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.
Tax Court discovery ruling does not require worker-return disclosure during audits
Chief Counsel addressed whether Mescalero v. Commissioner required the IRS to give employers worker tax-return information during employment-tax examinations or Appeals proceedings. The advice conclud…
Termination assessment does not require separate notice to the court
Chief Counsel advised that the jeopardy-assessment provisions do not require a court notification for a termination assessment. In a jeopardy assessment, notice alerts the court when an assessment mad…
IRS likely waived recovery after not contesting probate distribution
A probate court paid a secured creditor ahead of an IRS claim even though the IRS claim had priority under IRC § 6323 and potentially under the federal insolvency statute. Chief Counsel advised that t…
Refunded-bond mortgage loans remain allocated to transferred proceeds
An issuer used transferred proceeds of refunding mortgage bonds both to make new mortgage loans and to fund a reserve. When investments exceeded the bonds' universal cap, the issuer treated the mortga…
Nuclear plant owner receives decommissioning fund deduction and ruling schedules
A nuclear plant owner requested a schedule of deduction amounts for a subsequent special transfer to its qualified nuclear decommissioning fund and a mandatory revised schedule of ruling amounts. The …
Nuclear plant owner receives decommissioning fund deduction and ruling schedules
A nuclear plant owner requested a schedule of deduction amounts for a subsequent special transfer to its qualified nuclear decommissioning fund and a mandatory revised schedule of ruling amounts. The …
Nuclear plant owner receives decommissioning fund deduction and ruling schedules
A nuclear plant owner requested a schedule of deduction amounts for a subsequent special transfer to its qualified nuclear decommissioning fund and a mandatory revised schedule of ruling amounts. The …
Nuclear plant owner receives revised decommissioning fund contribution schedule
A nuclear plant owner requested a mandatory revised schedule of ruling amounts for deductible contributions to its qualified nuclear decommissioning fund. The proposed schedule used cost, timing, infl…
REIT and hotel subsidiary receive relief for a late TRS election
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned a company formed to lease a hotel property and intended that company to be a taxable REIT subsidiary when the hotel began operating. Outside advisers ag…
Corporation receives relief after trust misses QSST election
An estate transferred S corporation shares under a will to a trust that was temporarily eligible to hold the shares for two years. The trust met the substantive requirements of a qualified subchapter …
Taxpayer receives relief for a late accounting-method application
A taxpayer missed the deadline to file Form 3115 seeking consent to change its overall accounting method from cash to accrual, with an IRC § 481(a) adjustment. Accounting-method relief normally faces …
Intragroup partnership sale terminates partnership and uses matching rules
Two disregarded entities in different chains of the same consolidated group owned a partnership, and one sold its entire interest to the other for cash. The IRS ruled that the partnership terminated u…
Intragroup partnership sale terminates partnership and uses matching rules
Two disregarded entities in different chains of the same consolidated group owned a partnership, and one sold its entire interest to the other for cash. The IRS ruled that the partnership terminated u…
Taxpayer receives relief to opt out of bonus depreciation for seven years
A consolidated group intended not to claim additional first-year depreciation for every class of qualified property placed in service over seven tax years. Its returns, depreciation calculations, asse…
Foundation may receive nonvoting LLC interests holding a related-party note
A foundation's founder planned for a revocable trust, at the founder's death, to give the foundation nonvoting interests representing 99 percent of the profits in an LLC whose sole asset was a note ow…
Foundation may receive nonvoting LLC interests holding a related-party note
A foundation's founder planned for a revocable trust, at the founder's death, to give the foundation nonvoting interests representing 99 percent of the profits in an LLC whose sole asset was a note ow…
Oilfield fluid management and waste disposal produce qualifying income
A publicly traded partnership planned to transport drilling and fracturing fluids, move fluids between well sites, and collect, treat, recycle, and dispose of flowback, produced water, and drilling wa…
Retroactive trust reformation preserves completed gifts and estate exclusion
A grantor created an irrevocable life-insurance trust intending completed gifts and exclusion of the trust property from her gross estate, but a drafting error tied the division of trust assets to her…
Retroactive trust reformation preserves completed gifts and estate exclusion
A grantor created an irrevocable life-insurance trust intending completed gifts and exclusion of the trust property from her gross estate, but a drafting error tied the division of trust assets to her…
