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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Bank deposit error justified IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner intended to roll over the proceeds of a matured certificate of deposit into a new IRA at the same bank. A bank representative mistakenly deposited the funds into a non-IRA account instead…
Misleading bank information justified IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner responded to an online bank’s newspaper advertisement for a higher interest rate and deposited an IRA distribution into what he believed was a rollover IRA. Shortly after the 60-day perio…
Scholarship and ministry loan-repayment procedures approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for full-time theological students and loan-repayment grants for graduates working in ministry. Applicants had to attend or have graduated from a qualifying …
Retiree health trust may fund active-employee benefits without reversion tax
An employer maintained a voluntary employees' beneficiary association trust holding assets for retiree health benefits. It proposed amending the trust to segregate a redacted amount and use it exclusi…
Tier partnership bankruptcy does not end TEFRA treatment for indirect partners
Chief Counsel advised that a tier partnership's bankruptcy does not convert partnership items belonging to indirect partners or make the TEFRA partnership procedures inapplicable. The memorandum reaso…
Anti-abuse rule may include target earnings in triangular reorganization dividend
An examination team planned to challenge a taxpayer's calculation of a deemed distribution arising from a triangular reorganization under Treasury Regulation section 1.367(b)-10. The taxpayer counted …
Corporation sole counts as a C corporation for TEFRA small-partnership exception
Chief Counsel considered whether a state-law corporation sole affected a partnership's eligibility for the TEFRA small-partnership exception. The advice explains that any corporation other than an S c…
IRS consent to a foreign tax matters partner depends on U.S. access to records
Chief Counsel advised that a partnership may designate a foreign tax matters partner only with the Secretary's permission. The IRS generally should withhold consent when an overseas partner has no U.S…
Late section 338(h)(10) election receives 45-day extension
A purchasing corporation acquired all the stock of a target in a transaction represented to be a qualified stock purchase, then later merged downstream into the target. The purchasing and selling corp…
Inadvertent S corporation termination and invalid successor election receive relief
An S corporation predecessor temporarily had an ineligible shareholder, terminating its S election. A successor corporation then attempted to elect S status before the predecessor was eligible to make…
Consolidated group receives 60 days for late extended NOL carryback election
A consolidated corporate group incurred a net operating loss in a qualifying year and wanted to elect a redacted three-, four-, or five-year carryback period under section 172(b)(1)(H), rather than th…
REIT liquidating distribution may purge inherited non-REIT earnings
A real estate investment trust revoked a subsidiary's taxable REIT subsidiary status, causing the subsidiary to become disregarded and liquidate into the REIT. The REIT succeeded to the subsidiary's C…
Court settlement dividing family trust avoids transfer taxes and gain
A pre-1985 family trust produced disputes over trustee investment adjustments, whether the trust could be divided, and how the phrase "by right of representation" governed future distributions. After …
Trust settlement and division do not trigger transfer taxes or gain
An irrevocable testamentary trust created before September 25, 1985, paid income to three family branches and was scheduled to end after the last survivor of two beneficiaries died. A dispute arose ov…
Court settlement dividing family trust avoids transfer taxes and gain
A pre-1985 family trust produced disputes over trustee investment adjustments, whether the trust could be divided, and how the phrase "by right of representation" governed future distributions. After …
Court settlement dividing family trust avoids transfer taxes and gain
A pre-1985 family trust produced disputes over trustee investment adjustments, whether the trust could be divided, and how the phrase "by right of representation" governed future distributions. After …
Court settlement dividing family trust avoids transfer taxes and gain
A pre-1985 family trust produced disputes over trustee investment adjustments, whether the trust could be divided, and how the phrase "by right of representation" governed future distributions. After …
Court settlement dividing family trust avoids transfer taxes and gain
A pre-1985 family trust produced disputes over trustee investment adjustments, whether the trust could be divided, and how the phrase "by right of representation" governed future distributions. After …
Late Form 1128 for January year-end change treated as timely
A taxpayer and its controlled foreign corporations filed Form 1128 late to change their federal tax year from a December 31 year-end to a January 31 year-end. The automatic procedure in Revenue Proced…
Late regulated investment company dividend election treated as timely
