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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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…
Missed ESBT and QSST elections do not end S corporation status
Six trusts eligible for electing small business trust treatment and two trusts eligible for qualified subchapter S trust treatment received shares of an S corporation, but the required elections were …
Surviving spouse may roll over trust-owned IRAs but may not treat the original accounts as her own
A decedent named a joint revocable trust or its marital subtrust as beneficiary of seven Roth IRAs and one traditional IRA. After a court retroactively reformed some beneficiary designations, the surv…
Exemption revoked after nonresponse and corporate dissolution
A section 501(c)(3) organization did not provide records requested during an IRS examination and had not filed required Form 990-series returns for several years. Its state corporate status had also b…
Exemption revoked after educational activities stopped
An exempt school lost its primary public-school funding and stopped serving students or conducting educational programs. It then rented parts of its property to food trucks, a day care center, and a w…
Exemption revoked after residential care activities ended
A section 501(c)(3) organization had provided housing and support services for people living with AIDS through public health contracts. After losing those contracts, it stopped providing those service…
Public golf course does not qualify as an exempt social club
A nonprofit golf course sought exemption as a social club under section 501(c)(7). The course and clubhouse were regularly open to the public, nonmembers generated more than 25 percent of receipts, an…
Professional rodeo association does not qualify under section 501(c)(3)
A membership association conducted about fourteen rodeos each year, charged participants entry fees, charged spectators admission, and awarded cash prizes. Its bylaws emphasized promoting professional…
Dealer advertising cooperative loses section 501(c)(6) exemption
A self-declared association of automobile dealerships pooled dealer contributions to fund advertising for vehicles from one manufacturer in a defined television market. The IRS concluded that the asso…
Late request for a 52-53-week tax year is treated as timely
A taxpayer sought to change from a calendar tax year to a 52-53-week year ending on the Saturday nearest January 31. It filed Form 1128 after the deadline but requested an extension soon afterward. Th…
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 executor represented that the estate and taxab…
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 executor represented that the estate and taxab…
Late S election and two-class-stock defect receive relief
A corporation intended its S corporation election to begin on an earlier date than the effective date accepted by the IRS. It also had two classes of stock when the election was made, which made the e…
Corporation receives 120 days to make an S termination-year election
A corporation's S election terminated during a tax year, dividing that year into an S short year and a C short year. The corporation intended to elect under section 1362(e)(3) to allocate tax items ba…
First estate receives 120 days to elect portability after both spouses died
One spouse died without a timely Form 706 portability election, and the surviving spouse later died as well. The personal representative of both estates sought extra time to elect portability of the f…
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 executor represented that the estate and taxab…
Shared-service company qualifies as successor employer for payroll tax wage bases
A corporate group planned to move support employees from four subsidiaries to a shared-service subsidiary as part of a regulatory reorganization. The transferring subsidiaries would also convey substa…
Cellular towers and installed cable systems are like-kind property
A communications provider proposed exchanging cellular tower sites for installed fiber-optic and copper cable distribution systems. The tower structures, equipment huts, fencing, and related component…
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 executor represented that the estate and taxab…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to file a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign entity's sole owner intended the entity to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation date. The entity did not timely file Form 8832 to make that classification election. The…
Divorce judgment's lump-sum payments are not deductible alimony
A divorce judgment required an individual to make lump-sum and annual payments described as alimony. The individual asked whether the lump-sum payments qualified as alimony deductible under section 21…
Newer product segment is an expansion of an existing business for spin-off purposes
A public company planned to separate one product segment from another through a series of internal transfers followed by a pro rata spin-off. The group had conducted the retained segment's business fo…
Surviving spouse may roll over inherited IRA funds after court changes beneficiary
A decedent's IRA named an inter vivos trust as beneficiary, but neither the custodian nor the surviving spouse could find evidence that the trust had ever been created. The surviving spouse planned to…
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 executor represented that the estate and taxab…
Dividing grandfathered trust into three family trusts preserves GST exemption
A settlor created an irrevocable family trust before September 25, 1985, and no later additions were made to it. The trustees proposed dividing it into three equal trusts, one for each of the settlor'…
S corporation receives relief for impermissible owner and possible second stock class
An S corporation converted into a limited partnership that elected corporate tax treatment and later converted into another corporation. During the partnership phase, an entity treated as a partnershi…
IRA owner receives waiver after being told rollover period was 90 days
An IRA owner withdrew funds from a maturing certificate of deposit after a financial-institution representative led her to believe that she had 90 days to complete a rollover. She kept the money in a …
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership intended to elect under section 754 to adjust the basis of partnership property. It inadvertently omitted a properly executed election from the retur…
Hotel owner receives relief for a late first-year REIT election
A limited liability company was formed to acquire and indirectly own hotel properties in several states and always intended to elect REIT status for its first tax year. Its governing agreement express…
Corporation receives 120 days to file a late S election
A corporation was eligible to elect S corporation status from its incorporation date but did not timely file Form 2553. It requested reasonable-cause relief under section 1362(b)(5). Based on the subm…
Fund-of-funds RICs receive 90 days to make late foreign-tax elections
Several regulated investment companies in a fund-of-funds structure failed to elect under section 853 to pass through foreign taxes paid by underlying funds to their sole shareholder, a life insurance…
Related-party REIT sale losses are deferred until spin-off removes assets from group
