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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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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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)…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Corrected unequal distributions preserve S corporation status
An S corporation made disproportionate shareholder distributions during three tax years, potentially creating a prohibited second class of stock. Its governing documents nevertheless gave every…
Foreign superannuation fund is classified as a trust
A foreign arrangement was organized to provide retirement benefits to its members and beneficiaries. Trustees managed employer and employee contributions and investment income, with duties to…
Foreign superannuation fund is classified as a trust
A foreign arrangement was organized to provide retirement benefits to its members and beneficiaries. Trustees managed employer and employee contributions and investment income, with duties to…
Foreign superannuation fund is classified as a trust
A foreign arrangement was established to provide retirement benefits to its members and beneficiaries. Trustees managed employer and employee contributions and investment income, with duties to…
Refined-coal process and testing qualify for section 45 credit rules
A partnership operated a relocated facility that mixed proprietary additives with coal to reduce nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions before the coal was burned to generate electricity. The IRS…
Refined-coal process and testing qualify for section 45 credit rules
A partnership operated a relocated facility that mixed proprietary additives with coal to reduce nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions before the coal was burned to generate electricity. The IRS…
Tax-exempt controlled entity receives late depreciation election relief
An entity wholly owned by a tax-exempt corporation served as general partner of a low-income housing partnership. It intended to elect under section 168(h)(6)(F)(ii) not to be treated as tax-exempt…
Buyer receives late success-based fee safe-harbor relief
A corporation paid success-based fees to acquire a subsidiary and reported them using Revenue Procedure 2011-29's safe harbor, deducting 70 percent and capitalizing 30 percent. Its return preparer…
Foreign entity receives late corporate classification election relief
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect association taxable as a corporation status but failed to timely file Form 8832. The entity represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and…
Caregiving crisis supports late IRA rollover waiver
A married couple took money from the husband's IRA for a family home purchase and planned to replace it with insurance-policy loan proceeds. The proceeds reached their checking account within the…
Adviser and custodian errors support late Roth IRA rollover
A taxpayer tried to move a Roth IRA into a self-directed Roth IRA so it could invest in a limited liability company. His adviser misread the new custodian's forms and directed the funds into a…
Incorrect rollover instructions support waiver for withheld taxes
A former employee tried to roll her entire qualified-plan balance into a new employer's retirement plan by following the old plan administrator's online instructions. The administrator issued a…
Double bereavement supports late survivor rollover waiver
A surviving spouse was the sole beneficiary of her husband's profit-sharing plan account. Her husband died from a heart attack while traveling to her mother's funeral, leaving her to handle both…
Surgery and medication support late rollover waiver
A taxpayer received a retirement-plan distribution intending to roll it into another IRA. During the 60-day period, she underwent surgery, took prescription pain medication, and experienced vertigo…
Foundation may fund postgraduate scholarships for college athletes
A private foundation proposed one-year postgraduate scholarships for graduating male and female athletes in selected non-revenue college sports. Candidates would be evaluated on academic…
Consumer-products company receives pension funding waiver
A privately owned consumer-products company sought relief from its pension plan's required minimum contribution after management problems weakened product appeal, blurred major brand identities, and…
Consumer-products company receives pension funding waiver
A privately owned consumer-products company sought relief from its pension plan's required minimum contribution after management problems weakened product appeal, blurred major brand identities, and…
Religious elder-care facility's pension plan is a church plan
A tax-exempt elder-care facility served aged and infirm members of a religious order that was an integral part of a church. Members of the order controlled the facility through governance and…
City excess benefit plan qualifies under section 415(m)
A city pension board created a mandatory excess benefit plan to pay the portion of governmental defined benefit pensions barred from the qualified plan by section 415(b). The arrangement allowed no…
Prior political-subdivision ruling receives prospective-only effect
An earlier technical advice memorandum ruled that a bond issuer was not a political subdivision during a specified period for Treasury Regulation section 1.103-1(b). The issuer requested relief…
Municipal-district repayments are not tax-exempt bond interest
A real estate developer advanced money to special municipal districts that financed and built public infrastructure for its development. The developer treated the advances as common-improvement…
IRS must consider a vessel-replacement extension application
Section 1359 permits a qualifying vessel operator to avoid recognizing gain when it replaces a disposed vessel within the statutory replacement period. The statute also allows the IRS to designate a…
Data-center REIT receives rulings on property, income, distributions, and hedges
A publicly traded data-center company planned to reorganize and elect real estate investment trust status. The IRS ruled that its buildings, integrated building components, and specified…
Public-employer benefit trust income is excluded under section 115
A multiple-employer trust allowed public agencies to fund retiree health, welfare, and pension obligations. Each employer's contributions and investment results remained in a separate account…
Retained spin-off shares and subsidiary liquidations receive favorable rulings
A public corporation planned to separate one business by contributing assets to a new controlled corporation and distributing most of its stock to shareholders. It would temporarily retain a…
Taxpayer receives 60 days to elect out of bonus depreciation
A foreign corporate taxpayer placed qualified property in service but filed its income tax return late after an unusual series of events prevented a timely extension request. Its late return…
Late success-based-fee safe-harbor statement receives relief
A corporation paid a success-based fee in a taxable stock acquisition and intended to use Revenue Procedure 2011-29's safe harbor. Its return deducted 70 percent of the fee and capitalized 30…
Condominium PILOT payments qualify as deductible real property taxes
A property sponsor asked whether payments in lieu of taxes under a ground lease would be treated as real property taxes. The payments were imposed at the general real-property-tax rate under an…
Produced-water and skim-oil income qualifies for partnership exception
A limited partnership planned a public offering and expected to earn fees from handling saltwater produced during oil and gas exploration and production. Its dedicated system gathered, transported,…
Late tax-year-change application is treated as timely filed
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 late when seeking to change to a calendar tax year. The delay resulted from an oversight or misunderstanding by its tax professional. The IRS found that the taxpayer acted…
Late estate-tax portability election is treated as timely
An estate below the estate-tax filing threshold failed to file Form 706 on time to transfer the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The surviving spouse later filed…
Grantor receives 120 days to allocate GST exemption to trust
A grantor created an irrevocable trust for a spouse and descendants and transferred stock to it. The grantor intended the trust to avoid generation-skipping transfer tax but relied on an accountant…
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.