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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Partnership received 60 days to opt out of bonus depreciation for 15-year property
A partnership wanted to preserve eligibility for a federal tax credit by declining additional first-year depreciation on all qualified property placed in service during a tax year. Its return…
Limited partnership received 120 days to make a late corporate classification election
A limited partnership intended to elect treatment as an association taxable as a corporation but did not timely file Form 8832. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and that…
Late accounting-method change forms did not qualify for an extension
An S corporation intended to make two automatic accounting-method changes involving sections 263A and 472. Its return preparer did not timely file the return or the original and signed duplicate…
Late qualified opportunity fund election treated as timely
A partnership was formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property and serve as a qualified opportunity fund. Its members relied on an accountant to prepare the first Form 1065 and attach…
Real estate partnership received 60 days to make a late section 163(j) election
A partnership owning and operating a real estate project intended to elect out of the section 163(j) business-interest limitation as an electing real property trade or business. Its operating…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A general partnership failed to file a section 754 election for the year in which one of its partners died. The election allows partnership-property basis adjustments after certain distributions or…
Extension granted to request revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedules
A corporation owned interests in two nuclear power plants and maintained qualified nuclear decommissioning funds under section 468A. After the Nuclear Regulatory Commission extended both plants'…
Extension granted for nuclear decommissioning fund schedule request
A corporation owned an interest in a nuclear power plant and maintained a qualified nuclear decommissioning fund under section 468A. When the Nuclear Regulatory Commission extended the plant's…
Extension granted for late entity classification election
An eligible domestic entity intended to elect corporate tax treatment but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It asked the IRS for an extension under Treasury Regulations sections…
Extension granted for late section 336(e) election
An individual purchased all the stock of an S corporation, and the parties intended to treat the transaction as an asset sale under section 336(e). They did not timely enter the required written…
Extension granted to complete IC-DISC election
A newly formed domestic corporation intended to elect interest charge domestic international sales corporation status for its first tax year. Its president timely filed Form 4876-A but signed only…
Extension granted for late section 754 election
A partnership failed to make a timely section 754 election for the year in which a new partner purchased an interest from existing partners. It represented that the failure was inadvertent, that it…
Extension granted for foreign entity's disregarded status election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the standards…
Extension granted to correct missing IC-DISC shareholder signature
A domestic corporation timely filed Form 4876-A to elect IC-DISC treatment but omitted one shareholder's consent signature. The corporation believed the election was effective and consistently filed…
Early BBA election is optional for pre-2018 partnership years
Chief Counsel advised that a partnership is not required to elect into the BBA audit regime for a tax year beginning after November 2, 2015, and before January 1, 2018. A partnership may elect in if…
Housing project receives extra time to start its credit period
The owner of a single-building housing project intended to begin its low-income housing credit period in the year the building was placed in service, but it failed to make the required election on…
Estate receives extra time to allocate GST exemption
An executor hired the decedent's regular tax professional to prepare an estate tax return, but the professional failed to file it on time. As a result, the estate did not timely allocate the…
Partnership may make a late bonus depreciation election
A partnership allocated bonus depreciation to a new partner for a section 743(b) basis adjustment, although the new partner did not intend to claim it. The partnership misunderstood that it could…
Partnership receives extra time for opportunity-zone deferral election
A partnership invested distributive shares of capital gains in a qualified opportunity fund within 180 days after the gain partnerships' return due date. Its tax adviser mistakenly concluded that…
Foreign company may make a late partnership election
A foreign private limited company intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS found that the company met the standards for…
Late section 382 value-restoration election allowed
A corporate parent and another member of its controlled group missed the deadline to elect to restore value reduced under the section 382 controlled-group rules. The election affects how the value…
Late qualified opportunity fund certification accepted
A multi-member limited liability company formed to invest in qualified opportunity zones filed Form 8996 late with its partnership return. Its longtime accountant mistakenly believed the company was…
Late S corporation year-splitting election allowed
Two shareholders transferred a substantial portion of an S corporation's stock to two trusts during the corporation's tax year. The corporation intended to elect under Treas. Reg. § 1.1368-1(g)(2)…
Late foreign disregarded-entity election allowed
A foreign eligible entity intended from formation to be treated as disregarded from its single owner for U.S. federal tax purposes. Its owner consistently reported the entity's tax items, but no…
Foreign entity gets late disregarded status election
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect disregarded-entity treatment from its formation date, and its owner reported all of the entity's tax items on the owner's returns from that date. Because…
Early change to disregarded status permitted
A limited liability company had elected S corporation status, which caused it to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation. A new owner later acquired more than half of the company…
Late election to amortize research costs allowed
A corporation that develops and sells software tools failed to timely elect under section 59(e) for a fiscal year. That election allows qualifying research and experimental expenditures otherwise…
Opportunity fund gets 60 days for late certification
A partnership formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund hired an accounting firm to prepare and file its first partnership return. The firm timely filed the return but inadvertently…
Late partnership basis election allowed with adjustments
A limited liability limited partnership intended to make a section 754 election but did not attach it to its timely partnership return. The election applies sections 734(b) and 743(b) basis…
Late real-property election for advertising displays allowed
A partnership in an outdoor advertising business agreed during a partial sale to elect to treat its outdoor advertising displays as real property under section 1033(g)(3). Its accountant filed the…
