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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Consolidated group received 75 days to waive a loss carryback
The common parent of a consolidated corporate group failed to file a valid election to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss. The group represented that it had not…
Estate received 120 days to make a late carryover-basis election
The executor of an estate for a person who died in 2010 missed the deadline to file Form 8939. That form would elect out of the estate-tax rules then reinstated for 2010 and instead apply section…
REIT received 90 days to make a late taxable-subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust formed an indirect subsidiary to hold assets connected with a real estate portfolio acquisition. The governing agreement called for the subsidiary to be taxed as a…
LLC received 120 days for two missed tax elections
A single-member LLC owned by a tax-exempt organization served as the general partner of a partnership formed for a low-income housing tax-credit project. The LLC intended to elect corporate tax…
Fund's seven late first-year elections were treated as timely
A newly formed investment fund intended to make seven elections on its first regulated investment company return. The elections covered RIC status, deferral of late-year losses, post-year…
Partnership received 60 days to elect out of bonus depreciation
A partnership intended to elect out of additional first-year depreciation for every class of qualified property it placed in service during the relevant year. Its timely filed return and Form 4562…
Partnership received 60 days to elect out of bonus depreciation
A partnership intended to elect out of additional first-year depreciation for every class of qualified property placed in service during the relevant year. Its timely filed return and Form 4562…
IRS grants a corporation a late election to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund for two years after its preparer left Form 8996 off the returns
An entity becomes a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), a vehicle for deferring and reducing tax on capital gains reinvested in low-income "opportunity zones," by self-certifying on Form 8996 attached…
IRS grants a surviving spouse's estate more time to make a late portability election for the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused part of their federal estate-tax exclusion can be passed to their surviving spouse through a "portability" election, letting the survivor shelter more from estate and…
IRS grants a surviving spouse's estate more time to make a late portability election for the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused part of their federal estate-tax exclusion can be passed to their surviving spouse through a "portability" election, letting the survivor shelter more from estate and…
IRS grants a limited partnership a late election to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund after accounting-firm turnover caused a missed deadline
An entity becomes a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), a vehicle for deferring and reducing tax on capital gains reinvested in low-income "opportunity zones," by self-certifying on Form 8996 attached…
IRS grants a late election for an LLC to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund after its advisor missed the filing deadline
An entity becomes a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), a vehicle for deferring and reducing tax on capital gains reinvested in low-income "opportunity zones," by self-certifying on Form 8996 attached…
IRS grants a QDOT trustee extra time to certify that the surviving spouse became a U.S. citizen
When someone dies leaving property to a non-citizen spouse, the estate can still claim the marital deduction only if the property goes into a qualified domestic trust (QDOT), which keeps a special…
IRS grants extra time to make a Section 336(e) election treating an S corporation stock sale as an asset sale
When a buyer purchases all the stock of an S corporation, the parties can elect under IRC Section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as if it were a sale of the company's assets, which can give the…
IRS grants a small estate extra time to make a portability election for the unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused part of their estate-tax exclusion can be passed to their surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a "portability" election, but only…
IRS grants a C corporation extra time to make late bonus-depreciation and research-expense elections
A C corporation intended to make two elections on its return: one to opt out of bonus (additional first-year) depreciation for all classes of qualified property (IRC Section 168(k)(7)), and one to…
IRS treats an LLC's late Form 8996 as timely, allowing it to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund
A Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) must self-certify each year by attaching Form 8996 to a timely filed tax return (IRC Section 1400Z-2). Here, an LLC organized to operate as a QOF timely filed its…
IRS grants extra time for an LLC to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund
Investors can defer tax on capital gains by putting them into a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), but the fund must self-certify each year by attaching Form 8996 to a timely filed tax return (IRC…
IRS grants extra time for a corporate group to make a late election to file a consolidated return
An affiliated group of corporations can elect to file one combined (consolidated) federal income tax return with the parent as the common parent, but the election must be made by the return's due…
IRS grants extra time to elect out of automatic GST-exemption allocation on 2010 gifts to a grandchildren's trust
A married couple set up an irrevocable trust for their four grandchildren and made gifts to it in 2010. Because the trust benefits only grandchildren (skip persons), those gifts are "direct skips"…
IRS grants extra time for a partnership to elect out of bonus depreciation on its 15-year property
