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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ETF investments do not give variable contract holders ownership
A regulated investment company portfolio served exclusively as an investment vehicle for variable life insurance and annuity contracts. Its adviser could allocate assets among a broad range of investm…
Stock seller may make late election out of installment method
A taxpayer sold all stock in a closely held company for cash and a note payable the next year. The taxpayer’s longtime accounting firm knew the sale terms and upcoming tax-rate increase but did not ex…
Corporation receives 60 days for late IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed solely to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation. Its law and accounting firms each mistakenly believed the other had filed Form 4876-…
Consolidated group receives late intercompany regulation election
A consolidated group had deferred gain from a pre-1995 distribution of foreign subsidiary stock. It failed to make the election that would apply the revised intercompany transaction regulations to tha…
Cancer treatment supports waiver of rollover deadline
A retirement-plan participant received a partial lump-sum distribution after recurrent cancer and aggressive treatment forced her to retire. A plan counselor did not explain the tax consequences, and …
Computer-programming scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for students taking accelerated computer-programming immersion courses. The grants would cover portions of tuition, room, and board, with recipients selected…
Scholarship procedures for nontraditional students approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for traditional and nontraditional students, including participants in registered apprenticeship programs. Applicants would be evaluated on their education p…
Exemption revoked after failure to provide records
The IRS revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) status after it did not respond to requests for information about its finances and activities. Without those records, the organization did not estab…
Exemption revoked for private benefit and inadequate grant controls
The IRS revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) status after finding that substantial activities served private interests rather than exempt purposes. The organization collected and transferred tu…
Disregarded LLC employees may join parent's 403(b) plan
A tax-exempt health system planned to convert a nonprofit hospital subsidiary into a single-member limited liability company. The LLC would not elect corporate status and therefore would be disregarde…
Governmental excess benefit arrangement qualified
A public authority adopted a separate plan to pay governmental pension benefits that could not be paid from its qualified plan because of section 415(b)'s limits. Participation was mandatory for affec…
Denial of bond-penalty waiver is not appealable
Chief Counsel considered whether a taxpayer could appeal a Tax Exempt Bonds decision denying a request to waive the penalty imposed by section 148(f)(7). After reviewing the relevant authorities, the …
Nonresident gambler losses and session netting addressed
Chief Counsel discussed casino player-card records used by a nonresident alien gambler to calculate gains. Unless the gambler was a professional or used session netting, losses were not taken into acc…
Late entity-classification election granted
A foreign entity intended to elect corporate classification for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and t…
Late disregarded-entity election granted
A foreign limited company with one nonresident-alien owner intended to elect disregarded-entity treatment but did not file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the requirements for discretionary …
Provider payments require reporting, but not under section 6050W
A company used separate agreements with customers and service providers, set the prices charged to customers, and paid providers under its own contracts. The IRS ruled that the company was not operati…
Converted biomass facility qualifies as five-year property
A taxpayer converted a former coal-fired generating plant to burn biomass and restructured its ownership to satisfy federal energy rules for a qualifying small power production facility. FERC's Office…
Late disregarded-entity election granted
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a disregarded entity from its formation date but failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the requirements for discretionary relief under Tre…
Late disregarded-entity election granted
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a disregarded entity from its formation date but failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the requirements for discretionary relief under Tre…
Late estate-tax portability election granted
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The executor represented that the gross estate, including…
Housing credit agency may correct two Forms 8609
A taxpayer gave a housing credit agency incorrect applicable fractions for two buildings in a low-income housing project. The mistake caused the agency's Forms 8609 to show incorrect housing-credit an…
Missing shareholder consent treated as inadvertent
A corporation timely filed an S-corporation election, but its sole shareholder did not properly consent, making the election ineffective. The corporation and shareholder had consistently treated the c…
Late foreign-earned-income election granted
A taxpayer began working for a foreign affiliate abroad but did not timely file Form 2555 or otherwise elect the section 911 foreign-earned-income exclusion. Because Treasury Regulation section 1.911-…
Late entity-classification election granted
A foreign entity intended to elect corporate classification for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and t…
Late entity-classification election granted
A foreign entity intended to elect corporate classification for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and t…
Late entity-classification election granted
A foreign entity intended to elect corporate classification for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and t…
Late entity-classification election granted
A foreign entity intended to elect corporate classification for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and t…
Late entity-classification election granted
A foreign entity intended to elect corporate classification for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and t…
Late entity-classification election granted
A foreign entity intended to elect corporate classification for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and t…
Late entity-classification election granted
A foreign entity intended to elect corporate classification for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and t…
Late entity-classification election granted
A foreign entity intended to elect corporate classification for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and t…
Late entity-classification election granted
A foreign entity intended to elect corporate classification for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and t…
