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.
Corporation receives inadvertent S election termination relief
An S corporation's stock was transferred to two trusts that qualified in substance as electing small business trusts, but the trustees did not make the required ESBT elections. The trusts were therefo…
LLC stock ownership receives inadvertent S termination relief
An S corporation transferred shares to two LLCs taxed as partnerships, even though partnerships cannot be S corporation shareholders. The transfers terminated the corporation's S election. After couns…
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 tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross est…
Private partnership matching platform avoids public trading status
A broker-dealer proposed two private services for matching buyers and sellers of nonpublic limited partnership interests. One service was designed to satisfy the qualified matching service safe harbor…
Late QSST election receives limited S termination relief
An S corporation shareholder's stock passed from one trust to a second trust that could qualify as a qualified Subchapter S trust. The beneficiary did not timely file the QSST election, causing the co…
Partnership shareholder receives inadvertent S termination relief
Shares of an S corporation were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. When the corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election, the …
Estate receives 120 days to make the 2010 carryover basis election
The executor of an estate for a decedent who died in 2010 hired an attorney to prepare required tax filings. The attorney failed to file Form 8939 by the extended deadline, so the estate did not elect…
Surviving spouse receives 120 days to elect portability
A surviving spouse serving as executrix did not file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. She represented that the estate was below the section …
Estate receives portability relief after missing the election
An estate did not file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. It represented that the estate was below the filing thresho…
Passive income termination receives S corporation relief
An S corporation had accumulated earnings and profits and received passive investment income exceeding 25 percent of gross receipts for three consecutive tax years. Those facts terminated its S electi…
REIT receives 90 days to elect taxable subsidiary status
A subsidiary had been covered by a taxable REIT subsidiary election with an original REIT parent. After that REIT merged into a new parent, an advisor failed to explain that the existing Form 8875 ele…
Executor receives 120 days to make a portability election
A surviving spouse acting as executor did not file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. The executor represented that the gross estate was below…
Estate gets 120 days to file a portability election
An estate missed the Form 706 deadline for electing portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. It represented that the gross estate, including any lifetime taxable gifts, was below the…
Trust decanting cures an inadvertent S termination
A shareholder transferred S corporation stock to a nongrantor complex trust that was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. Neither the shareholder nor the corporation understood that the transfer…
Securities partnership merger may use partial netting allocations
Three related partnerships holding diversified portfolios of stocks and securities planned an assets-over merger into one surviving partnership. The IRS ruled that the terminating partnerships' divers…
Five-partnership merger may aggregate securities gains and losses
Four partnerships holding diversified securities portfolios planned assets-over mergers into a fifth surviving partnership. The IRS ruled that the contributions would not recognize gain under section …
Racing car parts are separate assets when cars are disassembled
A racing team built a new race entry for each event by assembling owned parts, then stripped the car back into parts for inspection, reuse, storage, or disposal. The IRS ruled that each owned part was…
Cultural center shops receive favorable foundation tax treatment
A private operating foundation planned a free community cultural center with museum exhibits, performance space, a library, an archive, a gift shop, and a coffee shop. The IRS found that the onsite co…
Missed portability election receives a 120-day extension
An estate did not file Form 706 by the deadline for electing portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. It represented that the gross estate, after considering lifetime taxable gifts, …
Trust gets 120 days to make a 65-day distribution election
A calendar-year trust made a distribution during the first 65 days of a later year and intended to treat it as paid on the final day of the prior year under section 663(b). The trust inadvertently fai…
Surviving spouse gets a late portability election
A surviving spouse acting as executor missed the Form 706 deadline for electing portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. The executor represented that the estate was below the sectio…
Late QSST elections and unequal distributions receive S relief
After a shareholder died, S corporation shares passed from a formerly grantor trust to two trusts intended to qualify as qualified Subchapter S trusts. The beneficiary did not timely make QSST electio…
Cognitive impairment supports a 60-day IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner withdrew funds and deposited the net proceeds into a non-IRA account without completing a rollover within 60 days. During that period, the taxpayer was experiencing worsening confusion, m…
Estate receives relief for an adviser-missed portability election
An estate missed the Form 706 deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. It represented that the gross estate, including taxable gifts, was b…
Late Form 1128 is treated as timely filed
A taxpayer sought to change from a calendar tax year to a tax year ending March 31. Its tax professional filed Form 1128 late because of an oversight or misunderstanding. The IRS found that the taxpay…
Pro rata trust division preserves tax treatment and S eligibility
An irrevocable grantor trust holding S corporation stock and other assets proposed moving the non-S stock assets, pro rata, into eight separate family trusts while retaining the S corporation shares. …
Tax adviser error supports late portability relief
An estate failed to file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. It represented that the estate was below the section 6018 filing threshold after t…
Investment funds may revoke their section 4982 elections
Two regulated investment funds had elected to use their calendar tax years instead of the October 31 measurement period when calculating required distributions for the section 4982 excise tax. The fun…
Fund may revoke its section 4982 election after changing tax years
A regulated investment fund planned to change its tax year from November 30 to March 31 after a reorganization. Because a section 4982(e)(4)(A) election is available only to funds with November or Dec…
Two trusts receive late QSST election relief
After a shareholder died, S corporation stock moved from a grantor trust into two successor trusts. The successor trusts were eligible S corporation shareholders for two years after the death, but no …
LLC shareholder problem is cured with retroactive trust elections
An S corporation sold shares to an LLC taxed as a partnership, which was an ineligible shareholder even though its partners were two trusts. After the corporation discovered the termination, the LLC d…