Bonus depreciation (IRC Section 168(k)) lets a business deduct a large chunk of an asset's cost in the year it is placed in service, but a taxpayer can elect out for a whole class of property. Here,…
IRS grants extra time for a U.S. parent to make a late GILTI high-tax exclusion election for its foreign subsidiaries
A U.S. parent company must include in its income the "global intangible low-taxed income" (GILTI) earned by its controlled foreign corporations (CFCs). A regulation lets the parent exclude income…
IRS grants extra time to elect out of automatic GST-exemption allocation on 2010 gifts to a grandchildren's trust
A married couple set up an irrevocable trust for their four grandchildren and made gifts to it in 2010. Because the trust benefits only grandchildren (skip persons), those gifts are "direct skips"…
IRS grants extra time to make a late QTIP marital-deduction election on an estate return
When one spouse dies, the estate can defer estate tax on property left to the surviving spouse by making a "qualified terminable interest property" (QTIP) election on the estate tax return (Form…
IRS grants a partnership 120 days to make a late § 754 basis-adjustment election
When interests in a partnership change hands, a section 754 election lets the partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets to match what the new partner effectively paid, which can prevent that…
IRS grants a foreign entity 120 days to make a late "check-the-box" election to be disregarded
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A single-owner entity can elect to be "disregarded," meaning it is ignored for federal…
An employee who missed the deadline to sign the split-dollar-loan written representation gets 9100 relief, so his loan payments stay "noncontingent"
An employee of a tax-exempt nonprofit healthcare organization took part in a split-dollar life insurance plan his employer set up on the advice of an outside consulting firm. Under the plan, the…
An employee who missed the deadline to sign the split-dollar-loan written representation gets 9100 relief, so his loan payments stay "noncontingent"
An employee of a tax-exempt nonprofit healthcare organization took part in a split-dollar life insurance plan his employer set up on the advice of an outside consulting firm. Under the plan, the…
An employee who missed the deadline to sign the split-dollar-loan written representation gets 9100 relief, so his loan payments stay "noncontingent"
An employee of a tax-exempt nonprofit healthcare organization took part in a split-dollar life insurance plan his employer set up on the advice of an outside consulting firm. Under the plan, the…
An employee who missed the deadline to sign the split-dollar-loan written representation gets 9100 relief, so his loan payments stay "noncontingent"
An employee of a tax-exempt nonprofit healthcare organization took part in a split-dollar life insurance plan his employer set up on the advice of an outside consulting firm. Under the plan, the…
An employee who missed the deadline to sign the split-dollar-loan written representation gets 9100 relief, so his loan payments stay "noncontingent"
An employee of a tax-exempt nonprofit healthcare organization took part in a split-dollar life insurance plan his employer set up on the advice of an outside consulting firm. Under the plan, the…
An employee who missed the deadline to sign the split-dollar-loan written representation gets 9100 relief, so his loan payments stay "noncontingent"
An employee of a tax-exempt nonprofit healthcare organization took part in a split-dollar life insurance plan his employer set up on the advice of an outside consulting firm. Under the plan, the…
An employee who missed the deadline to sign the split-dollar-loan written representation gets 9100 relief, so his loan payments stay "noncontingent"
An employee of a tax-exempt nonprofit healthcare organization took part in a split-dollar life insurance plan his employer set up on the advice of an outside consulting firm. Under the plan, the…
IRS grants 75 days to make a late § 336(e) election treating an S corporation stock sale as an asset sale
When a buyer purchases all the stock of a corporation, a section 336(e) election lets the parties treat the stock sale as if it were a sale of the company's underlying assets, which usually gives…
IRS grants 75 days to make a late § 336(e) election treating an S corporation stock sale as an asset sale
When a buyer purchases all the stock of a corporation, a section 336(e) election lets the parties treat the stock sale as if it were a sale of the company's underlying assets, which usually gives…
IRS grants 75 days to make a late § 336(e) election treating an S corporation stock sale as an asset sale
When a buyer purchases all the stock of a corporation, a section 336(e) election lets the parties treat the stock sale as if it were a sale of the company's underlying assets, which usually gives…
IRS grants an estate 120 days to make a late § 2010(c)(5)(A) portability election
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate-and-gift tax exemption can be passed to a surviving spouse, but only if the estate makes a "portability" election on a timely filed…
IRS grants a late-filed REIT election under § 856(c) after the accounting firm missed the extension deadline
A limited liability company wanted to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT), which requires making a formal election on a timely filed tax return. To elect as a REIT for its first year,…
A merged company gets 9100 relief and 60 days to make the late Rev. Proc. 2011-29 safe-harbor election for its investment banker's success fee
When a company is acquired, it often pays its investment banker a "success-based fee" that only comes due if the deal closes. Tax rules presume such fees are capitalized (not currently deductible)…
A second fund that missed the deadline to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund gets 9100 relief, so its late Form 8996 counts as timely
A limited liability company was set up to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), the vehicle investors use to defer capital gains by investing them in Opportunity Zones. To become a QOF, an entity…
A fund that missed the deadline to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund gets 9100 relief, so its late Form 8996 counts as timely
