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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Mistaken Roth deposit may be recharacterized as traditional IRA rollover
A former employee directed retirement-plan savings to a newly opened traditional IRA, and the rollover check identified that account. The financial institution mistakenly deposited the money into the …
Couple receives IRA rollover waivers after surgery-related memory loss
An 86-year-old husband withdrew funds from his IRA and his wife's IRA and placed both distributions in their joint checking account while considering new investments. He had suffered memory loss and c…
Adviser error supports waiver for inherited plan rollover
A deceased participant's qualified-plan benefit was payable to a trust whose trustee and beneficiary was the participant's surviving spouse. The spouse instructed a financial adviser to place the dist…
IRS approves a long-term set-aside for a STEM student-debt program
A private foundation proposed setting aside a redacted amount for a program that would reduce student debt for selected workers who committed to living and working in one state in STEM occupations for…
IRS approves nonprofit executive sabbatical grants
A private foundation proposed sabbatical grants for executive directors and chief executive officers of public charities providing health-related services. The grants would fund salary, travel, housin…
IRS approves expanded health-workforce fellowships
A private foundation proposed expanding its fellowships beyond traditional health professionals, faculty, and scholars to a broader range of people working to improve health and healthcare. Fellows wo…
IRS revokes charity status after personal expenses benefited its founder
The IRS revoked a charity's section 501(c)(3) status after an examination found repeated payments of personal expenses and other disbursements benefiting its founder. The organization used cash withdr…
IRS approves discrete mechanics of corporate separation
Two public-company groups combined and proposed separating one business into a new public company through internal contributions, distributions, borrowing, and shareholder exchanges. The IRS ruled on …
Non-IRA certificate deposit corrected through rollover waiver
An IRA owner received a distribution when an IRA certificate of deposit matured and took the check to another financial institution to open a new IRA certificate. Because of a misunderstanding, the in…
IRS approves renewable need-based college scholarships
A private foundation proposed scholarships for academically qualified high school seniors with financial need who planned to attend eligible four-year colleges in their state. Awards could cover tuiti…
IRS approves first-semester scholarships for high school graduates
A private foundation proposed scholarships for graduates of a particular high school who would attend college or trade school. Applicants needed at least a 3.0 grade point average and would be evaluat…
IRS approves scholarships for students with disabilities
A private operating foundation proposed scholarships to help students with disabilities attend an eligible educational institution. Financial need, recommendations, enrollment, tuition costs, other ai…
IRS revokes motorcycle club's charitable exemption
A motorcycle club held an annual fundraiser and made donations to community charities, but much of its property and activities served members, families, and guests. The examination found member-only r…
Retail sales are not advertising income from domestic print media
A specialty retailer sold products manufactured outside the United States and distributed catalogs and similar print media that advertised only its own brands. The retailer gave the publications to cu…
Form 872 should name the successor taxpayer being assessed
An examination team asked which entity should execute Form 872 to extend the assessment period after a tax liability passed through successor entities. Chief Counsel agreed that the form should be exe…
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 executrix represented that the estate, including…
Surviving spouse receives 120 days to elect portability
A surviving spouse serving as executor missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. The spouse represented that the estate was below the fi…
Couple receives 120 days to opt out of automatic GST allocations
A taxpayer created an irrevocable trust for a spouse and four children, then later made cash gifts that the spouses elected to split for gift tax purposes. Their tax professionals prepared the gift ta…
Estate receives 120-day portability extension after missed filing
An estate discovered after the deadline that it had not filed Form 706 to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the dece…
Late Form 706 portability election receives 120-day extension
An estate failed to file Form 706 by its due date to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. It represented that the gross estate and lifetime taxable…
Delayed stock dispositions do not disturb prior spin-off ruling
A taxpayer asked the IRS to supplement an earlier ruling on a corporate spin-off under IRC § 355. Registration of retained controlled-company stock with the Securities and Exchange Commission had been…
Court-approved trust termination preserves GST exemption
A trust created before September 25, 1985 had eighteen living beneficiaries and had become disproportionately difficult and costly to administer. A court-approved settlement would terminate the trust …
Estate receives relief for missed portability election
An estate discovered after the filing deadline that it had not submitted Form 706 to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. It represented that the gross estate and taxable l…
Executrix receives extension for portability election
A surviving spouse acting as executrix failed to 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 filing …
Late general asset account election allowed for nine buildings
An S corporation's disregarded subsidiary acquired and placed nine buildings in service, but the accounting firm preparing the return failed to make the general asset account election under IRC § 168(…
Alternative basis recovery approved for contingent merger payments
A taxpayer sold an ownership interest in an S corporation through a merger for an initial payment and three later payments tied to the buyer's stock price. After the stock price declined, the normal r…
Proportional basis recovery approved for merger installments
A taxpayer owned an S corporation interest through a grantor trust and exchanged that interest in a merger for an initial payment plus three stock-price-based installments. A later decline in the buye…
Alternative installment basis method avoids deferred recovery
An S corporation shareholder received an initial merger payment and rights to three later payments determined by the buyer's stock price. When that stock price declined, allocating basis equally over …
Grantor-trust owner may recover basis proportionally
A taxpayer owned an S corporation interest through two grantor trusts and sold the interest in a merger for an initial payment and three contingent installments. The later payments depended on the buy…
Executor receives 120 days for late portability election
A surviving spouse serving as executor discovered after the deadline that the estate had not filed Form 706 to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. The spouse represented t…
Partnership receives 120 days to make late § 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership had an ownership interest transferred during a tax year. Its tax adviser did not tell it that a § 754 election was available, so the partnership fail…
