation to be a taxable REIT subsidiary from it…
Nine partnerships received 120 days to make late section 754 elections
Nine entities treated as partnerships were owned through two trusts by two individuals. When one individual died, each partnership failed to make a section 754 election for that taxable year. Such an …
Foreign entity received 120 days to elect partnership status
A foreign entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes from a specified date. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time and requested regulatory relief. The IRS c…
Corporation receives 60 days to make late IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation intended from its formation to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation, or IC-DISC. Its accounting firm prepared Form 4876-A and the corporation's…
Partnership receives 120 days to make late section 754 election
A limited partnership timely filed its federal return but inadvertently omitted the written election under section 754 to adjust the basis of partnership property. The partnership represented that it …
Taxpayer receives 60 days to elect out of bonus depreciation
A corporate group calculated stock basis before its termination and contributed cash to eliminate an excess loss account in a subsidiary's stock. When preparing the consolidated return, the tax depart…
Investment adviser's merger support payment is deductible
An investment adviser paid a target company's shareholders to encourage approval of the target's acquisition by an investment company the adviser managed. The adviser expected the acquisition to incre…
Transferor receives 60 days to make late section 362 election
A partnership transferred loss property held through a disregarded entity to its corporate subsidiary. Section 362(e)(2) generally would reduce the corporation's basis in the property to fair market v…
Reasonable-wage adjustment is not worker reclassification
Chief Counsel advised that an employment tax audit did not involve worker classification when a corporation had consistently treated its sole officer as an employee. In some years the corporation paid…
Commuter-rail division is a political subdivision
A state-created division operated commuter rail within a metropolitan transportation system and asked whether it was a political subdivision for federal tax purposes. State and local governments appoi…
S corporation receives 120 days for late QSub election
An S corporation formed a wholly owned domestic subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary, or QSub, from the subsidiary's formation date. The parent inadvertently fail…
Estate receives 120 days to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion amount. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate was b…
Foreign entity receives 120 days for late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as disregarded from its stated effective date but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the entity satisfied the standards for regul…
Estate receives 120 days to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion amount. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate was b…
Estate receives 120 days for late 2010 carryover-basis election
The estate of a nonresident alien who died in 2010 intended to elect the modified carryover-basis rules under section 1022 instead of the reinstated estate tax rules. The estate's attorneys failed to …
Estate receives 120 days to elect portability
An estate did not file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion amount. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate, incl…
Estate receives 120 days to elect portability
An estate did not file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion amount. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate, incl…
Foreign entity may change classification within 60 months
A foreign eligible entity had elected to change from its default corporate classification to disregarded-entity status. It later experienced a greater-than-50-percent ownership change and sought conse…
Estate receives 120 days to elect portability
An estate did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion amount. The surviving spouse, acting as executor, represented that the deceden…
Estate receives 120 days to elect portability
An estate did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion amount. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate and taxable li…
Trust amendments do not end grandfathered GST exemption
An irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985, was exempt from the generation-skipping transfer tax unless a later amendment created an actual or constructive addition. A committee with a lim…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
A surviving spouse, treated as the estate's executor because no executor had been appointed, missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exc…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross e…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
A surviving spouse serving as executor missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. The executor represented that the decedent's g…
Recoverable tax payment does not add property to grandfathered trust
A beneficiary and her spouse mistakenly paid income taxes attributable to capital gain earned by an irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985. State law required the trust to bear those taxe…
Late Form 1128 is treated as timely filed
A partnership filed Form 1128 late while seeking to adopt an October 31 tax year. It requested relief soon after learning that the form had been required by the original deadline. The IRS found that t…
Corporation receives 60 days to file IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed to serve as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation for its parent, which sold farming and agricultural products. Its accounting and law firms mis…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross e…
Governmental benefits trust has excluded income and no annual return
A county and another political subdivision created separate trusts to fund other post-employment benefits, then used a master trust to pool and invest their assets. The master trust was controlled by …
Scholarship and internship grant procedures approved
A private foundation proposed three scholarship programs and a supplemental internship grant program. The scholarships would support low-income private-school students, college students with financial…
Dental organization loses exemption for commercial operation and inurement
The IRS revoked a dental organization's section 501(c)(3) status after concluding that it operated like a commercial dental practice and allowed its earnings and assets to benefit private individuals.…
Timeshare charity loses exemption for private benefit and commercial activity
The IRS revoked the exemption of an organization that solicited timeshare donations, sold the properties, and distributed some net proceeds to charities chosen by donors. Its sole voting member also o…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent's son, serving as personal representative, missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. He rep…
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.