A limited liability company was set up to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), the vehicle investors use to defer capital gains by putting them into Opportunity Zones. To become a QOF, an entity…
A fourth employee who missed the split-dollar-loan written-representation deadline gets 9100 relief, so his loan payments stay "noncontingent"
An employee of a tax-exempt nonprofit hospital participated in a split-dollar life insurance plan the employer set up with an outside consulting firm. The employer made nonrecourse premium loans to…
A third employee who missed the split-dollar-loan written-representation deadline gets 9100 relief, so his loan payments stay "noncontingent"
An employee of a tax-exempt nonprofit hospital took part in a split-dollar life insurance plan his employer set up with an outside consulting firm. The employer made nonrecourse premium loans to the…
A second employee who missed the split-dollar-loan written-representation deadline gets 9100 relief, so his loan payments stay "noncontingent"
An employee of a tax-exempt nonprofit hospital participated in a split-dollar life insurance plan his employer set up with an outside consulting firm. Under the plan, the employer made nonrecourse…
An employee who missed the deadline to sign the split-dollar-loan written representation gets 9100 relief, so his loan payments stay "noncontingent"
An employee of a tax-exempt nonprofit hospital took part in a split-dollar life insurance plan his employer set up on the advice of an outside consulting firm. Under the plan, the employer made…
A corporate group that missed the deadline to elect consolidated-return filing gets 75 extra days to make the election
A parent company heads an affiliated group of corporations that wanted to file a single consolidated federal income tax return, with the parent as common parent, for a given tax year. Making that…
IRS grants a partnership more time to make a § 754 basis-adjustment election missed after a partner's death
A limited partnership had a partner die during the year. When a partnership interest transfers (including at death), a § 754 election lets the partnership adjust the inside basis of its assets to…
IRS treats a late-filed Form 8996 as timely, preserving an LLC's Qualified Opportunity Fund status
An LLC taxed as a partnership was formed to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), which requires self-certifying by filing Form 8996 with a timely tax return. The managing member assumed the fund's…
IRS treats a late-filed Form 8996 as timely, preserving an LLC's Qualified Opportunity Fund status
An LLC taxed as a partnership was formed to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), which requires self-certifying by filing Form 8996 with a timely tax return. The fund's tax preparer received the…
IRS grants a REIT more time to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary status after the IRS rejected an e-signed Form 8875
A corporation intending to be taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT) formed an LLC subsidiary to handle timberland maintenance work that, if done by the REIT itself, could generate…
IRS grants a single-member LLC late corporate-classification and late S corporation elections
A single-owner LLC wanted to be taxed as an S corporation but failed to file either required election on time: Form 8832 (to be treated as a corporation) and Form 2553 (to elect S status). It asked…
IRS lets a nonprofit hospital cure a missed split-dollar-loan written representation under the § 7872 regulations
A tax-exempt § 501(c)(3) nonprofit healthcare corporation set up a split-dollar life insurance plan to reward and retain key employees, using nonrecourse loans to the employees secured by their life…
IRS grants 60 more days to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund after a mixed-up filing
An LLC taxed as a partnership was formed to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), the investment vehicle that lets investors defer capital gains by putting them into designated Opportunity Zones.…
IRS gives a corporate buyer 75 more days to file late § 338(g) elections for acquired foreign subsidiaries
A corporation that is the parent of a consolidated group bought all the stock of a target company, and with it indirectly acquired several controlled foreign corporations (foreign subsidiaries). A §…
IRS grants a single-member LLC late corporate-classification and late S corporation elections
A single-owner LLC intended to be taxed as an S corporation but failed to file either required election on time: Form 8832 (to be treated as a corporation) and Form 2553 (to elect S status). It…
IRS lets a single-member LLC file both a late corporate-classification election and a late S corporation election
A single-owner LLC wanted to be taxed as an S corporation, which requires two elections: first electing to be treated as a corporation (Form 8832), then electing S corporation status (Form 2553).…
IRS gives an LLC 120 more days to elect corporation ("check-the-box") tax status it missed
A business converted from a state corporation into a state LLC and wanted to keep being taxed as a corporation, which requires filing Form 8832 (the "check-the-box" election). It missed the filing…
IRS grants a 75-day extension to make a late consolidated-return election
A corporate parent asked the IRS for extra time to make an election that lets an affiliated group of corporations file a single consolidated federal income tax return, with the parent as the common…
IRS waives the requirement that assets be formally conveyed to a qualified domestic trust for the estate marital deduction
When a surviving spouse is not a U.S. citizen, property left to that spouse does not qualify for the estate tax marital deduction unless it passes through a qualified domestic trust (QDOT), which…
IRS gives a limited partnership 60 more days to file Form 8996 and self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund
An entity self-certifies as a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) by filing Form 8996 with its timely filed tax return, which lets investors defer and potentially reduce tax on capital gains reinvested…
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.