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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Processing limit still applies to agricultural commodities
A controlled foreign corporation bought an agricultural raw material, had a related foreign corporation manufacture a finished product, and sold the product to a related U.S. corporation. The…
Paver trucks and trailers are taxable highway vehicles
A manufacturer sold truck- and trailer-mounted pavers that carried resurfacing materials from local storage sites to jobsites, mixed or continually agitated the materials, and spread them on…
Professional's omission justified late GST election
A grantor created four trusts for siblings, but the accountant omitted the gifts from the grantor's gift-tax return and therefore failed to elect out of automatic generation-skipping transfer…
Professional reliance justified late CNOL carryback election
The common parent of a consolidated group missed the deadline to elect an extended carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss. Affidavits showed that the parent had reasonably relied on…
Transmission-upgrade reimbursements are taxable CIACs
An electric utility built transmission interconnection facilities and system upgrades required to connect a privately developed project between two regional grids. The project owner reimbursed the…
Late section 831(b) insurance election allowed
A closely held property-and-casualty insurer intended to elect the alternative tax on investment income under section 831(b). Its first CPA filed an extension request but was later dismissed, and a…
Late foreign entity classification election allowed
A foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 to elect corporate tax classification as of its intended effective date. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the reasonable-cause…
Beneficiary dispute does not extend annuity payout deadline
A nonspouse beneficiary timely chose ten-year payouts under two annuity contracts. Before either insurer made a distribution, another claimant's lawyer asked both companies to freeze payment while a…
Like-kind exchange requires removal of ADIT balance
A regulated natural-gas utility exchanged distribution assets for storage and transmission assets in a transaction represented to qualify under section 1031. The utility had accumulated deferred…
Storage-asset exchange requires removal of ADIT balance
A regulated natural-gas company exchanged storage and transmission assets for distribution assets in a transaction represented to qualify under section 1031. It had accumulated deferred income tax…
Foreign regulatory trust is owned by its CFC grantor
A controlled foreign corporation established a foreign-law trust to segregate and conservatively invest assets required to support its regulated business obligations. A separate trustee managed the…
State-law write-off does not require Forms 1099-C
A financial institution settled a consumer class action over legally deficient notices connected with deficiency balances. The court-approved settlement barred collection and allowed offsets against…
Integrated business agreements qualify as like-kind property
A corporation planned two simultaneous exchanges of intangible contract rights. One group combined manufacturing and distribution rights for a family of products; the other contained…
Lower-tier partnership may make late section 754 election
An investor acquired an interest in an upper-tier partnership that owned part of a lower-tier partnership. The upper-tier partnership timely elected under section 754, but the lower-tier partnership…
Late section 754 election allowed for lower-tier partnership
An investor acquired an interest in an upper-tier partnership that held an interest in a lower-tier partnership. The upper-tier partnership timely made a section 754 election, but the lower-tier…
Formula-rate projections require deferred-tax proration
An electric-transmission utility used annual formula rates based on projected service-year costs, followed by a true-up to actual results. The IRS approved its use of 13-month plant and depreciation…
Late reverse-QTIP and trust-severance elections allowed
An estate elected QTIP treatment for a marital trust but, relying on its attorney, did not make a reverse-QTIP election or allocate the decedent's available generation-skipping transfer exemption.…
Annual employee transit cards qualify for monthly exclusion
A city bought discounted annual, nontransferable transit smart cards for every employee. The cards worked only on the regional transit authority's systems and were deactivated when an employee…
Missing QSST elections caused inadvertent S termination
Four trusts acquired shares of an S corporation, but their beneficiaries failed to timely elect qualified subchapter S trust treatment. That made the trusts ineligible shareholders and terminated…
Adviser error justified late section 754 election
A partnership sought extra time to make a section 754 election after one of its members died. The partnership had relied on its tax adviser, who inadvertently failed to include the election with the…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
CPA filing error justified late original Form 3115
A business decided to change how it identified and allocated inventory costs under section 263A. Its CPA timely sent the IRS the required copy of Form 3115 and reflected the change on the business’s…
Missing mailing proof justified late TRS election
A corporation intending to elect REIT status and an indirectly owned subsidiary planned to file Form 8875 so the subsidiary would be treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary. Their adviser prepared and…
Adviser misunderstanding justified late IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation. A misunderstanding between its accounting and law firms over who would prepare and submit…
Professional error justified late CNOL carryback waiver