A regulated investment company declared and paid dividends after year-end and intended to elect under section 855(a) to treat them as paid during the prior tax year. A new return reviewer mailed the s…
REIT and subsidiary receive 90 days for late taxable-subsidiary election
A subsidiary had elected taxable REIT subsidiary status with its former REIT owner. After a new REIT acquired the subsidiary, the parties intended that status to continue but their tax adviser mistake…
Partnership receives 120 days for late section 754 election
A partnership issued a warrant with a note, later transferred the resulting partnership interest to the warrant holders, and entered into a redemption agreement for that interest. When filing its retu…
Ineffective qualified S subsidiary election receives inadvertent relief
An S corporation acquired all the stock of another S corporation and attempted to elect qualified S subsidiary status for the acquired company. The election was ineffective because of an inadvertent e…
Ineffective qualified S subsidiary election receives inadvertent relief
An S corporation acquired all the stock of another S corporation and attempted to elect qualified S subsidiary status for the acquired company. The election was ineffective because of an inadvertent e…
Seller receives 75 days to elect out of installment reporting
An S corporation was sold in a stock transaction treated as an asset sale under section 338(h)(10), with most payments deferred to later years. That payment schedule made the transaction an installmen…
Unauthorized SEP distributions receive 60-day rollover waiver
A bank resigned as custodian of two simplified employee pension accounts and issued distribution checks without the taxpayer's knowledge. Because the taxpayer was newly married, preparing to move, and…
Financial institution error receives 60-day IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner instructed a financial institution to buy an annuity inside the IRA, then canceled the investment and directed that the funds remain in the traditional IRA. After an account discrepancy a…
Widow's medical condition supports 60-day rollover waiver
A widow received an eligible rollover distribution of employer stock from her late spouse's employee stock ownership plan. Her medical and emotional condition following his death impaired her ability …
Scholarship and mentoring procedures approved
A private foundation proposed a scholarship program for students who met residency, academic, financial-need, recommendation, mentoring, and conduct requirements. Scholarship funds would go directly t…
Early-childhood school set-aside approved
A private operating foundation planned a new early-childhood school in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood. The project included construction, staffing, initial operating deficits, tuition assi…
Golf and recreation facility denied exemption
An employee association formed a new corporation that would receive and operate its recreational park, including a golf course, restaurant, sports facilities, rentals, and event services. Although mem…
Housing cooperative denied exemption
A cooperative apartment corporation sought section 501(c)(3) status to provide moderately priced housing to people age 55 or older. Members bought stock tied to particular apartments, paid monthly ope…
Campground restaurant denied social-club exemption
A mutual-benefit corporation sought section 501(c)(7) status for a restaurant serving campground visitors, local residents, members, and their guests. Its two directors also owned and managed part of …
Business-referral network denied exemption
A membership association sought section 501(c)(6) status for a business-referral network. It admitted only one noncompeting member from each trade or profession and required members to exchange leads,…
Municipal retirement contributions qualify as employer pick-ups
A municipal employer adopted ordinances requiring specified employees to contribute to its governmental defined benefit and defined contribution plans. The ordinances provided that the employer would …
Routine rental-vehicle collision damage is not a casualty loss
A vehicle-rental company claimed section 165 casualty losses for collision-damaged vehicles that customers had rented with a waiver limiting the company's recovery rights. The claim covered vehicles s…
Late entity-classification election receives relief
A single-owner limited liability company intended to be classified as an association for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It represented that all U.S. tax and information return…
Mortgage warranty reserves are not section 475 losses
A mortgage originator and seller recorded aggregate reserves for contractual obligations to repurchase defective mortgages or indemnify purchasers when representations and warranties were breached. It…
Foreign entity receives late classification-election relief
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a disregarded entity from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. It later became a multiple-member entity and then returned to single-member o…
Cooperative may charge patronage capital loss to members
A nonexempt Subchapter T cooperative received stock through a patronage-related arrangement to develop an online purchasing platform for its members. It treated the stock's receipt and vesting as patr…