Late opportunity fund self-certification permitted
A partnership was organized to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and invest in qualified opportunity zone property. It later sought advice about completed transactions and learned that it had…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded election relief
A foreign eligible entity intended to be disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The entity was eligible…
Late opportunity fund election allowed after bad advice
A partnership formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property and operate as a qualified opportunity fund relied on its accounting firm for its first return. The firm incorrectly concluded…
Estate gets more time to elect portability of a late spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused part of their federal estate-tax exclusion can be passed to a surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) so the spouse can use it later. But…
Affiliated group receives more time to elect consolidated return filing
The common parent of an affiliated corporate group missed the deadline to elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return for a taxable year. It requested relief under Treasury Regulation…
Housing project receives more time to make average-income election
A taxpayer owned a single-building low-income housing project and intended to make the average-income minimum set-aside election under section 42(g)(1)(C). Its contemporaneous records showed that…
Estate receives more time to allocate GST exemption to trust transfers
A donor transferred property to three trusts for descendants and elected with a spouse to treat the gifts as made one-half by each spouse. The donor relied on an accounting firm to prepare the gift…
Estate receives more time to make reverse QTIP election
A decedent's revocable trust created a marital trust for the surviving spouse and directed that trust to be divided into exempt and non-exempt portions if a reverse QTIP election was made. A…
Estate receives more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because the decedent's gross estate and taxable gifts were below the section 6018 filing threshold. The decedent left a surviving spouse and had…
Fund receives more time to self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and invest in qualified opportunity zone property. It relied on a tax adviser to make the…
Late QOF self-certification treated as timely after filing misunderstanding
A partnership was formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property and operate as a qualified opportunity fund. Its members used an accountant who misunderstood the structure of two separate…
Foreign entity receives more time to elect partnership classification
A foreign entity represented that it was eligible to elect partnership treatment for federal tax purposes but failed to timely file Form 8832. It requested discretionary relief under Treasury…
Late opportunity-fund certification accepted after adviser missed filing
A partnership with eighteen members was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and acquire qualified opportunity zone property. It hired a tax adviser to prepare the required filings, but…
Missed extension does not prevent qualified opportunity fund election
A twelve-member partnership was organized to qualify as a qualified opportunity fund and invest in opportunity-zone property. It retained a tax adviser to handle the first-year filings, but the…
Extension granted for a section 336(e) election statement
An S corporation's shareholders sold all of its stock to a purchaser, and the parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as an asset sale. They failed to file the…
Extension granted to complete a section 336(e) election
An S corporation shareholder sold all of the corporation's stock to a purchaser, and the parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as an asset sale. They did not timely…
Extension granted to elect ten-year amortization of research expenditures
A corporation developing automated driving solutions failed to make a timely election under section 59(e) for research and experimental expenditures. That election allows qualifying expenditures…
Extension granted to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A taxpayer created two trusts for the taxpayer's children and transferred cash to each trust. The taxpayer intended not to allocate generation-skipping transfer exemption to the transfers, but a CPA…
Extension granted to elect out of bankruptcy ownership-change relief
A parent corporation and its consolidated group underwent an ownership change while the parent and two subsidiaries were under bankruptcy court jurisdiction. The group missed the deadline to elect…
Extension granted for a partnership to self-certify as an opportunity fund
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and bought property in a qualified opportunity zone. Its members failed to file the…
Extension granted to self-certify as an opportunity fund for two years
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to qualify as a qualified opportunity fund. Its tax adviser timely filed partnership returns for two years but failed to attach the…
Extension granted after an accountant omitted an opportunity fund form
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to qualify as a qualified opportunity fund. It relied on an accounting firm to file its first-year partnership return and all required…
Extension granted after an adviser omitted an opportunity fund form
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property as a qualified opportunity fund. The partnership retained an adviser to handle its tax…
Estate receives 120 days to make a portability election
An estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because of the represented value of the gross estate and taxable gifts. It nevertheless needed to file the return to elect portability, which…
Oil and gas partnership receives more time to expense drilling costs
An oil and gas joint venture taxed as a partnership failed to timely elect to deduct intangible drilling and development costs for a tax year. Without that election, the regulations generally treat…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A limited partnership failed to make a section 754 election for the tax year in which a partner died. The election allows partnership property basis adjustments after certain distributions or…
Late REMIC elections for eight mortgage pools treated as timely
A sponsor established eight asset pools for a mortgage securitization program and intended each pool to elect real estate mortgage investment conduit status. The sponsor filed identification and…
Opportunity fund receives 60 days after its CPA omitted Form 8996
A partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund, and an investor reported a capital gain deferral based on an investment in it. The partnership's long-time CPA filed Form 1065…
Estate receives more time for QTIP and reverse QTIP elections
A decedent's revocable trust divided its marital share between an exempt marital trust and a non-exempt marital trust for the surviving spouse. The estate hired a law firm to prepare Form 706 and…
LLC allowed to change from corporation to disregarded entity
A limited liability company had elected to be taxed as a corporation and later wanted to change to disregarded-entity status before the usual 60-month waiting period expired. A new owner had…
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.