A consolidated group intended to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss but failed to file a valid election with its return. The parent represented that the group…
LLC received late corporate classification election relief
A limited liability company intended to elect corporate tax classification effective from its formation date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the company…
Estate received more time to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse’s unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the…
Adviser error justified late section 754 election
A partnership sought extra time to make a section 754 election after one of its partners died. The partnership had relied on its tax adviser, who inadvertently failed to include the election with…
Website redirection justified IRA rollover waiver
An IRA owner tried to move her account to a new rollover IRA offering a better interest rate. After becoming disconnected from one financial institution’s website, she was redirected to another…
Financial institution error justified rollover waiver
A retirement-plan participant intended to roll an entire distribution into an IRA. He mailed the financial institution both the net distribution check and a personal check replacing the 20 percent…
Organization qualified under section 4945(f)
An existing section 501(c)(3) public charity asked to be recognized as an organization described in section 4945(f). Based on the information supplied and the organization’s stated future…
Environmental-claim financing organization loses exemption
A nonprofit bought approved reimbursement claims from owners and contractors cleaning up leaking underground fuel tanks, giving them cash before state environmental funds paid the claims. The…
Frozen pilot pension could suspend benefits after retirement age
An employer sponsored a frozen defined benefit pension plan for union pilots with a normal retirement age of 60. After federal law raised the pilots’ mandatory retirement age to 65, pilots could…
Consolidated-group CDP notices must identify subsidiaries
Chief Counsel advised that collection due process notices involving a consolidated group must name the common parent and list the known subsidiaries from which the IRS may collect. Group members are…
Gabelli did not limit section 6707 penalty assessments
Chief Counsel advised that the Supreme Court’s Gabelli decision did not establish a limitations period for assessing pre-amendment section 6707 tax-shelter registration penalties. Gabelli…
IRS could amend deed to correct wrong plat number
An IRS deed for seized and sold real property referred to the wrong plat number. The certificate of sale and plat book showed that the IRS had sold plat 4, while the taxpayer had never owned the…
Non-TEFRA partners had to extend their own assessment periods
Chief Counsel advised that no extension was needed from a partnership entity when the IRS was not assessing tax against the entity itself. Because the partnership was outside TEFRA, each partner…
Marijuana excise tax reduced amount realized on sale
Chief Counsel considered how a Washington marijuana business should account for the state’s marijuana excise tax. Because the tax was paid in connection with disposing of property, section 164…
Section 6701 penalty applied once per plan application
An employee-plan professional submitted false Forms 5307 and supporting documents for multiple retirement plans, causing sponsors and participants to claim tax benefits from plans that were not…
Directed transfers and small businesses cleared for spin-off steps
A publicly traded parent proposed a series of internal transfers and section 355 distributions to facilitate another company’s acquisition of one business line. The IRS addressed only two discrete…
Payments surviving recipient’s death were not alimony
A divorced taxpayer received monthly payments under a decree incorporating a property settlement agreement. The agreement stated that the spousal-maintenance obligation would not end if the…
Formula-rate averaging complied, but projections required proration
An electric transmission utility used annually set formula rates based on projected service-year costs, followed by a later true-up to actual results. The IRS ruled that using a 13-month average for…
Formula-rate averaging complied, but projections required proration
An electric transmission utility used annually set formula rates based on projected service-year costs, followed by a later true-up to actual results. The IRS ruled that using a 13-month average for…
Formula-rate averaging complied, but projections required proration
An electric transmission utility used annually set formula rates based on projected service-year costs, followed by a later true-up to actual results. The IRS ruled that using a 13-month average for…
Product agreements qualified for like-kind exchange treatment
A corporation proposed two simultaneous exchanges with a related company: one group of integrated manufacturing-and-distribution agreements and one group of distribution-only agreements. The…
Missing spousal consents made S election inadvertently ineffective
Three shareholders signed an S corporation election, but their spouses did not sign even though community-property rules required their consent. The corporation and its shareholders consistently…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Project delays justified more time to spend bond proceeds
A city authority issued new clean renewable energy bonds to finance two solar facilities and a hydroelectric plant. A labor-jurisdiction dispute, the need to change the construction arrangement, and…
Inadvertence justified late QSub election
An S corporation formed a wholly owned domestic subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from its formation date. The parent inadvertently failed to file Form 8869…
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…
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…
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.