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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S corporation receives more time to elect QSub treatment
An S corporation formed a wholly owned subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from the formation date. Due to inadvertence, the parent did not file Form 8869 on tim…
S corporation receives more time to elect QSub treatment
An S corporation formed a wholly owned subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from the formation date. Due to inadvertence, the parent did not file Form 8869 on tim…
S corporation receives more time to elect QSub treatment
An S corporation formed a wholly owned subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from the formation date. Due to inadvertence, the parent did not file Form 8869 on tim…
S corporation receives more time to elect QSub treatment
An S corporation formed a wholly owned subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from the formation date. Due to inadvertence, the parent did not file Form 8869 on tim…
S corporation receives relief for a late QSub election
A corporation already owned a subsidiary when it elected S corporation status and intended QSub treatment for the subsidiary from the same date. Due to inadvertence, it did not file Form 8869 until a …
Tax-exempt-controlled corporation receives relief for a late section 168 election
A C corporation wholly owned by a tax-exempt parent managed a partnership rehabilitating a certified historic structure. The corporation intended to elect under section 168(h)(6)(F)(ii) not to be trea…
Foreign entity receives more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity with one owner was eligible and intended to be classified as disregarded for federal tax purposes but did not file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the entity met the require…
Refined-coal emission retesting may use laboratory range analysis
A taxpayer leased and operated a facility that treated coal with two chemical reagents to reduce nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions when the fuel was burned. Field testing had shown emission reducti…
Refined-coal emission retesting may use laboratory range analysis
A taxpayer leased and operated a facility that treated coal with two chemical reagents to reduce nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions when the fuel was burned. Field testing had shown emission reducti…
Corporation receives relief for a late first-year REIT election
A corporation intended to elect real estate investment trust status for its first taxable year. Its tax firm overlooked Form 7004, so the filing deadline was not extended and the Form 1120-REIT carryi…
Trust merger preserves grandfathered GST status and separate shares
A trust created under a decedent's pre-September 25, 1985 will was exempt from generation-skipping transfer tax under the grandfather rule. The trustee proposed merging it into a later trust funded by…
Partners receive more time to elect real-property debt exclusion
A real-estate partnership had debt canceled after defaulting on a bank loan and reported the cancellation income to its two owners, an S corporation and an individual. Their ill tax preparer did not t…
Converted subsidiaries may make two classification elections despite the 60-month rule
Eight subsidiaries first converted from state-law corporations into limited liability companies because state law did not permit the direct conversion ultimately desired. They planned to elect associa…
Foreign entity receives more time to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes but did not file Form 8832 on time. Its direct and indirect owners that filed U.S. returns had reported co…
Foreign entity receives more time to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes but did not file Form 8832 on time. The entity and its owners that filed U.S. returns had reported consist…
Government retiree-benefit trust has excluded income and no annual return requirement
A political subdivision created and controlled a trust to prefund health and welfare benefits for retired employees and their eligible family members. Trust assets could be used only for benefits and …
Tuition benefits remain excluded after an initial employee transfer
An educational organization offered tuition reductions and scholarships for dependent children of eligible faculty and staff. It planned to transfer many employees to an affiliated nonprofit while ret…
Missing QSST elections receive inadvertent S termination relief
An S corporation transferred shares to two trusts that otherwise met the qualified subchapter S trust requirements. The trusts' sole income beneficiaries did not timely make QSST elections, making the…
Unitrust conversion preserves GST exemption without gift or gain
A trust created before September 25, 1985 was administered as an income-only trust for a granddaughter and remained exempt from generation-skipping transfer tax. A state court approved converting it t…
Corporation receives relief for a late S election
A corporation intended to be treated as an S corporation but did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing and agreed to recognize S corporation status from the…
Partnership receives more time to attach accounting-method application
A partnership sought an automatic accounting-method change for expenses related to price-protection rebates. Its accounting firm timely sent a copy of Form 3115 to the IRS National Office and prepared…
Film producer receives more time for income-forecast basis elections
A partnership producing motion pictures used the income forecast depreciation method for films placed in service during the year. It intended to elect under section 167(g)(7) to include expected parti…
Bankruptcy trust remains a liquidating trust through an extended term
A Chapter 11 plan created a trust solely to liquidate estate assets and distribute proceeds to beneficiaries. The trust had already distributed most of its assets, but an alleged fraud by the debtor's…
Trust division and court modifications preserve grandfathered GST status
A will created a trust before September 25, 1985, but left ambiguity about when the trust ended and how its assets passed after the original beneficiary's death. A state court construed the trust to e…
Trust division and court modifications preserve grandfathered GST status
A will created a trust before September 25, 1985, but left ambiguity about when the trust ended and how its assets passed after the named family members died. A state court construed the trust to end …
Tax-exempt-controlled corporation receives relief for a late section 168 election
A C corporation wholly owned by a tax-exempt parent served as the general partner of a real-estate partnership. It intended to elect under section 168(h)(6)(F)(ii) not to be treated as a tax-exempt co…
Four-way trust division preserves tax status without gain, gift, or estate inclusion
A trust created before September 25, 1985 benefited one child, that child's spouse, four grandchildren, and their families. A state court approved dividing it equally into four trusts, one for each gr…
Fiduciary settlement preserves a trust's grandfathered GST exemption
A grandfathered trust paid all income and some principal to one grandchild, prompting another grandchild and his children to sue the trustees for alleged fiduciary breaches. After discovery and court-…
Property LLC receives late corporate and taxable REIT subsidiary elections
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned an LLC holding one of its properties. After discovering facts about the property that could create risk for REIT status, the taxpayers sought to classif…
Missing QSST election after trust succession receives S termination relief
Shares of an S corporation were held in a shareholder's revocable trust during life. At the shareholder's death, the shares passed to another trust that was eligible to elect qualified subchapter S tr…
