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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Cash used in acquisition does not defeat active-business rule
A public corporation acquired an unrelated target in a reorganization using its own stock and cash. The target owned a subsidiary that planned to separate three businesses into newly formed controlled…
Church university retirement plans qualify as church plans
A tax-exempt university affiliated with a church requested church-plan status for two retirement plans maintained for its employees. A religious organization was the university's sole member, appointe…
Tribal organization may receive deductible charitable contributions
Federally recognized Indian tribes in one region formed and funded an organization to carry out a shared project. The project promoted economic development, preserved cultural and subsistence resource…
Government insurance trust's income is excluded under Section 115
An association of state political subdivisions operated a trust that provided self-insured property, liability, and workers' compensation pools, along with group medical, dental, and disability insura…
Local-government association's income is excluded and Form 990 waived
An association of state special districts helped its governmental members share information, manage risks and insurance, obtain financial and administrative assistance, and reduce operating costs. Its…
Sixty-day IRA rollover waiver denied for unsupported bank error
An IRA owner withdrew an amount from an IRA and did not return it to an IRA within 60 days. He said he mistakenly believed the withdrawal was required, was not advised by the bank about the tax conseq…
Foundation's grants to artists and teachers approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for a grant program serving artists and teachers in a metropolitan area. Applicants would be evaluated on financial need, prior achievement, motivation,…
Foundation scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for scholarships supporting needy undergraduate and graduate students in a metropolitan area. Its board would select recipients based on financial need,…
Graduate educational travel grants approved
A private foundation proposed expanding an existing graduate fellowship program to fund educational travel in the United States and abroad. Applicants would submit travel plans and educational goals, …
Artist development grant program approved
A private foundation proposed a program providing artists with grants and industry resources for research, retreats, drafting, workshops, short works, and other professional development. Candidates wo…
Fee-based consulting organization denied charitable exemption
An organization sought exemption as a charity under IRC § 501(c)(3). It substantially provided consulting and administrative services for fees at or above cost. The IRS found that the organization had…
IRS may consider an informal abatement request after the assessment period expires
Chief Counsel advised that the IRS may consider new information submitted as an informal request to abate an income, estate, or gift tax assessment even though IRC § 6404(b) does not give taxpayers a …
IRS office may use an unredacted private letter ruling
Chief Counsel advised that the relevant IRS office should have an unredacted copy of a private letter ruling available for use in addressing a question about self-created goodwill. If that office had …
IRS employees may receive unredacted ruling for tax administration
Chief Counsel advised that IRC § 6103(h)(1) permitted disclosure of an unredacted private letter ruling to a Treasury attorney and revenue agent who needed it for tax administration. The requester sho…
Levy does not reach contract payments that are not yet due
Chief Counsel confirmed the position stated in CCA 199930003 and agreed that the government should concede the issue in the pending case. The levy did not reach payments that a third party might make …
Employment tax employer regulations identified for review
Following an employment tax discussion, Chief Counsel provided temporary regulations under IRC § 3501 and Announcement 85-113. It also identified portions of the regulations defining an employer under…
Credit election moved after assessment period was not covered by revenue ruling
Chief Counsel advised that Rev. Rul. 85-67 did not apply when a credit election was not transferred to the following tax year, which had an unassessed liability, until after the assessment statute exp…
Amount realized defines stock value under the unified loss rule
A consolidated group sold loss-share subsidiary stock for an amount far below a valuation estimate and claimed the resulting stock loss. Chief Counsel concluded that the unified loss rule required the…
Foreign parent's non-LIFO reporting satisfies conformity requirement
A domestic subsidiary used LIFO for most inventory while its foreign parent considered adopting IFRS, which would report the subsidiary's results on a non-LIFO basis. The foreign parent and its financ…
Extension granted for depreciation elections after adviser error
A corporation relied on an outside return preparer who failed to analyze an ownership change and its limits on net operating losses. The corporation consequently missed elections to forgo bonus deprec…
Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
A regulated public utility requested a revised schedule of deductible contributions to its nuclear decommissioning fund after shutting down a plant and beginning decommissioning. The proposed schedule…
Revised decommissioning schedule approved after rate reduction
A public utility requested a revised schedule of contributions to its nuclear decommissioning fund after its regulator reduced the decommissioning costs included in rates. The reduction meant that pri…
Nuclear fund schedule revised after regulated costs declined
A public utility requested a revised schedule of contributions to its nuclear decommissioning fund after its regulator reduced the decommissioning costs included in rates. The reduction meant that pri…
Extension granted to amortize research expenditures
An affiliated corporate group intended to elect ten-year ratable deductions for research and experimental expenditures but did not make the election with its timely consolidated return. The group repr…
Pension funding excise tax conditionally waived
A company's financial condition had deteriorated, it could no longer contribute to its pension plan, and it was pursuing a distress termination through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The IR…
Late QSST election receives inadvertent S termination relief
After the owner of a grantor trust died, the trust continued holding S corporation shares for a beneficiary but did not timely elect qualified subchapter S trust status. That failure terminated the co…
IRS denies waiver for missed plan-loan rollover deadline
A former employee's retirement-plan loan went into default after automatic bank transfers stopped, causing the unpaid balance to be treated as a distribution. She sought a waiver of the 60-day rollove…
Mental incapacity supports late retirement rollover relief
A 75-year-old retiree received distributions from two qualified plans that were deposited in a nonretirement savings account. She missed the 60-day rollover deadline while experiencing physical and co…
Dental scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for scholarships supporting students in dental assistant training and other dental professions. Applicants would be evaluated using financial need, inte…
Reconsideration does not extend refund-suit deadline