Late REIT election granted after missed extension filing
A limited liability company intended to elect real estate investment trust status on its first Form 1120-REIT. Its tax adviser prepared Form 7004, but administrative burdens during a high-volume filin…
Late taxable-REIT-subsidiary election granted
A REIT indirectly owned a subsidiary connected with a qualified lodging facility and intended to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary status. A group within the tax adviser learned of the property transactio…
Late domestic-corporation election granted to insurer
A foreign regulated insurance company intended to elect domestic-corporation treatment under section 953(d). Its accounting firm prepared the election and instructed a management firm to file it, but …
Late success-based-fee safe-harbor election granted
A corporation paid success-based investment-banking fees in two taxable acquisitions. It relied on its CPA to identify and make relevant return elections, but the CPA omitted the statements required t…
Late partnership-classification election granted
An eligible domestic entity intended to be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes but did not file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the requirements for discretionary election relief under…
Three late accounting-method forms treated as timely
A foreign corporate parent intended to extend the filing deadline for its federal income tax return, but a former employee apparently failed to file Form 7004. The company later filed its return with …
Late foreign disregarded-entity election granted
A foreign limited company had initially elected corporate classification but later intended to become a disregarded entity. It failed to file Form 8832 by the deadline for the requested effective date…
Estates may make late GST-exemption allocations
A married couple created an irrevocable generation-skipping trust for a family member and descendants, then reported years of contributions as split gifts without allocating GST exemption. The benefic…
Airline plan's revised actuarial assumptions approved
An employer with a frozen airline pension plan asked to change actuarial assumptions after federal law allowed pilots to continue flying until age 65 and later experience showed different retirement b…
Caregiving duties excuse one-day-late IRA rollover
An IRA owner withdrew funds intending to return them within the 60-day rollover period. He was caring for his mother, whose deteriorating health required help with oxygen, medications, medical visits,…
HMO loses charity status after commercial expansion
A nonprofit health maintenance organization had originally served recipients of government health benefits. After a merger, it added a substantial commercial line whose premiums came from individual a…
Healing institute loses exemption over private benefit
A nonprofit institute offered alternative-health treatments, classes, certifications, books, and other products based on a method created by its founder. Its returns reported unrelated business income…
Medical-device developer denied charitable exemption
A membership organization of medical-device professionals sought recognition as a section 501(c)(3) charity. It planned to counsel inventors, develop and commercialize devices for underserved markets,…
Church pension plan keeps church-plan status
A tax-exempt church asked whether its employee pension plan qualified as a church plan under section 414(e). The church was the plan's only employer, all participants were its employees, and none work…
Church-affiliated nonprofit's pension plan qualifies as a church plan
A nonprofit residential treatment and educational organization asked whether its defined benefit pension plan qualified as a church plan under section 414(e). The organization was included in a church…
Pension surplus returns without reversion excise tax
A section 501(c)(3) employer terminated its defined benefit pension plan and fully satisfied participant liabilities through lump sums and an annuity purchase. An excess remained because participant d…
LLC unit shares qualify as ESOP employer securities
An LLC taxed as an association and S corporation planned to establish an employee stock ownership plan. Its ownership units carried identical dividend and distribution rights, and the operating agreem…
Disregarded LLC employees may join parent's 403(b) plan
A section 501(c)(3) hospital system wholly owned a home-health LLC that had not elected corporate tax treatment. The parent asked whether the LLC's employees could participate in its section 403(b) pl…
Excessive refund claims may trigger section 6676 penalty
During an examination, a taxpayer submitted refund claims based on the section 45O agricultural chemicals security credit, although the original returns had not claimed refunds. Counsel advised that t…
No limitations period bars pre-AJCA section 6707 penalties
Counsel considered whether the Supreme Court's Gabelli decision supported a limitations period for section 6707 penalties imposed before statutory changes made by the American Jobs Creation Act. The a…
Legal advice may be shared with Counsel staff who need it
Counsel confirmed a disclosure decision reached during a telephone conversation. A PDF copy of legal advice could be sent to other Counsel personnel who had a need to know the information. The release…
Taxpayer may reelect foreign earned income exclusion
A taxpayer living abroad had elected the section 911 foreign earned income exclusion and later revoked that election. The taxpayer requested consent to reelect the exclusion within the period requirin…
IRS approves discrete spin-off acquisition and affiliation issues
A public-company group proposed internal and external distributions that would separate a subsidiary, along with related entity-classification, liquidation, and possible acquisition steps. The IRS rul…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign limited company owned by a nonresident alien failed to timely file Form 8832 to elect disregarded-entity status. The IRS found that the company met the standards for discretionary election r…
Advance refunding bonds avoid abusive-arbitrage treatment
A public issuer used tax-exempt advance refunding bonds and retained current debt-service revenues and a reserve portion in its debt service fund. The IRS found no abusive arbitrage device because the…
Energy infrastructure revenue qualifies for publicly traded partnership rules
An energy company planned to place infrastructure assets and business interests into a partnership that would become publicly traded after an initial public offering. The partnership expected income f…
Volunteer-firefighter benefit trust earns section 115 income exclusion
A city used a trust to provide length-of-service incentive benefits to volunteer firefighters and their beneficiaries. The trust was city-controlled, its assets were dedicated to benefits and necessar…
S corporation receives inadvertent termination relief
An S corporation had accumulated C corporation earnings and profits and received more than 25 percent of its gross receipts from passive investment income for three consecutive years. Those facts auto…
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.