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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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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
Curriculum-training organization denied charitable status
An organization sought recognition under IRC § 501(c)(3) to train educators and child-serving professionals in a social and educational curriculum. Its board members and other private parties…
Private foundation revoked for self-dealing and private benefit
A private nonoperating foundation owned a rental building and was managed by a corporate trustee controlled by an individual. The examination report found that the trustee's law firm occupied…
Scholarship, travel, and internship grant procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for scholarships to graduates of one state's high schools who attend any of three specified universities. The scholarships were renewable for up to…
Advanced doctoral scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed one scholarship per academic year for a student pursuing an advanced doctoral degree at a specified university in a redacted academic field. Applicants had to be…
Product fundraisers impermissibly benefit a related business
An organization proposed fundraising programs in which schools, community groups, and religious organizations would sell or arrange donations of a product supplied by a for-profit company. The…
Condominium association denied social-welfare exemption
A small condominium association sought exemption as a social-welfare organization under IRC § 501(c)(4). Its members owned fewer than two dozen private units and paid dues for insurance, water,…
Carryback offset earns interest through the loss-year due date
A taxpayer received a tentative refund based on a net operating loss carryback, but the IRS later disallowed most of the carryback and assessed an underpayment. On the same day, unrelated…
Corporate shareholder may make retroactive QEF election
A corporate shareholder learned years after acquiring a foreign corporation's shares that the company was a passive foreign investment company. Its internal tax department and two accounting firms…
Utility must reflect depreciation-related NOL carryover in ADIT
A regulated natural-gas utility used accelerated depreciation and had net operating loss carryovers during the relevant years. For ratemaking, it maintained accumulated deferred income tax accounts…
New parent receives extension for consolidated-return election
A newly formed parent corporation became the common parent of two subsidiaries but did not timely file the group's election to submit a consolidated federal income tax return. The failure occurred…
Corporation receives relief for ineligible S corporation shareholder
A corporation elected S corporation status effective on its formation date, but one shareholder was not eligible to own S corporation stock. After discovering the problem, that shareholder promptly…
Corporation receives 60 days to file IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation intended to elect interest-charge domestic international sales corporation status from its formation. Its parent relied on an accounting firm to prepare and file Form 4876-A,…
Oilfield fluid and waste services produce qualifying income
A planned publicly traded partnership would provide fluid delivery and transfer, waste treatment and disposal, equipment cleaning, vapor control, heating, slurry injection, and related services…
Partnership receives 120 days to make section 754 election
A general partner died and the partner's interest in a partnership transferred to another person. When preparing the partnership's return, the partnership relied on its tax adviser and did not know…
Managing shareholder may deduct lawsuit damages and legal fees
An individual managed a closely held corporation and was sued by another shareholder for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract. A jury found the manager liable and awarded…
Tax-exempt-owned corporation gets 45 days for property election
A corporation wholly owned by a section 501(c)(3) organization held partnership interests connected to a rehabilitated building. Its agreements required it to make an IRC § 168(h)(6)(F)(ii) election…
Taxpayer gets 60 days to opt out of bonus depreciation
A taxpayer timely filed its return without claiming bonus depreciation for any class of qualified property, as it intended. Its accounting firm failed to attach the statement required to elect out…
Partnership may opt leasehold improvements out of bonus depreciation
A partnership that leased office and retail space initially reported certain property as nonresidential real property. It later determined that the property should have been classified as qualified…
Consolidated group gets 60 days to opt out of bonus depreciation
A corporate parent and its twelve subsidiaries placed qualified property in service during the relevant year. Their timely consolidated return did not claim bonus depreciation for any property…
Understated tip credits may increase open-year carryforward
An owner of restaurant partnerships and S corporations discovered that the businesses had understated IRC § 45B credits for employer taxes paid on employee tips, including in years closed by the…
S corporation gets 60 days to opt out of bonus depreciation
An S corporation intended not to claim bonus depreciation for any class of qualified property placed in service during the year. Its timely return omitted the deductions and reported shareholder…
Estate gets 120 days to elect portability of unused exclusion
A decedent's estate did not file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spousal unused exclusion amount. The surviving spouse, acting as executor, represented that the estate…
Parent may claim ordinary loss on worthless subsidiary stock
A consolidated group planned to sell the operating subsidiary held by another group member, use distributed receivables and sale proceeds to repay intercompany debt, cancel the remaining debt, and…
Donor may elect trust gifts out of automatic GST allocation
A taxpayer and spouse made annual gifts to an irrevocable life-insurance trust for their children and grandchildren. Their attorney advised that annual-exclusion gifts did not require gift-tax…
Donor gets 120 days to opt trust gifts out of GST allocation
A taxpayer and spouse made annual gifts to an irrevocable life-insurance trust for their children and grandchildren. Their attorney advised that annual-exclusion gifts did not require gift-tax…
Financial-institution error qualifies for rollover waiver
A retiree instructed a financial institution to receive her qualified-plan balance by direct rollover into an IRA. The institution instead deposited the funds into a non-IRA account, even though the…
Deposit into spouse's IRA qualifies for rollover waiver
A retiring plan participant requested a direct rollover but mistakenly supplied the account number for her spouse's IRA instead of an IRA in her own name. The plan custodian issued a check payable…
Partnership investment does not qualify for rollover waiver
An IRA owner directed his custodian to issue funds to a partnership so his IRA could acquire a partnership interest. The custodian could not hold the interest and reported the payment as a taxable…
Cancelled investment does not justify late IRA rollover
An IRA owner withdrew funds from a self-directed IRA intending to place them in another IRA that would finance a private investment. Litigation delayed and then cancelled the investment, and the…
Bank's non-IRA CD deposit qualifies for rollover waiver
An IRA owner held an IRA certificate of deposit at a bank that later failed and was taken over by another bank. When the CD matured, he closed it intending to complete a rollover into a new IRA CD…
Trust lacks reasonable cause for first-tier tax abatement
A private-foundation trust made grants to another private foundation without a written grant agreement, annual grantee reports, or the required reports with its Forms 990-PF. The trustees also…
Spouse-plan reimbursement depends on after-tax payment
An employer considered paying employees for health coverage obtained through their spouses' employer plans. Chief Counsel advised that payments may be excluded under IRC § 106 when the spouse paid…
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.