Acquirer receives relief for a late success-fee safe-harbor statement
A taxpayer acquired a controlling stock interest and paid success-based transaction fees. Its return followed the Revenue Procedure 2011-29 safe harbor by deducting 70 percent of the fees and capitali…
Bingo operations and related-party rent defeated charitable exemption
A public charity regularly operated bingo and pull-tab games three days each week and used part of the proceeds for grants. The IRS found that gaming consumed nearly all of the organization's income, …
Oil hedging results are excluded from property income for the IDC preference
Chief Counsel considered whether gains and losses from oil-price hedges enter the property-income calculation used for the alternative minimum tax preference for excess intangible drilling costs. The …
Mailed levy occurs when the levy recipient receives the notice
Chief Counsel advised that a levy served by mail is made on the date the recipient receives the notice, not the date the IRS sends it. A certified-mail return receipt establishes that delivery date, a…
Restitution-based tax assessment bears interest from the original payment deadline
Chief Counsel advised how to calculate underpayment interest on a restitution-based assessment where the restitution order concerned unpaid tax. Under IRC § 6601(a), interest runs on the tax liability…
Nonmember cannot serve as an LLC partnership's tax matters partner
Chief Counsel advised that a tax matters partner designation on a partnership return was invalid because the named entity was not a partnership member. A person signing for an LLC must also have autho…
Corporation receives relief for a late IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation and hired an accounting firm to prepare the required filings. The employee coordinating the …
Wood pellet and wood chip operations produce qualifying income
A corporation planned to contribute its wood-pellet and wood-chipping operations to a publicly traded partnership. The activities included debarking, chipping, screening, drying, pressure-forming pell…
Corporation receives conditional relief after three trusts miss ESBT elections
Three grantor trusts holding S corporation shares became complex trusts but their trustees did not timely elect electing small business trust status, terminating the corporation's S election. After di…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
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 tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. Because the esta…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
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 tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. Because the esta…
Farm lease receipts are not passive investment income for S corporation purposes
An S corporation that owned farmland received income under both a sharecropping arrangement and a rental lease. The corporation shared specified farming costs and crop risks under the sharecropping ar…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity wholly owned by one owner failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect disregarded-entity status. The IRS concluded that the entity satisfied the standards for discretionary relief under…
REIT and subsidiary receive 90 days to make a late TRS election
A corporation and its subsidiary filed Form 8875 before the parent qualified as a real estate investment trust, then mistakenly assumed the taxable REIT subsidiary election remained effective after th…
Tenant electricity charges do not depend on property income or profits
A company planning to elect REIT status owned rental property equipped with energy-storage systems operated by a third party. The operator charged the landlord half of the electricity-cost savings pro…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity with multiple owners failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect partnership classification for federal tax purposes. The entity represented that it acted reasonably and in goo…
Severance-or-pension choice would disqualify governmental pension plan
A governmental defined benefit pension plan asked about proposed legislation that would let affected hospital employees choose between a cash severance payment and a subsidized early-retirement benefi…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company treated as a partnership intended to make an IRC § 754 election after several members sold their interests, but it inadvertently omitted the election from its return. The p…
Deferred intercompany stock gain is excluded after subsidiary liquidation
A consolidated group inherited a deferred intercompany gain from an earlier sale of subsidiary stock within a predecessor group. After several ownership changes and internal contributions, the subsidi…
Railroad group receives extra time to file credit forms
A consolidated railroad group did not timely file Forms 8900 for track-maintenance expenditures incurred by Class II and Class III railroad subsidiaries. The group had misunderstood consolidated repor…
Corporation receives 60 days to file late IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation and believed it had filed Form 4876-A for its first taxable year. The IRS had no valid timel…
Pension plan receives conditional minimum funding waiver for 2016