Chief Counsel advised that the law governing the deadline for a refund suit had not changed. Once the two-year period under IRC § 6532(a)(1) expires, the IRS cannot allow the refund unless the taxpaye…
Monday bankruptcy filing suspends Tax Court petition period
Chief Counsel considered how the Tax Court petition deadline interacts with a bankruptcy filing. When the 90th day falls on a weekend and the following Monday is not a District of Columbia holiday, IR…
Lease termination term defeats rent allocation schedule
Chief Counsel considered whether a rental agreement made a specific allocation of fixed rent under IRC § 467. The lease stated that any termination would reduce the section 467 loan balance to zero an…
Publication 1 required for Form 8300 examinations
Chief Counsel advised that IRS Publication 1 is required in examinations involving Form 8300. The penalties under IRC §§ 6721 and 6722 for failing to file the form are assessable penalties treated as …
Estate receives more time to elect out of GST allocation
An estate asked for more time to elect out of the automatic allocation of generation-skipping transfer exemption to the decedent's 2010 direct gifts to grandchildren and other skip persons. The decede…
Earlier ERP software cost treatment still applies
Chief Counsel considered whether later intangible-property regulations displaced the IRS's earlier treatment of enterprise resource planning software costs. It concluded that the principles in PLR 200…
Company receives 90 days to make late REIT election
A corporation formed to own and lease healthcare properties intended to elect real estate investment trust status for its first taxable year. Its chief financial officer inadvertently failed to file t…
Estate receives 120 days to elect portability
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. Because the estate w…
Entity receives more time to elect corporate classification
An eligible entity intended to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the standards for regul…
Taxpayer may make late success-fee safe harbor election
A corporate group paid a success-based fee in connection with a stock acquisition and intended to use the safe harbor in Rev. Proc. 2011-29. Its return preparer applied the safe harbor's substantive a…
Corporation receives relief for rejected S election
A domestic corporation intended to elect S corporation status, but the IRS rejected its initial election and the corporation did not learn of the rejection until later. Its shareholders had filed retu…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-status election
A foreign eligible entity with one owner intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity satis…
Missed QSST elections do not end S status
An irrevocable trust held stock in an S corporation through separate shares for five individual beneficiaries. Each share was represented to qualify as a qualified subchapter S trust, but the benefici…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-status election
A foreign entity was indirectly and wholly owned by one owner and intended to elect disregarded-entity status from its formation date. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found …
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-status election
A foreign entity was indirectly and wholly owned by one owner and intended to elect disregarded-entity status. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity satisfie…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-status election
A foreign entity had one owner and intended to elect disregarded-entity status. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the regulatory-election relie…
Ground-lease income qualifies for publicly traded partnership treatment
A publicly traded partnership acquired leases of raw land and building rooftops used by tenants for cellular towers, broadband installations, billboards, wind turbines, and solar arrays. It represente…
Foreign subsidiary receives late disregarded-status election
A domestic limited liability company treated as a partnership wholly owned a foreign subsidiary. The subsidiary intended to elect disregarded-entity status from its formation date but failed to file a…
Foreign subsidiary receives late disregarded-status election
A domestic limited liability company treated as a partnership wholly owned a foreign subsidiary. The subsidiary intended to elect disregarded-entity status from its formation date but failed to file a…
Stock transfer between affiliated charities avoids an ownership change
Two affiliated tax-exempt organizations described in IRC § 501(c)(3) reorganized ownership of a for-profit subsidiary. The subsidiary had a net operating loss carryforward, and one exempt organization…
Foreign subsidiary receives late disregarded-status election
A domestic limited liability company treated as a partnership wholly owned a foreign subsidiary. The subsidiary intended to elect disregarded-entity status from its formation date but failed to file a…
Foreign subsidiary receives late disregarded-status election
A domestic limited liability company treated as a partnership wholly owned a foreign subsidiary. The subsidiary intended to elect disregarded-entity status from its formation date but failed to file a…
Foreign subsidiary receives late disregarded-status election
A domestic limited liability company treated as a partnership wholly owned a foreign subsidiary. The subsidiary intended to elect disregarded-entity status from its formation date but failed to file a…
Foreign subsidiary receives late disregarded-status election
A domestic limited liability company treated as a partnership wholly owned a foreign subsidiary. The subsidiary intended to elect disregarded-entity status from its formation date but failed to file a…
Foreign subsidiary receives late disregarded-status election
A domestic limited liability company treated as a partnership wholly owned a foreign subsidiary. The subsidiary intended to elect disregarded-entity status from its formation date but failed to file a…
Oil-and-gas service income qualifies as partnership income
A publicly traded partnership planned to acquire a business that supplied handling, treatment, processing, and related services for oil-and-gas exploration and production, including hydraulic fracturi…
Corporation receives relief for missed ESBT election
A trust acquired stock in an S corporation and otherwise met the requirements for an electing small business trust, but its trustees did not make a timely ESBT election. That failure terminated the co…
Corporation receives relief for missed ESBT election
A trust acquired stock in an S corporation and otherwise met the requirements for an electing small business trust, but its trustees did not make a timely ESBT election. That failure terminated the co…
Missed trust elections receive coordinated S corporation relief
An S corporation began with three trust shareholders, but required ESBT and QSST elections were not filed on time. The missed elections made the corporation's S election ineffective and would also hav…
Bank error supports waiver of IRA rollover deadline
An IRA owner intended to move a certificate of deposit into another IRA offering a better interest rate. A bank employee instead transferred the distribution into a non-IRA account, while the taxpayer…
Stress and forgotten IRA check do not justify late rollover
An IRA owner requested a distribution because he expected his former spouse to pursue legal proceedings against the account. He left the distribution check uncashed but did not complete a rollover, sa…
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.