Estate gets 120 days for an adviser-missed portability election
An estate did not file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. It represented that the gross estate was below the section 6018 filing threshold aft…
Estate receives late portability relief after missing the requirement
An estate failed to file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. It represented that the estate was below the section 6018 filing threshold after a…
Estate gets extra time for a missed portability election
An estate missed the Form 706 deadline for electing portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. It represented that the gross estate was below the section 6018 filing threshold after co…
Elective REIT stock dividend is a section 301 distribution
A publicly traded REIT planned a special dividend that let shareholders choose all stock, all cash, or a combination of the two. Cash elections could be prorated if they exceeded the available cash, b…
Trust may make a late 65-day distribution election
A calendar-year trust made a distribution during the first 65 days of the next year and intended to treat it as paid on the last day of the prior year under section 663(b). The trustee inadvertently f…
Partnership gets 120 days to make a section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership failed to make a section 754 election for the year in which one of its members died. The election would allow a partner-specific adjustment to the ba…
Utility rate base must reflect NOL-related deferred tax assets
An electric utility used accelerated and bonus depreciation, generating net operating loss carryforwards while maintaining accumulated deferred income tax liabilities for ratemaking. The utility also …
Company may reverse elections made instead of bonus depreciation
A consolidated corporate group had elected under former section 168(k)(4) to forgo bonus depreciation and instead increase specified credit limitations. A later adviser determined that the former tax …
Partnership may file a late section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership timely filed its return but inadvertently omitted a section 754 election. That election permits basis adjustments to partnership property after cover…
Omitted section 754 election receives a 120-day extension
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership timely filed its federal return but inadvertently left out a section 754 election. The election permits basis adjustments to partnership property for…
National security agreement does not break consolidated group status
A U.S. parent indirectly owned a subsidiary engaged in work requiring a government facility security clearance, while the U.S. parent itself was ultimately foreign-owned. A special security agreement …
Post-1993 partnership intangibles remain amortizable after consolidation
A business group consolidated several lower-tier partnerships into disregarded entities and then contributed the consolidated operations to a new partnership joint venture. The lower-tier entities hel…
Foreign entity may file a late partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity defaulted to association status because all of its members had limited liability. It intended to file Form 8832 and elect partnership classification from its formation date b…
Bargain sale basis is calculated property by property
An S corporation planned to have several qualified subchapter S subsidiaries donate business properties to a section 501(c)(3) charity. Some properties could be subject to mortgage debt, which is trea…
Multiemployer plan receives a five-year funding extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested more time to amortize certain unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that the plan would otherwise have a funding deficiency, the sponsor had adopted a fund…
Multiemployer plan receives a five-year funding extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested more time to amortize certain unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that the plan would otherwise have a funding deficiency, the sponsor had adopted a fund…
Multiemployer plan receives a five-year funding extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested more time to amortize certain unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that the plan would otherwise have a funding deficiency, the sponsor had adopted a fund…
Scholarship procedures for children of fallen or disabled public safety officers are approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for post-secondary or vocational education for children of city police officers and firefighters killed or disabled in the line of duty. A committee would se…
Corporation receives more time to file its IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed solely to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation. Its owners understood that Form 4876-A was required and relied on their law firm and…
One-time community service scholarship procedures are approved
A private foundation proposed one-time scholarships for members of an affiliated company who were entering or continuing full-time undergraduate study. Independent community judges would evaluate appl…
Employer-related scholarship procedures are approved
A private foundation and another organization proposed scholarships for children of lower-paid employees of companies partly owned by the organizations' substantial contributors and their families. An…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partner died after holding general and limited partnership interests, but the partnership inadvertently omitted a section 754 election from its timely return for that year. The IRS found that the pa…
REIT liquidation sales are not prohibited transactions
A nontraded public REIT raised substantially less capital than expected and faced upcoming debt maturities, possible joint venture buyouts, and high fixed costs relative to its shrinking asset base. I…
Fund receives 90 days to make a late foreign tax election
A regulated investment company intended to elect under section 853 so its shareholders would be treated as paying their shares of certain foreign taxes paid by the fund. Its accountant prepared a Form…
Divorce settlement trust avoids gain, gift, and most estate inclusion
A divorcing husband proposed transferring half of his company shares to an irrevocable trust for his wife in exchange for her marital rights and property claims. The wife would receive all trust incom…
Divorce settlement trust avoids gain and gift, but remains in husband's estate
A divorcing husband proposed transferring half of his company shares to an irrevocable trust for his wife in exchange for her marital rights and property claims. The wife would receive all trust incom…
Bond exchange produces issuance premium and current repurchase deductions with one integrated-tranche exception
A public parent corporation issued seven new bond tranches in exchange for bonds previously issued by a consolidated subsidiary. Because the new bonds traded on an established market, their issue pric…
Trust construction preserves grandfathering, but disclaimer creates a GST transfer
A pre-1942 irrevocable trust was divided under a court-approved family settlement, and a later declaratory judgment was proposed to resolve ambiguities about beneficiaries, income distributions, succe…
Trust construction preserves grandfathering, but disclaimer creates a GST transfer
A pre-1942 irrevocable trust was divided under a court-approved family settlement, and a later declaratory judgment was proposed to resolve ambiguities about beneficiaries, income distributions, succe…
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.