A parent REIT planned to separate properties leased to a financially troubled tenant into a newly public REIT. Before a taxable spin-off, the parent and an affiliate would sell partnership interests a…
Variable-contract holders are not owners of insurance-dedicated fund portfolios
Three insurance-dedicated regulated investment company portfolios served as investment options for variable life insurance and annuity contracts. Some portfolio assets would be invested in publicly av…
Estate receives extra time to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocations
A taxpayer created twelve grantor retained annuity trusts whose remaining assets passed to a family trust after the retained annuity terms ended. The taxpayer intended not to allocate generation-skipp…
Prior ruling on compensatory research-fellow stipends is revoked prospectively
The IRS had previously ruled that stipends paid to research fellows from grants outside the National Research Service Award program were not wages for employment tax purposes. It later determined that…
Private foundation's need-based scholarship procedures are approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for graduating high school seniors and certain recent graduates from a county who had not yet attended a postsecondary institution. Selection would consider …
Expanded scholarships for students from military families are approved
A private foundation asked to expand and revise a scholarship program serving students at selected military high schools. The expansion would also cover college-bound public-school seniors in Junior R…
International medical-training grant procedures are approved
A private foundation proposed expanding a medical-training grant program beyond liver-transplant education to recognized areas of medicine, medical care, and treatment. Grants could support doctors, n…
Transportation LLC is denied charity status for private benefit and commercial operations
An LLC sought section 501(c)(3) status to provide scheduled transportation to people with disabilities and other clients affected by local budget cuts. It shared vehicles, drivers, an address, and an …
Housing general partner is denied exemption for benefiting for-profit owners
An organization served as the one-percent general partner of a limited partnership that owned a 32-unit apartment building. The remaining partnership interests were held by a for-profit LLC and two in…
Large grant from unrelated foundation qualifies as an unusual grant
A publicly supported charity serving at-risk youth and foster children sought a large grant from a newly formed private foundation to expand programs addressing teen homelessness. The grant was expect…
Health-care membership and VEBA organization denied exemption
A membership organization sought recognition as both a section 501(c)(3) charitable and educational organization and a section 501(c)(9) voluntary employees' beneficiary association. It offered health…
Office-building company receives 90 days to make late REIT election
A limited liability company that owned an office building intended to elect real estate investment trust status for its initial short tax year. Its outside accounting firm could not electronically fil…
Corporation receives late S election relief
A corporation's shareholder intended the company to be treated as an S corporation beginning on a redacted date, but the S election was not filed on time. The company asked the IRS to treat the electi…
Partnership receives 120 days to make late section 754 election
A general partnership failed to make a section 754 election for the year in which one of its partners died. It represented that the omission was inadvertent, that it acted reasonably and in good faith…
Rural telephone cooperative's spectrum-sale gain is patronage-sourced income
A taxable rural telephone cooperative used a wholly owned subsidiary to buy wireless spectrum needed to offer advanced telecommunications services to its patrons. Another subsidiary used the spectrum …
Bond index fund may use portfolio-level tax method for currency hedges
A regulated investment company tracked an index of foreign-currency bonds whose currency exposure was offset with rolling one-month forward contracts. Because the fund held many bonds, it hedged its a…
Estate receives 120 days to make late portability election
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 decedent's gross estate was represented to be be…
Estate gets 120-day extension for portability election
An estate did not timely file Form 706 to transfer the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion to the surviving spouse. The decedent's estate was represented to be below the basic exclusion amount, and…
Late estate tax filing may elect portability within 120 days
An estate failed to file Form 706 by the deadline for electing portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate wa…
Estate receives late portability relief despite missed Form 706
An estate did not file Form 706 by the deadline needed to pass the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion to the surviving spouse. It represented that the gross estate, after accounting for lifetime t…
Estate may file late return to preserve surviving spouse's exclusion
An estate missed the Form 706 deadline for electing portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount. It represented that the decedent's gross estate, including taxable gifts, was below th…
Bankruptcy trust remains a liquidating trust during extended term
A trust was created under a Chapter 11 liquidation plan to recover, sell, and distribute a debtor's remaining assets. Its agreement barred an ongoing business, limited retained cash and investments, r…
Estate gets extra time to transfer unused exclusion to spouse
An estate failed to file Form 706 on time to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion to the surviving spouse. The decedent's gross estate, including taxable gifts, was represen…
Estate receives reverse QTIP relief and approval for related trust divisions
A revocable trust directed a marital bequest to be split between a GST-exempt marital trust and a nonexempt marital trust based on the decedent's available GST exemption. The estate's attorney did not…
Estate receives 120 days for missed portability filing
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate, after considering taxable gifts, was below the b…
Parent may claim affiliated-subsidiary worthless stock deduction after conversion
A corporate taxpayer owned a services subsidiary whose group faced large settlement costs and client claims tied to investments made with a third party. Several lower-tier subsidiaries had already liq…
Bankruptcy trust keeps liquidating-trust status during two-year extension
A trust established under a Chapter 11 plan had an initial three-year term that the bankruptcy court later extended by two years. The trust existed only to liquidate and distribute estate assets, rest…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to file late corporate classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation from a redacted effective date. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The entity represented…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year funding amortization extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested an automatic five-year extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that without relief the plan would have an accumulated fund…
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.