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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IRS grants 120 days for a late estate-tax portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion to the surviving spouse. The estate represented that its gross value, includin…
IRS grants inadvertent-relief for an invalid S corporation election
An entity's S corporation election may have been ineffective because it had an ineligible shareholder and a possible second class of stock. The entity transferred the shares to an eligible shareholder…
IRS permits an early reelection of the foreign earned income exclusion
A taxpayer had elected the foreign earned income exclusion while working in one foreign country, then revoked the election when it was no longer beneficial. Before the normal five-year waiting period …
IRS grants 90 days for a late partnership-classification election
A domestic limited liability company intended to elect partnership treatment for federal tax purposes, effective on a redacted date, but did not timely file Form 8832. Entity-classification elections …
Bankruptcy trust keeps liquidating-trust status during another extension
A trust created under a Chapter 11 plan had received several court-approved extensions because it could not finish liquidating the debtor's assets within its original term. Its agreement limited activ…
IRS grants 120 days for a late partnership basis-adjustment election
Two partnerships made liquidating distributions, but their tax advisers did not inform them that an IRC § 754 election was available. After one partnership merged into the other, the surviving entity …
IRS grants surviving partnership 120 days for a late section 754 election
Two partnerships made liquidating distributions, but their tax advisers did not tell them about the IRC § 754 election. After one partnership merged into the other, the surviving partnership discovere…
REIT may exclude its indirect share of related management fees from income tests
A real estate investment trust held mortgage and foreclosed-property investments through an operating partnership. After a restructuring, the operating partnership would own part of the manager that i…
Multiemployer plan may retain amortization extension after small benefit increase
A multiemployer pension plan had an existing funding amortization extension and amended the plan to raise one employer group’s benefit accrual rate from 85 percent to 100 percent of the standard rate.…
IRA owner receives waiver for rollover delayed by bank error
An IRA owner intended to reinvest a certificate of deposit within his IRA, but a bank representative completed a distribution election without his signature or consent. The representative told him the…
Private foundation’s scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed renewable scholarships for eligible high school seniors and college students pursuing undergraduate degrees at nonprofit colleges in the United States. Recipients would b…
Employer and public scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed two nonrenewable scholarship programs, one for eligible employees of a related employer and another open to eligible members of the general public. An independent selecti…
Electrical-engineering scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed an annual, nonrenewable scholarship for a first-year graduate student in electrical engineering at a recognized United States engineering school. A designated committee w…
University scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed scholarships for full-time students in good standing at a Christian university, funded by income from donor-restricted permanent funds. Applicants would submit a narrativ…
Stock-car racing organization denied section 501(c)(3) status
A nonprofit operated a stock-car racetrack, charged drivers and spectators, sold advertising and concessions, and paid cash prizes to race winners. The IRS found that its organizing document benefited…
Purchase-accounting write-down does not reduce taxable advance payment
A corporation received an advance payment for a two-year service contract and used Revenue Procedure 2004-34 to defer part of the income. After an unrelated buyer acquired its stock, purchase accounti…
FCPA disgorgement payment to SEC is not deductible
A United States company settled Securities and Exchange Commission claims arising from Foreign Corrupt Practices Act accounting violations and paid disgorgement equal to alleged profits plus prejudgme…
Generator’s interconnection payment is taxable construction aid
A solar generator paid an electric distribution company to construct an intertie connecting the generator’s facility to the distribution system. The utility argued that the payment was a nonshareholde…
Online marketplace must report provider payments under section 6050W
An online marketplace connected customers with independent service providers, collected customer payments, and remitted the providers’ fees after subtracting the platform’s charges. Under the platform…
Solar facilities are not public utility property under market-based rates
A regulated electric utility planned to construct three solar facilities and allocate their output among state-regulated, non-jurisdictional, and wholesale customers. Property is public utility proper…
Investment funds receive relief for elections on late-filed returns
Four regulated investment company funds timely extended their returns, but the employees who coordinated filing at the adviser and custodian both left before the extended due date. The unfiled returns…
Cooperative may obtain patron consent electronically
An agricultural cooperative planned to replace paper patronage-consent forms with an online application. A patron would enter identifying information, choose either consent or waiver, type a name, and…
Bulk nitrogen fertilizer income qualifies for partnership exception
A corporation planned a publicly traded partnership that would produce, store, transport, and market several nitrogen-based fertilizers. The IRS ruled that income from bulk sales of ammonia, ammonium …
Real-estate partnership restructuring treated as division, merger, and sale
A real-estate partnership proposed a seven-step restructuring to support a potential public offering by a real estate investment trust and its operating partnership. The original partnership would sep…
Medical condition supports retirement-plan rollover waiver
A retirement-plan participant received a distribution while suffering from an undiagnosed illness that left him unable to work and required extensive testing and treatment. He did not complete a rollo…
Area high-school scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed one nonrenewable scholarship for each high school in an organization’s membership area. Eligible graduating seniors would be evaluated using grades, test scores, activiti…
Financial-institution procedures support IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner received two distribution checks and promptly sent them to the custodian of her employer plan for rollover. The custodian returned the checks because they were payable to her rather than …
IRA rollover waiver denied for short-term business loan
An IRA owner withdrew funds so her spouse could make a business investment, then attempted to return the money ten days after the 60-day rollover deadline. She attributed the delay to concern about an…
Mistaken transfer to brokerage account receives rollover waiver
An IRA owner instructed a financial representative to keep her retirement accounts in nontaxable IRAs while transferring them to a new institution. One IRA was properly transferred, but another was pl…