Missing successor-trust QSST election receives S termination relief
S corporation shares were held in a qualified subchapter S trust during the income beneficiary's life. After the beneficiary died, the original trust remained a permitted shareholder under the two-yea…
Missing ESBT election receives conditional S termination relief
An S corporation shareholder transferred stock to a trust that met the electing small business trust requirements, but the trustee did not timely file an ESBT election. The trust also failed to file i…
Supplemental spin-off payment may fund qualifying creditor repayment
This supplemental ruling addressed a possible additional payment following a completed contribution and external distribution covered by an earlier spin-off ruling. The IRS ruled that any payment, oth…
Corporation receives relief to file a late IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation intended to be treated as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation, or IC-DISC, from its formation. Its attorney agreed to prepare Form 4876-A but later disco…
Taxpayer receives relief for a late success-based fee election statement
A taxpayer paid success-based fees in connection with a corporate acquisition and intended to use the safe harbor in Revenue Procedure 2011-29. Its return treated 70 percent of the fees as currently d…
Taxpayer receives relief for a late success-based fee election statement
A taxpayer paid a success-based fee in connection with a corporate acquisition and intended to use the safe harbor in Revenue Procedure 2011-29. Its return treated 70 percent of the fee as a section 1…
Fund's two-day-late mixed straddle election is treated as timely
An exchange traded fund intended to renew its mixed straddle account election for foreign-currency forward contracts used as hedges. The fund's administrator prepared Form 6781 before the deadline but…
Inadvertent consent and trust errors do not defeat S corporation status
A corporation's S election and its subsidiary's QSub election were ineffective because the wrong people signed shareholder consents for three trusts. A separate shareholder trust later became ineligib…
Court-approved trust division triggers no transfer tax or gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and meaning of a trust created before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement terminates the original trust, divides its assets into two fa…
Housing tax-equivalency payments qualify as real property taxes
A cooperative housing corporation was required to make tax equivalency payments to state public-benefit authorities under statutes, an affordability plan, and related agreements. The payments were cal…
Foreign entity receives late corporate classification election relief
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect association status so it would be taxed as a corporation, but it failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the entity met the standards for d…
Foreign entity receives late corporate classification election relief
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect association status so it would be taxed as a corporation, but it failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the entity met the standards for d…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect disregarded-entity status from the date it was organized, but it failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the entity met the standards for d…
Separate trust shares qualify for inadvertent S termination relief
An S corporation's shareholder was a grantor trust that became ineligible after the grantor died because the beneficiaries did not timely make QSST elections. The trust divided into two shares, one fo…
Late ESBT election does not terminate S corporation status
A trust that held S corporation stock ceased to be a grantor trust and became an ineligible shareholder because its trustee did not timely elect electing small business trust status. The corporation a…
Late ESBT election does not terminate S corporation status
A trust that held S corporation stock ceased to be a grantor trust and became an ineligible shareholder because its trustee did not timely elect electing small business trust status. The trust also fa…
Private foundation scholarship procedures are approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for three scholarship programs serving financially needy students at a school. A school committee considers character, academic excellence, and financia…
Private foundation educational grant procedures are approved
A private foundation proposed a grant program giving participants direct experience in affordable housing, historic preservation, or open-space preservation. Applicants must have at least a bachelor's…
Private foundation scholarship procedures are approved
A private foundation proposed making 15 to 20 scholarships each year to encourage local high school graduates to pursue higher education. Applicants are scored on academic excellence, community servic…
Scholarship procedures receive approval effective from filing
A private foundation created a scholarship program for graduates of a particular school who plan to pursue college degrees. Applicants provide proof of acceptance, an essay, recommendations, and finan…
Exemption denied for founder inurement and private benefit
An educational-program business formerly operated as a sole proprietorship was converted into a nonprofit corporation so it could seek grants and donations. The founders continued conducting the progr…
Faculty-only retiree medical plan denied VEBA exemption
A welfare plan sponsored by an educational organization sought exemption as a voluntary employees' beneficiary association under section 501(c)(9). The employer funded individual accounts for retiree …
Restaurant alcohol-sales club denied social-club exemption
A nonprofit private club was formed because state law required a club permit for a restaurant to sell beer and wine. Anyone visiting the restaurant could obtain free membership, and the club had no me…
Counseling organization loses exemption after shifting from charitable work
An organization originally received section 501(c)(3) status to help unemployed people through training, counseling, and prayer. By the examined years, that activity had ended or become minimal, while…
Tax matters partner may bind certain small direct partners
Chief Counsel advised that a tax matters partner may bind non-notice partners to a settlement under former section 6224(c)(3). A non-notice partner for this purpose is a direct partner holding less th…
Partnership-level loss character controls later passive-loss proceedings
Chief Counsel advised that the amount and character of partnership losses determined on the return or through an FPAA are binding in later partner-level proceedings under section 469. A no-change FPAA…
Partnership return information may be disclosed to partners
Chief Counsel advised that partnership return information may be disclosed to any partner under section 6103(e). Once a TEFRA audit begins, partner information may also be disclosed to other partners …
Entity member, not its manager, may be the tax matters partner
Chief Counsel advised that the member-manager definition for a TEFRA partnership reaches only owners under state law, not owners or managers of an entity member. A direct entity member may be designat…
Section 882 deduction limit is a partner-level affected item
Chief Counsel advised that the section 882 limitation on deductions is not a partnership item because the partnership does not determine it under subtitle A. It is instead a partner-level affected ite…
Third-party tax settlements are protected return information
A FOIA requester sought settlement documents involving third parties in related transactions without obtaining those parties' consent. Chief Counsel advised that section 6103, together with FOIA exemp…
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.