Couple receives more time to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A married couple elected to split gifts made to an irrevocable trust for their children. Their accountant prepared the gift tax returns but omitted the statements needed to elect out of the automatic …
Trust donor receives more time to opt out of automatic GST allocation
A taxpayer created an irrevocable trust for her children and made transfers to it in two years. She and her spouse elected to split the gifts on Forms 709, but their accountant omitted the statements …
Corporate group receives more time to elect consolidated return filing
A corporate parent and its affiliated group intended to elect consolidated federal income tax return filing for a tax year. The parent filed the consolidated return after the election deadline because…
Plan mishandling supports waiver of the 60-day rollover deadline
A retirement-plan participant instructed his plan to roll an investment fund interest into a traditional IRA. The plan's administrator told his bookkeeper to request a change in the account title, and…
Mistaken deposit into a taxable account receives rollover relief
A former employee asked to move his employer-plan balance into a rollover IRA at a new financial institution. The distributing institution issued a check payable to the receiving institution for an IR…
Employer-related scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed scholarships for full-time employees of two related companies and for eligible dependent children of those employees. Officers, directors, and their children were exclude…
Random-drawing scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed one-year scholarships for children of a company's full-time employees. Applicants had to meet age, enrollment, and grade-point requirements, while children of officers an…
Apprenticeship scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed merit scholarships for lower-income teenagers participating in an apprenticeship program run through charitable organizations. Applicants had to complete the program, gra…
Retiree health trust payouts avoid the welfare-fund reversion tax
A tax-exempt organization maintained a voluntary employees' beneficiary association that funded medical benefits for retirees and their dependents. The organization planned to dissolve after paying pl…
Missed QSST elections receive inadvertent S corporation termination relief
An S corporation transferred shares to three trusts whose income beneficiaries failed to make timely qualified subchapter S trust elections. Without those elections, the trusts were ineligible S corpo…
Shareholder may make a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC
A U.S. shareholder acquired stock in a foreign holding company that had been a passive foreign investment company from the year it was organized. The shareholder gave a competent accounting firm all r…
Retired student-loan bonds keep their tax-exempt interest treatment
A tax-exempt qualified scholarship funding corporation had issued student-loan bonds and later fully redeemed them using student loan payments and sale proceeds. After the bonds were retired, the corp…
Taxpayer receives time to correct success-fee safe harbor amounts
A corporation incurred success-based investment banking fees when it was acquired in a taxable stock transaction. Its original return included the statements electing Revenue Procedure 2011-29's safe …
Additive-treated coal and pilot testing qualify for the refined coal credit
A partnership produced refined coal by mixing proprietary additives into utility feedstock coal to reduce nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions when burned for electricity generation. University pilot-…
Refined coal process, testing, and facility changes qualify for credit treatment
A refined-coal business mixed proprietary additives into utility feedstock coal to reduce nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions during electricity generation. University pilot-scale tests reported redu…
Consolidated group receives time to file late accounting-method forms
A corporate parent acquired a subsidiary that used the cash method and needed to change to the accrual method after joining the parent's consolidated group. The consolidated return reflected the accou…
Late return receives relief for bonus depreciation opt-out
A buyer and seller agreed that a corporation being sold would elect out of bonus depreciation for property placed in service before closing. The seller was responsible for the corporation's return, bu…
Converting grandfathered trusts to unitrusts avoids GST, gift, and gain consequences
An irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985, ultimately produced separate trusts for three grandchildren. The trustee proposed using state-law consent procedures to convert each income-base…
Invalid QSST election receives inadvertent S corporation termination relief
An S corporation shareholder placed stock in a revocable trust before death, and part of that stock later passed to another trust. The new trust's beneficiary failed to file a valid qualified subchapt…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partner died and the partner's interest in a limited partnership transferred to the surviving spouse. The partnership's tax advisor did not explain that a section 754 election was available, so the …
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.