Entity receives 120 days to file late corporate classification election
An eligible business entity intended from its formation date to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation. Through inadvertence, it did not timely file Form 8832 to make that classificatio…
Two-stage pension surplus transfer avoids employer reversion tax
An employer terminated a defined benefit pension plan but needed to retain part of its surplus temporarily for a contingent litigation liability. Its board committed to transfer at least 25 percent of…
Foundation's passive receipt of legal-fee receivables is not UBIT
A decedent's professional company held vested receivables for legal services completed before the decedent's death. After the company dissolved, the decedent's will directed its remaining property to …
Pension may retain litigation reserve, but annual filings continue
An employer terminated a defined benefit plan but retained enough surplus assets to cover a contingent litigation liability outside its control. The IRS ruled that this reserve would not undo the term…
IRS approves three discrete issues in planned business spin-off
A publicly traded company proposed separating one business division into a new controlled corporation after internal subsidiary liquidations and asset transfers. The IRS ruled that a component's reven…
Executrix receives 120-day extension to elect portability
An estate did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The executrix represented that the decedent's gross estate and lifet…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year funding extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested a five-year extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that without relief the plan would have an accumulated funding deficie…
Broker error earns waiver for missed IRA rollover
An IRA owner received an IRA distribution and separate non-IRA funds, then sent a combined check to an investment adviser with instructions to place the IRA portion in a new IRA. The adviser instead d…
Cancer treatment supports waiver of IRA rollover deadline
An IRA owner withdrew funds intending to research mutual funds and move the money into a new IRA within 60 days. Eleven days later, she was diagnosed with cancer and then underwent surgery and chemoth…
Concussions and mental stress support rollover waiver
An IRA owner with memory and impulse problems following an assault suffered two additional concussions in early 2014. Ten days after the second concussion, he withdrew IRA funds and placed them in a n…
Confusing account names support IRA rollover waiver
An elderly taxpayer held an IRA and a non-IRA account at the same financial company, both bearing the same “Retirement Balanced Account” title. Believing the accounts were duplicate IRAs, she withdrew…
IRS denies rollover waiver after IRA funds finance a family home purchase
An IRA owner withdrew a redacted amount to prevent foreclosure on her daughter's home, expecting to replace the money after selling a vacation home. The sale did not close until after the 60-day rollo…
Financial institution error earns waiver for a partial plan rollover
A taxpayer asked a financial institution to roll assets from three 401(k) plans directly into an IRA. The institution confirmed that the rollover was complete, but it later issued checks to the taxpay…
IRS approves a private foundation's college scholarship procedures
A private foundation proposed awarding one annual scholarship to an incoming college freshman from a specified area who would attend a nonprofit college. Applicants would need a GPA of at least 3.0, v…
IRS approves a VEBA trust merger and excess asset transfer
A corporate employer proposed merging two voluntary employees' beneficiary association trusts into a third VEBA trust and making a one-time transfer from an overfunded collectively bargained retiree m…
IRS finds no prohibited inurement from a VEBA merger and asset transfer
A VEBA trust proposed absorbing two other VEBA trusts and receiving a one-time transfer from a collectively bargained retiree medical trust. The surviving trust would keep the former trusts in separat…
A withholding agent's own-funds refund uses the 45-day interest rule
Chief Counsel considered which interest-free period applies when a withholding agent seeks a Form 1042 refund for tax it paid from its own funds. Section 6611(e)(4) allows 180 days for refunds arising…
A modified Form 8027 jurat retained the required meaning
Chief Counsel considered whether a taxpayer's modified jurat on Form 8027 was acceptable. The taxpayer's language still stated that the submission was made under penalties of perjury and was true, cor…
FATCA compliance certifications may be required electronically
Chief Counsel considered whether the IRS could require participating and registered deemed-compliant foreign financial institutions to submit FATCA compliance certifications electronically without off…
An offset against the taxpayer's valid refund was timely
Chief Counsel considered the timing of IRS offsets involving an erroneous refund and an identity theft return. The IRS first offset a refund claimed on the identity theft return, then reversed that of…
A split-off and related merger cleared five discrete tax issues
A corporate group proposed placing cash and interests in operating entities into a new subsidiary, then distributing all of that subsidiary's stock to one shareholder in exchange for the shareholder's…
A split-off and related merger cleared five discrete tax issues
A corporate group proposed placing cash and interests in operating entities into a new subsidiary, then distributing all of that subsidiary's stock to one shareholder in exchange for the shareholder's…
Recovery of FSC and ETI depreciation depends on basis and timing
Chief Counsel analyzed four scenarios involving depreciation allocated to exempt foreign trade income under the former foreign sales corporation regime or excluded extraterritorial income. Recovery de…
A timely section 83(b) election revocation was approved
An employee received restricted employer stock and filed an election under section 83(b) covering all of the shares. The employee then asked to revoke the election less than 30 days after the stock tr…
A late deemed-sale election received a 60-day extension
A corporation left its parent's consolidated group after an initial public offering and elected regulated investment company status. The parent should have filed an election under Treasury Regulation …
A timely section 83(b) election revocation was approved
An employee received restricted employer stock and filed an election under section 83(b) covering all of the shares. The employee then asked to revoke the election less than 30 days after the stock tr…
A timely section 83(b) election revocation was approved
An employee received restricted employer stock and filed an election under section 83(b) covering all of the shares. The employee then asked to revoke the election less than 30 days after the stock tr…
A late section 336(e) election statement received more time
A disregarded buyer acquired all the stock of an S corporation in a transaction the parties intended to treat as an asset disposition under section 336(e). The seller and target signed the required bi…
Public retiree-health asset transfers avoided specified excise taxes
A state public retirement system planned to terminate retiree-health accounts under section 401(h) after satisfying all medical-benefit liabilities, credit the remaining assets back to participating p…
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.