A privately owned manufacturer sought relief from its pension plan's unpaid minimum required contribution for the 2016 plan year. The company attributed its hardship to difficulty qualifying new produ…
Partnership interest recapitalization avoids S corporation built-in gains tax
An S corporation owned all preferred interests in a limited liability company taxed as a partnership and proposed converting them into common interests. It represented that the exchanged interests wou…
Court-approved trust divisions avoid gift and estate tax and generally preserve income tax treatment
Two continuing trusts created after a grantor retained annuity trust ended proposed dividing their assets into separate successor trusts for each of the grantor's two sons and their respective descend…
Peaking power plant is not public utility property for depreciation rules
A taxpayer owned a peaking electric generating facility whose wholesale power rates were negotiated or set through the market. A state authority annually determined a contract-based revenue requiremen…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
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 tax exclusion. The surviving spouse, acting as personal …
Refundable fan membership proceeds are not gross income to stadium financing organization
A taxable nonprofit membership corporation planned to collect refundable amounts from sports-team fans in connection with membership interests and personal seat license rights. The amounts would be se…
Foreign insurer receives 60 days to elect domestic corporation treatment
A regulated foreign insurance company did not learn about the IRC § 953(d) election to be treated as a domestic corporation until its U.S. parent hired an accounting firm. The election deadline was se…
Acquired company receives 60 days to elect success-based fee safe harbor
A corporate group paid a success-based advisory fee when it was acquired and became a related subsidiary of the buyer. Its return preparer did not tell it about the Revenue Procedure 2011-29 safe harb…
Tax-exempt controlled entity receives late election relief for rehabilitation project
A limited liability company wholly owned by a section 501(c)(3) organization was a tax-exempt controlled entity and the general partner of a partnership developing a project that claimed rehabilitatio…
IRA rollover deadline waived after adviser gave six-month deadline
An IRA owner withdrew money after a financial adviser led him to believe he had six months to complete a rollover. He placed the amount first in a checking account and then in a savings account while …
IRS revokes plan's five-year funding amortization extension
A pension plan's representatives asked the IRS to revoke a 2009 ruling that had granted a five-year automatic extension for amortizing unfunded liabilities as of July 1, 2008. The IRS found that mista…
Employer-related scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed a scholarship program for children of U.S.-based employees of a related employer. An independent committee would select recipients using financial need, academic promise,…
Regional chamber is denied section 501(c)(3) status
An organization already exempt under section 501(c)(6) applied to be recognized under section 501(c)(3). It promoted local businesses and tourism, published member business information, made referrals…
Building-management company is denied section 501(c)(10) status
A limited liability company wholly owned by a section 501(c)(10) fraternal organization applied for its own exemption under that provision. The company maintained a building used by its owner and othe…
Exclusive referral network is denied business league exemption
A networking organization limited membership to one representative from each business or profession and required members to remain exclusive to the group. Members met weekly, tracked business referral…
Proper partnership tax year is a partnership item
In a brief email response to a TEFRA question, Chief Counsel advised that the proper tax year is a partnership item. The message left it to the recipient to decide whether to include the point in an u…
Installment agreement rejection code should reverse with a 30-day effective date
Chief Counsel confirmed that the IRS may not levy while a proposed installment agreement is pending, for 30 days after rejection, or while a timely appeal is pending. The collection statute expiration…
Tax-exempt bond exam disclosures differ for intermediaries and bondholders
Chief Counsel advised the Office of Tax-Exempt Bonds on identifying and communicating with bondholders during an issuer examination. Information about whether the bonds are tax-exempt is return inform…
Training lesson revises collection limitation suspension guidance
Chief Counsel reported that a levy, seizure, and sale training lesson had been revised to correct legal inaccuracies in its discussion of IRC § 6503 suspensions. The revision expanded the explanation …
Section 163(j) statute controls despite unexercised regulatory authority
Chief Counsel considered whether unexercised regulatory authority affected the operation of IRC § 163(j). The advice relied on a Tax Court decision holding that a charitable-contribution exception tie…
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.