Waiver denied for late rollover of tax withholding amount
A retirement-plan distribution included an amount paid to the taxpayer and a separate amount withheld for federal income tax. The taxpayer timely rolled the check amount into an IRA, so that portion n…
Exempt status revoked for failure to provide examination records
The IRS repeatedly asked an exempt organization for financial, operational, and recordkeeping information needed to examine its Form 990-N filing period. Letters were sent to the organization and its …
Mining-related scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation requested advance approval for merit scholarships available to a corporation's shareholders, their dependents, and descendants of shareholders. The program supports full-time stud…
Surviving spouse may roll estate-received IRA proceeds into own IRA
A decedent died before age 70 1/2 without naming a beneficiary for an IRA, causing the account to pass to the estate. The decedent's surviving spouse was both the estate's sole executor and its sole b…
Coordinate Medicaid insurer definitions before applying compensation deduction limit
Chief Counsel reviewed earlier advice on whether risk-bearing entities serving Medicaid recipients could be subject to the compensation deduction limit in IRC § 162(m)(6). Applying that limit depended…
Estate receives 120 days to make late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate was bel…
LLC restructuring does not recapture Gulf Opportunity Zone depreciation
An individual owned two single-member LLCs that were disregarded for federal income tax purposes. One LLC owned qualifying Gulf Opportunity Zone property for which the individual had claimed 50-percen…
Corporation receives 60 days to file late IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation intended to elect interest charge domestic international sales corporation status from its formation. It represented that it mailed a completed Form 4876-A after following an ac…
Estate receives 120 days to make late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate, includ…
Estate receives 120 days to make late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The surviving spouse, acting as personal representative, repres…
Estate receives 120 days to make late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate was bel…
Corporation receives inadvertent S election termination relief
Two trusts became shareholders of a parent S corporation after a merger but failed to make new qualified subchapter S trust elections effective on the merger date. That failure terminated the parent c…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign entity wholly owned by a resident alien missed the deadline to file Form 8832 electing to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes. The entity had acquired real property i…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign entity's indirect owner intended the entity to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation date, but the entity inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS conclud…
Taxpayer receives 60 days to undo an unintended Roth conversion
A taxpayer instructed a financial institution to place an after-tax contribution in a new traditional IRA and later move only that amount to a Roth IRA. The institution instead deposited the contribut…
Taxpayer receives waiver for IRA rollover delay caused by custodian
An IRA custodian resigned without informing the taxpayer, causing assets held in three funds to be distributed from the IRA. The taxpayer learned of the resignation only after one fund sent a redempti…
Taxpayer receives waiver after Roth IRA funds lacked a qualified custodian
A taxpayer moved money directly from two Roth IRAs into an investment fund after a capital management company represented that the investment could be held through an IRA. The company and taxpayer bel…
Caregiver receives waiver of IRA rollover deadline
A taxpayer received property from an IRA but did not roll it over within 60 days because caring for his mother impaired his ability to complete the transaction on time. During the rollover period, his…
Taxpayer receives waiver after Roth IRA investment lacked a qualified custodian
A taxpayer moved money directly from a Roth IRA into an investment fund after a capital management company represented that the investment could be held through an IRA. The company and taxpayer mistak…
Taxpayer receives waiver after IRA investment lacked a qualified custodian
A taxpayer moved money directly from an IRA into an investment fund after a capital management company represented that the investment could be held through an IRA. The company and taxpayer mistakenly…
Engineering and science scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation requested advance approval for a scholarship program serving graduating seniors from three local high schools. Applicants must have at least a 3.0 grade point average, plan full-t…
Umpire association denied section 501(c)(3) exemption
An association trained baseball and softball umpires, assigned them to games and tournaments, collected some tournament and travel-game fees, and held a year-end banquet. The IRS found that the associ…
Business trust denied section 501(c)(3) exemption
A business trust sought section 501(c)(3) status for arrangements involving related companies, credit, debt, insurance, fictitious names, and purported tax-free financing. Its trust document authorize…
Historic lodging association loses section 501(c)(6) exemption
An association of historic lodging properties had been recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(6). Its principal activities included advertising individual member properties, inspecting those pr…
Employee may claim foreign tax credit when employer pays the tax
An employer directly paid an employee's foreign income tax liability without withholding that amount from the employee's wages. The IRS advised that the payment is additional compensation taxable to t…
FPAA may determine components of outside basis but not basis itself
The IRS considered what a final partnership administrative adjustment could determine about a partner's outside basis. It advised that, absent a section 754 election, outside basis itself is not a par…
Section 6512 does not bar refund suit after collection case
The IRS considered whether section 6512(a) prevents a taxpayer from disputing a liability in a refund suit after the Tax Court determined that liability in a collection proceeding. It advised that the…
Certain cash balance plans qualify only for indexed-benefit safe harbor
The IRS addressed age-discrimination safe harbors for cash balance plans whose lump-sum distributions equal the actuarial present value of the accrued benefit rather than the hypothetical account bala…
Interest-free period applies regardless of who claims withholding refund
The IRS considered the 180-day interest-free period for refunds of withholding taxes under chapters 3 and 4. It advised that section 6611(e)(4) applies whether the refund is claimed by an account hold…
Insurer merger does not restart life policy tax tests
Two affiliated life insurance companies planned to merge, with one company surviving and assuming the other's policies. The policy terms would not change, and the surviving company would not issue rep…
Estate receives extension to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion. The decedent's gross estate, including lifetime taxable gifts, was represente…
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.